I love seeing kids with big, fat books in their hands! Books that they can't stop reading. I watch them sneaking peeks at a page, a paragraph, a sentence, in between their school work...filling in every possible moment with more of the story they have entered.
I love hearing the stories kids can make up and want to make up when I give them a start and they go - go - go!
Tricky part: Getting them to write down their stories. Without fear of rejection. Without fear of pressure that maybe they don't know the whole story yet - just that kernel that has gripped their imagination, if only momentarily.
For me, what started as an occupation that give me a chance to share what I learned about writing from some of the most amazing children's authors today, is turning into an almost social cause, a campaign - a solution, if only in part, to balance the "teach to the test" necessary in school. MSU - Where Kids Go to Make Stuff Up - is a place where kids can come and play with language, ideas, imagery, stories, and regain their confidence in the limitless boundaries of their imaginations.
With creativity being the highest form of intelligence, making stuff up, will give our children that lift they need to think outside themselves. Who knows what they will create for our futures?
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