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Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in helping struggling readers build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

Home > Books and Authors > Author Study Toolkit

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An author study is a unit lesson that gives students the opportunity to delve deeply into an author's life and body of work. Whether individually, in small groups, or as a class, students can:

• Critically evaluate an author's themes, characters, and writing style
• Make connections between the author's life and work
• Make personal connections between their own experiences and those of the author and his/her characters

In addition to reading several works by an author, key components of an author study include discussion, research, and a final project.

The Reading Rockets Author Study Toolkit will help you create a unit tailored to your instructional goals, as well as your students' interests and abilities. We suggest that you begin with How to do an author study, which includes a helpful checklist to get you started.