Every writing unit should start with mentor texts. Students need many examples of the type of writing we expect them to do. In this article, I’ve compiled my favorite middle school mentor texts. Each mentor text includes grade levels, a summary of the text and skills you could teach.
Note: This article doesn’t cover how to teach using mentor texts. Read how to use mentor texts here.
Help make this article a more powerful resource for teachers by sharing your favorite mentor texts in the comments at the end.
Personal Narrative
Personal narratives are short stories about one important event in a person’s life. When I teach personal narrative, students often complain that their lives are boring, that nothing substantial or worth writing about has ever happened to them. I remind these students that narrative is just another word for story and give them permission to embellish and make parts up. Students breathe a sigh of relief when I tell them this. Mentor texts can also help students get ideas.Eleven by Sandra Cisneros
Best for 6th Grade
It’s Rachel’s eleventh birthday but she doesn’t feel eleven. On this day she feels more like one. Her insensitive teacher wants to find the owner of a red sweater that’s been sitting in the coatroom for a very, very long time. No one in Rachel’s class wants to claim it. When Rachel is accused she doesn’t speak up for herself. The following writing skills are beautifully done in this short story:
- Descriptive Language
- Figurative Language
- Inner Thinking
- Repetition
Everything Will be Okay by James Howe
Appropriate for Grades 6-8 (very sad though)
James finds a sick kitten in the woods and tells the kitten everything will be okay. He takes it home hoping his his family will help. His mother says, “we’ll see…”. His brother Paul, who works for Dr. Milk, comes home and knows what to do. They drive the sickly kitten over to the vet’s office and the scenes that follow are heart wrenching. This story flows back and forth between the events of this day and memories involving James’s family. These components of narrative writing stand out most in the story:
- Building Tension
- Character Development
- Past and Present Transitions
- Theme
First French Kiss by Adam Bagdasarian
Best for 8th Grade
Will is in sixth grade and invited to Maggie’s party. He and Maggie have been exchanging notes in class. She confessed she liked him better than two other boys. Will gets ready for the party and has high hopes for the night. He and Maggie slow dance and afterward Will gets pressure from his friends to french kiss Maggie. When I read this story out loud to my students they are anything but disengaged. This story is related in so many ways. The following writing skills could easily be taught using this mentor text:
- Conflict
- Dialogue
- Inner Thinking
- Past and Present Transitions
Out of Bounds by Amanda Werner
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
My husband and I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for five years and bought season ski passes every year we were there. We spent most weekends in the Wasatch mountains skiing the greatest snow on Earth. As fantastic as this sounds, things went very wrong one day. Erik, my husband wanted to ski out of bounds. We’d done so before and nothing had gone wrong but every time we did it I struggled with a decision, follow my husband out of bounds or stick to the groomers. On this day, I chose to follow and things went seriously wrong. The following writing skills could be taught using this short story:
- Character Development
- Dialogue
- Flashback
- Inner Thinking
Memoir
What’s the difference between memoir and personal narrative? Memoirs are usually centered on a time period in a person’s life, or a theme, whereas personal narratives are about one important event. The memoirs below are powerful stories about facing both small issues and huge. Your students will find connections and ideas from reading these:
Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan
Best for 8th Grade
Amy Tan is in love at the age of 14 with a boy named Robert. He doesn’t know it. To her horror, his family is invited over to dinner for Thanksgiving. Amy is mortified by her family and their traditional Chinese ways. This story is so short but is packed with wonderful writing lessons about the following topics:
- Hook/Lead
- Character Development
- Setting Description
- Reflective Ending
The Jacket by Gary Soto
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Gary needs a new coat. He describes a super cool biker jacket to his mom and is excited by the potential this new piece of clothing could have on his identity. The next day he finds a guacamole colored, too large coat hanging from is bedpost. His mom says it’s for him. He wears the ugly thing for years and describes in sad detail the negative impact it had on his life and his eventual acceptance of the thing and his situation.
- Character Development
- Figurative Language
- Inner Thinking
- Symbolism
Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie
Best for 8th Grade
Alexie describes his love of reading from the age of three to adulthood. He knows this love of reading saved him from the poverty and struggles of life on an Indian Reservation. But he doesn’t just want to save his own life, he wants to save others’ lives too, through books and writing.
- Character Development
- Figurative Language
- Repetition
- Setting Description
Two Kinds by Amy Tan
Best for 8th Grade
Jing-mei’s mom has big plans for her daughter. She wants her daughter to be a prodigy. But as time goes on and Jing-mei fails her mother’s expectations over and over, Jing-mei begins to resent her mother and fail on purpose. She and her mother eventually face off and Jing-mei wins. Her mother backs off, but eventually Jing-mei regrets what she did and the things she said to her mother that day.
- Character Development
- Dialogue
- Theme
- Transitions
Fiction
I believe that most teachers neglect teaching fiction writing because it is a beast! Fiction includes many, many genres and trying to teach how to write all those genres seems daunting. It is daunting! Here’s what I suggest…let students choose the genre and teach core writing skills that apply to all of them. Those core skills might be: plot, character development, setting, tone, mood, point of view, description, dialogue, theme, figurative language, transitions, organization and the writing process.
But what about mentor texts? You can do one of two things: use short excerpts from your favorite fictional books or use short stories. Below are some of my favorite fictional short stories. I think most English teachers use these stories to teach reading analysis, but fictional writing skills can be taught with these stories too!
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Margot is from planet Earth and just moved to Venus. Most children in her class have never seen the sun, because on Venus it rains for seven years straight. On the day that the rain is finally supposed to stop the kids in Margot’s class make a horrendously cruel decision. The following fictional writing skills are very obvious in this classic sci-fi story:
- Figurative Language
- Imagery
- Symbolism
- Theme
Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Mrs. Jones is walking through the street at night when suddenly a young boy tries to take her purse. She is a strong women and grabs a hold of the boy and doesn’t let go. Instead she brings him to her house, feeds him and talks to him. She learns his name is Roger and soon they begin to develop an understanding. This very short story is packed with writing lessons, here are some of the more obvious ones:
- Character Development
- Dialogue
- Inner Thinking
- Theme
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
Best for 8th Grade (has mature content)
Jack or “Kan-kan”, as his mother likes to call him, has a magical, paper lion named Laohu. Jack’s mother made it for him. She has an incredible talent for making origami creatures come to life. Jack loves all his “pets”, but when another boy comes over with his Star Wars toys, Jack realizes he is different…and even more so…his mother is different. He begins to keep his distance from his mother and wants her to be more American by learning English. Jack stops speaking Chinese with her and as time goes on he discovers the story behind his mother’s past. This story is worth a read by you and your students! Here are some writing skills you could teach using it:
- Dialogue & Inner Thinking
- Integrating Historical Time Periods & Events into Stories
- Formats/Letters as Part of Stories
- Transitions
The Veldt by Ray Bradbury
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
George and Lydia Hadley just purchased the HappyLife Home. This house does absolutely everything you can think of for them and their two children. It even has a playroom that can turn into the African savannah for their children’s entertainment. Lack of discipline and too much reliance on technology leads to a treacherous end. There are so many awesome writing techniques used in this story:
- Action
- Dialogue
- Imagery
- Ending with a Twist
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Appropriate for 8th Grade
Members of a small village gather for many events throughout the year, square dances, teen club, the Halloween fair and other civic activities. And now all the members of this small town, men, women and children gather for the annual lottery. This dark story has many writing techniques that students can emulate in their own fictional stories:
- Dialect
- Foreshadowing
- Setting Description
- Symbolism
Informative
It is fairly easy to find information mentor texts, they are all over the internet in the form of blog posts and news articles. Tween Tribune and Dogo News are my favorite free websites for informational writing mentor texts. They always have articles that interest students. Kelly Gallagher also has a comprehensive list of both information and argumentative articles all formatted to use in your classroom: Articles of the Week. Gallagher uses these articles in his high School English classes, so they are more advanced, however, access to all of these articles in one place can be super helpful for an 8th grade teacher like myself and maybe you too.
Teens and adults say they feel tethered to their phones from Tween Tribune
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Parents are depicted as a bit hypocritical in this article (students will love it). They say they want their children to use their devices less. Yet, parents seem to be on their devices just as much, if not more than their children!
- Captions
- Citing Studies
- Quoting Sources
- Statistics
How Online Gaming Platform Roblox is Helping Teenagers Become Millionaires from Dogo News
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Kids can become developers for games like Roblox. The company pays 30% in royalties and this has made some millionaires! Students will love reading about how to make money through what they are most passionate about…video games!
- Captions
- Citing Data
- Organization
- Quoting Sources
Homework and Tests Stressing You Out? Consider Moving to Sweden from Dogo News
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
A school in Sweden decided to do an experiment…no homework or tests for a whole month. If stress is reduced in these students’ lives they may never have to do homework again! Other countries are experimenting with this idea too. Students will love learning about the negative impacts of homework in this article. Here are some of the features of this article students could emulate in their own informational writing:
- Bar Graphs
- Bias (this article is a bit one-sided)
- Summarizing Studies
- Embedding Video
Giant boom hopes to corral Pacific Ocean’s plastic trash from Tween Tribune
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Between Hawaii and California there floats a patch of trash twice the size of Texas! It is disgusting. Boyan Slat, a 23 year old, has taken it upon himself to find a solution. This article talks about his invention and how he is working toward a solution to this very large and concerning problem. Here are some writing skills students can glean from reading this informative article:
- Embedding Quotes from Interviews
- Providing Differing Viewpoints
- Providing Statistics
- Use of Commas to Add Detail
Literary Analysis
Ever wonder why it is so difficult to find mentor texts to teach literary essays? It’s because people don’t write literary essays in the real world! The only time this type of writing is done is in school. This worries me a bit because I believe students should be writing what people in the real world write. Then, I came across this article called, Thinking About Mentor Texts for Literary Analysis, and was convinced that yes we should definitely still teach literary essays. Not because it is what we’ve always done in English classes, our reason should be to help students develop their analysis skills so that they can think critically about world events, business, politics, books and even their own lives! The mentor texts below are about a wide range of topics but can still be used to teach literary essay writing skills.
Picture Books Tell Children the Harsh Story of Refugee Picture Books by Monica Edingar
Appropriate for 8th Grade (advanced writing)
Edingar starts off arguing how important it is that we talk about the experiences of migrants and refugees, especially to our children. She then goes on to beautifully summarize and analyze six children’s books about people from places ranging from Chile to Greece to Mexico. Students could learn these writing techniques from reading all or part of this article:
- Dashes
- Quoting Individuals
- Summarizing
- Transitions
YA Thrillers to Give You Chills This Summer by Elisabeth Egan
Appropriate for 8th Grade
Three thriller YA novels are discussed in this well written article. Not only will students learn the writing techniques listed below, they’ll also learn about some high interest YA novels too.
- Comparing Literature
- Making Connections
- Narrative Hook
- Providing Details in Parentheses
10 Benefits of Reading Everyday by Lana Winter-Hebert
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
This article discusses some excellent reasons why we should be reading everyday. Many important points are brought up such as how reading helps you become a better writer and develop analytical skills! The following writing techniques could be taught using this article:
- Footnotes
- Hooking Reader with Questions about Their Life
- Organization
- Providing Photo Credit
Movie theaters fight streaming by assaulting the senses
Appropriate for Grades 6-8
Movie theaters are struggling to compete with the streaming television services Netflix and Amazon Prime. So, they are adding many creative features to keep movie goers coming back. Reclining seats, food service and even augmented reality! There are many things to learn from this article:
- Summarizing
- Using Dashes to Add Extra Detail
- Quoting Individuals
- Word Choice
Argumentative
Finding age appropriate argumentative writing samples that are at the middle school level is tricky. I rely heavily on newspaper editorials. This is real life argumentative writing at its finest. However, newspapers are often written above our students’ reading levels. Because of this fact I read these articles out loud with students first read then I have them reread and annotate. It is more likely students will retain the information and the writing skills you teach when you read it out loud first. Then, on a different day during your argumentative writing unit, analyze parts of the articles pointing out skills you want to teach that day.
Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away by James Doubek
Appropriate for Grades 7-8 (article is a bit advanced)
Doubek argues that taking notes by hand is actually better than taking notes on a laptop. When you take notes by hand you synthesize information into memorable chunks because you can’t write absolutely everything down when a teacher is lecturing. When you take notes using a laptop you tend to type word for word what you hear, skipping the important synthesis and thinking process. Not only is this an important article for students to read, you can also teach the below writing skills using the article too.
- Citing Studies
- Connecting to Audience in Hook
- Making Counterarguments
- Quoting Interviews
The Big Myth About Teenage Anxiety by Richard A. Friedman
Appropriate for 8th Grade (term sex is used)
Friedman is a psychiatrist and argues that screens are not causing a rise in psychological disorders like anxiety and depression. Studies done about the impact on screens to our mental health only show correlations and not causation. He argues that anxiety and stress are a normal part of everyday life and parents need to stop assuming it is psychological trauma. This article has all sorts of argumentative writing techniques students can learn from:
- Anecdotes
- Citing Studies
- Counterarguments
- Dashes to Include More Detail
An Open Letter About Female Coaches by Pau Gasol
Best for 8th Grade (some locker room talk)
Pau Gasol is an NBA basketball player who has been coached by Becky Hammon, the first and only female to ever coach in the NBA. Paul writes this letter to question societal norms and assumptions about women in positions that are dominated by men. It is an excellent read. Here are some skills you could teach using this article:
- Anecdotes
- Counterarguments
- Setting Sentences off to Emphasize
- Transitions
Is it Actually Smart to Sit Still? by Hannah Amell
Hannah Amell is a 15 year old New York Times Learning Network essay finalist. Find out more about the contests here: Learning Network Contests. She wrote her editorial arguing against block schedules. She thinks schools need to start incorporating more movement in their classrooms. Here are some writing techniques she used:
- Connecting with Audience in Hook
- Incorporating Interviews
- Sentence Variety
- Ending with a Question
Speech
Thanks to TED Talks (and the transcripts that are provided right beneath them), there are tons and tons of examples of speeches available online for our students. I believe this is why so many teachers are shifting from having students give speeches to having their own TED Talks! If you do this have students watch some talks, read the transcripts and then begin planning their own. Here are my favorite TED Talks to show students:
Overcoming Obstacles [Transcript] by Stephen Claunch
Appropriate for All Grades
Stephen Claunch was born with many health issues. But these issues have not stopped him from reaching his goals. Stephen explains that obstacles can be overcome with hard work, not excuses. There are multiple heartwarming stories and lessons students need to learn in this talk!
- Narrative Hook
- Repetition
- Transitions
- Weaving Multiple Stories Together
How to Start a Movement [Transcript] by Derek Sivers
Appropriate for All Grades
This humorous talk analyzes the process of creating a movement. Sivers points out that leaders are important but followers might be more important to making a movement. Here are some speech writing topics you can cover with this talk:
- Summary of Lessons to End Speech
- Using Humor
- Video Analysis in a Speech
8 Secrets to Success [Transcript] by Richard St. John
Appropriate for Grade 8 (the words damn and assholes are used)
This super concise and funny talk gives students advice for how to be successful in life. Here are some speech writing techniques you can teach with this talk:
- Acronyms to Teach
- Listing as a Way to Organize a Speech
- Narrative Hook
- Slideshow Graphics
How to Tie Your Shoes [Transcript] by Terry Moore
Appropriate for All Grades
This short talk teaches us that we’ve been tying our shoes wrong! It is eye-opening in the simplest way. Here are a few speech writing techniques you can teach with this talk:
- Connecting with the Audience
- Doing a Demonstration During a Speech
- Using a Quote to End a Speech
Your Turn!
Type your favorite mentor texts in the comments below…
This is soooo helpful! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks Lyndsey! I’m so happy that you found this article helpful! I appreciate you taking the time to let me know:)
This post is absolute gold, Amanda! Finding good mentor texts is the biggest time-suck, and this post saves sooo much time. Thank you so much for putting it together!
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback on this article Jeanne! It means so much to me:)
Thank you! This is so helpful! I just shared this page w/teachers in a Twitter chat about mentor texts. I appreciate it! 🙂
Tara, thanks for taking the time to comment and share:) I appreciate YOU!
Thanks you so much for all of the valuable resources and information! Can you please advise/ explain how you incorporate grammar lessons? Thank you SO much!
Hi Gina, I teach grammar as needed during conferences to students who need specific instruction because of glaring mistakes they are making over and over again. I rarely teach grammar lessons to the whole class because I honestly don’t feel my students benefit from knowing grammar terms. Their writing improves the more they read and write not the more they do grammar exercises. I hope that answers your question:)
I wish there was a section with historical fiction. I find historical fiction very interesting and it’d be very helpful right now for my assignment from class.
Great idea! My favorites are Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and I could go on. Historical Fiction is probably my favorite genre to read. Writing historical fiction brings a whole other challenge! What are your favorite historical fiction books?
The Lorax is great for teaching argument.