By now some who have followed this blog for a while have figured out that in our house, a perfect date night may well include dinner and browsing in a book store. Recently I did just that, armed with a discount coupon for a book of choice. I had a hard time deciding, so after going back and forth a few times, I pulled my chosen book from the shelf and hurried pay and be on our way. Only when I arrived home did I discover that in my haste to grab the chosen book, I’d selected a completely different volume in a similar color. Oops.
But, as it turned out, my “Oops” book turned out to be more discovery than error. The book is titled Draw the Story, by Kate Kearns. It is sold as a journal, but is more than that. Each page is topped by the beginning of a story, with space underneath to illustrate it. For example, when I opened the book randomly I landed on this story beginning.
Whatever you do, don’t anger the sock fairies. Jason learned this lesson the hard way. Every since he’d accidentally trapped one in the dryer, they’d been terrorizing his linen drawers.
“How am I supposed to go to a job interview with skull and crossbones patterns cut out of my argyles,” he bemoaned.
What fun! Each of the 200 pages holds a story ready for illustration, but also wonderful options for storytelling or writing. Once I discovered Draw the Story, I explored the publisher’s website (Piccadilly) and found an equally interesting Write the Story. Write the Story has another 200 pages of story starters, with each page containing a basic story line and ten words to be incorporated into the story. For example, one of the sample pages includes the story line “An Alien in Disguise Among Humans,” and these ten words: Aurora Borealis, paintbrush, corn field, cluster, lineup, overlook, suspect, bridge, dome, and dash. It is enough to send my imagination into high gear. Click on the link above to see more sample pages you might try, and explore their other writing tools.
All in all, I think my bookstore “error” was perfectly splendid. I’m actually no longer sure which book I intended to buy, but I ended up finding some good ones!
creativiteach 