Where do writers get their ideas? That is the question Sarah Ellis answers in this delightful book. In an easy-to-read storytelling voice, Ellis shows how the childhood experiences of seven famous children’s authors influenced their writing. But Ellis does not stop there. She cleverly uses these authors’ themes to motivate the “reluctant writer” (which she apparently was as a child) to become an “unreluctant writer” (which she certainly is now).Thus, after learning that Robert Louis Stevenson got the idea for Treasure Island while doodling with watercolour paints, readers are encouraged to draw their own island and build an imaginary world on it. To stimulate the reader’s imagination, Ellis poses a number of questions that can be used to visualize the setting of any story the reader might wish to write.

In addition to ideas for settings, the reader is invited to jot down family anecdotes (like Jean Little), dreams, letters, invented words, and word plays (like Lewis Carroll), as well as keep a journal (like Louisa May Alcott) and interesting newspaper clippings. All of these literary recordings are to be written on the many blank lines that follow each set of ideas. An attractive design feature of these lined pages are small colourful sidebars with quotes from children’s authors not profiled in the main text. Some of these authors, however, are included in the descriptive bibliography at the end of each chapter, which further serves as a motivator to the young writer.

This is an excellent resource for both writer and teacher.