Ralph Fletcher is a friend of young writers and readers as well as writing teachers. He has written or co-authored many books for writing teachers including Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide, Teaching the Qualities of Writing, Lessons for the Writer's Notebook, Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices, and Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. Ralph has worked with teachers around the U.S. and abroad, helping them find wiser ways of teaching writing. Ralph's many books for students include picture books (Twilight Comes Twice, Hello Harvest Moon, and The Sandman), novels (Fig Pudding, Flying Solo, and Spider Boy), poetry (A Writing Kind of Day and Moving Day), and a memoir, Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid. His novel Uncle Daddy was awarded the Christopher medal in 2002. He has also written a popular series of books for young writers including Poetry Matters, Live Writing, and A Writer's Notebook. Ralph lives with his family in New Hampshire. He is a strong environmentalist who believes we all must work together to live in a more sustainable way. His other passions include travel, good food, dark chocolate, growing orchids, and sports.

Playing Around; 1: Pyrotechnics and Play; 2: A Love Affair with Words; 3: Writers Behaving Playfully; 4: Lessons from a Talking Elf; 5: A Developmental Perspective; Getting Serious; 6: Inventing Words; 7: Puns; 8: Idioms/Expressions; 9: Allusions; 10: Harnessing the Supple Power of Sentences; Playful Classrooms; 11: Reclaiming the Play in Language Play; 12: Igniting Pyrotechnics in the Classroom; 13: The Limits of Labeling: A Brief Cautionary Tale; 14: Parting Shots; 15: Questions and Answers; Craft Lessons; 16: Pyrotechnics Craft Lessons for Young Writers