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  • The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl Klein book cover
  • The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl Klein book cover
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The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults

by Cheryl Klein

A craft guide to writing for young readers

$18.95 USD
$31.59 USD $18.95 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A craft guide to writing for young readers

Cheryl Klein’s guide connects the practical work of developing a children’s or YA novel with close attention to how fiction is built. It covers intention, character, plot, and voice, alongside world-building, diversity, and distinctions between middle-grade and young adult writing. Exercises, questions, and rules of thumb give the discussion an applied dimension, while the book also addresses the path from shaping a premise to seeking an agent. The result is a resource that brings story analysis, revision, and publishing considerations into one handbook for writers.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Writers developing children’s or young adult fiction
  • Authors seeking exercises and prompts for story analysis and revision
  • Writers exploring the differences between middle-grade and YA novels

Themes

Children’s and YA fiction craftCharacter, plot, voice, and intentionDiversity and world-buildingStory analysis and revisionPublishing a novel

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

The best children's and young adult novels take readers on wonderful outward adventures and stirring inward journeys. In The Magic Words, editor Cheryl B. Klein guides writers on an enjoyable and practical-minded voyage of their own, from developing a saleable premise for a novel to finding a dream agent. She delves deep into the major elements of fiction--intention, character, plot, and voice--while addressing important topics like diversity, world-building, and the differences between middle-grade and YA novels. In addition, the book's exercises, questions, and straightforward rules of thumb help writers apply these insights to their own creative works. With its generous tone and useful tools for story analysis and revision, The Magic Words is an essential handbook for writers of children's and young adult fiction.
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