Start Writing Adventure Stories; Start Writing About Things I Do; Start Writing Amazing Stories; Start Writing About People and Places; Teachers' Resource Book for Start Writing

Do writing guides help awaken children's imagination or is there a risk of trapping them into a prescribed response? These four books in Belitha's 'Adventures in Literacy' series aim to help young writers in Years 3 (7-8 years) and 4 (8-9 years) to try different kinds of writing. On the whole, I believe successful writing is best embedded in children's activities in every part of the curriculum. But these books are far from dull: the large format is appealing and children will like the delightfully humorous illustrations. Young readers are addressed directly and there is sensible guidance on how to use each book. For teachers, there is detailed guidance in the Teachers' Resource Book which makes useful and direct links to the National Literacy Strategy objectives.

I think the approach suits non-fiction best. Start Writing About Things I Do gives good advice on writing posters, menus, lists, letters, explanations and advertisements. Interesting examples are given - a huge menu and a splendid 'wanted' poster - and the writing tasks are presented in an exciting way. Start Writing About People and Places helps children organise a point of view, write clear instructions and produce clear reports.

I do have some reservations about using guides, even ones as visually pleasing as Start Writing Adventure Stories and Start Writing Amazing Stories, when children are just beginning to write stories. However, using these frameworks, as intended by these authors with children between the ages of 7 and 9 years and as one strategy amongst others, may be helpful - perhaps particularly to encourage reluctant young story writers.

There are six story themes in Adventure stories: Desert Island, Aliens are Here, Princess in Peril, Neptune's Kingdom, Rainforest Race and The Marvellous Machine. Children are helped to think of the characters, the setting, the problem and the resolution as they attempt a story under each title. However, I am not sure it is a good idea to tell children to use phrases like 'to my horror' and 'all of a sudden there was a loud...' - children will think of fresher forms of expression themselves.

Amazing Stories provides helpful support for retelling traditional tales from all over the world, for example the well known fable. 'The Fox and the Stork'. Primary teachers, and especially those in the UK who follow the national literacy strategy framework, will find the books a helpful resource, particularly the non-fiction ones.