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I remember the day my second graders walked into the student-filled gymnasium with a gigantic pasta pot in tow. They performed a skit of Strega Nona as part of our author study on Tomie dePaola in front of the entire school. It was one of those events I’ll always remember. Author studies make a lasting impression. With a bit of planning, you can create author studies your kids will remember for years.
Benefits of Author Studies
Expose kids to literature
One benefit of doing author studies is exposure to literature. When you do an author study you spend a ton of time reading and rereading books. You keep the books out so your kids can explore them during their free time.
Grow love for an author
Another benefit of author studies is helping kids grow love for a particular author. Adults have favorite authors. When we’re introduced to a new book that we enjoy we look to see if the author wrote more.
Kids are no different. I read lots of Magic Tree House books to my daughter when she was younger. She loved the action, familiarity of the characters and predictability. When you do an author study your kids will fall in love with the author and want more.
Teach literacy in a fresh way
When you need to spice things up or take a break from your regular curriculum, author studies are refreshing. Similar to a unit study, you can do all your reading and writing in the context of the author study.
Make connections
Another benefit of author studies is they help kids make connections. Young kids start to “understand what a writer is and what a writer does” (Katie Wood Ray & Matt Glover). As they get to know the people behind the books, they find authors relatable. Kids start to make the connection that they are authors too.
How to Create Your Own Author Studies
Set a goal
Set a goal for your author study. Think about what you want your children to get out of the experience. Goals for an author study can be as simple as enjoying literature, to more complex, as learning specific writing skills. Setting a goal gives you a clear direction when planning. You can be very intentional in what you want to teach or leave if casual and see where the literature takes you.
What new thing do I want my children to learn about reading and writing?
Using the above as a guiding question can open up many possibilities. For example, Do you want your kids to read and respond to literature in thoughtful ways? Are you looking for a model to illustrate certain writing techniques? Do you want your children to learn how to identify the elements of a story?
Choose an author
Choose an author that both you and your kids will enjoy. If your child already has a favorite book, introduce new books by the author. Or find an author that’s new to your child to broaden her interests.
Make sure the author you choose is a good match for your goal. If you want to focus on writing then choose an author whose writing your kids can relate to and emulate. Books with patterns, like Eric Carle’s books would be a good fit for kindergarteners learning to write simple sentences.
Research the author’s life
Research the author’s life ahead of time, or wait to research with your children. Kids need to know that authors are real people. They live in houses, eat breakfast, and have pets too. Print out a picture of the author to hang on the wall or on the easel during your study.
Most authors have a website, so that’s a great place to start. Some authors have published biographies. (My daughter discovered that we’d been mispronouncing Rowling after reading her biography.)
Videos help bring authors to life. Look for videos of the author reading aloud one of his books or talking to kids in a workshop or interview. James Burks wrote a series of graphic novels that are my son’s favorite. We found a video of Mr. Burks sharing his writing notebook that contains his original sketches and writing ideas.
Gather books by the author
Gather up books written by the author by requesting books at your library or purchasing ones you know you’ll want to keep. Some authors have written hundreds of books, so you’ll need to narrow down your selection. If you plan to take a month studying the author, you may want enough picture books to read one aloud every day. If you’re reading chapter books, choose just a few.
Think about what the books have in common
Browse the books you’ve collected to see what they have in common. For example, Mo Willems loves to use speech bubbles. Jan Brett’s books tell two stories; one story takes place in the border around the pages and the other story takes place in the full-page illustrations and text. Mice are frequent characters in Leo Lionni’s books. Look for things that the books have in common that would be worth noticing with your child.
Choose a few key ideas you want to teach
Based on what you found in common in the author’s books, choose a few ideas to teach. For example, since the characters in Kevin Henkes’s books face problems kids can relate to, you could talk about making real life connections when you read as a comprehension strategy. Or you could teach kids about the author’s central message in a story.
Design response activities and projects
There are so many ways to respond to the books you read together. Design activities and projects you think would be meaningful. Some activities can be quick and easy and some more elaborate. Here are some ideas:
- write a story that mimics the author’s writing style
- write a letter to the author
- make character masks
- watch a movie version of a book
- put on a play
- decorate a t-shirt from a favorite scene in a book
- compare and contrast two books in a Venn diagram
- draw an illustration of a favorite part of the book
- if possible, plan your author study to coincide when the author visits a local library so you can meet him/her
- write a letter to a character
- at the end of your author study play “guess that book.” Read excerpts from different books and have your child guess the title
- do a readers’ theater using a favorite book
- make a mural
- keep a reading journal to respond to books in different ways, like recording a quote or drawing an interesting character
Ways to Introduce an Author Study
If you want to get your kids enthusiastic and build suspense for the author study you’ve planned, introduce the study in a fun way. Here are a few ideas:
- Show a picture of the author
- Scatter books by the author on the floor and ask your child what the books have in common
- Watch a video of the author
- Make a treasure hunt using objects related to the author and/or the author’s books
- Display a plush toy character, for example, the pigeon in Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Authors to Study by Grade
Here are some children’s authors that would make good author studies. This list is not exhaustive, so one of your favorites may be missing. Remember to choose an author that you enjoy, since you’ll be spending lots of time reading his/her books.
Preschool/Kindergarten
- Rosemary Wells
- Laura Numeroff
- Ezra Jack Keats
- Mo Willems
- Jez Alborough
- David Shannon
- Byron Barton
- Denise Fleming
- Donald Crews
First Grade
- Jan Brett
- Kevin Henkes
- Jon Scieszka
- Arnold Lobel
- Chris VanDusen
- Dr. Seuss
- Eric Carle
- Dahlov Ipcar
Second Grade
- Jack Prelutsky
- Chris VanAllsburg
- Leo Lionni
- Tomie dePaola
- Gail Gibbons
- Marc Brown
Third Grade
- Seymour Simon
- Roald Dahl
- Patricia Polacco
- William Steig
- Steven Kellogg
- Barbara Cooney
Fourth Grade
- Kate DiCamillo
- Judy Blume
- Eve Bunting
- David Adler
- Avi
- Ben Baglio
Fifth Grade
- Gary Paulsen
- J.K. Rowling
- Sharon Creech
- Erin Hunter
- Stuart Gibbs
- Jean Craighead George
Conclusion
By following the suggestions in this post you can create author studies kids will remember. Author studies help children in many ways and learn literacy skills in a refreshing way.
