Mentor Texts that Demonstrate an Inquiry Mindset

*Cover, Title, Author,with links that you may or may not want to use with students/Reading the real book out loud can't be replaced by a video....

Cover Title & Author Cover Title & Author

Ada Twist, Scientist

The Watcher
Andrea Beaty
Jeanette Winter

Story of Jane Goodall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScOBTc-ppXk https://youtu.be/5tQcSKH37AY

Going Places Leonardo and The Flying Boy

Peter and Paul Reynolds Laurence Anholt
Fantastic Book on the
Leonardo DaVinci- based on
Power of Inquiry
historical facts, illustrations of
his notebooks which are
https://youtu.be/0uxq6d7Ql80 powerful examples of inquiry,
observations
https://youtu.be/Jnrdx8_HXWU

Stella Star of the Sea The Girl who Never Made

Marie-Louise Gay Mistakes
Creative Questioning, Terrific book for celebrating
Thinking outside the box our mistakes. Being an
inquirer means being a risk
taker.
https://youtu.be/25wzSHjqzSk
https://youtu.be/oQG4vFGd6eU
 If
Sarah Perry
Creative Thinking
https://youtu.be/EpqgO2P0uVg
The Mysteries of Harris
Burdick
Chris Van Allsburg
Great book for generating
ideas, making
connections, careful
observations
https://youtu.be/ZVk2MCgKNrM
The Heart and the Bottle
Oliver Jeffers
A beautiful book about
wonder, change (with
death of a loved one),
grief
https://youtu.be/Aj5lSmhUhhM
The Real McCoy
Wendy Towle
Elija McCoy, engineer and
inventor-son of a former
slave had 57 patents.
https://youtu.be/MPHDsxMlWHM
The Girl With a Mind for Math
Julia Finely Mosca
Raye Montague, African
American woman who designed
the first submarine for the US
Navy. STEM Picture Book.
Rhyming w/ endnotes
https://youtu.be/L0tM4NbOM1k
The World is Not a Rectangle:
A Portrait of Architect Zaha
Hadid
Jeanette Winter
This is a beautiful book about a Muslim
woman who thinks outside the box,
observes all that is around her, and
designs unusual buildings around the
world. It is beautifully illustrated.
https://youtu.be/78q5PnSiMBc

What Do You Do With An
Idea?
Kobi Yamada
Independent Thinker,
nurturing an idea, open
minded, change, action
https://youtu.be/mSfNv0-SgJM
Imagine a Place
Sarah Thomas & Rob
Gonsalves
https://youtu.be/Gqia2M75MNM
Zoom
Istvan Banyai
Careful observations,
making predictions, open
minded to change in
thinking, what you initially
see may not be...
https://youtu.be/Kgi-RCEjOLw
The Boy Who Invented TV
The Story of Philo Farnsworth
Kathleen Krull
True Story -Longer picture
book, observaton, wonder,
inquiry model in action
https://youtu.be/2jvmvd_jdVI
The Crayon Man: The True
Story of the Invention of
Crayola Crayons
Natasha Biebow
Ture story of the man who observed,
listened,nature, loved color, and asked
questions. Through much work and trial
and error, he invented crayola crayons.
https://youtu.be/u46xjLui0uU
On a Beam of Light: A Story
of Albert Einstein
Jennifer Berne
The power of curiosity, asking
questions, thinking outside the
box.
https://youtu.be/-4YTFAiSUi4
 Your Fantastic Elastic
Brain Stretch It, Shape It
By JoAnn Deak,
Illustrated by Sarah Ackerley
Explains how the brain functions,
and stresses the importance of
"growing your brain" by making
mistakes.
https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=8QSPfnQCIY0