Mentor Texts {Cause & Effect}

Today I want to share a few mentor texts that I will use to teach cause & effect. 

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry - a FAVORITE!

Information on the book: This book centers upon these significant themes: human effects on the environment, pollution, and being a responsible citizen. Human effects on the environment are a significant concept. A River Ran Wild provides both text and illustrations that show the changes of pollutions throughout history and how people in each period affected the Nashua river. Beginning with the Natives and through today, this text supports the theme of human pollution.

I actually wrote an entire blog post just on this book and how I used it to teach cause/effect. You can find that HERE.



Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Summary from Amazon: Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair.
And it got worse....His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag. And, on top of all that, there were lima beans for dinner and kissing on TV!

This text can also be used for making connections, which I blogged about HERE.



Twenty One Elephants by Phil Bildner - *new to me

Summary from Booklist on Amazon: In this neatly told story based in fact, Hannah grows up watching the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, the world's first steel suspension bridge; but when it's finally completed, her father is afraid to let her walk across it to Manhattan. Others repeatedly echo his fears, but Hannah knows every little thing about the bridge and attempts to reassure naysayers with facts about the 14,680-ton modern marvel. Finally, during a trip to the circus, she asks P. T. Barnum if his 21 elephants could parade across the bridge to prove its safety once and for all. Proclaiming, "Great minds think alike," Barnum proceeds with the stunt he had already planned, and the elephants change her father's mind. Though Hannah is Bildner's invention, a note explains that Barnum did, indeed, march Jumbo and company across the bridge on May 17, 1884.        


Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter *new to me

Summary from Scholastic: Eva, a would-be writer, sits on her New York City stoop with her notebook, waiting for something to happen. She has been given a homework assignment to record goings-on in her Manhattan neighborhood. Each neighbor who passes offers her useless writing tips, but it isn't until Eva takes matters into her own hands that exciting things begin to happen in her neighborhood — enough to make a great story!



What books do you use to teach cause/effect?

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