CRESTVIEW — To the 10,600 books in Walker Elementary School’s library, add 19 from authors in the school’s fourth- and fifth-grade Writers Club.
"Some of them are really quite astonishing," club adviser Liz Bears said of the books. Student authors, who selected their topics, mastered narrative development and writing in chapters, she said.
The club encourages students to read more and develop their research, interpersonal and communication skills, Bears said.
"We get to actually write our own stories and express how we want to tell our stories," student Reann Cato said.
"Writing a book makes me feel like I'm at home because I can be myself and write what I want to say," Natalia Deleon said.
"When you're writing, you can make up everything," Colbea Raybon said.
"Yeah, you get to express yourself and be creative," her friend Kattara Austin added.
Reading and sharing
The Writers Club wrapped up its semester with a May 30 Authors Celebration in the school library.
Some students produced alphabet books to share with younger Owls.
"I get to teach little kids about words they should know," Kaitlyn Birkelo said, adding the letter "V" was her favorite.
"'V' stands for vacuum, vacation and van," she read.
"My favorite letter is 'V,' too!" her friend Katrina Scott said. "A lot of cool things begin with V."
Jackson Harrison was keen to share a verse he had written while his English class learned about limericks.
"There once was a girl named Jill/ Who ate a big, fat pill/ The pill blew up/ And Jill went 'whup!'/ And that was the end of Jill."
Bears said she plans to offer the Writers Club for the 2013-14 school year, and might expand it to a year-long club. Currently, it meets in the spring semester.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Walker Elementary School club inspires young writers