LitKids Create equips parents, educators, and schools with books, programs, publishing experiences, and practical tools that help children strengthen literacy, express their ideas, and become confident storytellers.
Paula Banks · Founder · Educator · Author · Speaker
Whether you are nurturing a storyteller at home, supporting young writers in a classroom, or searching for a meaningful literacy experience for your school, LitKids Create gives you practical ways to begin.
Help your child build storytelling confidence through meaningful conversations, creative activities, books, and practical support you can use at home.
Bring voice-first writing, creative confidence, and culturally responsive storytelling experiences into your classroom.
Partner with LitKids Create to give students meaningful writing experiences and the opportunity to see themselves as storytellers and published authors.
Children who believe their voices have value do not only become stronger writers. They become more confident communicators, creative thinkers, courageous learners, and young people who understand that they have something meaningful to contribute.
That is what LitKids Create is building, one storyteller at a time.
LitKids Create offers multiple ways for young writers, families, educators, and schools to experience the confidence-building power of storytelling.
Books By Me™ is a creative literacy and student publishing experience that guides young writers from their first idea to a completed story. Through supportive instruction, confidence-building activities, and publishing opportunities, students learn to see themselves as real authors.
A guided online writing experience created to help young writers move from imagination to a completed story. Through approachable lessons and the LIT Writing Method™, children build confidence while learning how to develop characters, organize ideas, strengthen their stories, and keep writing.
Explore the Writing CypherStory Hustle™ gives parents and caregivers practical ways to nurture storytelling, creativity, communication, and confidence at home, even when they do not consider themselves writers.
Discover Story HustleBefore children can become confident writers, they must first believe their voices are worth hearing.
The Story Hustle™ Pedagogy is the educational philosophy behind LitKids Create. Created by Paula Banks, it is a creative literacy approach that helps children build the confidence, identity, and sense of ownership they need to become stronger storytellers.
Traditional writing instruction often places immediate attention on spelling, grammar, structure, and correction. While those skills are important, many children begin worrying about getting everything right before they have had the opportunity to discover what they want to say.
The Story Hustle™ Pedagogy begins somewhere different. It begins by helping children understand that their ideas matter, their experiences have value, and they are capable of creating something meaningful.
This does not mean writing instruction or revision becomes less important. It means children are more willing to learn, revise, take creative risks, and continue writing when confidence grows alongside literacy.
Storytelling becomes more than a writing assignment. It becomes a way for children to strengthen communication, develop creative thinking, explore identity, and discover the confidence to share their voices with the world.
Children need room to discover what they want to say before they become overly focused on saying it perfectly. When young writers are encouraged to share their ideas without the fear of immediate correction, they become more willing to participate, experiment, ask questions, and continue writing. Skill development still matters, but it should never silence a child's voice before that voice has had the opportunity to grow.
Children become stronger learners when they believe mistakes are part of the process instead of proof they are incapable. The Story Hustle™ Pedagogy encourages feedback that builds confidence while helping children strengthen their skills. Revision becomes an opportunity for growth instead of something to fear.
Children connect more deeply with storytelling when their lives, cultures, interests, experiences, and imagination are welcomed into the learning process. When children recognize themselves within the stories they create, literacy becomes personal, meaningful, and something they genuinely want to continue developing.
Authorship is not reserved for children who already write perfectly. Every child with an idea deserves the opportunity to develop it, share it, and experience the pride of creating something meaningful. When children begin seeing themselves as authors, they develop greater ownership of their words, their learning, and the stories only they can tell.
The Story Hustle™ Pedagogy shapes every LitKids Create program, resource, workshop, and publishing experience. It comes to life through:
Every part of the LitKids Create ecosystem is intentionally designed to help children move from uncertainty to ownership, and from having an idea to believing they are capable of sharing it.
Within the Story Hustle™ Pedagogy is the LIT Writing Method™, a simple three-step framework that helps children move from having lots of ideas in their heads to creating stories they are proud to share.
Instead of asking children to begin with perfect sentences or polished drafts, the LIT Writing Method™ encourages them to trust the creative process. Each stage builds naturally on the one before it, making storytelling feel less overwhelming and far more enjoyable.
Every story begins with an idea, and before children can organize those ideas, they need permission to simply get them out.
The Let It Flow stage is a judgment-free brain dump where children write, sketch, list, or talk through every idea they have without worrying about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or whether the idea is "good enough."
The goal is simple: get the ideas out of their heads and onto paper. Many children discover their strongest ideas once they stop trying to make them perfect.
Once the ideas are flowing, it's time to shape them into a story.
During Imagine and Build, children begin developing characters, settings, conflicts, emotions, and memorable moments. They ask "what if" questions, make connections, and begin building the world their story will live in.
This is where imagination becomes intentional and scattered ideas begin taking shape.
Every great story deserves one more pass.
During Turn It Up, children strengthen what they have already created. They add richer details, improve dialogue, clarify their ideas, strengthen descriptions, and make their stories more engaging while protecting the originality that made the story theirs in the first place.
Instead of rewriting from scratch, children learn how to elevate their work while keeping ownership of their voice.
Why It Works
The LIT Writing Method™ meets children where they are. It gives them permission to create before they critique, imagine before they edit, and build confidence before perfection becomes the focus.
By moving through Let It Flow, Imagine and Build, and Turn It Up, young storytellers strengthen both their writing skills and their confidence because they learn something even more important along the way: their ideas have value, and their stories deserve to be told.
"Confidence is not something children should have to earn after they become strong writers. Confidence is part of what helps them become strong writers."
The Story Hustle™ Pedagogy helps children build literacy without losing the imagination, identity, curiosity, and courage that made them want to tell a story in the first place.
Story Hustle introduces parents and educators to a confidence-first approach to storytelling. It offers practical strategies that help adults nurture creativity, communication, and storytelling without turning every creative moment into a lesson or correction.
This student anthology celebrates the imagination, courage, and creativity of young authors. Each story represents a child who moved from having an idea to seeing their words inside a real published book. The anthology reflects the mission of LitKids Create: helping children understand that their voices matter and their stories deserve space in the world.
Telly is an interactive storytelling companion designed to help children and families explore ideas, develop characters, solve story problems, and keep the imagination moving.
Telly can help young storytellers:
Get free storytelling prompts, writing activities, conversation starters, classroom tools, parent guides, and confidence-building resources created to help young storytellers keep growing.
Free for parents, educators, and schools. New tools added regularly.
No clutter. No daily emails. Just useful resources and meaningful updates.
Supporting a child's confidence does not require you to have all the answers. These short audio messages offer encouragement, practical storytelling ideas, and reminders that meaningful literacy moments can happen in ordinary family life.
Listen to the Voice NotesLitKids Create believes financial circumstances should not determine whether a child gets the opportunity to develop a story, build confidence, and experience authorship.
The I Got a Story to Tell Scholarship helps provide young writers with access to creative writing support, the Writing Cypher, and opportunities connected to student publishing.
LitKids Create is creating meaningful opportunities for children to strengthen their literacy skills, trust their ideas, complete their stories, and experience the pride of seeing themselves as real authors.
Nine young writers became published authors in I Got a Story to Tell: Original Stories by Young Authors, the first LitKids Create student anthology.
I Got a Story to Tell reached Amazon #1 New Release status, placing the stories of young authors in front of families and readers beyond their classrooms.
LitKids Create partners with Norfolk Public Schools to provide creative literacy, storytelling, and student publishing experiences.
Through Books By Me™, the Writing Cypher™, workshops, and individual story support, young writers receive guidance that helps them move from an idea to a completed story.
LitKids Create has developed books, writing frameworks, digital learning experiences, parent resources, classroom activities, and publishing tools designed to strengthen literacy and creative confidence.
The work of LitKids Create and founder Paula Banks has been featured on WAVY TV's Parenting Unscripted, Authority Magazine, Successful Black Parenting, podcasts, conferences, and educational platforms.
Every accomplishment represents more than a number. It represents a child who was given room to imagine, create, and believe their story deserved to be heard.
Paula Banks shares practical insights on literacy, storytelling, parenting, publishing, creative confidence, and helping children understand that their voices matter.
A conversation on raising confident storytellers and what parents can do at home to support their children's creativity, communication, and confidence.
Watch the SegmentA discussion on building author platforms, publishing, and the Build First approach.
Watch the EpisodeA conversation on visibility, storytelling, and what it takes to bring a book into the world.
Listen on SpotifyAn exploration of how the words adults use with children can shape confidence across generations.
Read the ArticlePaula Banks of LitKids Create discusses innovative approaches that are transforming how children learn to tell their stories.
Read the Feature
Paula Banks
Paula Banks is an award-winning children's author, Creative Literacy Confidence Educator, speaker, and founder of LitKids Create. She helps parents, educators, and schools nurture confident storytellers through practical, culturally responsive approaches rooted in the Story Hustle™ Pedagogy.
She is the creator of the Story Hustle™ Pedagogy, the LIT Writing Method™, Books By Me™, and the Writing Cypher™, which are designed to help children build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, express their ideas, and discover the power of their own voices.
Through books, school partnerships, publishing experiences, workshops, and speaking engagements, Paula has helped young writers experience the unforgettable moment of becoming published authors while equipping the adults around them with tools that make storytelling a meaningful part of learning.
LitKids Create is a Norfolk Public Schools partner, and Paula's work continues to demonstrate what becomes possible when children are encouraged to see themselves as authors before they believe they must become perfect writers.
Paula is also the editor of I Got a Story to Tell: Original Stories by Young Authors, an Amazon #1 New Release featuring original stories created by young writers through LitKids Create.
Her work has been featured on WAVY TV's Parenting Unscripted, Authority Magazine, Successful Black Parenting, podcasts, conferences, and educational platforms. She continues to partner with schools, families, educators, and organizations that believe every child deserves the opportunity to see themselves as a storyteller.
Her mission is simple: to help every child leave believing, "My story matters, and I have the confidence to tell it."
Paula Banks brings an engaging, practical, and encouraging approach to conversations about literacy, storytelling, creative confidence, parenting, education, and student authorship. Her sessions help adults rethink how children develop confidence in their voices while giving participants strategies they can begin using immediately.
How parents, educators, and communities can create environments where children feel safe expressing their ideas and developing their voices.
Why children need encouragement, ownership, and creative freedom before constant correction, and how confidence strengthens the literacy process.
A conversation about identity, confidence, expression, and the emotional foundation children need before they can fully engage as writers.
Practical strategies parents can use to nurture storytelling, communication, creativity, and confidence during everyday family life.
How publishing experiences can transform literacy instruction, classroom engagement, and the way children see themselves.
How educators can support literacy development while honoring student identity, culture, imagination, and voice.
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