Authors+as+Mentors

When we as readers fall in love with a book, we fall a bit in love with its creator. By paying careful attention to the ways an author has caught our attention and kept us captivated, we can learn from the best of all teachers. I encourage every student to find authors who speak to them clearly and strongly. When I was a fifth grade I loved the work of Lucy Maud Montgomery. As I grew older, Ernest Hemingway became my favorite. I read those authors again and again. I began to speak in their sentences. Below are a series of links to beloved fifth grade authors to get you started in finding the authors who speak to you. A simple suggestion for studying authors is to read their work again and again. Look that their craft - CLOSELY. How do they use words? Do they emphasize certain character types? Do you they always begin their stories with a poem, a quote, or a powerful experience for the main character? Do they use dialogue frequently? What about humor? When do they make you want to cry or cringe? How do you think they do that?
 * ==== [|Sharon Creech] ====

|| ==== [|Grace Lin] ====

|| ==== [|Betsy Byers] ====

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 * ==== [|Gary Paulsen] ====

|| ==== [|Katherine Paterson] ====

|| ==== [|Judy Blume] ====

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 * ==== [|Peg Kehret] ====

|| ==== [|Andrew Clements] ====

|| ==== [|Susan Cooper] ====

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 * ==== [|Kate and Sarah Klise] ====

|| ==== [|Nikki Grimes] ==== || ==== [|Lemony Snicket] ====

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 * ==== [|Cynthia Rylant] ====

|| ==== [|Jack Gantos] ====

|| ==== [|Mike Lupica] ====

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 * ==== [|C. S. Lewis] ====

|| ==== [|Kate DiCamillo] ====

|| ==== [|Avi] ====

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 * ==== [|Margaret Peterson Haddix] ====

|| ==== [|Gordon Korman] ====

|| ==== [|Rick Riordian] ====

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 * ==== [|Will Hobbs] ====

|| ==== [|Virgina Hamilton] ====

|| ==== [|Madeline L'Engle] ====

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 * ==== [|Jerry Spinelli] ====

|| ==== [|Suzanne Collins] ====

|| ==== [|Beverly Cleary] ====

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 * ==== [|Louis Sachar] ====

|| ==== [|Walter Dean Myers] ==== || ==== [|Christopher Paul Curtis] ====

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 * ==== [|Lois Lowry] ====

|| ==== [|Phyillis Reynolds Naylor] ====

|| ==== [|Jeanne DuPrau] ====

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 * ==== [|Karen Hesse] ====

|| ==== ==== || ||