For the last 10 summers, I have been honored to work on the Rainbow Resource Summer Book Contest for young authors from ages 7 to 18. Every student who writes and illustrates a story (and sends it in) receives a hardcover copy of their book in the mail. Since it is their book, the contest rules state that parents are not allowed to help. “At all?” you might ask. And of course, any parent involved in their child’s life would want to help with the creation of their child’s book! But for this contest, this is their product, and the challenge presents a unique opportunity for your child to learn how to take ownership to make a vision come to life. Even better, without grown-up influence, intelligence, or interference, your child will craft a story that captures their brain at this moment in time. Talk about a treasure! Let them own their project, mistakes and all—you might be astounded by what they can do!
After all, though the prize is an exciting incentive, the goal of the contest is to grow. There are several ways that this contest encourages your child to take ownership of their writing.
Since it is a contest, there are rules to follow. Young authors should read and understand the rules before starting their book and refer to them periodically to make sure the book they are creating adheres to the rules. It can be painful to go back and change something late in the process when you realize it won’t work with the book layout. The authors will need to make choices every step of the way, such as deciding on page layouts, where to place illustrations, and the balance of illustrations and text. As they make these decisions, they gain more ownership over the project, inspiring independence and creativity. You can empower your child by encouraging them even when something they choose doesn’t look right to you. The point isn’t perfection—it’s the learning that happens as they experiment and tweak their story, and learning how to own the process is a skill that can transfer into other areas of life too.
So, can you as the parent do anything to help? What if your child desperately wants to write a story, but is struggling and becoming discouraged? You can certainly provide guidance by asking questions. Who are your characters? What do they look like? What happens to your characters? Where are they? Do they go somewhere? How do they get there? Note how these questions don’t steer your child in any one direction, but prompt them to think up their own answers.
A parent can provide resources. You might suggest they use printer paper for early drafts rather than immediately starting on the actual contest pages. You can make copies of the contest pages for them to practice on. You can ask how their story is coming and listen thoughtfully. As your child shares and you find yourself thinking of ways they could improve, remind yourself these choices belong to your child. Think of all the skills they are learning and the snapshot in time they are creating!
And after the project is done, you can absolutely use those mental notes you made along the way to help your child hone their skills. Perhaps an extra page a day of handwriting is in order, an extra grammar lesson, or a spelling list review. If you decide the contest was a fun experience, and end up doing several summers with us, your author will see improvement from book to book. With each book they complete on their own, their confidence will grow, and their progress will be something they can own and be proud of too. ~Sara
Here are the past contest winner’s books.
Please send any questions regarding the contest to us at bookcontest@rainbowresource.com.
