By Jen Betton
I often write out the text of a book in order to
force myself to pay close attention to what the author is doing, and I'll also
storyboard the book to see how the illustrator handled pacing and composition!
Here are some books I love to learn from:
Interplay of text and illustration:
Flashlight Night by
Matt Forrest Esenwine and Fred Koehler
Before Morning by
Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes
Both of these books have a lot of unspoken
narrative – the illustrators did an amazing job interpreting and adding to the
story. The text for each one is a poem, with a lovely lyrical use of words.
Keeping it simple:
This House, Once by Deborah Freedman
This is a beautiful, calming story. Each piece
of the house is described with simple and evocative similes, "This door
was once a colossal oak tree about three hugs around."
Emotive language:
Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip Stead and Erin Stead
This story was really helpful to look at when I
was working on polishing the language in my debut picture book, Hedgehog
Needs a Hug. There are a lot of subtle language elements in Bear
Has a Story to Tell. For example: posture descriptions which imply Bear’s
emotional state. Bear "sat up straight... puffed out his chest... hanging
his head."
Pacing:
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles, by Michelle Cuevas and Erin Stead
The character’s desire for
a letter doesn’t come up until page 16-17, and the mystery bottle doesn’t appear
till 18-19. The page breaks slows the beginning down, making us focus on the
Uncorker’s unusual job and its importance.
Jen is giving away one signed Twilight Chant (U.S. Postal only). To be eligible for prizes throughout the challenge, you must comment on each post, be registered, and consistently read picture books throughout the challenge.
Jen Betton is a children's book author-illustrator. She wrote and illustrated HEDGEHOG NEEDS A HUG, published with Penguin-Putnam, and she illustrated TWILIGHT CHANT, written by Holly Thompson, published with Clarion. Find her at www.jenbetton.com, and on Twitter at @jenbetton.
I love the Uncorker of Ocean Bottles. I need to read it again. Beautiful, lyrical books here. Thank you for sharing them with us. I love the idea of unspoken narrative, and often struggle to decide how much to allude to and how much to leave to the imagination of the illustrator. I think it's important for the author to leave the clues. Such a fine balance.
ReplyDeleteJen, I love the way you've brought out elements of beloved books I thought I knew inside out and backwards. Always more to learn & discover. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jen for sharing those beautiful stories with us. They are great mentor texts to learn from.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these beautiful books and how you learn from them. I love the way the illustrations and text work together in Before Morning.
ReplyDeleteMore great mentor books to learn and grow! Thank you! Very good post Jen!
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful mentor texts to learn from. It's also a really great practice to write out text from picture books to better understand how and why the author chose the words they did.
ReplyDeleteIt can be tedious sometimes, but typing out the text of a picture book can be really helpful. Your book selection is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I've studied and treasure the works of Philip Stead and Erin Stead.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post Jen! This is a fun learning tool, especially during revision time and I'm stuck; copying a mentor text has helped me pinpoint what needs fixing in my story.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your selection of mentor texts. I often struggle with what to leave to the illustrator (point 1, Flashlight Night (a wonderful lyrical text) and what to include in the text "Bear sat up straight... puffed out his chest... hanging his head." (Bear has a story to tell).
ReplyDeleteLove this list, Jen. I was familiar with two of them, and with the help of youtube reader, I got to "read" the rest. We can learn a lot from each book.
ReplyDeleteJen, thank you for sharing how you employed these texts to help you in your craft. Congrats on your debut, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathy!
DeleteThank you for sharing these wonderful mentor text examples, I particularly love the Bear has a Story to Tell.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to type out texts and illo notations. I rarely do it, and yet it's ALWAYS insightful. Thanks for the reminder, and the great books.
ReplyDeleteI too thought about writing out the text of BEFORE MORMING to get the full effect of the text.
ReplyDeleteI love how you've described these books. I'm going to take a closer look.
ReplyDeleteFLASHLIGHT NIGHT is wonderful and invite the reader in to a magical world. Thank you for sharing these texts Jen!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lovely post about the power of subtlety. I appreciate the books you reference for us to look at.
ReplyDeleteJenna feldman
I also like to type out books to learn from them... its such a great way to really SEE how the author crafted his/her story. Thank you for all these great mentor texts to check out!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful selection of books--thanks! (I type out books, too, and storyboard them.)
ReplyDeleteI am always surprised what I find when I type out the text. It seems funny to do when I have the glossy text in front of me but once it is on that plain white paper it seems I can analyze it a bit better. Thanks for your post! This House, Once is coming in today for me at the library.
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing to learn from picture books. It makes a huge difference in how much I get out of them. I especially love two of the books you mention: This House, Once and Before Morning.
ReplyDeleteWonderful tips for PB writers. Thank you. Love these books.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful selection of books! Thank you for your selections and your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing titles and technique!
ReplyDeleteI loved the lyrical language in today's pb picks. Thank you, . To borrow from "The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles," each of these books held "the treasure of a clam-hugged pearl."
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with "This House, Once" the moment I saw the cover, and "Flashlight Night" is amazing. All great texts to study, Jen!
ReplyDeleteLOL. I have a pile of books on my desk to the same thing with! These all sound so unusual.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful stories and a great habit to start! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these great examples!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these scrumptious book suggestions and how best to learn from them, Jen!
ReplyDeleteI've been typing out books lately too, and it really does help! Thanks for these!
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful group of books. Thanks, Jen. I will definitely try your suggestions.
ReplyDeleteGreat post - great books as mentor texts.
ReplyDeleteI've just recently started printing out text to study. It really is a helpful process. Thanks for the great book list!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list of mentor texts. I have typed up texts before, but find I can do it and not be paying attention. I will have to try writing by hand. Thanks for the ideas.
ReplyDeleteOh me too, I try to do it when I can just focus on the story (which can be tough to find that quiet space!), and then sit and think about what stood out to me while I was doing it. It's so easy to go on auto-pilot!
DeleteI type out mentor texts as well. It really helps to give me a look under the hood and get a better understanding of how the story is constructed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list of books, Jen. I have read and reviewed Before Morning, and you're right, the illustrations are amazing and help to tell the complete story of the narrator's secret wish. Can't wait to read the other books on your list!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your technique with us,Jen. Great list of books!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing what's special about each of these books! I found one on your list that's a perfect comp for a friend!
ReplyDeleteI also type out mentor texts and find it extremely beneficial. Great list of books! Thank you, Jen!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a wonderful post that gave me some insights into books I had already read!
ReplyDeleteThis is a gold mine! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post, thank you, Jen! I love the idea of storyboarding the book to see how the illustrator has done his job—it’s genius! I’ll have to try that to visualize how it works, I’m excited to see it all working together. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes, it takes a bit longer than typing, so I do it less, but I find I notice all sorts of interesting choices about pacing and composition that way!
DeleteThanks for your ideas about approaching these books. I read them yesterday before I had your post and was struggling to find a commonality. But now that I've read your post it all makes sense and I learned something from each of them.
ReplyDeleteWas at an SCBWI Conference this weekend and we were looking at examples of stories typed out. Think that I will take some mentor texts and will storyboard them and then compare to the storyboards of mine. Thanks for the great advice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list, Jen. These are all wonderful books to dissect.
ReplyDeleteThis House, Once is such a fabulous find. Thank you for sharing your list of great mentor texts.
ReplyDeleteI do the re-type too. Then I mark it all up with colors for various things like conflict, transitions, etc. And pacing is fascinating - thanks for mentioning how you've found that. It's amazing how much more I notice as I type it up. Just goes to show how much is really involved in a picture book and how necessary it is to re-read to get the full power of what's going on! Thanks for sharing these!
ReplyDeleteOooh, I haven't tried color coding - that would be interesting! Yes, it's amazing how much more I notice when I force myself to slow down and type or draw it out!
DeleteSimple texts with extraordinary illustrations.
ReplyDeleteThese are great examples to study, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteA great exercise to figure out what authors are doing. I must do this more! And Bear Has a Story to Tell is one of my favorites!
ReplyDeleteBefore Morning conjured up so much anticipation, with little text and fabulous art. A great book to study! I'm anxious to read the others I'm not familiar with and study the form you shed light on for us today. Thank you for your insight.
ReplyDeleteBefore morning is a gem! I hope you enjoy the other books, too!
DeleteWow! What a dedicated way to study picture books. I want to try this when time allows.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jen, for these mentor text titles which are amazing studies.
ReplyDeleteI loved Before Morning. I'll go back and pay closer attention to the interplay of text and illustrations. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI often write out text or storyboard picture books - it is a good way to deconstruct and study them. I really loved these books, especially Bear and his story (and forgetting it!) and the Uncorker.
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions and mentor texts. I have never studied picture books in that manner and am eager to see how it goes. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed BEFORE MORNING and THIS HOUSE, ONCE! Thanks for sharing your insights into how these books are mentor texts for you. (Hoping to make the book signing for TWILIGHT CHANT this Friday!)
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! That would be lovely to see you there!
DeleteI love the Author's Note for Before Morning. What a beautiful invitation!
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out these books and what you like about them, Jen. I particularly like Before Morning and Bear Has a Story to Tell.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list of beautiful books, Jen; we already have a few on our bookshelves at home. I've always appreciated how BEAR HAS A STORY TO TELL teaches about so many things: repetition, the power of a story, humor, pacing, evocative language (as you highlighted), and the powerful themes of kindness and friendship and overcoming frustration. Beth Krommes' illustrations in BEFORE MORNING are gorgeous, as they always are; we also love her illustrations in SWIRL BY SWIRL and THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder to copy text and to also look at storyboarding. Takes time and effort, but so worth it.
ReplyDeleteGreat books to study. Thanks , Jen.
Great choices for mentor texts. I love BEFORE MORNING and FLASHLIGHT NIGHT. Thanks, Jen.
ReplyDeleteI love how each book does one thing particularly well.
ReplyDeleteEach of these has some very special characteristics. Bear Has A Story to Tell - love that one. Thank you for your time.
ReplyDeletethank you, great examples, and so good to find different lessons from each!
ReplyDeleteJen, thank you for sharing how you often write out the text of a book in order to force yourself to pay close attention to what the author is doing. This is a very meaningful exercise! I love the books you chose as mentor texts. As I was reading reviews about these books, I came across the site: theclassroombookshelf.com.
ReplyDeleteThe book, Before Morning, was being reviewed and several articles were presented with extension activities related to this book.
All of the books you recommended would be great mentor texts for students of all ages.
Thank you for this idea! What a great way to get into the meat of the content and understand the reasons behind the author's choices. I will definitely try this technique. I think striking the balance between what you offer the reader and what gets alluded to is always a challenge.Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteLove these examples, Jen. My critique partners and I share all the mentor texts we type up, so it's not so tedious a job and we all benefit. Thanks!
ReplyDelete"Flashlight Lights" & "Bear Has A Story To Tell" were my favs. I especially loved the BEAR character because he truly was a main character that readers will want to root for.
ReplyDeleteThese are some of my favorite books for the month! Thanks, Jen!
ReplyDeleteYay! So glad!
DeleteThank you for sharing this list! I love, love, love "Bear Has a Story to Tell." I love how his friends helped him near the end so he could tell his story. What a great example of making someone feel worthwhile!
ReplyDeleteBefore Morning is one of my favorite books with its evocative language and the separate story it tells in the illustrations. I also love books by the Steads, the marriage between language and pictures is marvelous. Uncorked of Ocean bottles is an unusual book that reminds me of Ireland each time I read it. Thanks for reminding me of these evocative books.
ReplyDeleteSuch simple books with such profound stories to tell. Thank you, Jen!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jen, for sharing these beautiful mentor texts with us. I especially love the lyrical language of Joyce Sidman's BEFORE MORNING.
ReplyDeleteThe text is stunning, isn't it. I was blown away by its beauty and brevity. And then of course the illustrations and the story in them...
DeleteAlthough I frequently copy down the text, I never thought to storyboard it. What a good idea. Your first two mentor texts are very short. I wonder if they had any illustrator notes or if the illustrator added it all on their own. Also I enjoyed the emotive language reference. I didn't think about that in my first reading. I would love someone to explain the pacing of the "Uncorker." I often hear that the problem should be stated upfront in the first few pages. In this, instead, there is a lot of explanation of what the Uncorker does. However, I liked the descriptive words she uses. But on the other hand, sometimes I wonder how they (the author, editor, etc.) decide to keep details in. Like on the first page, in the description of the home it says "with only one tree for shade." I wonder why that was left in.
ReplyDeleteWonderful recommendations, all of these. I never copy down book texts but you have convinced me that I should. Thank you, Jen!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about typing out books. I haven't done that in a while. I will try that this week again. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen, these are beautiful books.
ReplyDeleteThese sound like great selections, can't wait to sit down and read them tonight. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading these book for the teachings you mention. Thanks
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading these great examples! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen, That's a lot of work to go through to see what is making the story so good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the new reading suggestions.
Thanks, Jen. Love the Steads and hadn't read this one!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mentor titles, Jen. I've written the text as well to help with pacing and composition
ReplyDeleteI hadn't read any of these books, and ended up loving them all! They were fantastic mentor texts to learn from. Thank you Jen for this post!
ReplyDeleteThese are all new titles for me, Jen. Can't wait to learn from them. Thank you for your tips.
ReplyDeleteJen: I LOVE the idea of writing out the words of a book, as well as storyboarding the illustrations. What better way to learn from The Masters could there possibly be than TRULY delving into the text, illustrations, pacing, language, etc.!?!?!!!! THANK YOU for these inspirational books to learn from!
ReplyDeleteThanks for today’s great lesson.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful selection of books. They were all completely new to me. Particularly loved This House Once and the Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
ReplyDeleteExcellent and beautiful examples and such a helpful post, thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful books, thank you! And I just started copying down the text from some mentor texts, page by page. It has been helpful to see the breakdown.
ReplyDeletereally interesting suggestions and observations, Jen! I, too, have used copying text at times to really understand what appealed to me in a book. Can't wait to get started on these books.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing about writing out mentor texts. I also enjoyed the emotive language in Bear Tells a Story.
ReplyDeleteBear Has a Story to Tell was new to me, and one of those books that made me tear up and immediately re-read. Loved the suggestion of writing these out.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful selection of books rich with many levels of lessons...all great studies. I love each one, like to copy the text and note pacing and how to create effective, artful "unspoken narrative." Becky Loescher
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestions to write out the text of a picture book and to create a storyboard. The books you’ve chosen are beautiful examples of lyrical, quiet stories—my favorite kind.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jen, for recommending these superb mentor texts. They are wonderful in so many ways and will help me learn as I analyze them. Before Morning is exquisite! So much to see! All are heartwarming and special.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful books. Thank you for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI so enjoy Flashlight night. The text and illustrations are amazing. I wonder at the vision the editor must have for a book with such little text--I know Matt did not include art notes. I think it is a great example of how each--author and illustrator--can bring so much to the table and it is important, as writers, to give the illustrator room.
ReplyDeleteThese are great mentor texts - thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this list. I've had a couple of questions on one of my current manuscripts and found answers to both in these mentor texts. Grateful!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the mentor suggestions. I enjoy the process of copying mentor texts. It helps me feel the book. I hope that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with BEAR HAS A STORY TO TELL and THE UNCORKER OF OCEAN BOTTLES. These really spoke to me. The pace, the tone, the message. Thank you for introducing me and my two girls to them!
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Bear has a story to tell. I had not heard about this book before and it is wonderful! I understand why it is a great mentor text. Can't wait to get the others tomorrow. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of how valuable it is to type out the texts and create dummies.
ReplyDeleteThe Uncorker of Ocean Bottles was a new book for me and now a new favorite!
Such wonderful choices for our mentor texts! Thank you Jen! When I see a picture book with illustrations that add so much to the story, I sometimes wonder how much of those ideas were written into the first drafts of the story, and removed once illustrations were being developed. Boy, do I wish I was also an illustrator!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great reminder of how mentor texts, in their very structure of pages, and through the delineation of lines and breaks and wordless spreads can serve our drafting process. Sometimes, when we're stuck, it can be the best thing to stop writing and simply read! I've been forgetting to do that lately, and as I work on multiple revisions, I think I'll make some time this week to study the spacing of some mentor texts. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I love to copy text and study pacing as well. Thanks for this book list.
ReplyDeleteWhat helpful information! I haven't been doing the deeper analysis described in this post, but now I'm converted! It sounds like a wonderful way to learn more about the craft. Many thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the execution of the circular loop. I've not attempted this technique. All of these books were new to me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYes! That's something I do too. I copy or type our the text of picture books. Helps you to take a deeper look and break it down.
ReplyDeleteGreat books- Flashlight Night still on hold at the library, but planning on typing up these others. I do type up mentor books, but rarely storyboard them. I think that is a smart thing I should do. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThese are such beautiful books. I love what the illustrator did with Flashlight Night. Perfection! Thanks, Jen.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great list of books, and for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of splitting the words and pictures apart and studying them separately.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful list and the advice on digging deeper into how these texts are constructed. I found some new favorites to add to my list!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lovely book selections. I especially enjoyed THIS HOUSE, ONCE and BEFORE MORNING. I have reserved other books by the author/poets of these books. I am also going to try to write an invocation, as suggested by Joyce Sidman.
ReplyDeleteWriting the text out by hand is a genius idea! Thanks for the suggestion. Loved all the books too. Writing a book as an invocation is amazing, loved BEFORE MORNING. Also, loved bear in BEAR HAS A STORY TO TELL.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your mentor texts. And also the reminder that typing out the text of a published work can be helpful as well as honing in on what these authors did best so we can make our own writing stronger.
ReplyDeleteWow. Reforemo always introduces us to great new books, but these were all ones I actually hadn't ever heard of and found spectacular! Amazing learning tools,indeed. The way the flashlight illuminated imagination while the darkness showed the dual reality = brilliant! And the way Bear's story came full circle- endearing. Before Mornings' art combined w the concise poetic words also made for such a wonderful book, which I coincidentally read during New Jersey's 4th nor'easter this year!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your book selections. My grandson and I had a great time together reading Flashlight Night and discussing the illustrations. And yes, writing out a text and storyboarding are very helpful ways to learn!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great post! I do that too! Type out the text from pbs - it's great to have a reference later on, to look back on how things were phrased or how plot was unfolded. Never thought of doing a storyboard also, what a great idea! Thanks for these book suggestions, this is a terrific list.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful mentor texts to learn from. It's also a really great practice to write out text from picture books to better understand how and why the author chose the words they did. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I need to do more of. The other day I did a similar exercise by "updating" an older book. It helped me see the story structure, and also was good practice in tightening language.
ReplyDeleteJen, I also copy, and sometimes color code, when studying a mentor text. Thank you for describing some of the strengths of each of your selections. This is a wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and suggestions. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read the three that I haven't seen yet. Looks like I'll have more favorites!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post! It reminded me of how I started writing with mentor texts. Those books and their authors were my teachers, and I'm glad to find a few new ones! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting post, Jen! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteTyping out the text and storyboarding the illustrations can be a powerful tool. The harmony between the text and the illustrations becomes more apparent. Thanks, Jen!
ReplyDeleteAs many have commented, I, too, find typing the text of published picture book and creating a story board supports my writing. Thank you, Jen.
ReplyDeleteSuzy Leopold
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThese books had some incredible elements. I loved the opening line of Flashlight Night: "Flashlight opens up the night." It put a heavy emphasis on the flashlight by not starting with "The." The illustrator was so creative to have the light of the flashlight show their imagination (inspired by the books they're reading), while the dark areas show that they're still in the treehouse. Another line I loved was from Before Morning: "Let the air turn to feathers, the earth turn to sugar, and all that is heavy turn light." Such eloquent writing, not to mention the scratchboard art was incredible. In The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles I truly loved the premise of the story as well as certain gems in its text, like "loneliness as sharp as fish scales," and "for a letter can hold the treasure of a clam-hugged pearl." The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles was a bit quirky, which made me so drawn to it. It definitely stood out from the other texts... maybe because while an uncorker of ocean bottles is fiction, it's still within the realm of reality. Certainly his feelings of loneliness, and by the end, companionship were set in reality. I also learned a lot from these texts.
ReplyDeleteThese all are wonderful books. Thank you for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Jen! I'm excited about both your books! #Epic18
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reading list, Jen.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite lists. The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles was just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jen. Typing the text is very informative. You gave us some wonderful books to study.
ReplyDeleteTyping up Picture Book Skeletons is a secret to success. Glad the secret's out.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful...lyrically and visually. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI learn so much more when I type out text and study it independently. It's like seeing the blueprint! These are all beautiful books!
ReplyDeleteGreat list of books! I'm always surprised by the new insights I gain when I write out the text of books.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this marvelous selection. I especially loved Before Morning, the book took me to a different place. It has such a wonderful feel. I too type out text... It gives me a visceral feel of the magic!
ReplyDeleteWoW - Flashlight Night blew me away.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post and mentor text ideas!!
ReplyDeleteI also copy book texts to help me look closer at the language and the progression of story.
ReplyDeleteI loved all of these! Now I have more to type out! This House gave me the inspiration to write the story I've had in mind for years. Thanks for the thoughtful choices.
We thoroughly enjoyed these texts, especially those that involve the Steads! My husband and I are an author-illustrator team and read these together to examine the relationship between the text and illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI also learn a lot by really studying each page. I often recreate illustrations to try to figure them out. Erin Stead is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteFascinating habit in writing out others texts as an exercise! Thanks Jen for such a thoughtful post!
ReplyDeleteI actually read "Flashlight Night" twice just to really focus on how much was added through illustration. I really loved the contrast between reality and imagination, darkness and light. STUNNING book!
This has been my favorite list of mentor texts so far. The books you've picked are memorable because of their unusual qualities. Thank you for introducing me to them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jen for sharing these books and showing us how you used the text and illustrations to help you with your craft. That helps a lot. Also, Congratulations on Twilight Chant, it looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI loved the illustrations in "Before Morning." It's something that both child and adult can look at again & again, creating their own stories with each spread. I also loved "Uncorker," not only the beauty of the language & words, but the feelings conveyed through the illustrations. The Uncorker was strong, and tired, and brave, and sad...I just wanted to have him stand tall (and he finally did!)Overall my favorite was Bear because page after page, I just wanted to hear this kind-hearted giant's tale.
ReplyDeleteFLASHLIGHT NIGHT looks amazing. Thanks for the tips about storyboarding. I struggle with pacing.
ReplyDeleteI love picture books that have the text and illustrations feeding off each other. Thanks for the mentor text suggestions!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions! Waiting on all of them from the library. :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent selections. I love seeing the interactions between text and illustrations. Thank-you!
ReplyDeleteText and pictures - It is what it is all about !
ReplyDeleteI often type out the text to books to see what the author has done. I shouldn't neglect the illustrations just because I'm not an illustrator.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for all of the terrific book recommendations.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of storyboarding a mentor text. Thank you for the idea.
ReplyDelete