Reading aloud picture books about writing is a great way to kick off a writing lesson. This post shares Picture Books about Writing that you can use for this purpose. All of the picture books on this list lend themselves to this topic really well. Take a peek below to learn more about these picture books about writing!
7 Picture Books about Writing
Below is a list of some of our favorite picture books about writing to share with elementary students. Check them out!
1. Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings
The story Can I Be Your Dog? follows a homeless dog named Arfy who is looking for a family. Arfy writes letters to a family, a butcher, the fire department, the junkyard, and the scary last house on the road. Each time, Arfy gets a letter back saying that he can’t be their dog. Arfy feels discouraged each time, but continues to write letters.
After hearing that even the last house on the road wouldn’t take him, Arfy becomes devastated and goes back to the box that he lives in on the street. There he receives a letter from the mail carrier Mitzy. She wants to be his person! Arfy is overjoyed that he finally found his forever home, and goes to live with Mitzy.
Check out these Can I Be Your Dog? teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
2. Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
The Diary of a Worm gives the reader an inside look into the life of a worm. This story follows the days of the worm through diary entries. The worm is just like human boys and girls. He has a best friend, goes to school, spends time with his family, and enjoys telling jokes and being silly.
The worm’s mother reminds him about the importance of the Earth. She teaches him that the Earth provides everything that they need, and that even though worms are small and sometimes people forget they are there, the Earth always remembers.
Boys and girls will enjoy hearing about the life of the worm, and will start to think about the Earth and the important role everyone plays on it.
Check out these Diary of a Worm teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
3. Eraser by Anna Kang
Everyone is jealous of pencil, especially Eraser. Pencil and his friends are thought of as the cool and creative ones. Eraser looks up to all the other supplies for the exciting things they can do: glue brings people together and paper makes people feel like they can do anything. The other supplies tease Eraser by saying she is only good for cleaning up their mess. Eraser decides she is meant for something more and leaves the group.
She finds herself in a recycle bin with the first drafts of paper. They are so excited to see her and explain are big fans. Eraser learns that she is the reason people get second chances because she helps people fix their mistakes. When Eraser heads back to the team she finds they are really struggling. Thankfully she is able to help them fix the mistakes and they finish the science project as a team.
Check out these Eraser teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
4. Linus the Little Yellow Pencil by Scott Magoon
Linus is a pencil who loves to draw. He decides to enter into an art contest, and had his eye on the grand prize. Ernie, Linus’s eraser, does not think that any of the drawings Linus is creating are good enough to win them the prize.
Ernie continuously criticizes Linus’s drawings and causes Linus to want to quit being an artist. Linus has an encounter with Smudge, and Smudge convinces him to keep drawing. Linus and Ernie go on to draw beautiful pictures together.
Students will learn about growth mindset and positive-self talk as they hear the story of how a pencil learned to believe in himself.
Check out these Linus the Little Yellow Pencil teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
5. Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
The cows on Farmer Brown’s farm are causing a problem for him. They found an old typewriter and having been typing all day! When Farmer Brown heads to the barn to check on them, he finds a note the cows have left for him. They are asking for electric blankets because it is cold in the barn at night. When Farmer Brown tells the cows they won’t get blankets, the cows write a letter to him explaining that the hens want blankets too.
Farmer Brown won’t agree to give the animals electric blankets so they decide to go on strike. They will not give him any milk or eggs until he supplies the blankets. Farmer Brown is furious with the animals and demands the milk and eggs. Farmer Brown finally agrees and gives the cows and hens their electric blankets. The next morning, Farmer Brown is expecting duck will return the typewriter to him. However, he is surprised when he receives a letter from the ducks instead!
Check out these Click Clack Moo teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
6. Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills
Rocket is a dog that loves reading. His teacher, the yellow bird, reads them books at school. Rocket has also been collecting new words. When he finds a new word, he brings it back to class, writes it down and adds it to their collection.
One day, Rocket decides he is going to write a story with all the new words he has learned. However, when it comes time to write, he doesn’t know what to write about. With his teacher’s suggestion, Rocket takes a walk looking for inspiration. On his walk, Rocket smells pine needles and feathers. This inspires him to write about the nest he saw in a tree.
As Rocket works on his story, he meets the owl that lives in the tree. She does not come down to listen to his story, instead listens from the tree. As Rocket adds to his story, he reads it to the owl. Overtime, she moves down the tree branch by branch. Once the story is finally finished, the owl comes and sits next to Rocket for the first time. His story ends up being about her, and how she was brave enough to come and sit next to him. The owl loves the story and the two are happy to have one another as friends.
This is a great story to get students excited about writing and discuss the challenges that come with the writing process!
Check out these Rocket Writes a Story teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
7. Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague
Mrs. Larue’s dog, Ike, was a very spoiled dog. He would steal food off the counter, chase neighbor’s cats, howl loudly, and he even pulled Mrs. LaRue to the ground and tore her coat. Frustrated with his behavior, she made the decision to send Ike to the Igor Brotweiler Canine Academy.
Once at school, Ike started writing letters to Mrs. LaRue expressing his dislike for the boarding school. He felt he did not fit in there and did not think his actions were bad enough to have him sent away. Ike described the school as a prison and desperately wanted to come home. He even tried pretending to be sick in hopes of being picked up. When it was clear Mrs. LaRue would not be taking him before the end of the term, Ike decided he would escape.
He spent some time traveling alone before he started to miss home, and Mrs. LaRue. One day when Mrs. LaRue was crossing the street, she forgot to look both ways! Thankfully, Ike had come home just in time to save her from getting hurt! Mrs. LaRue was so happy to have Ike home and was grateful he had saved her. She decided to throw him a party and even made his favorite meal!
Told in through Ike’s letters home to Mrs. LaRue, choose from the included collection of either printable activities or go paperless and use the digital activities to practice standards-based skills. We’ve even included editable teaching slides themed to match the book! love this hilarious story about a spoiled dogs problems at obedience school.
Check out these Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters from Obedience School teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!
Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!
Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:
- reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
- 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
- SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
- printable student activities
- editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
- and more.
Learn how to get unlimited access to all 600+ book companion packets below!
One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
In closing, we hope you found this list of picture books about writing helpful! They are part of our Starts With a Story collection.
