Six Traits Book Lists for Grades 3-8
Books for Ideas
All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan
Animal Dads by Sneed B. Collard III
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Di Camilla
Books, Lessons, and Ideas for Teaching the Six Traits compiled by
Vicki Spandel
Boy by Roald Dahl
Everything I know about Pirates by Tom Lichtenheld
Burger and the Hot Dog by Jim Aylesworth
Creating Writers by Vicki Spandel
Don’t Read This Book Whatever You Do! By Kalli Dakos
Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
Hope was Here by Joan Bauer
I’m in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor
It’s Disgusting and We Ate It: by James Solheim
Jerry Seinfeld: Sein Language by Jerry Seinfeld
Miss Smith’s Incredible Journey by Michael Garland
Monsters by Beatrice Fontanel
Sharks by Seymour Simon
Silver Seeds: Acrostic Poetry by Paul Paollili and Dan Brewer
Snakes by Seymour Simon
Some Things are Scary by Florence Parry Heide
Something Beautiful by Sharron Dennis Wyeth
The Grumpy Morning by Pamela Duncan Edwards
The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
The Book of Bad Ideas by Laua Huliska Beith
The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens
The Secret Knowledge of Grownups by David Wisnewski
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Things That are Most in the World by Judi Barrett
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Tomorrow’s Alphabet by George Shannon
What You Know First by Patricia MacLachlan
Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Would You Rather by John Burningham
Zoom and Rezoom by Istvan Banyai
When choosing books for Ideas: Look for books with clarity, one central idea
that is easy to follow, interesting details, images, movies which flow through
your mind.
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Books for Organization
After the End by Barry Lane
Animals Nobody Loves by Seymour Simon
Aunt Isabelle Tells a Good One by Kate Duke
Belinda by Pamela Allen
Burger and the Hot Dog by Jim Aylesworth
Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James
Fortunately, Unfortunately by Remy Charlep
From Pictures to Words by Janet Stevens
Holes by Louis Saccar
Jack Black’s Book by Jack Gantos
Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell
More True Lies By George Shannon
Once Upon a Time, The End (asleep in 60 seconds) by Geoffrey
Kloske and Barry Blittt
Reviser’s Toolbox by Barry Lane
Reviving the Essay by Gretchen Bernabei
Stories to Solve: Problem Solution by George Shannon
The Book of Bad Ideas by Laura Huliska-Beith
The Deep Sea Floor by Snead B. Collard
The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders Rhymes by Jack Prelutsky
The Mystery of Harris Burdick: Chris Van Allsburg
The Tale of Desperaux By Kate Di Camillo
The Tortoise and the Hare Continued by Barry Lane
What Does Peace Feel Like? By V. Radunsky
Why We Must Run With Scissors by Barry Lane and Gretchen
Bernabei
YUCK! A Big Book of Little Horrors by Robert Snedden
In choosing books for Organization: Look for
sequencing/transition words (once, first, next, then, lastly, etc.),
patterns, compare and contrast, surprising endings, fabulous
leads.
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Books for Voice
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
A Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros
Airmail to the Moon by Tom Birdseye
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennuifer Choldenko
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Awakening the Heart Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School by
Georgia Heard
Brother Eagle by Susan Jeffers
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Dakota Dugout by Ann Turner
Desert Voices by Byrd Baylor
Flanimals by Ricky Gervais
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
Hank Zipzer 03: The Day of the Iguana by Henry Winkler
Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech
Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
If the Shoe fits
If You are Not From the Prairie by David Bouchard
Jack Black’s Book by Jack Gantos
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Look! Body Language in Art by Gillian Wolfe
Lord of the Forest by Caroline Pitcher
Lost by Paul Brett Johnson
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman
My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel
No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Kormon
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O’Malley
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
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Owen and Mizee
Parvanna’s Journey by Deborah Ellis (middle school on up)
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Piggie Pie by Marge Palatinin
Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
Reach for the Moon by Samantha Abeel
Sahara Special by Esme’ Raji Codell
Seed Folks by Paul Fleischman
Serious Farm by Tim Egan
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan
Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Ninth gr. And up)
Thank You Mr. Faulker by Patricia Pollaco
The Meanest Doll in the World by Ann M Martin and Laura
Godwin
The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher by
Lewis Thomas
Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis
Voices in the Park by Anthony Brown
Voices of the Heart: by Ed Young
Water Dance by Thomas Locker
Welcome to the River of Grass By Jane Yolen
What are You So Grumpy About? Tom Lichtenheld
What Does Peace Feel Like? By V. Rudunsky
Welcome to the River of Grass - IDEAS
When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lessons in Persuasive Writing
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by Barry Lane and Gretchen Bernabe
Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
You Hear Me: Poems and Writing by Teenaged Boys by Betsy
Franco
In choosing books for Voice: Look for strong expression of
feeling, text that makes you feel like laughing or crying, or that
gives you the chills, text that you remember and think about.
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Book for Word Choice
A Huge Hog is a Big Pig by Francis McCall and Patricia Kieler
A Mink, A Fink, A Skating Rink by Brian P. Cleary
Airmail to the Moon by Tom Birdseye
All the Small Poems and 14 more by Valarie Worth
Animalia by Graeme Base
Awakening the Heart Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School by
Georgia Heard
Belinda the Ballerina by Amy Young
Brave Irene by William Steig
Brave Potatoes by Toby Speed and Barry Root
Burger and the Hotdog by Jim Aylesworth and Stephen Gammel
Dear Mrs. Larue, Stories From Obedience School by Mark Teague
Dog Breath by Dav Pilkney
Dogzilla by Dav Pilkney
Eggbert by Tom Ross and Rex Baron
Eight Ate by Marvin Turban
Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox and Nicholas Wilton
Flanimals by Ricky Gervais
Four Famished Foxes and Fosdyke by Pamela Duncan
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
Hairy Scary Ordinary by Brian P. Cleary
How are You Peeling? by Joost Eiffers and Saxton Freyman
Humpty Dumpty Egg-splodes by Kevin O’Malley
I Crocodile by Fred Marcellino
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
If the Shoe Fits Voices From Cinderella by Alison Jackson
It’s Disgusting and We Ate It by James Solheim
Life in the Desert by Melvin Beiger
Lord of the Forest by Caroline Pitcher and Jackie Morris
Marshall
Miss Alaneus by Debra Frasier
Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry G. Allard and James Marshall
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Monsters: The World’s Most Incredible Animals by Beatrice
Fontanel
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Once Upon a More Enlightened Time by James Finn Garner
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner
Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut by Margaret Atwood
Punnidles by Bruce and Brett McMillan
Quick as a Cricket by Audrey wood
R is for Rhyme A Poetry Alphabet by Judy Young
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and
Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
Say Something
Scranimals by Jack Pretlutsky
Show; Don’t Tell ! Secrets of Writing by Josephine Nobisso
6 Sick Sheep by Joanna Cole
Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Sophie’s Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli
Swine Lake by James Marshall
The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter
The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynn
The Sound of Colors by Jimmy Liao
There’s a Frog in My Throat by Loreen Leedy and Pat Street
The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg
Things That are most in the World by Judi Barrett
To Root, To Toot, To Parachute by Brian P Cleary
Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
Verdi by Jannell Cannon
Water Dance by Thomas Locker
Water Dance, Sun Dance by Jonathon London
Web Files by Margie Palatini and Richard Egielski
Welcome to the River of Grass by Jane Yolen
Weslandia by Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hawkes
When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
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In choosing books for Word Choice: Look for words or phrases
you’d like children to know, or words you love yourself, words
challenging without being too technical or difficult, words likely
to be new, similes and metaphors, everyday words used in creative
ways, words that paint pictures, vivid verbs.
Books For Sentence Fluency
Awakening the Heart
Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School
by
Georgia Heard
The Book of Pooh by A.A.Milne
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Dog Team by Gary Paulsen
Flicker Flash by Joan Bransfield Graham
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech
Hoops by Robert Burleigh
If the Shoe Fits Voices From Cinderella by Laura Whipple
In the Land of Words; New and Selected Poems by Eloise
Greenfield
Joyful Noise by Paul Fleishman
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Mammalabilia by Douglas Florian
My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman
Night Noises by Mem Fox
Poem Stew by William Cole
Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise
Science Verse by Jon Schieszka
Teeth, Wiggly as Earthquakes by Judith Tannenbaum
The Burger and the Hotdog by Jim Aylesworth
The Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl
The Heart by Seymour Simon
The Pooh Storybook by A. A. Milne
Welcome to the River of Grass
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In choosing books for Sentence Fluency, look for: Varied
sentence beginnings, a mix of long and short sentences, sentences
that flow, poetry, dialogue.
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Books for Conventions
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech
The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants by Pricilla
Turner
Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver
Punished ( Scholastic)
War between the vowels and consonants
In choosing books for conventions: Look for a book with a wide
range of conventions that you could point out to students. Does
the author make unusual use of conventions – capitals,
exclamation points, quotation marks, etc? Is the layout unusual or
striking?
Professional Books
Awakening the Heart Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle
School by Georgia Heard
Creating Writers by Vickie Spandel
If You’re Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand by Kalli Dakos
If You’re Trying to Teach Kids to Write, You’ve Gotta to Have
This Book by Marjorie Frank
Reviser’s Toolbox by Barry Lane
Stories, Songs and Poetry to Teach Reading and Writing by
Robert and Marlene McCracken
Teeth Wiggly As Earthquakes by JudithTannenbaum
What Learning Leaves by Taylor Mali
Wondrous Words by Katie Wood Ray
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