What’s Inside a Flower? by Rachel Ignotofsky

What’s Inside a Flower? and other questions about Science & Nature by Rachel Ignotofsky

From the beauty and diversity of flowers to the steps involved in pollination, Rachel Ignotofsky breaks down every part of a flower and its place on earth in her stunningly beautiful book, What’s Inside a Flower?. She modestly describes her purpose when writing this book to her audience here.

And so begins our consideration of this rich book as a mentor text for informational/nonfiction author’s craft. How do we look deeply into a book with our students and consider what has this author done as a writer, why have they decided on this teaching move, and what can we emulate in our own writing? This rich text has entry points for many ages of readers and writers.

for our growing writers, Ms. Ignotofsky illustrates the use of descriptors to say more about a location… lush jungles and also high up on a rocky mountaintop.

We might use a simple label on parts of an object or drawings and words to make comparisons.

Rachel Ignotofsky digs deep into the content of pollination with several page descriptions beginning with the concept of pollen and continuing with the anatomy of a flower. I was initially drawn to this book for its carefully crafted description of pollination, but stayed for so many other beautiful craft moves.

a process is quickly diagramed and explained in a few words. Note the addition of dialogue in the lower left corner and middle right. The text is broken up by other ‘characters’ voicing needed facts to deepen the explanation.

Students can consider the structure of a page or a ‘chapter’ of this picture book. Here the author makes a list to illustrate her point about the importance of plants.

Rachel Ignotofsky also uses questions to engage her reader.

We wonder with students how might this work in their own writing.

Even a strong conclusion is wrapped into this charming book.

How might you use this in your classroom? After reading and highlighting craft moves through conversation, you might post copies of pages in manila folders for writers to examine as use as mentors, reminding themselves how the author labeled, elaborated, use structure, taught step by step, added content rich vocabulary, used diagrams, and lush adjectives all in one little picture book. Along with that, this author takes the students behind the scenes and in her endnotes explains how she did research for this book.

One strong text in your conferring bag, on your board ledge, for your read aloud, can with careful consideration of craft moves infinitely expand your students’ writing.

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