Story Starter: Idea Jar by Adam Lehrhaupt

THIS IS MY TEACHER'S IDEA JAR.

WE KEEP OUR STORY IDEAS IN IT.

MY TEACHER SAYS SAYS STORIES CAN BE ABOUT ANYTHING WE WANT.

Not surprisingly, this elementary school class has some classic story starters in that jar--a dragon, a Viking, a unicorn, a robot, a tiger--all the usual suspects. But these potential story characters are getting a bit restive in that crowded jar. The giraffe and dragon poke their heads out to catch a breath of fresh air.

There's a fine variety of of characters there, from cat to cowgirl, and they all want their own story. What to do?

Teacher points out that the kids can choose their medium.

WRITE IT. DRAW IT. TALK IT.

COMBINE IDEAS TO MAKE YOU STORY BETTER.

As authors will tell you, some characters take over their own story. The Viking tips the jar over and lets everyone out. The horseless cowgirl mounts the dragon and takes on the Viking and the space robot.

Who wants to create a city for the kitty? Anybody ready for a yeti yet?

It's a free-for-all as the kids get busy drawing and writing and talking about their ideas, in Adam Lehrhaupt's Idea Jar (Simon and Schuster, 2018). Author Adam Lehrhaupt puts his jar of "writing prompts" to work in this story about stories, while artist Deb Pilutti comes up with a charming coloration and a plot full of story starters running amok, as the Viking's ocean even threatens to overflow the classroom. Pilutti make use of comic speech balloons as her charges take charge of their own premises in a fun read-aloud to kick off a class brainstorm to get the creative juices flowing in young writers' fertile imaginations.

Share this one with Briane Farley's Ike's Incredible Ink (review here) or Joan Holub's Little Red Writing (see review here.).