Roby Runkles - Mentor Text Library by

The Idea in You

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 01:50:10 UTC

This book, written by QuestLove, is a story about a young boy that turns his creative ideas into something fulfilling. His idea is captured as a star, and he develops it into something unique. This would be a great lesson for third grade because students can understand that every idea that they have is creative and unique. They can also learn how to act on their ideas, as well.

Alfred's War

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 02:08:12 UTC

This book is about an Aboriginal Australian soldier named Alfred. Alfred fought in World War 1 and when he returned home he faced neglect and no recognition for his service. This story shows students how to take a story that has been researched thoroughly and turn it into a simple story line. There are many details that the author could have added, but she truly sticks to one main idea.

Go Home, Cheeky Animals

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 02:22:13 UTC

This story is about dogs that chase away different animals that cause mischief at camp. This books location is based off the Northern Territory. This book can teach students that ideas can come from all around us. It also teaches students how to look around with writer eyes. This book is written to encourage readers to ask questions about the Illustrations.

IslandBorn

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 02:43:23 UTC

For a school project, Lola is asked to draw a picture of where her family emigrated from. She gets nervous that she has forgotten what the island looked like. But her family and friends help her remember and she takes an imaginary journey back to the island. This is a good mentor text because it can help students develop ideas. They can brainstorm memories that are important to them.

Freedom Song: The Story of Henry "Box" Brown

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 02:51:52 UTC

Henry Brown was a slave in the 1800s near Richmond, Virginia. Music was an important part of Brown's life; He always had a song that went along with his life. When his family was sold to a new family, his songs stopped. The main idea of this story is to educate students on the history of the civil war. The main idea is to look further into a historical event.

Frankencrayon

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:10:03 UTC

Frankencrayon is about a set of crayons that are supposed to "Write the story", but something scribbled in the middle of the page. So, the picture book has to be canceled. The author uses "a story within a story" structure. I think it could be cool to encourage students to try this technique in their own writing.

The Monstore

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:14:00 UTC

The Monstore is a story about a shop that sells monsters. It is fun to read because it teaches students synonyms that make the text more exciting and more descriptive.

Voices in the Park

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:21:02 UTC

This story follows characters as they walk in the park. It has every character's points of view of the events that take place. This book helps readers understand how the author uses word choice to convey voice. Each character has a distinct voice.

Amelia's Notebook

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:28:35 UTC

Amelia keeps a diary, where she writes about her thoughts and feelings about her personal life. This book was written from the perspective of a nine-year old, so many upperclassman can relate. This story can encourage students how to voice their emotions and to keep a journal.

Lindie Lou Adventure Series

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:41:09 UTC

A puppy named Lindie Lou travels all over the world and visits amazing places. Students can enjoy the large text and the colorful illustrations.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:47:18 UTC

This story is about cows that go on strike after Farmer Brown refuses to give into their demands. The words are easy to read, as they are bolded and they look like they were typed from a type writer. The illustrations are very vibrant as well.

The Giving Tree

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 03:54:01 UTC

This story is about a boy who forms a friendship with a tree that gives him whatever he needs. The illustrations show the tree and the boy as they grow. The words on the page are minimal, and they show what is going on in the story. For example, there are leaves falling down, so the sentences are formed like they are falling down too.

Big Nate Flips Out

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 04:06:51 UTC

Big Nate Flips out is about a boy named Nate. Nate decides he wants to join the yearbook club and take funny pictures. This story has great graphics, and illustrations.

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 04:14:28 UTC

I'm a Frog

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 04:16:35 UTC

This story is about a pig declaring that it is now a frog. This story is told through dialogue bubbles and expressive illustrations. This is perfect for emergent readers.

Charlotte's Web

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 04:25:47 UTC

Charlotte's Web is a story about a pig who befriends a spider. This book is a great for a student who is just starting to read. This book is a great example of good punctuation and grammar.

Kites Sail High

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 18:49:10 UTC

Merry-Go-Round

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 18:51:31 UTC

This is a great book that provides a solid explanation of nows by using rhyming text. Students can learn the difference between common and proper nouns and abstract and concrete nouns.

Ring! Yo?

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 18:57:57 UTC

This story is about a one side conversation on the phone. This book teaches students grammar and how to use it effectively in their writing.

Many Luscious Lollipops

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:03:23 UTC

Punctuation Needs a Vacation

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:06:39 UTC

In this story, a classroom of punctuation marks decide to go on vacation. This leaves the students to deal with the chaos of writing without proper grammar. This teaches students that grammar and punctuation is important when they start writing.

The Bee Tree

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:11:53 UTC

The Bee Tree is about a young girl who is bored with reading embarks on a "bee tree hunt" with her grandfather. This story shows how important it is to write emotions into stories. There are words that are italicized, which draws attention to them.

Martha Speaks

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:15:27 UTC

Martha speaks is about a dog who eats alphabet soup and starts talking like a human. This book shows students that text bubbles help them understand who is speaking! This book also helps readers understand what words mean when they read them.

The Recess Queen

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:23:30 UTC

This story is about a playground bully who controls the entire recess by telling people who gets to play on what equipment until a new student disrupts the bully's reign. This book is full of rhythm and creative sentences.

Roller Coaster

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:26:30 UTC

This book is about a visit to a fair. A little boy gets anxious while waiting in line to ride the roller coaster. This book has a well-structured sequence of events. These events captures the excitement of the ride. This book is a great example of how organization can help enhance the flow and impact a story.

When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really, Angry

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:30:03 UTC

This story is about Sophie and what she does when she gets angry. This book is about how people do different things when they are angry. This book has a clear sequence of events and emotional progression.

All About Turkeys

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:33:53 UTC

This is a book that details the life and habits of a turkey. It talks about what it eats, how they can be found, and how they raise their young. This book is perfect for third grade, because it shows a sequence of events. Students can learn about the circle of life while also gaining the understanding of organization of events.

Life in the Polar Lands

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:46:04 UTC

This book talks about how Polar Bears and Arctic Foxes adapted to the extreme weather of the Arctic region. It mentions how the polar environment has been damaged by humans. This story teaches a structure of events and how each event leads to another.

Seven Blind Mice

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 19:54:13 UTC

This is a story about seven blind mice that encounter a "strange something" by their pond. Each mouse investigates a different part of the object, which leads to different interpretations. However, they needed to examine the entire object. This teaches students that it is important to read the whole story before coming up with assumptions.

Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 20:01:12 UTC

This book is about the life of a pilgrim girl. It goes through a schedule, and shows a series of events. Readers can see that a schedule of events is important to a story line.

Hooray for Fish

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 21:50:55 UTC

This story is about a little fish that goes on an underwater tour of friends. This book uses rhymes and descriptive words to bring fish to life. These word choices can help students gain a better vocabulary when reading and writing.

How Things Work in the House

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 21:57:42 UTC

This is a story about common household objects and how they function. This book shows how word choice can transform explanations of things into an educational experience that informs students. It also gives readers a new vocabulary.

The Word Collector

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-04 22:46:54 UTC

This book is about a boy who collects the words around him. This book can help students learn more words, while also enjoying a good story with great illustrations.

Fancy Nancy

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:02:55 UTC

Max's Words

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:09:03 UTC

Max's brothers all collect something, so

The Disappearing Alphabet

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:14:05 UTC

This book has students imagining what life would be like without the alphabet. This book explores how letters represent languages and how the loss of letters would impact the world we live in today.

The Napping House

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:21:48 UTC

A cozy bed awaits readers, with a surprise in store! The rhythmic and repetitive structure of the text impacts storytelling. It makes it easy to follow along and makes the readers anticipate the next part of the story.

Dogteam

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:24:15 UTC

This book is about a night out on the dogsled trail. The author's choice of words and the way the sentences flow, really makes the reader feel like they are on the sled gliding across the snow.

The Great Kapok Tree

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:26:49 UTC

This book is about protecting our trees and the environment. This story has great illustrations, and you could read this book on Earth Day. The story flows well and it is told chronologically. This shows readers that it is important to start off a story from the beginning, and that each paper they write has a beginning, middle, and end.

Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:31:40 UTC

This is a story about a dinosaur party where dinosaurs gather to dance and stomp. Students can see that rhythm is a trait of sentence fluency in this fun story.

Now Open the Box

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:33:53 UTC

This is about a circus man who stands in front of his circus tent holding a small box. The author uses run-on sentences to build suspense and grab the readers attention.

Twilight Comes Twice

robyelizabethrunkles — 2025-03-05 03:39:03 UTC

This book describes the transition between day and night. It highlights the magical quality of dawn and dusk. This story uses strong rhythm and a simple structure. This structure clearly communicates the theme of the book.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: This book is about lowercase letters racing to the top of a coconut tree.

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-02-08 22:20:33 UTC

This book works with phonological awareness through its rhythmic rhyming and repetitive text. This can help students identify sounds, syllables and make letter-sound connections.

A is for Salad: This book is an alphabet picture book where each letter corresponds with an unexpected phrase rather than the traditional object.

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-02-09 00:46:22 UTC

This book helps with phonemic awareness because students can identify beginning sounds in a word. Throughout the book, students will be able to learn words and break them down. Students can also learn to blend syllables through this book.

The Snowy Day - This book is about a boy who wakes up and sees the ground is covered in snow.

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-02-09 01:16:26 UTC

This book is great for comprehensive vocabulary instruction because it has sensory vocabulary, which are descriptive words (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell). This book also has words that students can act out!

The Relatives Came: This book is about relatives that are visiting from Virginia.

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-02-09 01:18:48 UTC

This book is great for comprehensive vocabulary instruction because it includes strong verbs and descriptive language that can strengthen students' writing.

Frindle

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-03-02 03:21:08 UTC

Written by Andrew Clements, this book is about Nick Allen, who decides to annoy his strict teacher, Mrs. Granger, by replacing the word "pen" with "frindle". This book encourages inference, especially in character motivation. It is great for discussing theme, and has a clear plot structure

Charlotte's Web

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-03-02 03:25:48 UTC

Charlotte's Web was written by E.B. White. This book is about a pig named Wilbur who is saved from slaughter by Charlotte. Charlotte would weave messages in her web to keep bringing people to see Wilbur. This book is perfect for students who are working on inference skills and vocabulary development. It supports reading fluency by having manageable chapters and dialogue for expression.

Junie B. Jones

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-03-02 03:34:22 UTC

Junie B. Jones is written by Barbara Parks. This book series is about a girl named Junie, who navigates her life through school, friendships, and family. This book helps students with hearing natural (through informal) speech patterns.

The Word Collector

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-03-02 03:37:21 UTC

This book was written by Peter Reynolds. This book is about a boy who finds joy in collecting words. He learns that combining and sharing words can help express his feelings and that kindness is powerful. This book can help students with vocabulary awareness and word consciousness.

Elephant and Piggie

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-04-03 14:06:18 UTC

This book is written by Mo Willems. It combines simple repetitive language with high-emotion, visual storytelling. The books are designed for early readers and focus on conversation. This makes the series ideal for developing fluency, vocabulary, and conversational skills.

How Do You Hug a Porcupine?

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-04-03 14:13:52 UTC

This book is written by Laurie Isop. This book is about a boy who tries to hug various animals, leading up to hugging a prickly porcupine. This book is a good resource for English Language Learners because it uses repetitive, rhyming texts. This can help English Learners predict words and understand sentence structure. The sentence structure is simple, meaning that it is geared toward early readers, however it is accessible to those at lower proficiency levels. This book is also interactive and engaging, and has a great vocabulary focus. The story introduces many animals and adjectives that are related to touch and feel.

Here's Hank

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-04-03 14:20:08 UTC

This book is written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. These books were designed to be accessible and engaging for students who have reading challenges, including dyslexia. These books have a dyslexie font, meaning it is designed to be easier for dyslexic readers to read. This font helps with letter recognition and reduces the tendency for letters to appear jumbled. This book also has accessible formatting, the chapters are short and not as overwhelming. This book also has relatable storylines, as the main character also has dyslexia.

Bad Kitty

robyelizabethrunkles — 2026-04-03 14:27:51 UTC

Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel helps students with reading difficulties. It combines humor, graphic novel elements, and accessible text. This book includes visual literacy and even scaffolding. The illustrations help clarify the narrative and reinforce vocabulary. They also aide in comprehension for struggling readers. The books are broken up into manageable chapters, which helps students build stamina.