The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

Recommended Grades: 2-6

In the introduction, we learn that Chris Van Allsburg saw the drawings in this book at the home of Peter Wenders.  Wenders once worked for a children’s book publisher.  Thirty years ago, a man called Mr. Wender’s office, introducing himself as Harris Burdick and leaving 14 drawings with a title and caption for each one.  Burdick promised to return the next day with the stories he had written to go with each picture.  Mr. Burdick was never heard from again. . .

Lesson Idea:

Comprehension Strategies:

Making Inferences: Read aloud The Mysteries of Harris Burdick as part of a unit on making inferences.  Provide students with a picture and ask them to infer what is happening in the picture.  Use this book after modeling and making inferences with other books.     

Six Traits

Idea Development: After reading aloud The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, have students choose a picture from the book and using the first line that is written, continue the story.  How do they envision the story?

Note: Recently many popular children’s authors came together and wrote stories based on these pictures in The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales / With an Introduction by Lemony Snicket.  After students write their own stories based on the pictures, share some of the author’s ideas and how they envisioned the story. 

©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Freedom Song: The Story of Henry “Box” Brown by Sally M. Walker

Recommended Grades: 4-6

Henry “Box” Brown was a slave in the 1800’s on a plantation near Richmond, Va.  Song was an important part of his life and he sang for all aspects of it.  When Henry’s wife and children were sold to another master, Henry’s song stopped.  And in the silence, he thought of an ingenious way to escape slavery and find freedom.   

Lesson Idea:

Mentor Texts: Read aloud Freedom Song: The Story of Henry “Box” Brown in conjunction with Henry’s Freedom Box when discussing the Underground Railroad or the Civil War.  Why did Henry’s plan work?  Did others try after him?  Why was music an important influence in the lives of slaves?  Discuss these questions and encourage students to research to see if answers to these questions can be found.

 Six Traits

Idea Development: I have read several picture books that have been written as the result of a true event (see Ducky or Henry’s Freedom Box).  I love how authors read about something that is factual and turn it into a story that is accessible to kids of all ages.  After reading aloud Freedom Song: The Story of Henry “Box” Brown (and other examples), ask students to brainstorm a list of historical events in their writer’s notebook.  When students are looking for a writing piece, ask them to look further into the background of a historical event of their choice.  You never know what they might find!

Note: The author’s note in the back provides detail as to how her version of Henry “Box” Brown’s life story came to fruition.  Additionally, an excerpt from an actual letter of the man who met Henry “Box” Brown on his arrival to Pennsylvania is also provided.

©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Ducky by Eve Bunting

Recommended Grades: 4-6

A crate of bathtub toys are washed overboard in a storm.  As waves crash all around them, the animals are separated until Ducky is left all alone.  Will he wash ashore and find a friend?     

Lesson Idea:

Six Traits:

Idea Development: This picture book is based on a true event that took place in 1992.  What a fantastic way to develop a story.  Read aloud Ducky and ask students to peruse newspaper articles for idea seeds.  You can also read aloud 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle (based on the same incident) and compare how two authors began with the same idea, but developed two different stories.

Organization:  “I am a yellow plastic duck and I am in great danger.”  This sentence begins the story of Ducky and hooks the reader.  Provide Ducky as a mentor text when modeling hooks.

©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown

December Theme:  Ideas

This month’s theme is Ideas.  How can we use picture books to model for students how authors come up with ideas for their writing?

Recommended Grades: 2-4

Children Make Terrible Pets is a great story about Lucy the Bear and her pet child, Squeaker.  After finding Squeaker in the forest one day, Lucy brings him home to be her pet.  They play together, but Squeaker isn’t all fun and games.  He ruins the furniture, and is difficult to potty train.  One day, he disappears.  Lucy looks all over for him.  When she finds him with his own family, will she bring him back home or leave him there?

Lesson idea: This book is so cute and is such a fun model for ideas.  Read aloud this book to your class and discuss what’s different about it (children usually have pets, they aren’t the pets).  Brainstorm topics and ideas that could be turned from the norm.  Then have students choose one to write about.

If you are looking for additional resources and ways to teach ideas to students, please read the post I wrote about Have I Got a Book for You!, S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, John Philip Duck, Abe’s Fish: A Boyhood Tale of Abraham Lincoln, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Artful Reading.

**Note** I provide these lesson ideas under the assumption that you are familiar with The Six Traits of Writing.  If you are not, and would like more information on teaching students about ideas or any other six traits component, please feel free to contact me at Dlittle[at]linkstoliteracy[dot]com.  I am happy to provide more specific lessons or resources if necessary.

©2010 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.

Have I Got a Book for You! by Melanie Watt

December Theme:  Ideas

This month’s theme is Ideas.  How can we use picture books to model for students how authors come up with ideas for their writing?

Recommended Grades: 3-5

Have I Got a Book for You! by Melanie Watt (author of the Scaredy Squirrel series of books) is all about Mr. Al Foxword and the book he wants to sell the reader.  The book you are holding in your hand.  He spends the length of the book trying to get you to purchase the book.  Will you buy into his sales pitch?

Lesson idea: This is a fantastic book to model for children ideas.  Read aloud this book and discuss the ways the author, through Mr. Al Foxword, tries to convince you to purchase the book.  Then, brainstorm ideas/topics that students may choose to write their own sales pitch about.  Have them use this book as a model to write a sales pitch of their own.

If you are looking for additional resources and ways to teach ideas to students, please read the post I wrote about S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet, John Philip Duck, Abe’s Fish: A Boyhood Tale of Abraham Lincoln, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Artful Reading.

**Note** I provide these lesson ideas under the assumption that you are familiar with The Six Traits of Writing.  If you are not, and would like more information on teaching students about ideas or any other six traits component, please feel free to contact me at Dlittle[at]linkstoliteracy[dot]com.  I am happy to provide more specific lessons or resources if necessary.

©2010 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.