Mentor Texts We Want to Use

At our mentor texts workshop, teachers found picture books that they'd like to use in their classrooms and worked on how these books could be used in the classroom. Here are our favorites!

Chameleons are Cool
Use this book to teach about how to make informational text more engaging. Jesus said, "Animal texts can be somewhat dry...this book can show kids how to make their writing more interesting."


Crab Moon
This book gives scientific information in a narrative format. Carole found that it could be used to teach content and style.


Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

This persuasive book can be used to show kids persuasive techniques. Becky said that this can be used to show voice, as the pigeon goes from whiny to persuasive to enthusiastic throughout the book. There is also interesting word choice, like "c'mon."

The Squiggle
Juanita says, "The author builds content through the imagination of the little girl...the girl uses the string on the rest of her walk to show what she imagines." -This can show how we develop ideas in a picture first, and then transfer that to writing. (Nicole)
-This can also show how an idea can unfold. (Jesus)
-Where was the teacher while all this was going on? (Tina)

My Great-Aunt Arizona

Sue shared,  "This can be used to develop content and ideas. The main idea is how reading and dreaming can take the reader to anyplace they want to see in their mind."

More on mentor texts:
Mentor Texts by Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli

Nonfiction Mentor Texts by Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli

Writing Domains Resources

Mentor text lessons from WritingFix