Mentor Texts for Teaching Narrative Writing: Picture Books, Short Stories, and More – NCTE

As a follow up to our #nctechat from November 2017, we asked our social media community to share some of their favorite mentor texts with mentor texts. So far, we’ve shared our community’s recommendations on mentor texts for teaching argument writing and chapter books for teaching narrative writing.

In the second part of this blog on narrative writing guidance texts, we’ll focus on picture books, short stories, and more. to see the original posts on which this list is based, click here.

You are reading: Personal narrative picture books

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Illustrated books

tony johnston’s harmonica, illustrated by ron mazellan

When the Nazis invade Poland, a family is divided. a harmonica keeps a child’s hope alive. the story is inspired by the life of a holocaust survivor.

good to use with middle grade students

night driving by john coy, illustrated by peter mccarty

A father and son are driving at night. as the sky turns dark blue and purple, they watch nocturnal animals, swap baseball stories and keep an eye out for 18-wheelers. but they have miles to go before they can sleep, and it’s a real challenge to stay up all night driving.

eve bunting’s chain of memories, illustrated by ted rand

each button on laura’s memory chain represents a part of her family history. The buttons that Laura appreciates the most belonged to her mother.

good to use with middle grade students

smoky night by eve bunting, illustrated by david diaz

A young boy and his mother are forced to flee their apartment during a night of rioting in Los Angeles. Fires and looting force neighbors who have always avoided each other to come together in the face of danger and concern for their missing pets.

fly away from home by eve bunting, illustrated by ronald himler

A homeless boy living in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal trying to go unnoticed, finds hope when a trapped bird finally finds his freedom.

good to use with middle grade students

rollercoaster by marla frazee the rollercoaster car goes up, up, to the highest point. and at least one of the people in the car had never been on a roller coaster before. . . ever. hehehehehe!

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Saturday and Tea Cakes by Lester L. Laminack Illustrated by Chris K. soentpiet

every Saturday, the narrator, a young boy, cycles up and down rural roads, past farms, a graveyard, and a gas station, until he reaches his loving mother’s house.

moon owl by jane yoon, illustrated by john schoenherr

One winter night, a little girl and her father go looking for an owl. the trees stand still as statues and the world is silent as a dream. whoo-whoo-whoo, the father calls the mysterious night bird. but no response.

ralph tells a story about abby hanlon, although his teacher insists there are stories everywhere, ralph can’t think of any to write.

our own dog by amanda mccardie

there is nothing more exciting than having a dog! Join Sophie’s new human family as they prepare her home for her and introduce her to life as a beloved pet.

cup of tea by rebecca young, illustrated by matt ottley

A child must leave his home and find another. she brings with her a cup of tea full of earth from the place where she grew up and goes to sea.

we had a picnic last sunday by jacqueline woodson

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Teeka’s family had a picnic last Sunday. Everyone was there, from mean old Cousin Terrance putting fake flies in the candy corn, to Reverend Luke carrying the Bible, to Aunt Kim (Teeka’s all-time favorite).

baseball saved us by ken mochizuki, illustrated by dom lee

Shorty and his family, along with thousands of Japanese Americans, are sent to an internment camp after the Pearl Harbor attack. Battling the desert heat and dust, Shorty and his dad decide to build a baseball field and form a league to lift the spirits of the interns.

I Sing Of You: A Letter To My Daughters From Barack Obama, Illustrated By Loren Long

In this sweet and beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen pioneering Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation.

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john rocco blackout

a hot summer night in the city, all the light goes out. the television turns off and a child yells: “mama!” His sister can’t use the phone anymore, Mom can’t work on her computer, and Dad can’t finish cooking dinner. what should a family do?

jabari jumps for gaia cornwall

Gathering up the courage to take a big, important leap is tough, but Jabari is almost absolutely ready to make a big splash.

derek munson’s enemy cake, illustrated by tara calahan king

It was the perfect summer. That is, until Jeremy Ross moved into the house down the street and became the number one enemy in the neighborhood. luckily dad had a surefire way to get rid of enemies: enemy cake.

those shoes by maribeth boelts, illustrated by noah z. jones

all jeremy wants is a pair of those shoes, the ones everyone at school seems to wear. but jeremy’s grandma tells him that they don’t have room for “want”, only “need”, and what jeremy needs are new boots for winter.

relatives came for cynthia rylant

In a rainbow-colored van that smelled like a real car, relatives arrived.

come on, rain! By Karen Hesse, Illustrated By Jon J. muth

“newbery medalist karen hesse recreates the body and soul renewing experience of a summer downpour after a sweltering city heat wave. lyrically written and lovingly illustrated.” —school library newspaper

all the places to love by patricia mclaughlin

Inside the sanctuary of a loving family, baby eli is born, and as he grows, he learns to appreciate the people and places around him, eventually passing what he has discovered on to his new baby sister, sylvie.

why should i teach this book? the text-to-self connections students make to the text and the vivid word choice and voice of the text make it a personal narrative classic for all students K-12.

roxaboxen by alice mclerran, illustrated by barbara cooney

marian called it roxboxen. there, on the other side of the road, it looked like a rocky hill: nothing but sand and rocks, and some old wooden boxes. but it was a special place. And all the kids needed to get there was a long stick and a sky-high imagination.

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the other side by jacqueline woodson, illustrated by e. b. louis

clover’s mom says it’s not safe to cross the fence that separates the black side of town from the white side where anna lives. but the two girls strike up a friendship and break adult rules by sitting on top of the fence together.

stories and essays

“eleven” by sandra cisneros

“savior, sooner or later” by sandra cisneros, woman screaming cove and other stories

recommended for displaying images

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“fish cheeks” by amy tan

“The Joy of Reading and Writing: Me and Superman” by Sherman Alexie, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1998

recommended for teaching metaphor

“my indian education” by sherman alexie, the lone ranger and the fool fistfight in the sky

“salvation” by langston hughes, the great sea

“shoot an elephant” by george orwell, shoot an elephant and other essays

“memento mori” by jonathan nolan, don, march 2001

“black men and public space” by brent staples, harper magazine, december 1986

“learning to read” from malcolm x, the autobiography of malcolm x

“a bowl of peas” by rick beyer, “all things considered” by npr

“so what are you, anyway?” by lawrence hill

“mississippi mud” by jessica piper

poems

“annabel lee” by edgar allan poe

“in the waiting room” by elizabeth bishop

“I was a skinny tomboy girl” by alma luz villanueva

other

humans of new york photos, interviews and videos of new york city residents, plus stories from twenty different countries

narratives of former students

apple christmas announcement 2013

authors

sandra cisneros

jacqueline woodson

david sedaris

patricia polish

pennants

tobias wolf

Book descriptions are taken from the goodreads website.

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