“BFF@SMB: Best Friends Forever at Santa Monica Beach” — a story by Gwendolyn M. Lopez

Published on :

One City One Story 2016 Writing Contest: “A Vivid Memory” 1st place Category 1: Grades 3-5 “BFF@SMB: Best Friends Forever at Santa Monica Beach” by Gwendolyn M. Lopez Grade 5 Eugene Field Elementary School   On July 4, 2014, the Lopez family woke up and decided, “Let’s go to the […]

“The Lost Shoes” — a story by Mallika Sheshadri

Published on :

One City One Story 2016 Writing Contest: “A Vivid Memory” 2nd place Category 1: Grades 3-5 “The Lost Shoes” by Mallika Sheshadri Grade 3 Willard Elementary School     Four years ago when I was still in preschool, I had a friend named Saba, who still is my friend. We […]

“Darkest Night” — a story by Noah Haile

Published on :

One City One Story 2016 Writing Contest: “A Vivid Memory” 3rd place Category 1: Grades 3-5 “Darkest Night” by Noah Haile Grade 5 home school     The memory is vivid in my mind. It’s almost like I am still there today, 5 years later. We were in the car […]

Kids’ Writing Workshop: Spies and Secret Codes

Published on :

On Friday, February 11, kids between 8 and 12 came to Central Library to write stories about spies and encoded messages. First we read excerpts from a couple great stories involving codes: Ruby Redfort Take Your Last Breath by Lauren Child, and The Spotted Dog Last Seen by Jessica Scott. […]

Animals with Attitude!

Published on :

Yesterday in our Creative Writing for Beginning Readers class, we explored the characters of Beatrix Potter and the concept of personification. We talked about what personification is and came up with some examples: Beatrix Potter was a scientist who kept a lot of animals and drew inspiration for her stories […]

Kids’ Writing Workshop: A Vivid Memory

Published on :

This year’s One City One Story book, Orphan Train, is an adult book that centers around vivid, heartbreaking memories, so this year’s Short Story Writing Contest has a simple prompt: Write about a vivid memory. It can be from your past, or it can be an exploration of memories in […]

Creative Writing For Beginning Readers: Escaped Fairytale Characters

Published on :

Last week on February 9th, kids ages 5-8 came to the library to do some fun creative writing.  First we learned about the difference between “First Person” point of view, with lots of I, Me, My, We, Our, Us words, and Third Person point of view, with lots of He, She, […]

Songwriting for Ages 8-12 with Emily Arrow

Published on :

On January 15, 2016 Pasadena Library’s monthly Kids’ Writing Workshop had a very special guest instructor to teach songwriting: Emily Arrow! Emily (www.emilyarrow.com) tours all over the country performing her songs about children’s literature, and has a CD coming out in February. She presented a wonderful workshop sharing books and […]

Songwriting for Ages 5-8 with Emily Arrow

Published on :

On January 12, 2016 Pasadena Library’s monthly Creative Writing for Beginning Readers workshop (ages 5-8) had a very special guest instructor to teach songwriting: Emily Arrow! Emily (www.emilyarrow.com) tours all over the country performing her songs about children’s literature, and has a CD coming out in February. She presented a […]

“Lily Means…” by Lily Mahmud

Published on :

Young Readers League “What’s in a Name” Writing Contest Category 1 (Age 8-11) 1st place