Using Picture Books to Teach Writing with the Traits

1. Ideas
The ideas are the heart of the message, the content of the piece, the main theme, together with the details that enrich and develop that theme.
Books: The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rowe Faustino, A Day’s Work by Eve Bunting, and Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter

2. Organization
Organization is the internal structure of a piece of writing, the thread of central meaning, the logical and sometimes intriguing pattern of the ideas.
Books: Diamond Life and Rimshots by Charles R. Smith Jr. and Courage by Bernard Waber

3. Voice
The voice is the heart and soul, the magic, the wit, along with the feeling and conviction of the individual writer coming out through the words.
Books: Voices in the Park by Anthony Brown, We the Kids by David Catrow, and Exploding Ants by Janne Settel