Picture Book of the Day

In Didn’t Didn’t Do It by Bradford Morrow (author) and Gahan Wilson (illustrator), Didn’t, Doesn’t, Shouldn’t, Couldn’t, Wouldn’t, and Can’t try to build a tree house.

DIDN’T didn’t do it.
Neither did DOESN’T.

Use this word play book to teach the traits of ideas and word choice as students write their own “how to build a treehouse” story.


Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

In Bean Thirteen by Matthew McElligott Ralph and Flora were picking beans for dinner.

“How many beans do we have?” asked Flora.

“Looks like twelve,” said Ralph.

“I’ll pick one more,”said Flora.

“DON’T DO IT!’ shouted Ralph.

Use this tale of how to divide 13 beans evenly amongst friends to teach the traits of conventions and organization as students write their own math stories. 

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash is a wordless book.

Use this adventure of a dog and his flea to teach the traits of ideas and organization as students write the words for this book.

Older students can write and illustrate their own pet comics! They can do it the old fashioned way, with a pencil and paper, or create a comic online with Read-Write-Think’s Comic Creator. (After students create the comic they can print it out. The comic will NOT be saved online.)

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

It’s our first Nonfiction Monday Round-up and I’m happy to say that there are quite a few posts to round-up! Both readers and writers sent in links to their posts about nonfiction.

First the readers…

Ah serendipity! In the “great minds thinks alike” department we have…

(1) Jules, Kelly and Anamaria all posted about Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet by Don Robb and ill. by Anne Smith (published last year by Charlesbridge).

(2) Marcie and Susan both posted links to all of the 2008 Orbus Pictus books. 

I’d also like to give a special thanks to Jill, who changed her nonfiction posting day from Wednesdays to Mondays so she could participate in Nonfiction Monday! Jill reviewed Don’t Squash that Bug! The Curious Kid’s Guide to Insects by Natalie Rompella.

And there’s more! 

Tricia reviewed I, Matthew Henson: Polar Explorer on her new blog.

Amy (in Moscow!)  profiled The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty by Kenneth Libbrecht (Voyageur Press, 2003). This book provides stunning photography of crystal creation and individual photos of complex snowflakes.

Andi reviewed Wings by Sneed B. Collard III, illustrated by Robin Brickman. Charlesbridge publishing, 2008.

Lori looked at Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles by Kathryn Lasky.

Jen reviews a title from Bearport Publishing’s new World Series Superstars series: Manny Ramirez and the Boston Red Sox, by Michael Sandler. It’s a nonfiction picture book with vivid illustrations, containing biographical facts about Manny Ramirez, and information about the 2004 Red Sox World Series team. Although geared for younger children (early elementary school), the book is thorough in its treatment of facts, containing references, a glossary, and an index.

Becky reviewed What’s Eating You?: Parasites The Inside Story by Nicola Davies. Is What’s Eating You as ‘gross’ as it sounds? Yes. But it’s delightfully so in my opinion. The book is interesting. It is full of I-didn’t-know-that facts. It has some clever and not so charming illustrations by Neal Layton.

Kris looked at Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.

Abby reviewed an excellent title she read over the weekend: Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley by Sally M. Walker.

Faith and her kids read Beverly Cleary; She Makes Reading Fun.

Jama read Sun and Rain: Exploring Seasons in Hawai’i.

Wendy reviewed Kids Need to Be Safe by Julie Nelson, illustrated by Mary Gallagher. Free Spirit, 2006.

Anne shared Chris Barton’s CYBIL’s review of Lightship by Brian Floca on the CYBILS blog.

Anna reviewed After the Wall.

Ms. Yingling Reads The Great Fire.

Diane spreads the word about Nonfiction Monday at SLJ! 

And the writers…

Linda introduced her new Creature Feature series (and talked about how she never thought she would be a nonfiction writer!)

Laura write about making your introductory cover letter to a nonfiction editor stand out in the sea of other cover letters.

Julie wants to know about Boys vs. Girls when it comes to reading. “Why does nonfiction appeal more to boys than to girls in so many cases?”   

Becky asks What My Brain Looks Like when she writes…

Kerry sent in the first draft of a biography manuscript today! 

Cathy explained Why I Write Nonfiction.

And then there are those of us who wear more than one hat!

Anastasia (that’s me!) reviewed 3-D ABC  on this blog (and then I found out it was an Orbis Pictus Recommended Book … as was Tracking Trash, written by one of my former students Loree Griffin Burns! so I posted about that on my Children’s Book Biz News Blog. Loree, in the meantime, wrote about Walt Whitman, Word for America by Barbara Kerley and Brian Selznick … and how it helped her overcome her fear of poetry.

So here we are, on our first Nonfiction Monday, with one of the Orbis Pictus authors as a blogger! (I love the internet, it makes the world so small!)

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet by Bob Raczka is a museum sculpture tour in an alphabet book. The stunning photographs and clever text make the art very accessible.

F is for Family.
Some sculptures are at home outdoors.

(Henry Moore’s Family Group sculpture (mother, father and child) is shown here.)

Teach the traits of ideas and organization as your student write their own themed alphabet book. To make a class book, ask each student to write the text for one letter.

This book is a 2008 Orbis Pictus Recommended Book.

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

Dino Pets by Lynn Plourde (author) and Gideon Kendall (Illustrator) begins…

I got a dino
for a pet,
the BIGGEST dino
I could get.

Teach the traits of voice and word choice as students write their own pet poems.



Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

The Pen That Pa Built by David Edwards (author) and Ashley Wolff (illustrator) uses “the house that Jack built” pattern to explain how blankets are made.

This is the wool
grown by the sheep…

who live in the
pen that Pa built.

Teach the traits of conventions and ideas as student write their own cumulative tale. (With younger students you can write the story as a group activity.)

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

Angelina’s Island by Jeanette Winter begins…

Every day I tell Mama,
I want to go home.
Every day she tells me,
We are home, Angelina.
New York is home now.

Use this cure for home sickness tale to teach the traits of ideas and word choice as you ask students to write what they like best about home. The dream sequence pages can be a model for writing.

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

The Surprise by Sylvia van Ommen is a wordless book.

Teach the traits of ideas and organization as your students write the words for this procedural story with a twist! 

Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops

In Honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday…

American Slave, American Hero by Laurence Pringle (Author) and Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrators) uses primary sources to remember the life of the first African American allowed to vote. 

In the 1770s, two boys were born on a Virginia plantation. One became a famous explorer and leader whose name is still celebrated to this day. Today the other is also considered a national hero, but few know his name: York.

Use this biography with older students to teach the traits of ideas and sentence fluency as students write their own accounts of the Lewis and Clark story using diaries found online.  


Six Trait Author Programs and Classroom Writing Workshops