Author Study - David Shannon

     Last fall, one short author study I did with my second graders was on David Shannon. The students were very familiar with him as they love the David books and have a wonderful librarian. While doing research on him, I found that David Shannon hid a drawing of his dog, Fergus, in every book he illustrated (at least after a certain year).

    I read Good Boy, Fergus with my second graders. Then, we searched through many David Shannon book that they were familiar with to find Fergus. Some students found him twice in the book they were looking at. Here is one example from David Goes to School:

     Our class talked about how David Shannon draws from personal things when he writes his stories. Good Boy, Fergus! was after his dog, Fergus. His David books were based on a story he wrote as a young boy, when he only knew how to spell no and David. This is why No, David was the first book. Alice the Fairy is dedicated to his daughter, Emma. It's exciting for students to see how personal experiences can really play into their writing.

    This fall, I'm planning on using some of these ideas when I am teaching Writing Workshop to help motivate my first graders to write about small moments and personal experiences.

Click here to view a flier my friend and I made containing some more information that we found about David Shannon. Also, let me know if this link works well. It's the first time I have tried something like this.