Using our Writer's Notebooks: A Mentor Text for Heart Maps!

We've been working steadily over the past few weeks on our Writer's Notebooks.  Our first unit is on Narrative Memoirs.  We do the basics that I'm sure everyone does, but this year my teammate found a few extra goodies.  Don't you love when you work with someone and you really gel as a team?  That's me and my teamie.  She is really good at using the Writer's Workshop model, and for most of what we do, I follow her lead.  Me, I'm better at the Reader's Workshop, and she picks up lessons and ideas from me in that area.  Anyhoo.... here's what we've done that's a new for us:
Have you read this book?

In this story the narrator wants to win a local library contest.  She asks each person in her family what makes a good story, and each family member has their own opinion.  When she tries to add each element to her own story, the girl finds that it is not the right  fit.  In the end, she realizes the best story she can write is her own when it comes from her heart.  The illustrations are awesome, and my sixth graders really liked this book.

I thought this was a great way to show how to write what is in your heart, and read it to my smarties before we completed our heart maps.

Do you have any books that you use with your Writer's Notebook?  I will blogging about my Writer's Notebook this week, and would love to hear your thoughts!