How do you find picture book mentor texts?
• The most important thing you can do is to build your own reference guide. Read! Read! Read! When you find elements that are done particularly well in certain books, WRITE THOSE TITLES DOWN! I have a notebook just for this purpose, and it lists a different topic every few pages (e.g. humor, quirky characters, fractured fairy tales, minimal words, lyrical language, etc.) Soon you will have your own amazing reference guide at hand.
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| A recent stack of rhyming books that I checked out of my library. |
• Enlist the help of your librarian and/or bookseller. These folks are walking, talking versions of the above-mentioned reference guide.
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| Love your local bookseller! |
• Use Google to sleuth for mentor texts. Narrow down the topic you are interested in and type key words into the search box, connecting them with the plus sign (e.g. picture book + cats + humor). You may soon discover that there are several wonderful websites with collected lists of picture books by topic.
(check the Classroom Ideas Archives)
(select Children's Books and Authors/Themed Booklists)
(Marcie blogs about mentor texts and how to use them.)
• Poke around Pinterest. Many Pinterest pages have collections of picture books by theme.
• Don't forget Twitter! The recent hashtag #nf10for10 on February 10 focused on nonfiction titles. Here is an example from an elementary school librarian outside of Boston.
• Sign yourself up for a month of mentor texts. ReFoReMo, Reading for Research Month happens every March. Throughout the month, guest posters focus on a particular aspect or theme of picture books and provide a handful of recent titles for further research on these aspects/themes.
I will be joining the fun on March 7th when I look at "How To" picture books. You can find out more about ReFoReMo here.
I hope this helps you get started on the path to finding picture book mentor texts.
Do you have questions? Tips you'd like to share? Please include them in the comments below.
