I was lucky to get my hands on a copy of 826 Michigan’s newly released publication of student writing called Don’t Stay Up So Late: A Treasury of Bedtime Stories that were written by children for children. 826Michigan worked with the students and staff of Erickson Elementary School in Ypsilanti to create this book.

826Michigan is a nonprofit organization that works with area students and schools to improve student’s writing skills through grade-appropriate and very engaging activities. (Who wouldn’t want to take workshops titled “Diorama-Lama-Ding-Dong” and “Brain Spelunking with Sigmund and Carl!”).

For their current publication, 826 Michigan worked with the Erickson Elementary students from first grade through fifth grade all school year long instructing them on fundamentals of storytelling and writing.

This hardcover book is filled with more than 120 stories ranging in length from half a page to three pages. Each authored story has a small illustration in the style of an old-fashioned early reader that piques your interest to read on.

The stories are grouped into four chapters with each chapter having a theme. Chapter one features the first-graders and they write about “Make Believes”. This reflects where the students are developmentally in their writing skills. First-graders enjoy writing in the storybook style and will include favorite and familiar characters in their stories. You can enjoy stories about things that flying like a bed and monkeys. There are also stories filled with things that talk like animals, a cereal bowl, a bell, a nut and brains. Also through these stories you get to learn about aliens in the attic, get lost with Vera down the vent, and meet a grumpy tooth fairy.

The second chapter is filled with fable stories written by Erickson’s second-graders. Second-grade writers typically make connections between what they read and their own experience and they can consider why a character acted the way he did. Find out how a monster gets its “scare back”, how a horse learns not to mess with somebody who is bigger, or how Jake Up learns the importance of paying attention in the fables of this chapter.

Erickson’s third- and fourth-graders filled the third chapter of the book with mystery stories. Third- and fourth-grade writers now have background knowledge of story structure having been exposed to many types of stories. They are able to plan and write more lengthy tales. See if you can follow the twist and turns of story plots of “The Case of the Missing Mascot Parrot” or “The Never-Ending Crime” or “The Exploding School”.

The fifth-grade students wrote the last chapter about tall tales. At this stage, fifth-grade writers are working to improve writing techniques like transitions, introductions and conclusions, adding mood, dialogue, and using figurative language to persuade, entertain or inform the reader. The Erickson fifth-graders used these skills to tell tall tales of a boy with bones of rubber, a girl no bigger than a pencil, and how a very large baby created the state of Michigan.

Erickson’s second-grade teacher Karla Grassley expressed “I love 826michigan and what you have done for my students this year. My heart is pounding, and I have real goosebumps when I think about the book, which has been the coolest project I have ever been a part of in my 26 years of teaching.”

I think readers young and old will enjoy Don’t Stay Up So Late since it is chock full of stories that are mysterious and informative, and will just tickle your funny bone. You will want to stay up late to read just one more of these stories. The book is for sale at 826Michigan’s Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair (115 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor).

Congratulations Erickson Elementary students on getting published!

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The following sites were used to put this article together:
www.education.com,
www.greatschools.org