I often get requests for recommendations of good typing programs.  My first response is always that it depends heavily on the person who’s to be doing the typing, so if you can try things out before you buy them, you’re likely to get better results.  I am, however, a big fan of Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor, and I know more than one person under the age of 18 who’s enjoyed it as well.  It’s animated and has a sense of humor, but neither are done with condescension.  The program’s mascot is a cherubic-looking Viking.  There are speed tests, key-by-key lessons, and practice games.  You also have the option of linking up with iTunes to use song lyrics for practice.

The program is available for download or on compact disc and offers a free trial.  Let me know what you think…

Ten-Second Rainshowers: Poems by Young People is a great little book. The poems are useful not only for their potential to inspire other young poets but also for expanding the notion of what makes a poem a poem. Most are free verse, and many do not rhyme. One of the uses for the book that’s proved more popular than I expected was a little game of Guess the Age of the Poet. Each of the poems is listed with its author’s name and age.   The premis of the game is as it sounds - I’d read a poem, and then take guesses as to the author’s age. I didn’t expect it to be much fun, but the young people I tried it with seemed to enjoy thinking about what kind of frame of mind the author would have had to have been in to write each piece, and then what age person might have that frame.  It definitely got my young writers thinking about the act of writing, and realizing that there were actual people behind it. This book offers the opportunity for kids to relate a little bit more to published writers.

I know several school students who live in acute fear of plagiarizing.  They’re not sure what constitutes it, but they understand that it’s very very bad and can get them in lots of trouble.  Their uncertainty about the difference between plagiarizing and writing about something you’ve read somewhere is understandable - it’s a fine line and one that doesn’t… can’t, probably… get enough attention in their classrooms.  What’s worse is that I see many of them shying away from writing anything at all about what they’ve read because they’re so afraid that it’ll be or at least be considered cheating.  If you get the chance, this is a great conversation to have with young people, and I find that somewhere around the ages of 10 or 11 tends to work particularly well.  (Not only because this is a time when this kind of task may come up, particularly if they’re in school, but also because it’s a time when they’re likely to be particularly interested in fairness and issues of fair use.)  When I bring it up, I talk about how it’s tricky to find that line between copying and writing from your own mind about what you’ve learned.

This is a book worth trying with young male readers fall into either category (or both). It’s a collection of very short stories and essays (one to two pages) by male authors whose work has proven popular with male readers. Many of the stories are funny, many contain useful life lessons, and many contain the kind of content and language parents may want to review before their child jumps in. In one story a neighbor launches his brother high over a fence with a makeshift catapult. Of course, the edgy content is part of the reason many of the boys I know have liked this book. The stories have action, and often action of questionably good judgment. If you don’t mind doing the work of managing the questions and ideas that may arise from your child’s reading of the stories, you’ll also likely find that the book is great for generating discussion. The collection is also a good way to expose readers to authors they may be willing or even excited to read.

Guys Write for Guys Read is available new and used from amazon. While you’re looking, you might also check out 13: Thirteen Stories that Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen, which I’ve found often appeals to readers who like Guys Write…