Story, Nonfiction, and Characters (Real and Made Up) as Mentors: Writing in the World and Writing for the World

• Published in: The New England Reading Association journal 2017, Vol.52 (2), p.85-104
• Main Authors: Wilson, Sandip L, Ferguson, Sadie, Ricks, Paul, Crosser, Cynthia
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent Literature; Adults; Authors; Biographies; Children & youth; Childrens literature; Childrens picture books; Dictionaries; Editorials; English; Essays; Fiction; Grade 7; Graphic novels; Homework; Literary Genres; Mentors; North American English; Novels; Phonetics; Phonics; Phonology; Reading; Reading Materials; Spelling; Student writing; Workshops; Writers; Writing Instruction; Writing Workshops
• ISSN: 0028-4882

The nonfiction and fiction books in this collection can serve as mentor texts showing how authors structure and develop their writing; they also show how writing influences the lives and work of characters who write in the world and for it. Like Newbery's other books, this one was penned anonymously, but in the author's note Markel mentions a number of authors, popular at the time, who probably wrote the children's books that Newbery published, including Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Johnson. Markel's vivacious, fast-paced writing style and Carpenter's bright illustrations rendered in pen and ink and digital media make the book exciting; fast paced, humor, and repetitive language make the book both fun and a mentor text in the writing workshop. [...]in Maurer's describing Webster's early life growing up on a farm in Connecticut and his love for reading, Webster, the editor, crossed out "In his opinion, his father's farm chores could wait, especially if he had a new issues of the Courant [a Connecticut newspaper]."