Mentor Texts to Teach Writing Styles

In a moving, lyrical tale about the cost and fragility of freedom, a New York Times best-selling author and an acclaimed artist follow the life of a man who courageously shipped himself out of slavery. What have I to fear? My master broke every promise to me. I lost my beloved wife and our dear children. All, sold South. Neither my time nor my body is mine. The breath of life is all I have to lose. And bondage is suffocating me. Henry Brown wrote that long before he came to be known as Box, he "entered the world a slave." He was put to work as a child and passed down from one generation to the next -- as property. When he was an adult, his wife and children were sold away from him out of spite. Henry Brown watched as his family left bound in chains, headed to the deeper South. What more could be taken from him? But then hope -- and help -- came in the form of the Underground Railroad. Escape! In stanzas of six lines each, each line representing one side of a box, celebrated poet Carole Boston Weatherford powerfully narrates Henry Brown's story of how he came to send himself in a box from slavery to freedom. Strikingly illustrated in rich hues and patterns by artist Michele Wood, Box is augmented with historical records and an introductory excerpt from Henry's own writing as well as a time line, notes from the author and illustrator, and a bibliography.

Little brown bats do us a big favor. They eat huge numbers of insects! That helps limit the spread of diseases and the damage that insects do to farm crops. But in recent years, large populations of little brown bats have been dying off each winter. Is a virus killing them? Could climate change or pesticides be the cause? Or is it something else? Follow a team of dedicated scientists working to save the little brown bats in this real-life science mystery.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's immortal poem about this famous American revolutionary is now movingly portrayed by Ted Rand, "a master of atmosphere and moonlight" (School Library Journal).

An inspiring picture-book biography of Louis Braille-a blind boy so determined to read that he invented his own alphabet. Louis Braille was just five years old when he lost his sight. He was a clever boy, determined to live like everyone else, and what he wanted more than anything was to be able to read. Even at the school for the blind in Paris, there were no books for him. And so he invented his own alphabet-a whole new system for writing that could be read by touch. A system so ingenious that it is still used by the blind community today. Award-winning writer Jen Bryant tells Braille's inspiring story with a lively and accessible text, filled with the sounds, the smells, and the touch of Louis's world. Boris Kulikov's inspired paintings help readers to understand what Louis lost, and what he was determined to gain back through books. An author's note and additional resources at the end of the book complement the simple story and offer more information for parents and teachers.

Introduce children to the natural world with this fresh, bold, and bright nonfiction picture book! The perfect book for parents, teachers, and gift givers looking for: a book for kids about how plants grow a fun book about plant life cycles for Kindergarten, first, second, or third grade students a great nature book for kids to be used for home school materials How do plants grow? Explore the journey from seed to sapling and beyond. Children have lots of questions about the world around them, and this book helps them discover many amazing and wonderful scientific facts about nature. The illustrations are charming, and lively texts engage children and make this book a favorite to return to again and again. There are also Notes to Parents and Teachers at the end to encourage further exploration and learning.

Because of an acorn, a tree grows, a bird nests, a seed becomes a flower. Enchanting die-cuts illustrate the vital connections between the layers of an ecosystem in this magical picture book. Wander down the forest path to learn how every tree, flower, plant, and animal connect to one another in spiraling circles of life. An acorn is just the beginning.  

A water ride like you've never experienced before, featuring the cutest drop of water in all of precipitation. Meet Drop. She's water! And she's seen a thing or two. Yep, even dinosaurs; she's four and a half billion years old, after all. Everywhere Drop flows--and she flows everywhere--she keeps things moving, making life on earth possible, and having a great time doing it. (Have you ever plummeted from a rain cloud? Or took a thousand-year nap in a glacier? Drop knows how to live right.) With delightful panache and a steady stream of funny one-liners, Drop takes readers on an adventure through the water cycle and beyond. Filled with irresistible artwork, funny asides, and a steady sprinkle of kid-enticing facts, Drop is the story about water you never knew you were thirsting for.   "Splashy and original." --Kirkus "A stand out from others of its type." --SLC "An endearing, conversational introduction to the water cycle." --PW

How does a butterfly grow? Follow the journey through a butterfly's life cycle, from the time the egg is laid, through hatching as a caterpillar, to forming a cocoon and emerging as a fully grown butterfly.

Discover the fascinating and surprising ways that seeds move and find a place to grow in this gorgeous picture book from Caldecott Honoree Robin Page. Every seed, big or small, needs sunlight, water, and an uncrowded place to put down roots. But how do seeds get to the perfect place to grow? This exploration of seed dispersal covers a wide range of seeds and the creatures that help them move, from a coconut seed floating on waves to an African grass seed rolled by a dung beetle, to a milkweed seed floating on the wind.

Introduce your learners to science! Through simple text and clear photographs, young minds will learn how some of their favorite things are made. Key Features: Step-by-Step recap with photos at the end of each book Fast facts - offering fun, sometimes little known facts about the subject Low, accessible reading level for emergent and struggling readers Glossary with pictures provides a visual review of important vocabulary terms Large, colorful photos provide a visual connection to the text Additional content for further learning on this subject available at www.factsfornow.scholastic.com

"Simple but precise text and large, clearly labeled illustrations provide primary-grade audiences with a smooth initiation into earth science. Earth's genesis, composition, and continuing morphology are covered, and theory is consistently distinguished from fact....The real strength of this work lies in adroitly describing complex processes in terms meaningful to the youngest listeners....Attractive and useful."--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.

Cities are places that have greater numbers of people, buildings, and services. But city life can be different depending on where in the world you live. This engaging title compares the everyday lives of people in several different cities around the world, describing the homes they live in and how they have adapted to different climates.

Over 200,000 copies of the series sold. Author Carron Brown has been a children's non-fiction editor and writer for more than 16 years. Child-friendly introduction to physiology. Have fun discovering the secrets of the human body. Hold a light behind the pages to see muscles flex, watch as food travels through the digestive system, and take a peek at the skeleton holding you upright! The amazing see-through pages in this gorgeously illustrated non-fiction series offer benefits similar to lift-the-flaps books (great for early development and deal with the idea of object permanence), but our Secrets books have the added interactive dimension of the child being able to see the surface and the hidden picture at the same time. Both a visual treat and lots of fun, all of our Shine-a-Light books also offer a glossary and additional information about their subjects, making them non-fiction gift books like no other.Over 200,000 copies of the Shine-a-Light series sold! A non-fiction gift book like no other with amazing see-through pages and a glossary and additional information about their subjects.

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned Rosa Parks the title "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement." This biography has black-and-white illustrations throughout.

Learn more about what climate change means and how it's affecting our planet. The earth is definitely getting warmer. There's no argument about that, but who or what is the cause? And why has climate change become a political issue? Are humans at fau