Book excerpt: Journals offer young people a safe place to reflect, reminisce, dream, explore feelings and relationships, set goals, solve problems, celebrate themselves, and yes, even practice writing. In this book the authors detail myriad fascinating possibilities for journal keeping as a tool for transformation and for building skills. Techniques range from writing about a first memory to designing a dream house to creating a main character for a novel. Guidelines, tips, and lists of additional resources abound. Chapters cover reasons to keep a journal, techniques and definitions, recording the present, remembering the past, exploring the future, the celebration journal, reflection, problem solving and decision making, catharsis, fantasy, people, practicing fiction, reviewing the journal, and sharing the journal. Grades 4-9 (adaptable to any age).