Author: Laura J. Colker Ed.D.
Source: RIF Exchange Show #503
 
Most books are written by adults. Yet, some of our best literature has been penned by children. Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is perhaps the most famous. Published posthumously in 1947, it has been translated into more than 50 languages.
 
The first book by a child author is thought to be Francis Hawkins’ Decency in Conversations Amongst Men, published in 1641. The precocious 8-year-old author of this time offered guidance on etiquette and manners to other children.
 
Making the rest of us feel like slackers, the youngest published author is Washington DC’s Dorothy Straight, who at age four penned (or is it crayoned?) How the World Began. American poet Gwendolyn Brooks's first collection of verse, American Childhood was written when she was 13 years old. In 1950 she became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize.
 
Other well known child authors include Susan Eloise Hinton and Jason Gaes. Hinton’s best-selling The Outsiders was written when she was 15 and is just as popular today as when it was published in 1967. In 1987, Gaes wrote the inspirational My Book for Kids with Cansur, documenting his struggles with Burkitt’s lymphoma.
 
Although becoming rich and famous and launching careers in writing are certainly motivating, for most children, the rewards of having their writing published are far more modest. More attainable are these outcomes (Springfield [IL] School District):

• Publishing validates student writers.
  
  
• Publishing gives student writers a purpose for continuing to write.

Many teachers strive to find audiences for students’ work, to give students the sense that their writing is not a canned exercise that goes no further than the teacher's desk. Educators have realized that publishing students’ work is crucial to students' development because it encourages writing for practical and important reasons.
 
Lucy Calkins, in The Art of Teaching Writing (1990) underscores the importance of being published:

For Mem Fox, Russell Baker, and me, the moment of publication made each of us like insiders in the world of authorship. What an important lesson this is for those of us who work with young people! Publication matters, and it matters because it inducts us into the writerly life. (p.107)

Sanacore (1998) suggests that in order to instill a lifelong love of writing in children it’s important to help student writers “go public.” He writes, “As students become facile reaching their audience, they soon realize that their communication is a form of publishing or going public. Since students usually write to be read, publication becomes a natural vehicle for motivating frequent writing.” (p.394)
 
Atwell (1987) points out that students write better when they know audiences will be reading what they wrote. The drive to be well received pushes children to do their best. Children also view the processes of editing and proofreading as part of the writing process, rather than chores. Recognition also affords children great pride and a chance to share something special with their family. (Essex, 1996)
 
Bromley and Mannix (1993, p.72) summarize in this way, “Publishing makes the reading-writing connection real as it engages students in the writing process and the communication of meaning to a real audience. The opportunity to publish one’s work for others to see, touch, read, and reread has special appeal and provides many students with an incentive to write.”