We just finished up our June Summer Writing Camp — Adventure Tales and Survival Stories! 13 kids from Denver (who all love to write!), 1 fantastic lead instructor, and 4 happy volunteers trekked all over Denver looking for inspiration for our stories, and we can’t wait to show them to you!

We went to the incredible Maps and Atlases room at the Central branch of the Denver Public Library — seriously, have you seen it? If not, call the library and go visit it asap. It’s amazing. We got to see the oldest known maps of Denver, which were fascinating. Many students used the maps as inspiration for the setting in their own stories.

We got to visit the History Colorado Center and experience a simulated Dust Bowl storm. Students thought about what it would be like to survive in a scary situation — what would they need? How would they stay safe? What scary situation/villain/conflict would happen in their story? We also got to make our own rope and practice our ski jumps — some of us did better than others (on the ski jump). We didn’t want to leave, but we had to so we wouldn’t miss our bus. It’s so much fun taking a group of kids to a museum and having to force them to leave because they really want to stay!

Here’s Clary and Phoenix practicing their rope-making skills:

We also visited (and had a blast at) the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys. On Friday, Adam visited us and taught us how to make our books, and students created their own covers. Our anthology from camp will be published on our website soon, so please check back!

And now, we gear up for our July camp for kids ages 12-15 (July 14-18). We can’t wait! If you’re interested in attending this camp, please contact us and we’ll send you the application.

Here’s to reading, writing, and finding your creative space!