Build A Monster

 Teachers and parents, looking for activities for your littles? New fun activities posted weekly!

You can download the full size PDF here!

Book Recommendation: Nimona 

The movie is out now on Netflix, but the book is even better!

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*The activities on this site are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for profit without written consent.

**The above contains affiliate links

Summer Reading Activity for (Spooky) Kids

Looking for reading activities for your summer? I hope to start posting weekly games and activities, starting with this! 

You can download the full-size PDF here!

Thanks for joining! Please feel free to pass this along to parents, teachers, or anyone else looking for some fun kids activities!

Sign up for my monthly newsletter, and preorder The Nightmare House today!

*The activities on this site are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for profit without written consent.

An Author's Many Hats

Happy Monday! And happy March! So glad to have January and February over and done with, yeah? I'm feeling the tireds and the winter-time blues, so let's see if we can push through together!

An Authors Many Hats: 

What other hats do we authors wear?

When Are You Gonna Write Real Books for Adults?

A Question For Teachers:

@sarahallenbooks Hey teachers! especially elementary and middle school teachers. I have a question for you. #teachersoftiktok #teacherlife #teachertok #teachertiktok ♬ Blue Blood - Heinz Kiessling

Book Recommendation: This book by Delilah Dawson is so well written and lots of good spooky fun! You and your upper-middle grade readers will love it.

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How To Write A Query Letter

 I hope you've all had a great week! I spent most of mine working on some freelance writing work as well as the zero draft of my next middle grade novel--it's a monster book, and has been great fun to write! What are you all working on?

How To Write A Query Letter

Toast: A Poem

The 'I Don't Want To Write' Song:

@sarahallenbooks The surprise end of this song sponsored by my mom's pantry. Thank you for coming to my "I Don't Want To Write" concert. And thank you @literallyjohngreen and @hankgreen1 for the Tshirt. #writertok #writersoftiktok #authorsoftiktok #sillysong #songs #songwriter ♬ original sound - Sarah Allen | Author

Book Recommendation: One of my very favorites of recent years is Scary Stories for Young Foxes, by Christian McKay Heideker. I was so thrilled when it won the Newbery! Check it out! 

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Teach Yourself Illustration and Cartooning

Teach Yourself Illustration and Cartooning

Hi friends! Are you at all interested in illustration or comics drawing? Personally, I'm a writer first and foremost, but I have always been interested in illustrated chapter books, picture books, and graphic novels. As writers, having those skills simply opens up additional opportunities, right? So the last few months I've really been diving in to it. I've never taken an art class and don't feel like I'm ever going to be a great artist, but here's the key to all this, that I learned from the amazing graphic novelist and illustrator, Jarod Rosello: your art doesn't have to be great, it just has to communicate. I feel like that idea freed me from the constraints of feeling like I actually had to be good at this, ha! And since then, I've been going through a lot of tutorials on the site 21-Draw, and they have been incredibly helpful. So if you're interested in being able to open more writing opportunities for yourself with some art communication skills, I recommend it to you!

Writing Villains: This is what always happens when I write villains--

My Kitty is Named After My Favorite Star Trek Character:

Book Recommendation: Speaking of Jarod Rosello, may I recommend to you his fantastic middle grade graphic novel series? It's adorable and so much fun!

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Sign up for my monthly newsletter, and preorder The Nightmare House today!