Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Grateful for Master Mentors


Although any month is a great month to be grateful, November gives us an extra excuse to pause and reflect. The ReFoReMo mission revolves around learning from picture books as mentor texts. One meager story can model a long list of writing elements and literary devices. Of course, we can learn from great examples, and if we have studied our craft enough, we can learn from the not-so-good, too. Reading mentor texts can definitely help us know the difference. I am eternally grateful for the learning opportunity that each picture book offers.  

Let’s not forget that we aren’t learning from the story alone. Every story has an author and illustrator behind it and some creatives consistently present stellar models. Through these Master Mentors, a thorough examination of their entire body of work is warranted.  








For that very reason, we began writing dedicated author studies after the first annual ReFoReMo challenge in 2015. That tradition continues here on our new blog. If you have not yet had the chance to thoroughly study these masters, consider a dedicated study of one or more of the following:


Each link above will lead you to at least 101 reasons why you should study mentor texts. 
There’s a lot to learn! Enjoy, and thank YOU for being part of our dedicated study community!


Which of your master mentors is not on our list?

10 comments:

  1. How did I not know about these resources? Dang. I would suggest you include the amazing, prolific Carole Boston Weatherford.

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    1. Thanks, Kathy! The author studies post on ReFoReMo the first Tuesday of every month and are currently crafted by Keila Dawson. I have seen an author study of Carole Boston Weatherford that was written by Marcie Flinchum Atkins recently on the PB Summit site: http://picturebooksummit.com/carole-boston-weatherford-author-study/ Hope that helps your studies!

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  2. I agree, any month of the year is a reason to give thanks. I do not need to find an *excuse* to do so. Every day is filled with blessings and opportunities. As a writer, I am thankful for ReFoReMo.

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    1. I believe I phrased that in error. Every moment is a great excuse to pause and be thankful. Thanksgiving gives us a worldwide day to be more aware of our blessings and I guess that's what makes it an excuse too.

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  3. I'd second Carole :). She's so prolific!

    And some science/nf writers like Melissa Stewart, April Pulley Sayre & Barbara Kerley. Jonah Winter too for PB biographies :)

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    1. Thanks, Maria! Great suggestions! Although it wasn't an author study, we featured Melissa as a ReFoReMo presenter during the first annual ReFoReMo of 2015. You can check out her post here: http://www.carriecharleybrown.com/reforemo/category/melissa-stewart Good stuff! :) I love April's work! Here's a fun interview with her: http://www.carriecharleybrown.com/carrie-on-together/think-quick-with-author-april-pulley-sayre

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  4. This blog posts give you some of the best and interesting books to read on. I just checked all the links and most of them are providing some unique information to their users. Keep updating...

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    1. We post author studies on the first Tuesday of each month. If it helps your research, feel free to swing back or follow ReFoReMo by email. Thanks!

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  5. This is such a great resource! Thanks for helping all of us by providing this information. :)

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  6. Thanks for sharing, nice post!

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