Books to Engage Readers and Inspire Writers
By Anne Beamish
In order to enhance the development of the reading-writing connection in class, the following texts have been recommended for use as models for drawing, writing and producing texts. They can also serve as texts to for the response process and for literature circle discussions.
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A Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O’Leary (Grades 1 and 2)
This book about family diversity shows the various ways it is possible to be loved and cared for. Set in a diverse classroom, a young girl is afraid to share information about her family. But once her classmates start sharing their families, she is inspired to share hers. Suggested Use Students can be prompted to notice the ways the families are represented in the illustrations. The illustrations be used to inspire drawings of the readers’ families. Finished illustrations can be collected to create a class book that can be shared with other classes and adults. |
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I Know Here by Laurel Croza and Matt James (Grades 2 and 3)
Based on the author’s own childhood experiences, a girl recounts her experiences living on a dam-construction site in north-eastern Saskatchewan. The book features detailed illustrations that evoke artistic representations of the Canadian landscape and early Inuit art. Suggested Use Readers can discuss the things they would miss if they had to leave home like the story’s protagonist. Readers can also talk about, draw, and write about the places where they have lived. |
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Love that Dog by Sharon Creech (Grade 4 and 5)
Jack can't avoid all the poems Ms. Stretchberry shares with her class. At first he doesn’t quite get it, but then the poetry of Walter Dean Myers inspires him and he realizes that the more he writes, the more he learns he does have something to say. Suggested Use A primer on using models texts for writing. The poems used in the fictional classroom are included in the back matter. Readers can explore the different poetry structures such as concrete poetry and haiku. They can also track Jack’s progress as a poet by reading his poems and noticing how he makes use of lines from other poets. |
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Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett (grade 5 and 6)
Alex’s gran has given him a book for his special day. But Alex has gotten a little old for sweet stories about woodland creatures who live happily ever after. Instead, Alex makes the story his own, where “Birthday Bunny started on his path, hopping through the trees” becomes “Battle Bunny started on his Evil Plan, chopping through the trees.” The story becomes a humorous, subversive story about Alex who is charged with defeating an anarchist rabbit with a diabolical plan to launch his evil monster robot rocket. Suggested Use Use this text to model ways to tailor messages to suit different audiences. Older readers enjoy reflecting on the way their reading preferences have changed over the years. Old picture books (or a page from a favourite book from early childhood) can be given the “Alex” treatment. |
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Jazz Day by Roxane Orgill and Francis Vallejo (Secondary I)
The story behind a famous photograph taken in Harlem, NY of the legends of jazz music. The image, from Esquire magazine, is the central point of the poems that make up the narrative. Each player’s story is relayed through poems that, taken together, relay the story of the day the photo was taken. Suggested Use Favourite poems might be used as mentor texts for writing narrative poetry. The Illustrations and photography might be used to initiate ideas for writing a news story about the people involved and the events leading up to the taking of picture. |
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Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (Secondary I and II)
Part of the “Seed of America” series, this first installment introduces readers to Isabelle, a young slave who embarks on a journey toward freedom as a spy for the United Rebel Army during the American Revolution. Additional insight about the historical context is conveyed through the use of historic quotations to open each chapter. Suggested Use The historical quotations might be used to inspire quickwrites and/or small group discussions. Readers can follow the author’s footsteps and see some of her sources of inspiration for the novels by consulting the website of the New York Historical Society. |
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From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson (Secondary II and III)
Written in a strong first-person voice, the text alternates between Melanin’s notebook entries and the narrative of his daily life. The poetic, descriptive voice of his titled notebook pages are striking in their honesty and directness: “Some days I wear alone like a coat.” Suggested Use Each of the two prologue pieces, “This is Brooklyn” and “Imagine”, can be used to inspire reflective writing. The original writing style can also serve as a model for voice in narrative writing. |
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Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey by Özge Samanci (Secondary III and IV)
Young Özge has been raised to love her country and its leader. Vivid language combines with a mashup of comics and collage to create a tale of Özge’s journey from childhood to young adulthood. The story of growing up in times of social and political change, politics provide plenty of external pressure on her such as the need to live up to expectations of Turkey’s beloved leader. Suggested Use Readers can be encouraged to read the text as a writer and consider the way text and image work together to convey meaning. Readers might consider key personal and/or socio-political scenes to gain an understanding the role they play in the narrative. |
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Paul Joins the Scouts by Michel Rabagliati (Secondary III and IV)
Set during the tumultuous time of the FLQ and the October Crisis the story of Paul’s childhood is set in Montreal and blends the personal and the political to paint a portrait of childhood at the time. Suggested Use Readers might use the text along with others for the immersion into text to inform the creation of comics that feature young adolescents in specific political times in Quebec. Readers can also use a response process to write a response to the text. |
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Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean (Secondary IV and V)
Nix is trapped behind walls of unexpressed emotion, unspoken truths and lies. This verse novel uses spare language and sharp descriptive imagery to relay the often gritty and sometimes disturbing experiences of young adults. Evocative imagery of rural and small town Newfoundland conveys both the setting and Nix’s inner life. Suggested Use Use of imagery is a powerful means of relaying the inner life of characters and is an example of author’s craft that writers can emulate in their own writing. Passages from the text can be used to inspire quickwrites and others might be included in a writer’s/reader’s notebook for future writing/production projects. |