Drawing on stories from classrooms, examples of student writing, and illustrations, this book explains in practical terms the theoretical underpinnings of how elementary school students learn to write from their reading. Beginning with the concepts that underlie how writing teachers teach students to write by studying other writers, it goes on to explore ways to help children read like writers. Elementary teachers will immediately be able to adapt these writing ideas to their own writing lessons. Full of practical ideas and personal recollections, the book weaves practice and theory together to provide an important knowledge base for teachers who want to use literature in their teaching of writing. After an introduction, chapters in the book are: (1) Reading Like Writers; (2) The Craft of Writing; (3) Envisioning Text Possibilities; (4) Reading Aloud: Filling the Room with the Sound of Wondrous Words; (5) Studying Writers' Office Work: Powerful Writing begins Long before the Draft; (6) Organized Inquiry: Teaching Students to Read Like Writers; (7) An Invitation to My Library: The Craft of Text Structure; (8) Another Invitation to My Library: Ways with Words; (9) Selecting Books for Craft Study; (10) Growing Taller in Our Teaching; (11) Planning for the Workshop: Writers Learn from Writers; (12) Focus Lessons: Filling the Writing Workshop with Craft Possibilities; (13) Brave, Bold Teaching: The Power of Suggestive Writing Conferences; (14) Assessment That Focuses Our Eyes on Craft; and (15) Never to Teach Alone Again. Contains an approximately 200-item bibliography. (RS)