Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Book Review of FINDING THE HEART OF NONFICTION

FINDING THE HEART OF NONFICTION: TEACHING 7 ESSENTIAL CRAFT TOOLS WITH MENTOR TEXTS

by Georgia Heard

Heinemann, 2013

I love books for teachers that are so practical that you could read them on the weekend and use them the very next week in your classroom. FINDING THE HEART OF NONFICTION by Georgia Heard is such a book. I’ve been a long-time fan of Heard’s work on writing texts.

I love using mentor texts in the classroom, and many of the things she suggests I’ve done in my classroom. However, since this book is focused on nonfiction, I will admit, I’ve not incorporated all of these ideas in teaching kids how to write nonfiction. But I can’t wait to try some of her ideas!

She covers imagery, focus, leads, point of view, voice, precise language, structures of a text, and endings. In every chapter she provides succinct examples of how you can use this in your classroom right away.

This book is approachable, easy to use, and recommends some of the most stellar nonfiction texts that are available for kids.

Just after I finished reading it, I began to outline all of the ideas I was going to use right away in my classroom.

If you are looking for a book on mentor texts to add to your professional library, this book is a must-buy, must-highlight, must-dog-ear, must-read, and must-use for your collection.