[BookCollector]

What picture books do you recommend for teaching great beginnings/strong leads? I am trying to gather a list so we can read lots of examples in Writing Workshop (6th grade).

Any other ideas for teaching strong leads would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[choppie70]

It is not a picture book but I always read the first few paragraphs of Charlotte's Web. It is a great use of dialogue/using a question.

[Sue too]

Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack

[roo]

Last year I found a great book for this. I used the first 39 Clues book and just shared the first few sentences of several chapters. It is very well done. Not only did it lead to some inspired writing, but many students got hooked on the whole 39 Clues series, too.

[fiona1]

Not a picture book, but a collection of great short stories with all of the types of leads you can think of is "Dog Heroes' by Betsy Byars. My students love the stories too!

[Amberlee]

An AMAZING book for this is :

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
by Chris Van Allsburg

It's so great for inspiring stories! It has a picture and a one or two line story starter. It's fantastic.

[Julhun18]

Although it is not a picture book, Because of Winn Dixie has a great beginning that has readers wanting more.

[Meteach]

Not a picture bk....The Best Christmas Pagent Ever. " The Herdmans were the worst children in the history of the world."

[Carolynn]

I had the kids read the first sentence in the book they are reading independently. Some were great! Others not so hot. This gave us a chance to discuss why on both accounts and to group the great ones. It went really well!

[roo]

I just thought of another one. The first chapter (very short) of The BFG by Roald Dahl would be another excellent one to read aloud. You'll probably have half the class rushing to get the book to keep reading if you share this.

[slooper]

How I Became A Pirate by Melinda Long.