Customer Reviews

Rip the Page!: Adventures in Creative Writing

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My third grader and I have been having such a good time with this book, enjoying especially the wide variety of writing exercises and the invitation to "try this ..." and yes, to "rip the page!" right out of the book and get creative!

Ms. Benke invites kids to use the book as a personal journal "for inward-bound adventures" and brainstorming, dreaming, and exploring in their writing. There are word lists, "suddenly a story ..." exercises, secret codes, and advice from favorite authors like Lemony Snicket, Annie Barrows, and more.

This book is a fun, engaging tool for exploring creative writing - for all ages! (I may have to get my own copy to journal, create, write in, and rip up!)

Students must have such fun when Karen Benke enters the classrooms of California elementary and middle school to engage them in writing poetry. Many of her exercises have become Rip the Page, a book meant for young people as well as those who are young-at-heart. I fall into the latter category and found lots of fresh ideas in this engaging book.

Benke includes "Word Lists," "Try This" experiments to spark new ideas, "Suddenly a Story" pieces to inspire readers to collect and pay attention to truth and lies, "Definition Decoder," and "Notes" from writers like Naomi Shihab Nye and Lucille Clifton who share their thoughts on what it takes to put one's voice on the page.

As Shihab Nye says, "Each one of us is packed full of details which might like to glitter for a moment. The world around us is packed full of intriguing, connected details. Writing helps them have a place to shine."

Other beloved poets offer inspiration as well: Pablo Neruda for his odes and questions, and Charles Simic for the riddle of a stone.

"If you peek under the tent of life, what do you hear? What do you see? What makes you sneeze?" are among Benke's questions that encourage and entice answers from a part of the mind you may not have visited before. "Take a walk on the near and far side of your life," Benke advises. Such questions and answers can be shared with the young people in one's life and used in various settings where writers gather. Benke reminds readers to share what you've written "with the wind or a cloud. Stand under a tree. Let your voice grow tall, wide, confident, loud."

Children inspired this book and it is their sense of adventure, fun, enthusiasm, and spontaneous, from-the-heart responses that make it such a treat for any age. Poems by children are also included to show how the bending of rules reveal a voice, a longing, and a unique expression.

While much of the book is full of the delight of inventive and inspiring prompts and advice, there are some poignant moments as well. In the "Suddenly a Story" sections, Benke tells stories of herself and her students. One of them, a student named Rachel, says she doesn't like writing about herself. She's better at remembering her dad who died. Benke gave her permission to write about anyone and so Rachel wrote "straight through until recess." Some of Rachel's tribute to her father is included in "Memories Never Die" with a prompt for readers to write about someone special.

In another of the "Suddenly a Story sections, Benke encourages writers to "pick something that felt or still feels HUGE to you."

Blank squares in the book are meant for writing in. There are also pages for ripping. It's unlikely I'll rip pages out of the book but I can see that young people might enjoy the prompts on the blue pages. Those are the pages they have permission to rip--if the book is their own.

It's really helpful, as we age, to have type of the size that's used for children, because it's so much easier on the eyes. Lots of white space and inventive fonts make this a pleasing and inviting book for all ages. The delightful writing prompts, stories and definitions, along with encouragement, reveal the many amazing ways one can access memory and imagination and discover one's voice.

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This book has turned to be the perfect gift for friends who are adults as well as kids. I left the book out on a table in my house and it has been amazing to watch as friends visiting pick it up, start to peruse it and then exclaims how cool it is. It has something for everyone. So, has now become a great birthday gift idea.
I have used some of the ideas in the book with 2 boys (9 and 11 years old) who have had very limited exposure to pleasurable reading and none to creative writing. They have loved it and want more.
The layout and content of the book is very easy to use and oh so much fun!! Highly recommend.

Fun prompts take the fear factor out of the blank page. Remember just being silly and creative, without regard for other people's approval with deceptively simple exercises. Ripping the pages of Rip the Page feels so good it will trick you out of writer's block.

Be sure to keep a pad of Post-its with you as you read this book. You'll want to mark page after page of these playful exercises. Author Benke encourages creative writers to:

-be "curious about everything around you for a few minutes" each day (p. 24). This segues into a wonderful, meditation-like exercise in transforming the "awful, terrible, no-good" of the world with a breath.

-wonder "how things began"by writing a "favorite number, letter, punctuation mark...on a page and...imagining what it looks like, what or who it used to be, where it likes to hide, fly, build sand castles....maybe even how it moves and what it has to climb to get a better view of the sea or sky. You can also include what your number, letter punctuation mark isn't, never was, never will be." (p.26) This is a fun twist on an exercise I've used with my students on personification of abstract nouns.

-create a simple "list" poem with a dozen or so ideas to start with (p.111).

The exercises can be used to start the creative process or take it to a finished piece. Benke's delightful book is sparkling with fresh ideas and fun ways to use them.

All creative writing manuals are NOT created equal. In fact, I hesitate to even call this a "manual" because that word implies a strict set of how to instructions. "Rip the Page" couldn't be further from a rigid text. The warm introduction from the author sets a tone that is carried throughout the creative writing prompts and the thoughtful encouragement from well-known authors. This book is designed to help the reader search inside him/herself and find the creative being within.

As a creative writing instructor for young adults from many different educational backgrounds, I firmly believe that too many students have creative minds that they simply don't feel safe or encouraged to express. It's difficult for even the best instructor to simply walk into a classroom magically pull that creativity out of students. It's one thing to tell students they can release their imagination onto the page and quite another to show them HOW to tap into their creative minds. Fortunately, Karen Benke has just made this task significantly easier.

Amazon let's you "look inside" a few pages of this book. Take a peek. I promise, even the most reluctant writers will be inspired by what they find inside this gem.

I teach Creative Writing in the Middle School setting. I've found this book to be a great resource and extremely useful in helping my students to access their creativity.

This is an excellent resource for young writers. I teach JR. High and my students have enjoyed the prompts from this book. They are creative, thoughtful and motivational.

Recently led a writing/journal group class for young adults at our local library. I used this book to not only guide me with different ideas, but, also, ordered one for each student attending. They loved it! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to continue the student's excitement about writing.

Forget your writer's block, forget incomprehensible rules, forget trying to please another. Just go to Karen Benke's magical book and your creativity will flow unhampered, like your breath. Aimed for the younger crowd, it is equally inspiring for the ancients and should be on all of our desks.