Dear Parents (and kids, too, if you want to read this),

My name is Stephen “Pierre” Peters, and I have been helping kids from kindergarten through 12th grade to become better writers for over 20 years.  Throughout the school year I visit schools for one- or two-week writing residencies, when I teach reading and writing skills by teaching kids to write stories and poems.  Part of the fun of what I do in the classroom is that I tell stories and recite some of my pretty crazy poetry.  Kids know right away that I love my job!

My articles and essays have appeared in publications ranging from the Christian Science Monitor to Mpls-St.Paul Magazine; my fiction has appeared in Cricket Magazine, Prairie Schooner, West Branch, Twin Cities Magazine, Blast Off, and many other publications.  My stories have been anthologized in Stiller‘s Pond: New Writing from the Upper Midwest, American Voices, and the electronic publisher SIRS. I am a winner of a Loft Mentor Series Award, a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, the Prairie Schooner Reader‘s Choice Award, and the Lawrence Foundation Prize.  The last two of these awards are national.

I am also editor of two anthologies of stories, poems, and songs written by school age kids: I Stand on You and Sing That Song, 1999, and Eyes Full of Sky, 2007, both published by COMPAS.  My book for fifth graders, Pennsylvania, published by Marshall Cavendish, came out in 2000.  A book of my cartoons and rhymed poems, Kerfuffle!, 2007, is published by Spruce Place Books, which also published A Special Way, 2007, a self-help book for kids and adults to read together. 

Starting at Penn State and then moving on to Metropolitan State University in Minnesota, I taught college writing part-time for 22 years. In addition, I occasionally teach for the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and present many workshops and talks at professional development conferences for teachers and arts educators.  My classes and workshops have been made up of traditional college-age students, prison inmates, older adults returning to school after a long absence, recent immigrants from around the world, school children of all ages, veterans suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome, and once even a group of Tibetan Buddhist nuns in the Himalayan Mountains.

About the site:  In creating this site, I want to encourage good writing on the web in addition to giving kids an attractive, safe outlet for their writing.  To do that I urge students, teachers, and kids to read my attached blog, writerswing.com.  Since I will be reading the work your children submit, my blog will be able to respond constructively to issues of process, technique, and editing as they appear.  These general comments will be positive.

Membership on kidswrite4kids.com is for kids 14 and younger and is FREE.

Contact me at Storymaker@aol.com if you have questions. 

I strongly encourage kids to take care to do and send their best work.

So!  Now let’s have some fun and see the imaginative stories, poems, and essays your kids are ready to create!

Sincerely,

  Stephen “Pierre” Peters

 Please Read the Following

The young authors who publish their work on www.kidswrite4kids.com own their work.  We do ask, however, that they respect the fact that the work was published here first.  With the author’s permission, works submitted to www.kidswrite4kids.com may later be published in a variety of media styles such as books, magazines, CD-ROM products, and other printed or electronic material.  Young authors appearing on www.kidswrite4kids.com are encouraged to display their work in any way they wish.  We only ask that they note on the publication that the writing was published first on www.kidswrite4kids.com.

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What Information Do We Collect and How Do We Use It?

www.kidswrite4kids.com complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).When you sign your child up for kidswrite4kids.com or make a purchase on our Book Store page, we collect the standard credit card information. Book Store orders also need a mailing address for the package.  At membership sign up, we ask for an email address 1) in the unlikely event that we need to contact you to insure the child’s safety, 2) in the equally unlikely event of a child’s submitting inappropriate material, 3) to ask permission to use his or her writing in a different form (see above), or 4) to write a brief note to your child thanking him or her for a contribution and suggesting a subject for another piece of writing. We do not share any of this information with third parties. The only information we collect from your child is first name, age, city or town, state or country, and email address in case we have to contact your child with information about the possible showcase of the best writing or, regrettably, to respond to inappropriate material.  Your child’s first name, city, state or country, and age will appear with his or her writing.  We do not share the email address with any third party.You have the right to refuse to provide any of this information or to change it at any time.  We retain the right to not publish inappropriate material.  If you need to contact me, email me at storymaker@aol.com, putting www.kidswrite4kids in the subject line.