6 Steps to Planning an Author Study
Just like adults who like to read anything and everything by a single author— say, James Patterson or Kristin Hannah— our young readers also develop an affinity for certain authors and not just for topics. It reminds me of when I walked into a kindergarten class to give the teacher a stack of new books. A little boy exclaimed, “New Mo Willems?! Can we read it now?!” My teacher heart did a happy dance.
Studying a collection of an author’s work allows students to explore patterns in the author’s work, find common themes, analyze text and illustrations, forge a deeper attachment to books (just like the kindergartner above), make connections between the author’s life and his or her books, make connections across the curriculum, and develop a community of readers.
Yes - you can purchase author studies on Teachers Pay Teachers, but creating your own goes beyond a bunch of generic worksheets and allows you to customize the study to your own students’ needs and interests. Besides… It's fun!
6 Steps to Planning an Author Study
#1: Make a collection of books by the author you are studying.
Many authors write books at different levels and in different genres. Select the ones appropriate for your class. If you can find multiple copies, even better.
As an example, let’s plan an author study around beloved children’s author Jan Brett and specifically, her collection of winter books:
The Snowy Nap —> FREE JOYcabulary lesson plan
Alice in a Winter Wonderland —> FREE JOYcabulary lesson plan
Note: Some of Jan Brett’s books have been published as board books.
#2: Find pictures and videos of the author to show students the real person who wrote these books.
Most authors have a website. Jan’s website is chock full of resources! White there are certainly other resources for author information (Wikipedia, for example), the author’s own website is often more accessible and student-friendly.
#3: Think about where and how you will display and the book collection.
I have found a science fair type of tri-fold poster board works best since it allows me to display author pictures, maps, charts, diagrams, and student response work all in one place. Another idea is to put out a chrome book with author videos saved as tabs (preview them first, of course!).
#4: Think about how the author study will fit into the rest of your curriculum.
What do you want your students to gain from this study?
Jan Brett Author Study: Purpose & Goals
Science: Many primary classes are studying winter-related topics such as forms of matter, hibernation and migration, winter survival, etc.
Geography & Culture: Where in the world do her stories take place (map skills)? What animals would one find in this place? How do people dress for the cold? What are some challenges they must solve?
Reading: Model fluent reading. Use the character masks found on Jan’s website to create a Reader’s Theater script. The website has many teacher resources, such as alphabet cards and sight word lists with her characters printed on them.
Writing: Use the books as a mentor text for writing. What would it mean to “write like Jan Brett?” She has printable cards for letter writing. Explore how she foreshadows the next event in her picture frames.
Vocabulary: Jan uses many different words to describe how her characters move. Likewise, she uses many words to show how something is being said. Collect them. Act them out. Sort them. Use some in your writing.
Art: Some authors have videos showing how to draw their characters. Just like children’s author Mo Willems shows us “How to Draw a Pigeon,” Jan Brett shows us how to draw an armadillo, hedgehog, and a bear.
#5: Read and Respond
Think about what you will do as a whole class versus individually to respond to these books. Will you collect interesting words? Make a chart of your favorite characters? Compare and contrast settings? Create story maps, word webs, or other graphic organizers? If your students are already readers and you have multiple copies, could you create mini book clubs to deeply study different titles as they read?
As a Word Nerd, one thing I like to do with my students is to collect the many words Jan uses for ‘said’ or to describe how the characters move. We often sort them by similar meaning, if it is a positive or negative word, and /or by which character matches the word (and why). Young children may enjoy her coloring sheets provided on her website, or they can illustrate their favorite scenes.
#6: Consider a Culminating Project
There are so many options ro close out an author study. Here are a few examples:
Write a class book about your local area in Jan Brett’s style.
Write book reviews or book buzzes to put inside the class or school library collection for future readers.
Create a trivia game in the style of Bingo or Jeopardy! around the author’s books.
Practice fluency with a read aloud of favorite passages (using an echo mic makes it more fun), or perform a Reader’s Theater production.
Once your class has “adopted’ an author, be on the lookout for any new publications or website updates. The learning can continue for the rest of the school year. For example, Jan Brett has books set in other seasons besides winter. I love The Umbrella.
P.S. This Jan Brett Author Study blog post pairs nicely with our Jan Brett Book Pairing post featuring two FREE lesson plans. EnJOY!
