Write Your Own Legend

Designed for students who are interested in mythology or legends, this book provides tips and guidance on creative writing.

Write Your Own Myths showcases 20 myths, legends, and folktales from many different periods and cultures, and uses them as springboards and prompts to help you write your own versions--or point you in directions you never thought you'd go. You'll learn about all the important aspects of creative writing: * Learn about beginnings from The Sword in the Stone. * Baba Yaga's chicken house will help you get those settings believable. * Odysseus will teach you about dialogue and Loki will help you with plot. Supported with beautiful illustrations that will get your imagination flowing, there are also glossaries, tips and tricks, extra prompts, and more information about each myth or legend. The final section is packed with even more ideas for further reading and discovery. So what are you waiting for? Pick up a pen, and get creative!

Looks at the history, as well as explaining the structure and models for each genre and writing style.

Writing Nonfiction.

Explains how to write folktales, discussing such literary elements as setting, character, point of view, and plot, and contains examples from successful books and profiles of notable authors.

Legends are riveting tales that are based on real events, but exaggerated so that they are not completely true. In this book, readers will learn the most important aspects of what defines a legend, as well as how to tell fact from fiction in these semi-historical tales. Famous legends, such as those of Robin Hood and El Dorado, are presented in abridged versions that help anybody identify what various legends have in common and what is unique to the culture where the tale originated. Well-known classics are paired up with legends from various other cultures, including the Native American tribes of the Americas, encouraging readers to open their minds to stories from all around the globe.

Andi is short. And she has lots of wishes. She wishes she could play on the school basketball team, she wishes for her own bedroom, but most of all she wishes that her long-lost half-brother, Bernardo, could come and live in London where he belongs. Then Andi's biggest wish comes true and she's minutes away from becoming someone's little sister. As she waits anxiously for Bernardo to arrive from the Philippines, she hopes he'll turn out to be tall and just as crazy as she is about basketball. When he finally arrives, he's tall all right. Eight feet tall, in fact—plagued by condition called Gigantism and troubled by secrets that he believes led to his phenomenal growth. In a novel packed with quirkiness and humor, Gourlay explores a touching sibling relationship and the clash of two very different cultures.

"A powerful, complex, and fascinating coming-of-age novel." -- Costa Book Award PanelA boy and a girl in the Philippine jungle must confront what coming of age will mean to their friendship made even more complicated when Americans invade their country. Samkad lives deep in the Philippine jungle, and has never encountered anyone from outside his own tribe before. He's about to become a man, and while he's desperate to grow up, he's worried that this will take him away from his best friend, Little Luki, who isn't ready for the traditions and ceremonies of being a girl in her tribe.But when a bad omen sends Samkad's life in another direction, he discovers the brother he never knew he had. A brother who tells him of a people called "Americans." A people who are bringing war and destruction right to their home...A coming-of-age story set at the end of the 19th century in a remote village in the Philippines, this is a story about growing up, discovering yourself, and the impact of colonialism on native peoples and their lives.