Be An Author Month 2025

Randi AhrndtCollaboration, Digital Publishing, Digital Storytelling, English / Language Arts

Be An Author Month happens in March every year—a whole month dedicated to inspiring every student to embrace their creativity, articulate their thoughts, and harness the strength of their voice.

Be An Author Month takes place every March, celebrating the power of storytelling and student voice. This year’s theme, “Tell Your Story,” empowers students to explore their unique narratives and share their perspectives with the world.

March is a global celebration of literacy, with events like National Reading Month, Listening Awareness Month, and March into Literacy Month. At Book Creator, we’re excited to make Be An Author Month✨ the highlight of the year by turning classrooms into hubs of creativity and storytelling.

Why 'Be An Author'?

Every student has a story worth telling. Writing and publishing a book can help students develop confidence, improve literacy, and express their individuality. For reluctant writers, storytelling through digital tools makes the process accessible and exciting.

The origin of Book Creator:

In 2010, Dan Amos developed Book Creator to help his son, who was struggling with dyslexia, engage with reading and writing. What started as a way to create personalized books for one child has evolved into a platform that empowers millions of students worldwide to share their stories in creative ways.

Through Book Creator, students combine text, images, and multimedia to craft unique narratives that resonate with their voices.

What is Be An Author Month?

Be An Author Month is an annual celebration launched in 2022, focusing on storytelling, creativity, and literacy across the curriculum. This year, we are introducing a Student Personal Narrative "Tell Your Story" Competition to spotlight student voices and encourage storytelling at its most authentic.

Be An Author Month Goals:

  • Spark enthusiasm for writing and creativity 🚀.
  • Strengthen reading, writing, and communication 📚
  • Celebrate the power of personal stories 🌍.

What to expect this year

In 2025, Be An Author Month celebrates the theme: “Tell Your Story.”

  • Student Personal Narrative Competition: Students can submit their original stories for a chance to be featured in a published collection of narratives. Winners will receive special recognition and prizes.
  • Webinars and Workshops:
    • Webinars hosted in partnership with We Will Write and MagicSchool  to support literacy and storytelling.
    • A special webinar for students featuring renowned author Jill Esbaum, where they can hear her insights and ask questions about storytelling and writing. This will compliment the Authors Studio activity books by Beth Campbell.
  • Daily Writing Activity Resources: The journals below prompt to inspire students to reflect and share their experiences for both elementary and secondary students.
15 Science Projects for Book Creator classrooms
Book Creator for the High School Classroom
15 Social Studies Projects
13 Math Projects for Book Creator
15 Science Projects for Book Creator classrooms
Book Creator for the High School Classroom
15 Social Studies Projects
15 Social Studies Projects


Why should we focus on student storytelling?

Cognitive Engagement and Learning: Storytelling activates multiple parts of the brain, engaging sensory, emotional, and cognitive regions simultaneously. When students use their voice to share personal stories or creative narratives, they not only retain information more effectively but also deepen their comprehension of the material. Storytelling requires synthesis, organization, and expression, which are critical for higher-order thinking and mastery of content.

Language Development & Communication: Telling stories encourages the use of rich vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and expressive language. These experiences build the oral language skills essential for literacy development and later academic success. Additionally, storytelling bridges the gap between spoken and written communication, reinforcing grammar, vocabulary, and fluency in both modalities.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) & Confidence: Storytelling empowers students to share their unique perspectives, fostering empathy, connection, and self-awareness. As students tell their stories, they develop confidence in their voice, build interpersonal communication skills, and learn to navigate emotions and relationships. Sharing personal narratives allows students to see the value in their lived experiences, cultivating a sense of belonging and identity.

Differentiation & Multimodal Learning: Student storytelling offers opportunities for differentiation, as each student can express their ideas in ways that reflect their strengths and preferences. Teachers gain insights into individual learning needs and styles by listening to student stories, allowing for more personalized support. Furthermore, the storytelling process can be enriched with visuals, gestures, and multimedia, catering to diverse learners.

Creative Thinking and Problem-Solving:Storytelling nurtures creativity by encouraging students to imagine, organize, and express ideas in innovative ways. Crafting narratives requires students to connect ideas, resolve conflicts, and consider audience perspectives—skills that are transferable to problem-solving in academic and real-world contexts.

Community Building and Cultural Awareness: When students share their stories, they contribute to a classroom culture of inclusion and respect. Listening to peers’ stories broadens students’ understanding of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures, promoting a more equitable and empathetic learning environment. Storytelling helps students see their own narratives as part of a larger human tapestry.

Focusing on student storytelling not only enhances academic outcomes but also empowers students to connect, grow, and thrive in a complex, interconnected world.

How to Participate in Be An Author Month

Starting February 10th visit the Be An Author Month Hub to access everything you need, including:

  • Details about the Student Personal Narrative Competition, including guidelines, templates and teacher submission links.
  • Attend webinars for teachers and students, including our Authors Studio on March 19.
  • Classroom resources to integrate storytelling across the curriculum, including the March Monthly Journal.

Are you in?
Be An Author Month hub coming soon!

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Get Book Creator for your school!

  • Upgraded accounts for all your teachers
  • Implementation plan to help with rollout
  • PD support
  • Analytics & admin dashboard

Be An Author Month happens in March every year, and it’s a celebration of reading and writing! Turn your students into authors and see them develop literacy skills that will serve them in any subject.

The month of March is known around the world as National Reading Month, Listening Awareness Month, and even National March into Literacy Month. At Book Creator, we celebrate BE AN AUTHOR MONTH✨!

It’s a time for showcasing how literacy can come alive! Turn your students, and even yourselves, into published authors through reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities across all subjects.

The idea of writing and publishing a book is exciting! Writing a story onto a fresh, blank page can be thrilling for many, but also a challenge to some who have difficulty with literacy skills. In fact, this is exactly how Book Creator was started!

Book Creator superheroWhy 'Be An Author'?

The idea of writing and publishing a book is exciting! Writing a story onto a fresh, blank page can be thrilling for many, but also a challenge to some who have difficulty with literacy skills. In fact, this is exactly why Book Creator was started!

Like all the best superheroes, Book Creator has an amazing origin story. Did you know that the app was created to help a reluctant reader? In 2010, Dan Amos and his wife were trying to support their son, who was struggling to read the books provided by his school.

Dan’s son was diagnosed with dyslexia. This meant the curriculum-based books that his classmates were reading were not suitable for his reading level.

With a distinct lack of reading options available, Dan and his wife came to a decision that would change the course of their lives! They decided that instead of trying to find reading material he would engage with - why not create it themselves?! And so Book Creator was born. Dan built the app himself and before long they were able to create books on subjects that their son could get excited about, and his reading subsequently improved.

Naturally, the next step beyond that for the learners is to start writing their own books, demonstrating their understanding, and improving literacy across the curriculum.

15 Science Projects for Book Creator classrooms
Book Creator for the High School Classroom
15 Social Studies Projects
13 Math Projects for Book Creator

What is Be An Author Month?

We are all authors. But maybe you have students who don't think they can write. Maybe your district has a problem with literacy scores, and is looking for a solution.

This month is all about addressing that. Let's make writing the focus this month, across the curriculum. Turn students into authors and see how by creating and sharing digital books, magic can happen:

  • Engagement in class sky-rockets 🚀
  • Reading and writing levels soar 📕
  • The whole school benefits 🌈

Be An Author Month launched in 2022 and we aim to establish it as an annual event that gets bigger each year. There is so much going on in March that it makes sense to theme it around literacy, and writing in particular. There is Read Across America Day, World Storytelling Day, and World Poetry Day to name just a few special occasions in March.

What to expect this year

This year, Be An Author Month is about Finding, Refining, and Recording your VOICE to share your amazing stories! There are many research-based benefits of students reading, writing, or telling their stories in educational and cognitive development.

Let's make this clear:

“Voice” Doesn’t Mean Your Actual Speaking Voice

At Book Creator, we embrace diverse modes of communication, and are passionate about ensuring an inclusive learning environment for all, which is why leveraging technology, such as our platform, ensures students who are unable to use their physical voice, still have a voice in their writing, reading, and storytelling experiences.

This can be shared through visual storytelling, digital tools and multimedia, collaborative writing, video sign-language, and interactive discussions. All of these features and more allow every student using Book Creator to have a voice in your classroom.

Why should we focus on student voice?

Cognitive Engagement and Learning: Engaging our multiple senses, including auditory processing through speaking or listening, enhances our ability to retain information. When students use their voice to share their thoughts or stories, they actually activate parts of their brain that leads to better comprehension and mastery. In addition, research in educational psychology shows that learners who are actively engaged in the learning process can verbalize their thoughts and ideas more easily and effectively whether in oral or written forms.

→ Language Development & Communication: Oral reading (or speaking aloud) promotes language development, especially in early childhood education. Oral language skills are foundational to later literacy development and can support students with vocabulary enhancement, grammar acquisition, and overall language and speaking fluency which is needed for effective communication.

→ Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) & Confidence: Communication (whether written or oral), is a key component of SEL. Students who engage in expression, especially verbally, often show better interpersonal skills, empathy, and self-awareness. In addition, Using their voice in educational settings contributes to better confidence and has a positive impact on overall academic achievement and learning outcomes.

→ Differentiation & Reading Fluency: Science of Reading research indicates explicitly that reading aloud contributes to improved reading fluency and comprehension for students. When students read or discuss content aloud, they are more likely to notice patterns in text, understand context, and make connections between ideas. In addition, allowing students to use their voice facilitates differentiated instruction. Teachers can better understand individual learning styles, preferences, and challenges when students express their thinking in a variety of ways.

How do I take part in Be An Author Month?

All month long we will be sharing resources, lesson ideas, prompts, templates, webinars, and more on how you can use Book Creator to increase motivation, engagement, and literacy skills across the curriculum using student voice.

Head over to the Be An Author Month hub for links to all the good stuff!

Join our kickoff webinar

We're kicking things off on Thursday, 15th February. Join us and learn exactly how you and your school can participate and make the most of the resources on offer. We look forward to seeing you there!

Register here

Other things to look out for:

  • Book Creator templates to help with reading and writing
  • An Activity Journal for every day of the month!
  • Webinars throughout the month to support and inspire you

We believe that every student has a story worth telling, and Be An Author Month is dedicated to providing them with the platform and tools to amplify their voices.

Through the magic of words and the joy of creation, March is not just another month at Book Creator, but a chapter in every student’s personal narrative, where they get to become the authors of their own tales.

Help us encourage every student to unleash their imagination, express their thoughts, and use their voice to celebrate unique perspectives, diverse narratives, and the power of storytelling.

Are you in?

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