This workshop for 8 - 10 year olds was held November 19, 2013 at 826michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was inspired by Laurel Croza and Matt James' 2010 book I Know Here. "Everyone carries at least one favorite place that they know really well inside their memory. Whether you love Michigan Stadium on game day, your grandma’s farm, or even your own bedroom, we bet if you described your favorite place to us we’d wish we could visit! In this workshop, we’ll practice writing creative nonfiction (a fancy way to say a story is so great it sounds made up even though it’s not!) and describe our favorite places in such vivid detail that we just might get transported!* *TARDIS not included."

1. Welcome to “Creative
Non-Fiction About Your
Favorite Place”!
Today’s tour guide: Julie Judkins

2. “Creative Non-Fiction” is the
art of writing about real
things using strong details
that tell what you
see, hear, feel, smell, and
taste.

3. I Know Here example
“I know this road, the one I am
walking on. One end goes to the
dam and the other end stops at
my school. I count the trailers
on my side of the road. There
are seven and mine makes
eight.
I know the forest behind my
home where I play hide-andseek in and out of the pine
trees, the needles soft like a
quilt under my feet. I know the
howling sound a wolf makes
when it calls out at night in that
very same forest.”
I Know Here was written by Laurel Croza and
illustrated by Matt James (Groundwood Books, 2010)

4. I Know Here example
“I know this road, the one I am
walking on. One end goes to the
dam and the other end stops at
my school. I count the trailers
on my side of the road. There
are seven and mine makes
eight.
I know the forest behind my
home where I play hide-andseek in and out of the pine
trees, the needles soft like a
quilt under my feet. I know the
howling sound a wolf makes
when it calls out at night in that
very same forest.”

5. I Know Here example
“I know this road, the one I am
walking on. One end goes to the
dam and the other end stops at
my school. I count the trailers
on my side of the road. There
are seven and mine makes
eight.
I know the forest behind my
home where I play hide-andseek in and out of the pine
trees, the needles soft like a
quilt under my feet. I know the
howling sound a wolf makes
when it calls out at night in that
very same forest.”

6. I Know Here example
“I know this road, the one I am
walking on. One end goes to the
dam and the other end stops at
my school. I count the trailers
on my side of the road. There
are seven and mine makes
eight.
I know the forest behind my
home where I play hide-andseek in and out of the pine
trees, the needles soft like a
quilt under my feet. I know the
howling sound a wolf makes
when it calls out at night in that
very same forest.”

7. If your favorite place was in a book, how
would it be described?

8. Let’s practice!

9. I Know Here example
“I know this road, the one I am
walking on. One end goes to the
dam and the other end stops at my
school. I count the trailers on my
side of the road. There are seven
and mine makes eight.
I know the forest behind my home
where I play hide-and-seek in and
out of the pine trees, the needles
soft like a quilt under my feet. I
know the howling sound a wolf
makes when it calls out at night in
that very same forest.”
What does a wolf sound like? Can
you think of a word to use instead
of howl?

10. Pack your bags! It’s time for a
Favorite Places Showcase!