Mentor Texts for Elementary Writing Teachers discussion

Please keep recommendations appropriate for K-8 instructors. It is okay is someone else has added your book title. Most likely, he or she will mention teaching points that are different from yours.

1. "The Pout-Pout Fish" written by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna

Use: Shows and could teach alliteration, adjectives/synonyms (descriptive/colorful language), and rhymes. It can also teach students about ocean life.

2. "Bad Boys" written by Margie Palatini, illustrated by Henry Cole

Use: Teaches students about synonyms/descriptive language, cause and effect, conversation in text, and fairy tale features.

2. "Biggest, Strongest, Fastest" by Steve Jenkins

Use: Teaches students about different prefixes and suffixes. It also offers information on each animal featured in the book.

3. "I Want My Hat Back" by Jon Klassen

Use: Can teach students about sequencing (by sequencing order of events using picture clue cards). It can also teach students about compound words and contractions.

4. "Postcards from Camp: A Postal Story" by Simms Taback

Use: This can teach students the format for writing letters. It can also teach students about main idea (by explaining that using the big idea can help you tell how the pictures/postcards and words/letters go together).

5. "My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks and Other Funny Family Portraits" by Hanoch Piven

Use: Examples of figurative language (hyperboles, similies, metaphors)

6. "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

Use: This can be used for examples of rhythm and rhyming, and repetition. It could also be used for descriptive language (because the wording gives students the ability to visualize the animals well through the language) as well as sequence.

7. "Miss Nelson Is Missing!" written by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall

Use: Using print to show word emphasis (italics in this story's case), dialogue, and text features and just a few things this book can teach students related to writing.

8. "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" written by Bill Martin and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

Use: Rhyming, ABC's, alliteration, and personification can be taught through this story.

9. "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats

Use: Creative language can be taught through this book (words to show sound-crunch, crunch, crunch). It also shows how illustrations and text can tell a story together, especially in the part where it says "...walked with toes pointing in like this:" and "….with toes pointed out like that:".

10. "Castles" by Stephanie Turnbull

Use: Nonfiction text features (glossary, index, table of contents, sequence, etc.) is a key aspect this nonfiction book can show students.

11. "A Small Tall Tale From The Far Far North" by Peter Sís

Use: This can be used to teach students about captions, sequence, tall tales, and hyperboles. It can also teach students about sentence structure, vocabulary, and different genres.

12. "Word After Word After Word" by Patricia MacLachlan

Use: This can teach students about writing for enjoyment as well as free verse poems. Students can become inspired to write more for their own pleasure rather than just for school work.

13. "The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle

Use: This book can be used to teach students about descriptive words, dialogue, and time sequencing.

14. "Goodnight Moon" written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd

Use: This book can teach children through rhyme, introduction hooks, and sentence structure examples it presents.

15. "Written Anything Good Lately?" written by Susan Allen and Jane Lindaman, illustrated by Vicky Enright

Use: Students can learn from this book through its writing ideas/examples and different genres it exemplifies.

1) What Do You Do With A Problem by Kobi Yamada:
Bravery, facing problems head on, characterization, plot twist

2)What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada
Encouragement, being yourself/thinking your own way, characterization

3) Woosh! By Chris Barton
Perseverance, never giving up, Characterization

4)Dear Deer by Gene Barretta
Homophones, kid friendly illustrations, intro to letter writing

5)Peanut Butter & Cupcake by Terry Border
Perseverance in finding friends, dialogue, personification, repiticous writing

6) I Like Myself! By Karen Beaumont
Loving yourself, be yourself, rhyme, characterization

7) The Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Living things and their basic needs, letter writing, journaling

8) Baloney by Jon Scieska and Lane Smith
Imagination, plot, context clues, tall tales

9) A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Imagery, context clues, making friends

10) Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Onomatopoeia, letter writing, personification

11) Sylvester and the Magiv Pebble by William Steig
Personification, being happy with what you have

12) Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Alliteration, dialogue, words to use instead of "said"

13) If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Circular story structure, predictions, first, then, last

14) I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
Persuasive writing, writing notes

15) Beatrice Doesn't Want To by Laura Numeroff
Learning to love reading, characterization, Beginning, middle, and end

1. The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Stephen Carpenter
Retelling the story’s beginning, middle and end.

2. Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
Discussing Plot

3. The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
Recognizing recurring phrases and characters in traditional fairy tales.

4. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Describe characters in a story and the reason for their actions.

5. The Boy Who Wouldn’t Share by Mike Reiss
Identifying moral lessons

6. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Autobiographies

7. Matilda by Roald Dahl
Describing interactions between characters

8. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! By a Wolf by Jon Scieszka
Changing viewpont

9. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Personification

10. Little Red Riding Hood by Candice Ransom
Identifying the protagonist

11. Little Red Hot by Eric Kimmel
Comparing versions of the same story

12. Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Theme

13. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Conflict

14. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Climax

15. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Genre

1. The Girl Who Heard Colors by Marie Harris
- The 5 senses, Descriptive Writing, Individuality

2. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
- Plot Development, Character Development, Creating Relationships between Characters

3. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
- Plot, Sensory Images, Conflict, Creating Characters, Bravery

4. Inside the Human Body (The Magic School Bus) by Joanna Cole
- Beginning/Middle/End, Adding Text features, Science

5. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
- Plot, Sensory Images, Personification, Emotions

6. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- Plot, Character Development, Dialogue, Emotions

7. I Hate English! by Ellen Levine
- Plot, Conflict, Character Development

8. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- Beginning/Middle/End, Repetition, Details, Repetition

9. Two Crafty Jackals: The Animal Fables of Kalilah and Dimnah by Elizabeth Laird
- Personification, Conflict, Plot

10. The King's Chessboard by David Birch
- Character Development, Plot, Conflict, Math

11. Matilda by Roald Dahl
- Character, Plot, Descriptive Writing, Dialogue, Individuality

12. Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya
- Character, Different Version of known story, Codeswitching

13. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
- Characterization, Conflict, Details

14. I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes her Mark by Debbie Levy
- Character, Biographies, Conflict, Dialogue, Feminism, Supreme Court

15. Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters by President Barack Obama
- Characterization, Letter Writing, Patriotism, History