Fantastic Flowers as Mentor Text

Guest Post by Author/Illustrator Susan Stockdale

Let’s explore flowers that look like other things!

Fantastic Flowers celebrates 17 flowers from around the world that resemble objects, creatures and even people, from spiraling spoons to flying birds to sleeping babies. The rhythmic, rhyming text and bright, bold illustrations bring to life this dazzling display of surprising blooms. Fantastic Flowers encourages object identification and inspires children to observe nature more closely. Back matter provides information on the pollination process, color photos of the flowers (so children understand that they are real!) and a flower identification guide.

Before reading, show students the flower illustrations in the book. Ask them what they think the flowers resemble.

Writing prompts

• Write a paragraph about your favorite flower in the book, stating the reason you chose it.

• Select a flower in the book and generate two lists: one with adjectives (e.g. wild baboons) and one with verbs (e.g. skittering spiders) that describe it. Write a paragraph about the flower using your adjectives and verbs.

• Select a flower in the book and write a few sentences about it that integrates the information provided in the back matter, which includes the flowers’ common names, scientific names, native range (habitat) and pollinators.

• Create your own name for each flower, being as imaginative and playful as possible.

• Select two flowers in the book and imagine that they can speak. Write a few sentences imagining what they might “say” to one another in a conversation. For example, how might they compliment one another?

BIO: Susan Stockdale freelanced as a textile designer for the apparel industry before becoming the author and illustrator of 8 picture books for young children. Her books celebrate nature with exuberance and charm and have won awards from the American Library Association, Parents’ Choice, the National Science Teachers Association and Bank Street College of Education, among others. She lives with her husband in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Visit her website at www.susanstockdale.com. 

WRITING WILD

by Karen Leggett

If you could be any wild animal, what would you be?  Kids can be motivated by animals any time of year, but in May there are at least four special days  that encourage a focus on animals: Endangered Species Day May 15, International Day for Biological Diversity May 22,  World Turtle Day (who knew?) May 23 and environmentalist Rachel Carson’s birthday May 27.

Gather a collection of books about wild animals to help children choose a favorite. Fun titles to include are Susan Stockdale's new book Spectacular Spots as well as her earlier titles such as Fabulous Fishes, Bring on the Birds and Stripes of All Types (also available in Spanish).  Although written for very young children, these books provide excellent examples of verses students can write and the kind of information they can collect. 

An alphabet book by David McLiman's, Gone Wild (2007 Caldecott Honor Book) introduces students to endangered animals all over the world - each with a specially designed letter that will inspire the young artists in your midst.

Ask students to write down basic information about their chosen animal’s habitat and food as well as a few interesting facts, gathered from the books you have collected or the Internet, depending on the age of the class and the time available.

Ask them to think about the questions posed in this quiz from the National Wildlife Refuge System as it pertains to their animal - What is your animal’s idea of a great adventure?  What is your best quality?  How close are you to your family and friends? What is your favorite food? How do you escape predators? What super power do you have (or would you like to have)? Students can actually answer the quiz questions and see a sample profile. Then ask them to write their own paragraph or personality profile about their animal - ideally in the first person.

If there is time to expand the activity, provide a list of animals and the profiles written by students to another class to see if the new group can match each profile to the correct animal. 

http://childrensbookguild.org/karen-leggett-abouraya