Ralph Fletcher

Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices by Ralph Fletcher is a misguided treatise on teaching writing in the classroom. I read it in conjunction with the older and better When You Are Alone/It Keeps You Capone by Myra Cohn Livingston.

Fletcher's thesis is that the school system is so over run by gentle, nurturing women, that there's no room for the rowdy natured boys. Apparently teachers across the country are actively discouraging boys from truly expressing themselves through their writing show more which because of their boyish nature leans towards gross out jokes, violence, superheroes and the like. Instead, teachers are encouraging girls and their boring stories about families and domesticity.

Are you mad yet? You should be. I certainly am. This book falls into the frustrating gender trap and is doing its best to further marginalize anyone who isn't someone likely to grow into a well off, privileged, white man. Here in a book about teaching are the seeds of bullying, rape culture, racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Think I'm off my rocker? In a chapter on social media (especially chat), there's a section on why boys love to write, especially when it's anonymously and online. The author includes a sample chat where a boy discusses his break up. The conversation quickly devolves into name calling and slut shaming on the part of the girl who isn't there to defend herself. This is conversation is held as a GOOD example of getting boys excited about writing.

And where is the author's hard evidence that there's such an anti-boy conspiracy? Are there any actual scientific or sociological studies cited? No. Any case studies of actual schools? No.

For better examples of the challenges of teaching writing to children any gender, personality, or background, I recommend the older books: When You Are Alone/It Keeps You Capone, and Teacher by Sylvia Ashton-Warner (who has some interesting theories about fear motivating violent writing, rather than it just being some natural "boyish" thing). show less

All teachers should read this book. Repeat: All teachers should read this book. I am a mom of boys and a 4th grade teacher who tries really, really hard to run an equitable classroom. I love stinky, naughty, squirrely, squirmy boys. After reading Fletcher's book I will be changing some of my practices.

I knew there was an "issue" among boy writers, but didn't get it until my 1st grader brought home a terrible piece of writing about stuffed animals. I was crabbing at him when he said, "But I show more thought it was supposed to be about tea parties and dress up, and I don't do that mom!" That hit me like a ton of bricks. He has a fabulous, fabulous teacher and I know that she never expressed that sentiment. After discussing how he could have written about playing army or knights with his stuffed animals, I picked this little gem up.

Let me repeat it one more time: All teachers should read this book!!! show less

I love Fletcher's emphasis on rhythm, emotion, image." ?áHis advice is summarized on the cover art:

Capture a moment.
Read it aloud.
Get in the habit of observing the world.
[Build] a Word House.
Think small.

Learning how to write, to make your ideas sing, can most definitely help you read, to appreciate what makes someone else's good poem (or prose) vigorous & memorable.

Learning to write effective poetry can improve the writing of a novelist, or even (as made evident here) an instruction show more manual.
As J. Patrick Lewis said "Verbs are the muscles of good writing (and adjectives are the fat)."

Writing poetry can be an effective part of keeping?áa journal or daybook.

I love that Fletcher includes lots of samples of kids' own writings. ?áAnd that he interviews three other published poets to get their take on the ideas. ?áAnd that he covers a *lot* of ground, in a carefully outlined step-by-step sequence, but boils it all down to an essence that is clear and fresh. ?áAnd that he includes an *annotated* bibliography, of several pages, of poetry books.

I highly recommend this book to everyone except hoity-toity *L*iterary types who over-emphasize forms, historical & cliqueish?ácontexts, and classical & other obscure allusions." show less

It took me a while to get into this brief novel. Honestly, I was not amused by the antics of Bobby and his friends; I really don't see what's so funny about submitting a faked application to the local private high school. Plus, while I feel bad for Bobby's bad home life (father infamous for having once attacked their mother with an iron, after which she split and has not been heard from since), I wasn't too invested in it. Once he assumed the identity of Rowan Pohi, though, the story, and show more his life, really took off.

Of course, I want to say right now that nothing about this story is remotely believable, despite this being realistic fiction. For one thing, they would not have accepted Rowan without transcripts. Paperwork is what makes the modern world function; this is not the age where people can easily escape themselves. Also, repeated mention was made of the fact that Whitestone Academy has a rifle range. What the hell kind of high school has a rifle range? That's just asking for a lawsuit. On top of that, there is no way at all that a private school possessed of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, amazing food, a 5:1 teacher student ratio, a rifle range and a brand new planetarium would cost only $5,000 dollars a semester. I know people who send their children to private school and it costs more than that without all of those extras.

Suspending this disbelief, though, this is a pretty fun middle grade caper. It's interesting to see how he blends into the school, and I couldn't help being glad that he got to go there, since he clearly has so much more potential than his high school would ever be able to make use of. Fletcher also made some interesting observations on spousal abuse and persecution, despite not focusing on those points too heavily.

Also Known as Rowan Pohi could be a good read for reluctant readers, with pretty easy language and a lot of dialogue. show less