Favorite Fiction Mentor Texts

A mentor text is a book that a teacher uses repeatedly to illustrate different concepts. Already being familiar with the story itself means that students can focus on certain aspects of the story or reading strategies being applied to the story.

I'd like to share a few of my favorite mentor texts today for fifth grade appropriate fiction. These are all books that both I and my students love. According to my school librarian, I'm a "book snob" (I have standards!), so these are books that really had to impress me to make the cut as something I want to read and reread.

King Midas: Stewig/Rayyan

In fifth grade in Texas our special genre for our year is myths. Where fourth grade gets to introduce folktales and tall tales, fifth graders get to dip their toes into Greek/Roman and Norse mythologies for the first time in a school setting.

King Midas is a classic tale of king who loved gold too much, and this retelling of the story is a powerful one with a big dose of whimsy and humor. Fifth graders like details and the illustrations in this book tell the story so well that you can make inferences and draw conclusions just by inspecting all corners of the page with as much attention as if you were chasing down Waldo. 

The story provides many opportunities to talk about character traits and change. It also has heaps of foreshadowing if you look for the hidden pictures inside the pictures. 

The Selfish Giant: Oscar Wilde/Chris Beatrice

This story is a classic, and as much as I love "The Happy Prince", Wilde has a better narrative voice here and the 19th century world is easier for younger modern readers to understand than its other famous companion story. 

The story is amazing, and the illustrations by Beatrice are the most beautiful version I've ever seen in any store anywhere for this classic story. You can really dive into them and hunt out the meaning of the pictures to use practicing predictions and making connections. Beyond that, the symbolism at the end (spoiler: the giant dies) is very challenging and leave some students feeling a little confused though still intrigued. This is good. Some students will be ready to start understanding symbolism already, and others you can start down the path toward carving out those synaptic pathways in their brains. 

Also, it makes a good complement to King Midas because they share similar (though not equal) themes, and reading them both makes for an interesting compare/contrast discussion. 

The Summer My Father was Ten: Brisson

Last but not least, this book is a great example of realistic fiction. I like it because the kids make so many personal connections. Everyone's gotten carried away while playing and done something bad at some point in their childhood, and the lesson about forgiveness and friendship in this book is powerful and deep. 

The illustrations are also deep, just like my other favorite books, adding another layer to the story rather than just being pictures.

Students sometimes like to make the connection between the kids playing in Mr. Bellavista's garden to the children playing in the Selfish Giant's garden. Again, it's another book that really connects well for discussions when read in tandem with the others, even though they all represent different genres.

Finding the Books

While I happened to get two out of three of these books at a Half-Price books in Dallas, they're all available on Amazon in case you can't find them in your school or local library. They're worth owning. You won't regret.