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Jason Chin

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Biographical Information
 Grew up in New Hampshire
 Studied illustration at Syracuse University
 Worked at a children’s book store in Manhattan
 Published under Roaring Books Press

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Published Works
 Illustrated:
 Where do Polar Bears Live? (2009)
 The Day the World Exploded (2008)
 The Master Spy Handbook (2008)
 The Master Detective Handbook (2008)
 Chinese New Year (2004)
 Wrote & Illustrated:
 Island (2012)
 Coral Reefs (2011)
 Redwoods (2009)

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Writerly Techniques:
Inferences
 One must infer the narrative story through the illustrations
 Read one of Jason Chin’s books to see what I mean!

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Writerly Techniques:
Appealing illustrations
 Appealing illustrations
The Day the World Exploded
Author: Simon Winchester
Illustrator: Jason Chin

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Writerly Techniques:
Easy to read text/factual information
Coral Reefs by Jason Chin

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Writerly Techniques:
Illustrates many of the facts for visual aid
Redwoods by
Jason Chin

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Themes/Characteristics
 Picture Books
 Life Science
 Wildlife
 Literary Non-Fiction
 Factual

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Classroom Techniques
 Snippet
 Do a snippet of one of Chin’s books to spark students’ interest in
literary non-fiction or non-fiction texts in general
 Writing Workshop
 Have students write their own literary non-fiction texts
 Vocabulary Acquisition
 Chin’s books include academic vocabulary. Reading/using
vocabulary in context is a great alternative to pure memorization
 Inferences
 Use Chin’s books as an introduction to inferences since you have
to infer some of what is going on from the illustrations

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Classroom Techniques
 Reading/Listening Comprehension
 Some children find it easiest to comprehend fictional texts. Use
Chin’s books to test reading/listening comprehension for non-fiction
texts
 Environmental Studies
 Use Chin’s books to talk about why taking care of the environment
is important and what might happen if we don’t take care of it
 Life Science
 Use Chin’s books to talk about ecosystems and discuss how certain
communities depend on one another to live. You could also discuss
what might happen if certain animals in the ecosystem become
extinct

11. Snippet: Redwoods
 The coast redwoods are
among the oldest trees in the
world. Their ancestors lived
about 165 million years ago,
during the Jurassic period.
One tree can live for more
than 2,000 years, which
means there are trees alive
today that first sprouted during
the Roman Empire.
Redwoods have shallow root
systems that travel more than
one hundred feet from the
tree. They help the trees
stand, and they need all the
help they can get
because…they are the tallest
living things on the planet.