ABSTRACT
Nearly every picture book could serve as a mentor text to help students become better writers. However, some books offer more value than others. This chapter examines picture books through a lens based on the qualities of good writing: meaning, genre, structure, detail, voice, and conventions. Some teachers believe picture books are for little kids. Picture books provide an accessible way to tackle tough topics, which students can discuss at length in the classroom. Many outstanding middle and high school educators—including prominent bloggers, authors, and speakers such as Sarah Mulhern Gross, Paul Hankins, Cindy Minnich, and Pernille Ripp—also use picture books because they provide high-level opportunities for inference and interpretation work, as well as spark empathy and ignite creativity. Picture books are a powerful resource at any grade level. Using picture books as mentor texts can help marginalized readers make better independent reading selections because they see that their teacher values picture books.
