They love the details in his books, the realistic experiences the children have and especially when he hides himself in a book!
The following are 13 Donald Crews books I use to support our Narrative Writing Unit each year.
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Flying features labels and simple sentences with pictures that your class will love!
Rain also features labels and simple sentences. It is a great example for students who are just beginning to write!
Truck is a wordless book, however it is filled with words! Signs are on every page and your class will love reading all the different signs they recognize!
I love Carousel because of the way Donald Crews used words to show sound and motion. He makes the words blurry when it moves fast, and big and small for the various noises. Even the blurry cover helps to teach early writers how illustrations can show movement in such a simple way!
Sail Away has more complete sentences in comparison with many of the other books, and lots of excellent vocabulary!
Freight Train is always a class favorite every year! It features color words and some wonderful train vocabulary and thankfully he wrote a book to explain all those train cars!
This is a board book that slides open to reveal what is inside each part of the train cars from Freight Train.
Everyone has read Shortcut, but Bigmama's is actually the book that came first! It introduces you to his family and explains their summer trips to Florida each year!
Shortcut is the follow up book and your students will really get the ending if you read Bigmama's first!
Harbor is filled with every possible boat and a lot of great vocabulary. The key at the end is very handy because your students will want to see each boat up close!
School Bus has labels and simple sentences to inspire and support all writing styles!
Night at the Fair is one of my favorites because of the part where Donald Crews drew himself in the book. I love when my students notice that and the camera around his neck because they know how much he loves taking pictures!
Overall, what I love the most is how Donald Crews stories allow all my writers to feel successful, as they are all inspired by different books of his.
Some prefer to write longer narratives like Big Mama's or Shortcut and others do write label or single sentence stories. However, they all can find a book to identify with.
Have you read any Donald Crews books with your class before?
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