Mentor Text of the Week- The Beetle Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

In an attempt to get more minilessons into the hands of dedicated (but strapped for time) educators, I have dedicated a portion of my website/blog

to the Mentor Text of the Week (MTOW).  Each week, I will choose an accessible mentor texts and give you the following:

• The tittle, author, and illustrator
• The text type (as related to the Common Core) and genre
• The grades to which it would fit met appropriately
• Various minilessons that could be used at different stages of the writing process

Please feel free to check back each week as well as follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DEInstitute for updates.  Enjoy!

This week's text is...

The Beetle Alphabet Book 

by Jerry Pallotta, 

Illustrated by David Biedrzycki

This text is an informational/nonfiction piece of text, most appropriate for grades 2-5.

Possible Minilessons for Writing Workshop:

• Clever dedication ("Thanks to John, Paul, George, Ringo…)
• Titles of Beatles songs hidden on many beetle illustrations throughout the book                                                                                                                                        (Check out letter I, J, N just to name a few…)
• ABC structure
• Diagrams with labels
• Introduction that speaks to the reader and excites them
• Domain-specific words woven into the facts
• ​Eye-popping, bold, close-up illustrations that hook the reader into the text and topic
• Small topic, perfect for a selecting lesson on choosing topics that are interesting to a reader                                                                                                                   and also researchable
• Analogies to help reader understand concepts/facts being presented
• Added in thoughts/opinions of the author 
• Two page spreads
• Use of interesting and purposeful punctuation: exclamation points, question marks,                                                                                                             and commas in a series, 
• ​Perspective in illustrations so the reader can see the world through the beetles' eyes
• Varied sentence length, beginnings, and types of sentences (exclamatory, interrogative, declarative)
• Voice/Humor/Talking to the reader that connects the facts on the page to everyday situations
• Interesting, surprising, silly, and new facts about animals the reader may already know
• Illustrations  that allow reader to truly comprehend the size of the beetles (actual sizes are shown in the shadow of each letter)