Using Mentor Texts in a Writing Workshop

I have twenty-five to thirty favorite picture and chapter books that I turn to when I want to teach a young writer about  the craft of writing. I keep them in front of my flipchart in my grandfathers suitcase. When I choose a book to include in my mentor texts I might look to see if it has one of three kinds of tensions: Person vs Person, Person vs Self and Person vs Nature. It may be a good book to demonstrate leads. It might work to discuss with my young writers how a story needs certain elements to be a good story. I’ve created a template to use to help me look at the potential of each candidate for my texts.