I was interested to read this article where teachers discuss some of the reasons they incorporate picture books into their middle school and high school classes. Along with the reasons noted, reflecting on my book A Mama for Owen made me think of another argument: picture books can be wonderful models for students learning how to shape their own writing to fit a specific format and audience.Based on a true happening during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, writing A Mama for Owen meant I had to try to capture the emotions of a big, world-changing event in a small, intimate story. I had to fit my text into the extremely compact form of a picture book, always with the knowledge of the sensitive young audience the book would target.Studying the choices that illustrator John Butler and I made would, I believe, make for a fascinating classroom discussion with older students.