Concept mapping has long been used an assessment tool by educators to illustrate students' conceptual development of a topic over time. In this article, we chronicle the use of concept maps in a language arts environment. Focusing on a literacy tutoring program for struggling readers/writers centered on hands-on science experiments, we explain how concept maps were used as tools to engage students in authentic writing. Using the example of one struggling reader/writer, step-by-step instructions are provided used by the student's literacy tutor to transform ideas captured on a concept map (generated from experiments and readings about magnets) into a student-written non-fiction, informational book. Results from the student's pre- and post-writing assessments not only show increased writing abilities, but also mastery of science language demands.