The writing of students at colleges of education about their teaching experiences and the writing done for them by children in infant and junior schools comprise this account of attempts to answer such questions as "What makes children want to write?" and "What is the relation between a writer's experience and imagination?" Excerpts from college students' teaching diaries show how the work students do at college affects the teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom. Emphasizing "disciplined freedom" (as opposed to "free discipline") and the importance of children's enjoyment of writing, sections of the book are "Freshness of sensation,""The fire in the flint,""Magic and synthesis,""Imagination and fact," and "Thinking and feeling." (MF)