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Jon Scieszka

This clever twist on a classic fairy tale invites students to play with voice, humor, and perspective. It helps transitional writers experiment with tone and sentence variety while learning how point of view can completely change a story. Students reimagine a familiar fairy tale through another character’s eyes, using strong voice, lively dialogue, and well-structured paragraphs to bring a fresh perspective to an old favorite.

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Margaret Wise

This timeless classic models repetition, rhythm, and focus, helping young writers understand how structure gives writing strength. It encourages students to expand simple thoughts into detailed, meaningful sentences. Students craft their own “Important Thing About My Favorite Place” pages, using the book’s pattern to organize their ideas, add vivid details, and express what makes their chosen place truly special.

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Karen Beaumont

This joyful, rhythmic story celebrates self-expression and confidence — great for helping emergent writers connect words to identity and emotions while noticing rhyme and repetition. Students write or dictate short “I Like Myself” sentences (“I like my curly hair. I like my silly laugh!”) and illustrate them. It builds sentence fluency and positive self-expression.

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Brian Floca

This Caldecott-winning book combines narrative nonfiction with technical and historical detail about trains in the 1800s. I will use it to show fluent writers how informational texts can still have rich imagery, rhythm, and voice. Students will create their own informational writing pieces that blend factual content with descriptive and sensory language, using this text as a model.

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Locomotive is a 2013 children’s book written and illustrated by Brian Floca. A non-fiction book written primarily in free verse, the book follows a family as they ride a transcontinental steam engine train in summer of 1869. The book details the workers, passengers, landscape, and effects of building and operating the first transcontinental railroad. The book also contains prose about the earlier and later history of locomotives. The book took Floca four years to create, which included a change in perspective from following the crew of the train to following a family. Floca conducted extensive research including his own train ride and consultation with experts to ensure he had the details all correct.

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Jacqueline Woodson

This powerful story explores themes of kindness, regret, and missed opportunities. I will use it to guide reflective narrative or personal essay writing, encouraging fluent writers to connect the text to their own experiences with empathy and choice. Through this text, students learn how to use reflection, tone, and moral lessons in their writing.

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Each Kindness [Woodson, Jacqueline, Lewis, E. B.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Each Kindness

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Jane Yolen

This poetic narrative highlights descriptive language, similes, and sensory imagery as a child goes owling with their father on a quiet night. I will use it as a model for helping transitional writers add detail and figurative language to their own work. After reading, students will create descriptive pieces about a nighttime walk or outdoor experience, focusing on sensory words and imagery.

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Late one winter night a little girl and her father go owling. The trees stand still as statues and the world is silent as a dream. Whoo-whoo-whoo, the father calls to the mysterious nighttime bird.

But there is no answer.

Wordlessly the two companions walk along, for when you go owling you don't need words. You don't need anything but hope. Sometimes there isn't an owl, but sometimes there is.

Distinguished author Jane Yolen has created a gentle, poetic story that lovingly depicts the special companionship of a young child and her father as well as humankind's close relationship to the natural world. Wonderfully complemented by John Schoenherr's soft, exquisite watercolor illustrations, this is a verbal and visual treasure, perfect for reading around and sharing at bedtime.

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Late one winter night a little girl and her father go owling. The trees stand still as statues and the world is silent as a dream. Whoo-whoo-whoo, the father calls to the mysterious nighttime bird. But there is no answer. Wordlessly the two companions walk along, for when you go owling you don't ...

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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Judith Viorst

This story presents a sequence of frustrating events from a child’s perspective, making it relatable and humorous for young readers. I will use it to teach transitional writers how to organize personal narratives around a central theme, such as a “bad day,” and guide them in expressing emotions through writing. Students will write their own versions, describing problems and how they were resolved.

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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Mo Willems

This story combines photographs of real settings with cartoon illustrations, making it a multimodal text that connects directly to children’s lives. I will use it to guide personal narrative writing, where students pair photographs from their own daily lives with original drawings. This activity helps children make personal connections to writing while experimenting with combining text and visuals.

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Eric Carle

With its days-of-the-week pattern, counting, and growth cycle vocabulary, this book gives emergent writers repeated language structures they can copy in their own work. I will use it to model pattern books, such as “The Very Hungry Kindergartener,” where students describe what they “eat” across the week. This supports sequencing, vocabulary development, and early sentence formation.

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Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault

This alphabet rhyme book introduces letters through rhythm, rhyme, and playful sound repetition, making it perfect for emergent writers who are learning phonemic awareness. I will use this book to guide activities where students create their own “Chicka Chicka” tree featuring letters from their names, connecting literacy with art and sound play in an engaging way.

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Laura Numeroff

This circular story highlights cause-and-effect and cyclical structure, helping early writers recognize how events connect. I will use it as a mentor text for writing their own circular “If You Give…” stories, where each new event leads to another. I will provide them with guiding text, "first, then, after, finally ect." This activity teaches sequencing, story structure, and creative connections in narrative writing.

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If a hungry little mouse shows up on your doorstep, you might want to give him a cookie. And if you give him a cookie, he'll ask for a glass of milk. He'll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn't have a milk mustache, and then he'll ask for a pair of scissors to give himself a trim....

This book is a great first introduction to Mouse, the star of the If You Give... series and a perennial favorite among children. With its spare, rhythmic text and circular tale, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is perfect for beginning readers and story time. Sure to inspire giggles and requests to "read it again!"

The award-winning If You Give a Mouse a Cookie , one of the most beloved children's books of all time, is from the #1 New York Times bestselling team Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond. Other favorites in this series include:

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If You Give a Mouse a Cookie [Numeroff, Laura, Bond, Felicia] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

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Drew Daywalt

This hilarious and imaginative story gives each crayon its own unique voice, showing students how personality and perspective bring writing to life. It helps young writers explore opinion, persuasion, and tone in a fun, creative way while learning how everyday objects can tell powerful stories. Students write their own “letter from an object,” giving it a voice and feelings just like the crayons. They practice using persuasive language, expressive word choice, and clear paragraph structure to share their object’s point of view.

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The Day the crayons quit - Books Alive! Read Aloud book for children

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Mo Willems

This book is excellent for teaching voice and persuasion. Students will practice opinion writing by creating their own “Don’t Let the Pigeon…” stories, experimenting with strong voice, dialogue, and reasons to persuade. It also supports interactive writing activities where students brainstorm persuasive arguments as a class.

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When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place-a pigeon! But you've never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate.

In his hilarious picture book debut, popular cartoonist Mo Willems perfectly captures a preschooler's temper tantrum.

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When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place-a pigeon! But you've never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate.

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle

This book’s predictable pattern and repeated structure help emergent writers notice rhythm, repetition, and sequencing. I will use it to model shared writing activities where students create their own patterned texts (“Classroom Animal, Classroom Animal, What Do You See?”). This supports phonological awareness and early sentence building.

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Bill Martin Jr, an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet, held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. His many books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?; Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children.

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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A big happy frog, a plump purple cat, a handsome blue horse, and a soft yellow duck--all parade across the pages of this delightful book. Children will immediately respond to Eric Carle's flat, boldly colored collages. Combined with Bill Martin's singsong text, they create unforgettable images of...

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Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

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Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

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Margot Lee Shetterly

This inspiring true story highlights perseverance, intelligence, and teamwork through the journeys of four brilliant women who helped launch the U.S. into space. It motivates students to use informational writing to celebrate real people who’ve made a difference, while learning how facts and storytelling can work together to inform and inspire. Students write a short biographical piece about a person who inspires them—someone from history, their community, or their own family—using clear organization, strong facts, and thoughtful reflection to show why that person matters.

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Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race