Fair Showcases Budding Writers

Who says you have to be an adult to write a book?

Students at Junipero Serra Elementary School in Ventura have written 200.

Tuesday, they revealed a world of magic fish, monsters and baseball stars during an hourlong festival featuring the books they had written.

The budding scribes wrote the books in preparation for the Young Writers Fair, an event sponsored by the Ventura Unified School District. The fair, which will be held at Cabrillo Middle School on Saturday, is expected to draw more than 5,000 book entries from students districtwide, said Jean Eaton, a teacher who organized the event.

The young authors Tuesday took turns reading aloud from their books, regaling their classmates with stories of animals coming to life and children getting lost in the sea.

“It’s exciting to think up stories,” said Alana Mitnick, 8, who wrote about zebras and horses who played tricks on a schoolteacher.

Children who learn how to write are better able to organize their thoughts and understand what they read, Eaton said.

Most students agreed. “I get a lot of ideas from books that I read,” said 7-year-old Joyce Eybsen, whose love of rhymes inspired her latest book of poems, some of which begin with the familiar “Roses are red . . .”

Although Eybsen said she has never had writer’s block, she suggests that others who do read more.

Ron Bennet, 8, has already written several books and is planning several more. Bennet, who wants to become a baseball and hockey star when he grows up, said the stories he likes best are about sports.

“When I write about baseball, I just imagine what it will be like when I’m famous,” the second-grader said.