In September, 2025, I was traveling to a writing retreat and had a layover in Chicago's O'Hare airport. My goal for the retreat--besides doing a good job teaching--was to come out of it with ten ideas for stories. I wanted to just play with ideas, explore language and find a way toward a couple new stories. To that end, I bought THE PRACTICE OF POETRY: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach.  I came to a new chapter, "Breaking the Sentence; Or, No Sentences but in Things," by Robert Mitchell, which suggested that you create lists and work from that.

As examples of poems starting with or drawing upon lists, he suggested these and others:

• Gary Soto – “Ode to the Yard Sale”
• James Wright - Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota
• James Tate - The Blue Booby
• Elizabeth Bishop - The Fish

Mitchell says, "I often assign this exercise to poets whos minds seem, at the time, overdetermined by the sentence and all its rules and proprieties. Overborne by language, you might say."

In other words, he's urging creative writers to return to words and find inspiration there. It frees the imagination, Mitchell suggests.

Writing a List for Kids

Mitchell demonstrated the idea by listing items on his desk. 

So, there, in the noisy waiting area of Chicago O'Hare, I wrote a list, thinking of things that kids might include. That became the first draft of my story, FROWNS: NOUNS, A FEW ADJECTIVES. 

Launching on August 11, 2026, the story developed rapidly. From a list of unconnected words, a story emerged of a girl, Jo, starting a new school in search of a friend, and Bo, who responds with kindness.

Nouns Only (OK, a Few Adjectives)

The starting list was only nouns, and I quickly realized that I didn't need long sentences to convey the story. Yes, the illustrator and the illustrations would carry much of the weight of the story, but--what fun!--I could tell the story with only nouns. And, OK, a few adjectives.

Another breakthrough was when I realized that this could become a decodable text. I had to pay attention to the exact words and use words that can be easily decoded with phonics, or were sight words. Books meant for kids becoming independent readers use repetition to emphasize ideas, but also to reinforce a child's reading skills. Repetition and decodable words became a strategy to tell a stronger story.

Instead of: "Dark hallway."

It became: "Long, long hall."

Long is repeated twice; the compound word "hallway" is replaced by the easier to decode "hall." The story stayed the same, but the story became easier to read.

Teaching SEL, Reading, and Grammar

The advantage of using only nouns (and a few adjectives) is that teachers can use the book in multiple ways for various educational goals.

1) Social Emotional Learning. How to welcome a new student into your classroom.

2) Decodable Text for Early Readers. Simple, decodable text that can support kids learning to read. It's F&P Text Level K, ages 5-8.

3) Teach Grammar. I remember my son's English teacher asking them to understand nouns. I asked, "Do you want them to define a noun, identify a noun, or use a noun in a sentence." All three of these grammar goals are possible here. 

Creating a Series that Started With a List

After I created a coherent story from a list of nouns, well, the next challenge was obvious: create a story with verbs (and a few adverbs)!

That story, VOTE: Verbing Wildly will launch in February 2027! Jo and Bo will be back wtih a new, exciting story.