First Words: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors

Cover-to-cover excellence. If you have favorites among the 22 contemporary authors represented in this anthology, you will enjoy reading samples of their childhood writings. Young Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Rita Dove, Maxine Hong Kingston and the other authors demonstrate precocity, maturity, and a firm grasp of story structure and plot development.Marginal notes can be intrusive, but I found myself looking forward to editor Paul Mandelbaum's illuminating comments about each writer's life and work. The information deepened my understanding of the writer's body of work. This is a wonderful book to own and a great gift idea.

We all need to walk before we can run -- and in "First Words," some of the world's greatest literary sprinters take their first fumbling steps. They stretch their muscles, get their balance, totter and then take off -- and what strides they finally make! Rounding up these first words, Editor Paul Mandelbaum has performed an invaluable and remarkable feat of literary excavation. Who knew this stuff even existed? For anyone who loves to read, or loves to write, "First Words" is revealing, inspiring and - believe it or not - just plain fun.

I found this book to be a fascinating voyage into the early minds of great writers. It was amazing to see little bits of genious and partially formed brilliance mingled with the half-baked ideas of the novice. If you are are a fan of any of these authors you will delight in this trip back to their first baby steps towards greatness.

FIRST WORDS was an expected find which has become a favorite gift. It allows the reader to turn back time and see the beginnings of a future writer. For aspiring writers it is both an education and an inspiration to see early stages of becoming a writer. For teachers it is an invaluable tool. 1-It demonstrates to the compulsively driven perfectionists in our classrooms that even those now famous had their own grammar, spelling, and revision demons to conquer. 2-It provides a cautionary tale, that none of us wants to be the teacher whose careless, quick negatives took years for a young writer to overcome. 3-It reminds us that lurking in classrooms all around this country are young children and young adults who will become the leading authors of tomorrow. It challenges us to do our best to help them along that path. I have giiven this to 12 other people so far, and many of them have gone on to buy it as gifts for colleagues, students, and friends. The idea is genius in its simplicity. The contributors and editors have made its reality a delight!