Gooney Bird Greene takes charge of a class project as she and her fellow students in Mrs. Pidgeon's second grade class learn about fables by each making up their own based on an animal that begins with the same letter as their first name.

A young boy wants to write a story, just like his big sister. But there's a problem, he tells her. Though he knows his letters, he doesn't know many words. His sister patiently explains, "Every story starts with a single word and every word starts with a single letter. Why don't you start there, with a letter?" So the boy tries. He writes a letter. An easy letter. The letter I. And from that one skinny letter, the story grows, and the little boy discovers...

Katie's school assignment is to write an "opinion piece", but she needs some guidance on just what that is, and what is should not be.

When Katie and her family go on a trip, she decides to write a story for her friends to show how much she misses them.

What happens when the story ideas--from a bored Viking to a space robot--kept in a teacher's special jar escape and get rowdy?

"During a creative writing unit at Longfellow School, the students in Mrs. Brisbane's class practice using their imagination with their very own writing journals--and Humphrey finds out that writing from his imagination is harder than it looks." --

Abdul loves telling stories but thinks his messy handwriting and spelling mistakes will keep him from becoming an author, until Mr. Muhammad visits and encourages him to persist.

When Katie and her friends write thank-you letters to a class visitor, Katie learns that writing letters can be fun.

When Katie misplaces her lucky charm, her mother gives her a journal to write her feelings in.

"Presents an overview of fictional stories, including the form's purpose, elements, traits, and how it expresses ideas. Original examples illustrate how the writing genre works, and tips are provided to encourage young writers' creativity. Additional features include a table of contents, a glossary of key words and phrases, sources for further research, and introductions to both the author and illustrator" --