FEATURE ARTICLE

Crafting Creative Nonfiction:

From Close Reading to Close Writing
Cynthia A. Dollins

Converting boring, basic facts into intriguing, creative nonfiction writing can be accomplished
with a little help from mentor texts.

T
he Common Core State Standards call for a close reading strategies that focused on author’s
major shift in curriculum to include exten- purpose and author’s craft for science nonfiction
sive amounts of nonfiction texts in elementary picture books. This is in alignment with College and
classrooms. The expectation is that students’ read- Career Readiness Anchor Standards 4–6 for Reading
ing diet will be evenly divided between literary and (see Figure  1). The students were scaffolded to ex-
informational texts by the fourth grade (i.e., 50% amine the content the author was providing but
of all texts used in school should be informational; also to look at style and organizational features,
National Governors Association Center for Best descriptive language, academic vocabulary, and
Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, point of view. Additionally, the students attended
2010). In addition to being able to read increasingly to research-­identified key elements that contribute
complex nonfiction, students must be able to suc- to exemplary nonfiction texts, as defined by Pappas
cessfully write their own explanatory and informa- (2006). Research shows that exposing students to the
tional texts. Therefore, to be college and career ready, structures of different genres, such as nonfiction,
students must be able to read, understand, and craft helps to increase their ability to write in these same
nonfiction. genres (Abbott, Berninger, & Fayol, 2010). Therefore,
Since the implementation of the Common Core, nonfiction picture books were used as springboards
articles, books, and professional development ses- for the students to develop their own informational
sions have emphasized ways to successfully imple- writing that included interesting facts as well as a
ment close reading with students. Close reading is a strong authorial voice.
process that helps readers understand both the sur- Mentor texts, as defined by Dorfman and
face and the deeper levels of complex text. The prem- Cappelli (2007), are “pieces of literature that we can
ise of close reading involves multiple interactions return to again and again as we help young writers
with text to examine what it says, how the author learn how to do what they may not yet be able to
has said it, and what it means (Lehman & Roberts, do on their own” (pp. 2–3). Graham, Gillespie, and
2014). Part of the close reading process asks students McKeown (2013) found that students’ writing im-
to pay close attention to the specific craft and struc- proved when they were provided strong models of
ture the author has used in the text. Close reading the types of writing they were expected to create.
can assist students in creating their own nonfiction Careful analysis of author’s purpose and process, as
texts that provide detailed information about a topic well as encouragement to emulate critical elements
and can demonstrate how to use a unique and en- of texts, helped students increase their writing pro-
gaging style of writing. This article provides teach- ficiency. Therefore, the texts used with Jane’s third-­
ers a process for helping students strategically navi- grade students were carefully selected to reflect the
gate children’s nonfiction books and use these texts exemplary features of nonfiction as well as narra-
as mentors for their own nonfiction writing. tive elements that brought a unique authorial voice
Third-­g rade teacher Jane Thompson (all names to the text.
are pseudonyms) worked with me to implement this
writing project in order to help her students learn Cynthia A. Dollins is a senior lecturer at Pepperdine
to transfer exemplary writing techniques from non- University, Irvine, CA, USA; e-­mail cynthia.dollins@
fiction mentor texts. She assisted students in using pepperdine.edu.

The Reading Teacher Vol. 00 No. 00 pp. 1–10 1 doi:10.1002/trtr.1465 © 2016 International Literacy Association
 FEATURE ARTICLE

Two types of nonfiction, labeled here as standard working diligently to ensure that only the best and
nonfiction and creative nonfiction, were used in this most balanced books would serve as mentors. I con-
project. Standard nonfiction, within the structure of sider both the standard nonfiction and the creative
a picture book, is defined as those texts that include nonfiction represented here to be exemplary texts.
scientific language and other features of nonfiction
such as timeless present tense and generic nouns and
pronouns (e.g., “snakes eat rats” Key Elements of Nonfiction
versus “the rattlesnake is eating Pappas (2006) identified four
a rat”). Standard nonfiction also PAUSE AND PONDER common elements of standard
includes technical vocabulary nonfiction that can be taught to
such as metamorphosis and chrys- help focus students’ attention as
n What
 role can mentor texts play in
alis. Creative nonfiction texts they read and craft nonfiction.
teaching informational writing?
incorporate many of the same These include a topic presenta-
features as standard nonfiction n What
 are some advantages to writing tion, which is the introduction
but often add narrative elements informational texts that contain to the topic; descriptive attri-
such as story features, dialogue, creative craft and structure? butes, which are characteristics
and descriptive and figurative n How
 can the revising strategies of the topic, such as color and
language. I shall provide specific discussed in the article benefit all size; and characteristic events,
examples of creative nonfiction writing endeavors? which are what the topic does—
later in this article. the concrete, tangible actions of
n What
 other types of writing could
It is important to note that the topic. Characteristic events
benefit from the addition of narrative
the labels standard nonfiction and elements? include the processes, actions,
creative nonfiction encompass a or events that the topic is en-
continuum of books, and the gaged in. For example, honey-
definitions presented in this bees clean and polish cells,
article are in no way meant to serve as absolutes. nurse larvae, collect nectar, and make wax. The
Standard nonfiction books may, indeed, include dif- fourth common element of standard nonfiction is a
ferent aspects that contribute to authorial voice and final summary that restates the main ideas of the
reader engagement without including the specific topic. Pappas also identified eight optional elements
narrative elements mentioned here. On the other end of nonfiction picture books: prelude, category com-
of the spectrum, there are creative nonfiction texts parison, historical vignette, experimental idea, af-
that overplay narrative elements and may lead to terword, addendum, recapitulation, and illustration
confusion about the facts of the text in the process. To extension. Although these elements of nonfiction are
help mitigate this potential issue, I carefully selected not considered e ­ xhaustive and other elements were
all the mentor texts to be used in this writing project, taught in Jane’s class within this unit (i.e., index and

Figure 1
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Readinga

Craft and Structure

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R4
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical,
connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or
tone.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R5
Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions
of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6
Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
a
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English
language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

glossary), the main thrust of the teaching was fo- types of the topic, it seemed logical that they would
cused on Pappas’s research. develop greater depth of understanding of that topic.
Throughout this writing project, students were For example, if a student can identify the similarities
asked to emulate the specific mentor texts provided and differences between the queen bee, drones, and
in the classroom. Both Jane and I acknowledged that worker bees, he or she has a better understanding of
these texts would help support students’ writing en- the interdependence of the colony of bees.
deavors but could also potentially limit their craft if On subsequent days, the students read books aloud
they adhered only to these texts. Therefore, Jane dis- in small groups and then completed graphic organiz-
cussed this with the students and pointed out that ers listing the four common elements plus the one
these texts were not the only way to write creative optional element of nonfiction. Following this gradual
nonfiction. She told students that once they under- release of responsibility (Gambrell, Malloy, & Mazzoni,
stood the tenets of this type of writing, the class would 2011), students were eventually charged with the task
explore alternative writing styles in future endeavors. of completing graphic organizers by themselves us-
To introduce third-­ g rade students to the four ing a different text. Figure 2 shows the organizer that
common elements of nonfiction (i.e., introduction to Zack completed for Spiders (Gibbons, 1993b).
topic, descriptive attributes, characteristic events, I had specifically chosen mentor texts that ex-
and final summary), Jane read aloud Bats (Gibbons, emplified quality standard nonfiction and that in-
1999) in its entirety to allow students to hear the text cluded scientific language and the common ele-
without interruption. Her intention was to have stu- ments of nonfiction. At this point, Jane and I did not
dents focus on the information presented, the au- provide the students with creative nonfiction texts
thor’s message, and author’s craft. The text was then that often include elements similar to narrative
read aloud again, this time stopping periodically to texts (Gutkind, 2001). Instead, we introduced cre-
record the common elements as defined by Pappas ative nonfiction picture books later, when students
(2006) on a class graphic organizer. I had decided to had a strong understanding of the key elements of
add one of the optional elements, category compari- standard nonfiction. My purpose for this decision
son, to the graphic organizer because I felt this helped was to ensure that students were hearing and read-
students think at a deeper and more critical level. If ing nonfiction that would resemble many textbooks
students were able to compare and contrast different and journals that they would encounter later in

Figure 2
Student Chart for Elements of Nonfiction

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

Table 1
Twin Texts

Nonfiction Creative Nonfiction

Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons Are You a Butterfly? by Judy Allen
Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer Yucky Worms by Vivian French
The Amazing Octopus by Bobbie Kalman Gentle Giant Octopus by Karen Wallace
Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear by Nicola Davies
Deadly Ants by Seymour Simon Are You an Ant? by Judy Allen
Frogs by Gail Gibbons Growing Frogs by Vivian French
Bones: Our Skeletal System by Seymour Simon The Skeleton Inside You by Philip Balestrino
Amazing Whales! by Sarah Thomson Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies
The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole
Wolves by Seymour Simon Walk With a Wolf by Janni Howker

their lives, and their grounding in these texts would the same topic, one standard nonfiction and the oth-
thus help them to be college and career ready. er a hybrid or creative nonfiction. (Table 1 provides
a list of twin texts.) For example, after students read
Comparing Standard and completed graphic organizers for the standard
nonfiction book Frogs (Gibbons, 1993a), the creative
and Creative Nonfiction nonfiction book Growing Frogs (French, 2003) was
To reinforce the differences between standard non- read aloud. Jane then led a class discussion about
fiction and creative nonfiction, twin texts were the similarities and differences between these two
used. Twin texts are defined here as two books on books on the same topic. A large Venn diagram of

Figure 3
Venn Diagram for Twin Texts About Frogs

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

the twin texts was created to reinforce the similari- this animal, and it adds rhythm and melody to the
ties and differences. Figure 3 shows the completed creative nonfiction text.
diagram.Throughout the unit, various narrative ele-
ments were highlighted in several different creative ALONE…until the paths of two lone hunters cross.
They’ll wave their heads in greeting, clasp jaws so ten-
nonfiction texts. Projecting each of these books in
derly, they wouldn’t break an egg. Cautiously, they’ll
the classroom helped facilitate discussion of their
try each other’s strength. Then? Play! Giants flowing
unique narrative elements. The three specific nar- in the whiteness, tumbling, beautiful as snowflakes…
rative elements taught were point of view, dialogue, until they part and go their separate ways. (pp. 25–26)
and descriptive and figurative language.
From the book The Skeleton Inside You (Balestrino, Jane emphasized the power of descriptive language
1989), for example, the class examined how the au- by saying, “No matter what you’re writing, whether
thor sometimes switched point of view to include a it’s a story or an informational piece, you want to
personal narrative: use the best words possible. Everyone likes to read
great words and great language. These words make
Once I pushed my nose flat against a bakery window to writing memorable.”
look at some cookies. My nose didn’t hurt, and it didn’t
break off. It came back to the same shape. Push your
nose flat. It will bend too, because it has cartilage in- Bridging Close Reading
side it. (p. 13)
and Close Writing
After referencing other sections that included differ- With the knowledge they had gained from looking
ent points of view, a discussion was held about the closely at mentor texts and analyzing key features of
author’s purpose for writing in this way. Students nonfiction, students now began to research animals
recognized that the author’s main purpose was the of their choice so they could write their own creative
same here as for most standard nonfiction; that is, nonfiction. They were to read at least three texts and
to inform the reader. The students were then led identify three nonfiction elements. These three ele-
to surmise that the inclusion of first-­and second-­ ments—descriptive attributes, characteristic events,
person narrative was a style choice by the author and category comparison—comprised the minimum
to help make the content more relatable to the research on facts that students needed to include in
reader. By using brief anecdotes, the author helped their writing. The two other common elements iden-
the reader personally connect to the information tified by Pappas (2006)—topic presentation and final
presented. summary—would be required in the students’ writ-
Dialogue, another narrative element, was pre- ing, but how they were presented was up to the in-
sented to the students during the reading of the cre- dividual student author to determine. Additionally,
ative nonfiction text Yucky Worms (French, 2010). The referencing our mentor texts, both standard and cre-
author artfully weaves verbal interactions between ative nonfiction, would serve as models for students
a grandmother and a grandson to entertain as well to choose how to craft their writing and present the
as inform the reader about the habits of worms: information.
Students had access to many informational books
“But what does it eat? Dirt?” I wanted to know.
in the classroom and to the Internet during media
“It eats tiny, tiny stones and bits of dirt,” Grandma center time. They were also encouraged to bring
told me, “but worms eat other things too, like rotting
information they had obtained from home. As was
leaves and flowers and fruit and dead insects. They es-
previously modeled for them, students were now
pecially like eating at night, when it’s cool.” (p. 10)
asked to read each text in its entirety and then dis-
Jane discussed with the students how they could rep- cuss in groups their newfound or reinforced knowl-
licate this author’s craft by embedding facts within a edge about the topic. On another day, they reread the
story. They, too, could have a child interacting with a text and recorded the three required elements.
parent or grandparent who is able to answer questions
about the animal they had chosen to write about.
To demonstrate how students could include de-
Highlighting Creative Nonfiction
scriptive and figurative language in nonfiction, Jane Mentor Texts
reread a portion of Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Jane often reviewed the elements of standard non-
Bear (Davies, 2005). Beautiful and poetic language fiction and then talked about different narrative el-
offers a break from the many facts provided about ements that authors use to engage the reader and

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

bring an inviting voice to the information. She dis- spelling or perfect wording. The goal at this stage of
cussed options for strategically inserting dialogue, the process was to get their main ideas and thoughts
using first-­or second-­p erson point of view (as op- down on paper. Students wrote on every other line of
posed to third-­person, which was most commonly a page so that revision would be easier.
used in standard nonfiction), and including descrip-
tive and figurative language. The class brainstormed Crafting Strong Leads
different ways to include these narrative elements.
One of the minilessons for this writing project fo-
For example, during a minilesson on descriptive lan-
cused on crafting strong leads. The lead in any piece
guage, Jane provided examples of boring, basic facts
of writing is the way to hook the reader from the out-
and challenged the class to reword each to include
set. As in all aspects of this project, mentor texts were
more descriptive or “luscious” language, as the class
used to give the students viable ideas. While there
began to call it.
are many ways to start a text and invite a reader in,
Boring, Basic Fact: The ant brought the food back I had selected five specific types for Jane to highlight
to the colony. for students: descriptive lead, question lead, interest-
Luscious Language: The ant clumsily dragged the ing fact lead, comparison lead, and setting lead. Since
chunk of watermelon back to these types of leads were used by prolific authors of
the starving colony. children’s nonfiction, I thought they would serve as
valuable models for the students’ own writing. An
Boring, Basic Fact: The butterfly came out of the
example of each type of lead is provided in Figure 4.
chrysalis.
The leads were read aloud, and a discussion followed
Luscious Language: At last, the colorful butterfly that helped students understand why each lead is
emerged headfirst from the effective.
chrysalis. As students continued their drafting, they were
Boring, Basic Fact: Polar bears eat seals. encouraged to look closely at the opening of each
Luscious Language: White polar bears prey upon mentor text and try to identify what technique the
unsuspecting seals swim- author had used. Not all leads would fit into these
ming under the icy water. five categories, so students were prompted to go
beyond the examples and discover how the author
Another minilesson focused on including dialogue chose to open his or her text.
in writing. Jane cautioned the students that, since Heather, for example, decided to replicate a
they were composing nonfiction, the animals in setting lead similar to the one used in Polar Bears
their writing could not talk. But, she reminded them, (Gibbons, 2001). Her poetic introduction closely re-
authors could bring their own voices into the text. flects the mentor text: “A cool breeze blows, the
Jane read excerpts from the book Turtle, Turtle, Watch choppy water sways side to side. The temperature
Out! (Sayre, 2010) to model how the author periodi- is very humid. Through the sunny scene a gigantic
cally inserted the title phrase as a warning in the seal appears. But it is not a seal. It is a sea lion.”
text. Jane suggested that perhaps a student author
may want to warn a Bengal tiger or other animal in
a similar way to look out for the poachers that were Revising the Writing
around the bend. “Be careful, tiger!” could be added After a few days of drafting, Jane called the class to-
to the page in a different font to indicate that the gether to discuss revision. She asked for volunteers
author was thinking something. to share aloud a small portion of their drafts. This
could be the beginning, a random sentence or two, a
part that used narrative elements, or anything else
Drafting Creative Nonfiction the students wanted to share or wanted the class to
It is important to have mentor texts available to stu- help them with. Most of the students were familiar
dents before they write, as they write, and as they with the concept of revision within writers’ work-
revise (Gallagher, 2014). Therefore, in this project, the shop, but Jane reviewed its purpose and contrasted
students had access to the model texts throughout it with editing, which would be done near the end of
the writing process. They used their graphic organiz- the writing process.
ers and mentor texts as they began drafting. They Three specific revising strategies were taught.
were encouraged to “just write” for the first draft, When plausible, Jane used the examples that stu-
meaning that they were reminded to not worry about dents shared to model the revision techniques. The

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

Figure 4
Lead Ideas

Descriptive Lead: “Walk with a wolf in the cold air before sunrise. She moves, quiet as

mist, between spruce trees and birches. A silent gray shadow, she slides between boulders

and trots over blue pebbles to the edge of the lake.” (Howker, 2002)

Question Lead: “Are you an ant?” (Allen, 2004)

Interesting Fact Lead: “Spiders may look scary but most of them don’t hurt people. There

are about 30,000 different kinds of spiders.” (Gibbons, 1993b)

Comparison Lead: “Penguins are champion swimmers and divers. But they are not fish and

they are not aquatic mammals such as dolphins.” (Simon, 2007)

Setting Lead: “The snow blows, the wind howls. The temperature is very cold, hovering

around –30 degrees Fahrenheit (–34 degrees Celsius). Through the snowy scene a great white

bear appears, the polar bear.” (Gibbons, 2001)

three revising strategies, as defined by Cunningham Students reviewed their own writing first, doing
and Allington (2011), are adding, replacing, and re- their best to improve it. They added words and phras-
ordering and removing. The adding revising strat- es, replaced “ordinary” words, and tried to remove
egy is the easiest for students, so Jane focused on unnecessary information and reorder different sen-
this first. This strategy involves having students tences or sections. It then became a collaborative ac-
add words or phrases, such as adjectives or prepo- tivity. Students asked one another for ideas to improve
sitional phrases, to parts of their writing in order their word choices. They excitedly brainstormed to-
to make meaning clearer. Jane projected short sec- gether and used thesauruses and online tools to find
tions of writing, and the class discussed where they interesting words to replace more mundane ones.
could insert something to improve the writing. Suggestions flew around the room, and students bor-
Adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases were rowed ideas from classmates to use in their writing.
added.
The replacing revising strategy helps writers
look closely at the words they have already included Reflecting on the Revision Process
in an effort to improve the vocabulary. For example, I had many opportunities to hold individual confer-
together the class replaced the word good with im- ences with students throughout their writing process
pressive, ran with scampered, under with beneath, and and prior to the creation of their final drafts. These
stopped with halted. sessions focused on distilling their crafts for specific
The third revising strategy is the most complex, choices about their revising processes. When I met
and sometimes students show reluctance to using with students, I asked them to label which revis-
it. The reordering and removing strategy involves ing strategy they had used or to identify the specific
students revising to make their writing smoother, book(s) that influenced their style of writing. Alyssa
more organized, and tighter. The class was guided shared that she had used replacing revising for sev-
to look for redundant, unnecessary information. eral different words in her text. Cold was replaced
They discussed how some sentences could be re- with chilly, hot became humid, and great big was re-
ordered so that ideas were grouped together, rath- vised to gigantic because she thought these sounded
er than isolated and appearing randomly in the better and were more descriptive. She said they were
writing. luscious language instead of boring, basic words.

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

Like Alyssa, many of the students focused on the re- When your mother lays her eggs, you are inside one
placing strategy in an effort to improve their writing. of them.
Davis decided to add specific information about While you’re in there, you will grow.
what prey the cougar hunts instead of just saying it When you have grown big enough, break out of the
eats meat. He added to his draft, “The cougar is an egg. (pp. 4–7)
excellent hunter. His favorite foods include deer, bear
cubs, coyotes, rabbits, birds, and mice.” Landon stat- Camia mirrored the author’s craft and struc-
ed that he used the adding revising strategy to make ture for her informational writing about cougars.
his writing more interesting. He noticed that his draft Several aspects of her text included narrative el-
only had general information and it seemed boring. He ements to engage the audience. The beginning of
added to his draft, “A really popular frog called the Bull her text is included in Figure  5. Camia replicated
frog like many other frogs has a long sticky tongue. the second-­person point of view that Allen (2000)
This is so they can have more food in the air instead used in her text, posing a question to the audi-
of underground animals such as worms.” His initial ence and then comparing the cougar to the read-
draft included information about the frog’s unique er. This is not typical of standard nonfiction but
eyelids. Upon review, he decided to include the rea- was an element taught in this unit using mentor
son this was helpful to the frog: “Frogs have see throw texts for creative nonfiction. Camia also inserted
[see-­
through] eyelids.” His final draft stated, “Frogs dialogue (“Be careful!” and “Wow!”), another nar-
have see-­through eyelids to see underwater so they rative element that helps nonfiction be presented
can catch some of their prey. This also helps the frog in a creative way. The reader can feel the emotion
find a nice and muddy place for them to hibernate.” from the author through these dialogic moments.
Only a few students implemented the reordering Descriptive language, the third narrative element
and removing revising strategy. When asked about focused upon in the unit, was evident in Camia’s
this, Dugan shared with me that he didn’t want to text. Words such as harmless, spiney [spiny], deli-
take anything out. “I worked really hard on this. cious, cruel, injured, and prey add sophistication to
This is the longest writing I ever did!” Camia had the writing.
written some information that speculated about
what would happen if humans didn’t help the cou-
gars and there was only one left in the world. She Connecting Nonfiction
decided to eliminate this because it wasn’t like any and Narrative Elements
of the mentor texts students had read.
This project sought to ensure that students wrote
Heather used the reordering revising strategy af-
informational texts that included the common el-
ter she had read Penguins (Simon, 2007), which con-
ements of nonfiction as defined by Pappas (2006).
tained a glossary. She had initially included various
Additionally, in order to make the writing interesting
technical vocabulary terms throughout the text that
and unique, students were encouraged to use spe-
she thought the reader should know. She decided
cific narrative elements as well. Many of the third-­
to move all these terms and their definitions to the
grade students were successful in including both
end of the paper in a glossary as the mentor text had
nonfiction and narrative elements in their final writ-
done.
ing pieces.

Example of Student Descriptive Attributes

Creative Nonfiction Sophie, for example, was able to combine descriptive
Camia was inspired by the mentor text Are You a attributes and figurative language when providing
Ladybug? (Allen, 2000). In this creative nonfiction information about mice to create a unique visual for
text, the author poses a question to the reader and the reader: “Mice are as quiet as the wind” and “Mice
then uses second-­p erson point of view to help the are as big as six quarters!” Marcus used the narrative
reader answer the question. Are You a Ladybug? element of second-­person point of view to describe
begins: the lion: “If you were watching and got a closer look
at a lion then you should have seen what it looks like.
Are you a ladybug? You should have seen all the white on it tummy and
If you are, your parents look like this, and they eat gray blue eyes with dark pokedots [polka dots] on the
aphids. lion.”

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

Figure 5
Beginning of Camia’s Final Draft

Are you a cougar? If you are [you] are also named puma, panther, and mountain lion.

You don’t know your father so, “Be careful!” Your dad might eat you if he catches you in his

territory. All cougars are territorial so, if you see claw markings, somewere [somewhere] don’t

go in unless you want a fight.

Find some food because you’ll need a lot. But watch out for other cougars, hunters, and

average humans. They may seem harmless but, they can be cruel. Hunt for deer or moose. You

can also eat porcupines. They’re spiney [spiny] so pick out their quills then you’ll have a

delicious meal. Don’t be afraid, they’re scared of you. It’s not cruel to hunt. You need food.

You can blend in with your camouflage but don’t stay long. If you do humans or animals

might see your patches of gray. Your [You’re] great at climbing.

Choose a place to live in a tree or have a territory. Don’t let other cougars take over! If

they do you’ll be injured or worse, even dead. If you’re injured, jump as far away as you can.

You’r [You’re] a terrific jumper. You can jump 23 feet. “Wow!” Keep that power for jumping

on prey. Flolic [frolic] with your brother. It will teach you to hunt.

Characteristic Events bed narrative elements with the comparison. Emma

Some students chose to include narrative elements used second-­person point of view to talk directly to
when discussing the characteristic events, another the reader as she compared the wood mouse to the
common element for nonfiction. Evan used figura- squirrel. “Did you know my dear friend the wood
tive language in the form of a simile to describe the mouse puts berries in his cheeks like a squirrel? I
speed of otters. “River otters are really quick swim- would never guess they have something in common
mers. They can peddle [paddle] as quick as a canoist with their enemy the squirrel.”
[canoeist] and that is really fast!” Sammie also em-
ployed figurative language when writing about wild
horses: “One of the horses was asleep, as quiet as
Conclusion
a mouse, and another one was loudly chomping on Using mentor texts from both standard nonfiction
pieces of dry, yellow hay.” Sammie also included the and creative nonfiction, third-­g rade students were
narrative element of dialogue to discuss characteris- scaffolded to learn key features of each of these
tic events. Many parts of her paper were written as types of texts. They closely examined the texts to
dialogue between her and her mother. “‘Why is that build an appreciation of the author’s style and then
horse moving its tail?’ I asked. ‘They do that to swat work to emulate it in their own writing. Students
the flies away,’ Mom said. ‘They also groom them- were successful in being able to use a creative
selves by rubbing against rocks and trees or they roll craft and structure while writing informational
on the ground.’” texts that included important facts about a chosen
animal.
The students took advantage of the mentor texts
Category Comparison to help them write creative nonfiction that was
Although most of the students included some aspect enticing for the reader. Most included the three
of category comparison, only a few elected to em- required nonfiction elements from their notes:

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 FEATURE ARTICLE

Cunningham, P., & Allington, R. (2011). Classrooms that work:

TAKE ACTION! They can all read and write (5th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Dorfman, L., & Cappelli, R. (2007). Mentor texts: Teaching writing
through children’s literature, K–6. New York, NY: Continuum.
1. Read: Read aloud both standard nonfiction and Gallagher, K. (2014). Making the most of mentor texts.
creative nonfiction. Hold discussions about the Educational Leadership, 71(7), 28–33.
similarities and differences of the information Gambrell, L., Malloy, J., & Mazzoni, S. (2011). Evidence-based
provided as well as the craft and structure used by the best practices in comprehensive literacy instruction. In
L.M. Morrow & L.B. Gambrell (Eds.), Best practices in literacy
author. instruction (4th ed., pp. 11–36). New York, NY: Guilford.
Graham, S., Gillespie, A., & McKeown, D. (2013). Writing:
2. Research: Ask students to research an animal of their
Importance, development, and instruction. Reading and
choice and take notes by filling in a graphic organizer. Writing, 26(1), 1–15.
Gutkind, L. (2011). Becoming the godfather of creative nonfiction.
3. Ready to Write: Invite students to draft their own In C. Forché & P. Gerard (Eds.), Writing creative nonfiction:
creative nonfiction text about the animal. Instruction and insights from the teachers of the Associated Writing
Programs pp. 170–180). Cincinnati: OH: Story.
4. Review: Provide numerous opportunities before and Lehman, C., & Roberts, K. (2014). Falling in love with close
during the writing process for students to examine the reading: Lessons for analyzing texts—and life. Portsmouth, NH:
mentor texts in an effort to emulate them. Heinemann.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices &
5. Revise: Teach the three revising strategies and use Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core
student examples to model how to improve writing. State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/
social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC:
6. Revisit: Throughout the writing process, invite Authors.
students to share small sections of their papers Pappas, C.C. (2006). The information book genre: Its role in
integrated science literacy research and practice. Reading
that reinforce the inclusion of standard nonfiction Research Quarterly, 41(2), 226–250.
elements as well as creative craft and structure.
7. Recognize: Provide ample time for students to read LI T E R AT U R E C I T E D
aloud their final drafts and celebrate their exceptional Allen, J. (2000). Are you a ladybug? New York, NY: Kingfisher.
writing. Allen, J. (2004). Are you an ant? New York, NY: Kingfisher.
Balestrino, P. (1989). The skeleton inside you. New York, NY:
8. Reinforce: Use these strategies throughout the Crowell.
year to emphasize the writing process and how to Davies, N. (2005). Ice bear: In the steps of the polar bear. Somerville,
incorporate creative craft and structure in nonfiction MA: Candlewick.
French, V. (2000). Growing frogs. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
writing.
French, V. (2010). Yucky worms. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
Gibbons, G. (1993a). Frogs. New York, NY: Holiday House.
Gibbons, G. (1993b). Spiders. New York, NY: Holiday House.
descriptive attributes, characteristic events, and Gibbons, G. (1999). Bats. New York, NY: Holiday House.
Gibbons, G. (2001). Polar bears. New York, NY: Holiday House.
category comparison. Additionally, many students Howker, J. (2002). Walk with a wolf. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
infused creative craft and structure through narra- Sayre, A.P. (2010). Turtle, turtle, watch out! Watertown, MA:
tive elements—point of view, dialogue, and descrip- Charlesbridge.
Simon, S. (2007). Penguins. Washington, DC: Smithsonian.
tive and figurative language—to make their infor-
mational writing more interesting and relatable to
the reader. MORE TO EXPLORE
It is hoped that by participating in this writing
project, the students have become more empow- n Duke,N.K. (2014). Inside information. New York, NY:
ered to implement alternatives to writing boring, Scholastic.
basic reports that just include boring, basic facts.
n “AnimalInquiry” (ReadWriteThink.org interactive):
Instead, students can still write factually accurate
www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/
nonfiction pieces while using creative craft and
student-interactives/animal-inquiry-30020.html
structure in order to bring a strong, engaging voice
n “CreativeWriting in the Natural World: A Framing”
to their writing.
(ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan):
www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-
REFERENCES
plans/creative-writing-natural-world-30607.html
Abbott, R.D., Berninger, V.M., & Fayol, M. (2010). Longitudinal
relationships of levels of language in writing and between n Ray,K.W. (2012). Wondrous words. The Reading
writing and reading in grades 1 and 7. Journal of Educational Teacher, 66(1), 9–14.
Psychology, 102(2), 281–298.

The Reading Teacher Vol. 00 No. 00 Month 0000 10 literacyworldwide.org