The Little Red Writing Book

Perfectly organized, succinct, excellent guide to every kind of writing, especially great for upper level English as a 2nd Language learners and pretty much any student (or native speaker who is hesitant to write). Pam in Little Rock, MASL/International English instructor

It's seems that Brandon Royal distanced himself from the writing process before creating this book. This distancing breathes new life into the art of writing to the benefit of "The Little Red Writing Book" readers. This book is helpful when organizing your thoughts before writing a book or paper. Royal proposes methods for presenting your material while suggesting ideas for making your writing easy on the eyes. While writing, getting lost in your own world happens. Yet, you don't want your reader to get lost. Royal helps you stay true to your writing agenda while keeping your reader enticed. As far as grammar goes, Royal serves it up in short easy to remember bullets. My favorite example is when to use the word "like" instead of "such as" and visa versa.

As someone who communicates for a living (with a penchant for writing), I recently purchased The Little Red Writing Book to add to my personal library. Notwithstanding its hard cover, this book clearly reminded me of an earlier soft cover classic, The Elements of Style. I couldn't help reviewing both books while noting their similarities and differences. Here's my take: The Elements of Style is really a grammar book with a dose of style added. The Little Red Writing Book is foremost a writing skills book with grammar added. Case in point: The Elements of Style devotes half its coverage to "rules of usage" and "words and expressions commonly misused"; it doesn't even address structure, whereas The Little Red Writing Book wastes no time in discussing the "top-down approach to writing" and the "high school five-paragraph approach to writing". In terms of writing style, the essence of The Elements of Style is "cut out unnecessary words", while the gist of The Little Red Writing Book is "be specific, give adequate support for what you say". The Elements of Style contains no exercises. The Little Red Writing Book does, and this is an indisputable strength of this book, for I know of no other small book that deals with writing and also contains short exercises. I have secretly marveled at writing books that attempt to teach writing without providing exercises. Of course, any handbook of English grammar will contain exercises, but its thickness will prove intimidating for all but the bravest student. Which brings me to another point. In dividing the world of writing books into manuals, handbooks, and pocketbooks, there certainly exist a number of excellent books in the first two of these categories. The Chicago Manual of Style and The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage are examples of renowned manuals; Warriner's English Grammar and Composition and Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers are just two of many superb handbooks. The Little Red Writing Book brought home to me the idea of all-roundedness. All of the pocketbooks that I've reviewed to-date are focused on grammar. TLRWB is broad reaching and the book's introduction highlights this: *Writing has four pillars-structure, style, readability, and grammar-and each pillar is like the single leg of a sturdy chair. Structure is really about organization and deciding in which order to present your ideas. Style describes how one writes, including how to use specific examples to support what is written. Readability is about presentation, and how to make a document visually pleasing and easy to read. Grammar, including diction, is about expressing language in a correct and acceptable form.* One of my pet peeves with other writing books and writing courses is that they focus on grammar. I believe this has in large part led to the belief that if a person masters grammar, then he or she has mastered writing. I know people who can write technically correct sentences but are still not effective writers.

The perfect gift for students,professionals and anyone who has to write. Not only does this book contain the "good oil" on writing, it is magnificently presented. The book's size, hardcover, illustrations and color make it a writer's reference that begs to be read. Don't let the books title fool you, there is nothing "little" about this writing book! Congratulations to author, Brandon Royal, on a modern look at writing that surely outdoes some of the older texts currently on the market. Buy youself a present now!

The Little Red Writing Book is a must have for individuals seeking to improve their writing skills. The overall quality of writing has lapsed in today's world of email and text messages. Brandon Royal's book is made for those people who are seeking to improve their writing and for those people who want to communicate clearly through the written language. An absolute must have book for people who expect their writing to be taken seriously in educational or professional settings. I think its useful for students who are writing essays, professionals who need to draft clear and conscise memos, and anyone else who may needs to improve their writing style. I've used other products by Brandon Royal and his strong teaching and educational experiences resonate throughout his publications. I loved this powerful little book!