A multi-sensory approach to enhance kids' writing, drawing, and thinking skills.

Explore-a-Story is a literary analysis journal geared to help kids from elementary age through high school explore the stories they are reading. It guides kids to delve deeply into the concept of character-exploring how characters act and feel, as well as their desires and obstacles.

Drawing and analyzing characters helps bring stories to life. Part literary analysis tool, part book journal, Explore-a-Story contains drawing pages with strategies to help kids create their own graphic versions of story characters.

Tips and tricks throughout the journal aid kids in drawing, encouraging even the timid artist to recognize how drawing can enhance insight. Bits and pieces of writing help even the timid writer uncover each story's conflict and theme, putting their ideas on paper. Explore-a-Story uses a multi-sensory approach to connect both language and art to language arts-enhancing kids' writing, drawing, and thinking skills!

Here's what a few reviewers have posted:

"As a homeschool parent I loved that I could use it across a wide age range. I especially liked the stick figure drawing tips, as well as the ability to really get to the core of the characters with bits and pieces of writing. Very doable for kids for whom writing is great effort. Excellent higher level thinking skills activity."
-Homeschool Parent

"This is a great tool to help the student think deeply about a character in order to draw the character effectively. This deep thinking leads to deeper comprehension of the text. Great tool!"
-5-star Amazon Review

"I love Explore-a-Story so much that I purchased 4 copies - one for each of my children and one for me. Yes, I engage in deep character analysis right alongside my kids. We use this Graphic Character Journal to analyze characters in books and movies. My kids love bringing art and writing together. I love that the process is broken down into manageable stages so even the youngest writers or struggling learners are engaged... The more we practice deep character analysis through Explore-a-Story, the more my kids engage in deep discussions about the characters they encounter in their reading and t.v./movie watching. The benefits go far beyond the pages in this journal."
-Verified Amazon Review

Explore-a-Story helps you explore the books you read by creating a graphic of your favorite character. You start by selecting a character from a story. Each graphic you create will have it's own two-page spread in your journal. You have enough pages for 23 different characters from as many stories as you want.

There are five easy stages for creating a single graphic character:

STAGE 1: Choose a character.

STAGE 2: Describe your character's thoughts, feelings, and attitude.

STAGE 3: Write your character's desire and main obstacle.

STAGE 4: Add a sign and write a message from your character.

STAGE 5: Fill in the background/setting.

Working on each graphic in stages helps you dig in and relate to the story in a more personal way. Drawing will strengthen your writing, and writing will make your drawing come to life. Throughout your journal, you will find tips and tricks to help with writing, drawing, and thinking.

Perfect for any language arts classroom, homeschooling, and for parents who want to connect more with their kids, this full color Graphic Character Journal makes an ideal gift or addition to your language arts resource tool kit!

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