Kids are natural storytellers – they’re endless wellsprings of exciting ideas and fanciful tales. If you can guide them in creating their own pieces of writing from an early age, you’ll be shaping the next generation of bestselling authors. And because we at Readings have a vested interest in finding new storytellers, here are our favourite books for encouraging the young writer in your life.

642 Things to Write About: Young Writer’s Edition by 826 Valencia

In 2002, author Dave Eggers founded 826 Valencia: a non-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring kids and young adults to develop their writing skills. An army of volunteers gave their time to help kids of all ages develop a love of reading and writing through a series of workshops and open learning spaces.

642 Things to Write About is the equivalent of visiting one of these spaces in book form. The title really says it all: six hundred and forty two writing prompts that are bound to get young minds racing with writing possibilities. What would happen if all the characters of your favourite book came to life? And what would you do if you came across a T. rex sitting by the side of the road crying?

With this book in hand, your aspiring young author will never run out of ideas.

Once Upon a Slime by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton

Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton are an author/illustrator team who need no introduction. They are the pair who have single-handedly convinced a generation of Australian kids that reading can be not only cool, but funny and gross at the same time.

If you have a young reader aged eight or up at home, there’s a fairly good chance he or she has already ripped through Griffith’s & Denton’s Just series, their Treehouse series, and every other one of their extensive back list. So if you really want to kindle their creative spirit, Once Upon a Slime is an essential book to have on the shelf.

Not only is it full of writing prompts and activities, it also comes with a wealth of knowledge from the creators themselves, including what inspires them.

The Write Your Own Book Book

A blank page can be daunting, but an easy way to get past the first page jitters is to pick up a copy of The Write Your Own Book Book. Each page is a fill-in-the blanks exercise that’ll teach young writers how to get started on their own books.

Or, if you’d like to specialise, there’s also Write Your Own Adventure Stories and Write and Draw Your Own Comics, depending on which genre your child would like to become a bestselling author in.

These are full of clear, practical activities that will allow kids to flex their creative muscles and learn some very important literacy skills.

The Word Spy Activity Book by Ursula Dubosarsky

It goes without saying that writing and a love of words go hand-in-hand, but the grammatical quirks of the English language can be daunting to even the most seasoned writer, let alone a beginner. Which is why Ursula Dubosarsky’s Wordspy series is an absolute marvel: she manages to take tricky grammatical concepts and make them fun.

The Word Spy Activity Book is full of puzzles and games that let kids explore the amazing world of worlds. It’s guaranteed to give them the confidence to leap into their own storytelling adventures.

The Imaginary World of ____ by Keri Smith

So much of writing is about taking the world around you and recreating it in whatever way you see fit – which is why Keri Smith’s gorgeous The Imaginary World of ____ is such an important one to have in the collection of any aspiring author.

In a similar vein to Smith’s other works such as Wreck This Journal, the reader is encouraged to interact with the book, and to recreate a world in which stories can blossom through a series of prompts about maps, currency, weather, landscape and more.

Their Favourite Book by their Favourite Author

Sometimes kids won’t read the kinds of things we’d like them to read. Maybe they’re still holding on to that Captain Underpants story you hoped they’d grow out of three years ago. Maybe they’re re-reading Harry Potter for the fourteenth time. Or maybe they won’t look at anything not related to Minecraft.

But here’s the thing: nothing inspires kids to write more than loving reading, and there shouldn’t be a limit on what they love. So while there’s absolutely nothing wrong in guiding them towards new and undiscovered books, encouraging them to read and re-read their favourites will foster a love of reading. You may even have a lifelong writer on your hands too.