Re‐envisioning Reading and Writing Through Combined‐Text Picture Books

Combined‐text picture books unite multiple genres, providing nuanced information on a single topic from the unique lens of each genre. By providing guided practice in reading and writing a combined‐text picture book, teachers can help students develop sensitivity to different types of texts, to what they do and how they do it. Such sensitivity can give students a foundation for selecting appropriate strategies for reading and writing effectively in a wider variety of genres. This article describes the process of explicit instruction, discussion, and guided practice with one such text, One Leaf Rides the Wind , that helped one class of seventh‐grade students develop as strategic readers and writers when they created a class version of a combined‐text picture book.