The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman
Recommended Grades: 3-5
A little girl visiting her great-grandfather is encouraged to find something in his shop and he’ll tell her a story. She chooses a cigar box that turns out to hold a host of matchboxes. Inside each is a memento attached to a story. Through the mementos, the little girl learns about her great-grandfather’s youth in Italy and subsequent immigration to the United States.
Lesson Idea:
Mentor Text: Memoir Writing: Read aloud The Matchbox Diary and discuss the characteristics of memoir writing. This particular book is not an actual memoir, but is memoir-like. Use this as a model/mentor text for writing about objects that evoke memories. Pair this with The Keeping Quilt, Ma Dear’s Aprons
and Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later)
. How do the authors use objects to write autobiographically?
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Filed under: memoir, mentor texts, teaching with picture books, The Matchbox Diary, writers workshop Tagged: memoir-esque, mentor texts, The Matchbox Diary, writers workshop
