KID STUFF : A Child’s Life, for the Record

“Dear Diary. . . .”

Keeping a journal can help kids explore their thoughts and feelings better than just cruising through each day without pausing to ponder. And, in time, those diaries can become treasured museums of memories.

These books may inspire kids to put pen to paper:

* “A Book of Your Own: Keeping a Diary or Journal” by Carla Stevens (Clarion, $7.95 paper, $14.95 cloth, 100 pages, ages 9 and up) is not as how-to as it sounds. Stevens uses excerpts to show you can write whatever and whenever you want. Tucked between paragraphs by Henry David Thoreau and Anne Frank are journal entries by Stevens’ friends and relatives.

* “The Private and Personal Reading Journal,” a 16-page booklet for ages 7 to 12, can be ordered for $3.50 from publisher R.R. Bowker at (800) 521-8110. It gives kids plenty of space to write about books they have read--just for fun. No stilted book reports, please. There are quotes and poems sprinkled throughout.

* Much fun can be found in “My Pet’s First Book: All About My Pet . . . by Me,” by Shagg E. Dawg, Ph.D, edited by Peter Guren (Watermill Press, $2.50, 48 pages, ages 6 and up). In addition to spaces for photos, drawings and an envelope to hold a lock of hair, some scales or a feather from a pet, there are places to record visits to the vet, the pet’s favorite toys and “things your pet got in trouble for . . . add extra pages if necessary.”