A Beginning, a Muddle, and an End

Kicking off another line-up of kids’ books, I read A Beginning, a Muddle, and an End: The Right Way to Write Writing by Avi, the author of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (which I distinctly remember not finishing as a kid). A sequel to The End of the Beginning, this silly tale follows a snail named Avon and an ant named Edward.

Avon sits down to write about his adventures from the first book, but is facing a bit of writer’s block. Edward decides to give him some advice. This book is more of a cute tale for aspiring writers than something kids would actually enjoy, but the silly plays on words far outweigh any actual writing advice—although the last 3 pages are quite inspiring. An anteater, coming after Edward, is convinced that what he really wants to eat are aunts. (“In this world U can make a difference.”) The humor is a cross between the cleverness of The Phantom Tollbooth and the utter zaniness of Monty Python.

Still, there are 5 rules to writing:

1) Write about what you know.
2) Write abut what you don’t know.
3) Write about what you don’t know as if you did know it.
4) Make sure that when you’re writing about what you don’t know as if you did know,

conceal the fact that you don’t know what you’re doing.
5) Always leave your reader guessing.

So, there it is, from a Newbury Medal-winning author. Happy writing!