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Book Review: The Writer’s Toolbox by Patricia Samuelsen

by Amy Blevins Leave a comment

Posts contain affiliate links. This means, if you choose to make a purchase, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. For more information please see our full disclosure.
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Early in the summer I read The Writer’s Toolbox by Patricia Samuelsen from cover to cover.  I didn’t start out planning to read it straight through.  I thought I would just read it long enough to see if it would work for my children and then pick up with them when we were ready for it.  Once I started reading I got so excited about the information presented I just decided to read the whole book.

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Each of 30 lessons covers a different rhetorical device.  The rhetorical device is presented, defined, explained and demonstrated through examples and writing exercises.  I got excited because I remember learning some of these in school. I had forgotten much and quickly recognized that my children would not be the only ones to benefit from the study.

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My husband and I had already set “improved writing skills” as one of our goals for our older children this summer, so the book could not have arrived at a better time.  We brought the book along on our cross-country drive to California.  Each day I have the older two children take turns reading a lesson and completing the exercises during the morning.  This takes between 15 and 20 minutes.  At lunch, we discuss the rhetorical device we have studied and I elaborate if I find they need more understanding.  In the afternoon, they each write 8 to 10 sentences about the day in their journal using at least one example of the rhetorical device being studied.

I am very pleased with the results.  Here is my ten year-old son’s entry on the day we studied metaphor.

Today we decided to go to a farmhouse restaurant.  The restaurant was in the middle of a corn farm.  It was old style.  We all had water to drink except for Mom and Grandma.  The food was good.  I shared the steak with Dad.  Afterwards, we swung on the saucer swing.  Dad pushed us.  I was riding a tornado, turning this way and that.

My Bottom Line: I give this book my highest recommendation.  This is a book we will return to again and again between now and high school graduation.  Children can begin using the book from age 10.  A fresh look at the book a few years later will bring even greater understanding.  At 37 years old, I learned a great deal myself and can therefore recommend the book to any writer who seeks to improve his skill.

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Book Reviews, Homeschooling, Reviews

About Amy Blevins

Amy lives with her husband and six beautiful children in Northern Virginia. Besides blogging, Amy enjoys homeschooling, hiking, reading, singing, teaching, and serving Jesus above all. Welcome.

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