Scholastic's Diary Maker is a creative writing program that lets students create personal diaries. Three diaries are included for examples. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition, is a diary by Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who lived in Holland during World War II. Le Journal de Zlata, is a diary written by a girl who lived during a war in Bosnia. The Diary of Latoya Hunter is a diary written by an African American girl growing up in New York City. The diaries outline important events in history and provide real pictures from the past. They also contain a Diarist Choice Screen, a presentation of the diaries in excerpts, and Smart Pages. Smart Pages contain the completed diary entries from which excerpts are taken. The Diary Maker section is where you begin your diary. The Diary Maker consists of a Writing Palette (Backgrounds), a Reading Palette (Smart Tools), and a Smart Spot Maker. There are eight different categories from which to choose. The Smart Tools enable users to underline text, place stamps, take notes, erase, listen to text read aloud or help find ideas for writing. The Smart Start Maker is located at the bottom of the Reading Palette. You can use the Smart Spot Maker to add sound, images, or even short movies to your diary.

Scholastic's Diary Maker is accurate and appropriate for the target population. The program can be used during a memoir genre study. The program incorporates the various components of a diary while also providing examples from authentic literature. The content is easy to read and access. The program contains diaries of three girls of different races. It does not contain any diaries written by boys, although, a male voice does narrate at one point in the program. Girls may prefer this program.

The program is easy to install and use. The Navigation Bar enables the user to move easily throughout the program. It is located at the bottom of the screen, and includes icons available to exit, go to the Diary Maker, go to the diarist, and go back and forth through excerpts. The Reading Palette (Backgrounds) and Writing Palette (Smart Tools) are icon menus that provide tools and backgrounds to use in diary entries. The program contains outstanding graphics, sound, and animation. The diaries contain appropriate music, and the pictures are educational. Zlata Filipovic and Latoya Hunter both read excerpts of their diaries aloud. A male narrator reads most of Anne Frank's diary, but a young girl's voice is heard in some sections.

Scholastic's Diary Maker makes good use of the computer. Children can view diaries drawn from previously published books in order to become familiar with the art of diary writing or to use as stimulation in finding creative ideas for new diary entries. When students create diaries using this software, motivation to write should increase. Diaries can be viewed by the class during a social studies unit on war, multicultural studies, or to aid with research projects. The software links the reading and writing processes. The text-to-speech feature allows children to hear their entries read aloud at any time. The multitude of available options provided in this program meet the needs of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners, while fostering creativity.

Scholastic's Diary Maker empowers students. Students determine what they want to write and how their entries will look. The program enables students to create a personal diary. Diaries can be shared with classmates in order to foster creativity, establish interest, and boost students' confidence with writing. A love for writing will generate as students develop as diarists.

As an introduction, the teacher should demonstrate the program to the whole class using a large screen display device. Students should start by exploring the program and its options. Teachers may choose to introduce the program one component at a time beginning with the diaries. The teacher can track progress and evaluate work by viewing saved or printed diaries.

This program is an excellent supplement to a genre study within a writing program for children in grades three through nine. If a computer lab is available, students should work on diaries individually, but one computer and a LCD would enable a teacher to show the diaries to the whole class.

This program is a useful addition to the writing program in grades three to nine. It fosters creativity and enables students to grow as writers while connecting writing to the real world. In effect, Scholastic's Diary Maker helps make writing meaningful to students.

Scholastic's Diary Maker is an excellent program to supplement the writing curriculum in grades three to nine. Students can create personal diaries using the program during an ongoing memoir genre study. A love of writing will develop as students reflect on and write about personal experiences within unique diary entries.

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