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Common Core ELAKindergartenReading: Literature

RL.K.6: Name the Author and Illustrator

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

Common Core State Standards, Kindergarten, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RL.K.6 Means in Plain English

Kindergartners find the author’s and the illustrator’s names on the cover and say what each did: the author wrote the words, the illustrator made the pictures. For a bedtime story about a bear who can’t sleep, that’s June Park for the words, Theo Banks for the pictures.

The harder part is what each job adds: the pictures can show what the words leave out, like the bear’s heavy eyes. When one person does both jobs, the cover says so. In 1st grade the question becomes who is telling the story (RL.1.6).

RL.K.6 I Can Statements

  • I can find the author’s name on the cover.
  • I can say the author writes the words.
  • I can say the illustrator draws the pictures.

RL.K.6 Worked Example

A short story with its cover line, and two answers about who did what.

Read the Story
Bear Can’t Sleep. Words by June Park. Pictures by Theo Banks.Bear counted stars. Bear counted sheep.Bear counted the snores from the cave next door.At last, Bear counted his own toes and fell fast asleep.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Who is the illustrator of this story, and what was that person’s job?
Not Yet“Theo Banks wrote it.”The right name with the wrong job. Theo Banks made the pictures. June Park wrote the words.
Meets the Standard“Theo Banks is the illustrator. Theo drew the pictures, like Bear counting the stars. June Park is the author and wrote the words.”It names both people and matches each to a job: the words for the author, the pictures for the illustrator.
Question Stems to Use
Who wrote the words?Who made the pictures?Where on the cover are their names?What does the picture show that the words don’t say?What would this story be like without the pictures?

Common Mistakes with RL.K.6

Swapping the two jobs

“Theo Banks wrote it,” about the illustrator

Try this: Pair each job with a motion, pretend to write for author and pretend to paint for illustrator, every time the names are read.

Thinking the author is the main character

“The author is Bear.”

Try this: Ask “Is Bear a real person who made this book?” and show where the real names sit on the cover.

Names without the jobs

Reads both names off the cover but shrugs at “What did each one do?”

Try this: Cover the words on one page and read only the picture, then cover the picture and read only the words. Ask what each gave us.

Where RL.K.6 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.K.5Find the front cover, back cover and title page of a book.
AlongsideRI.K.6Name the author and illustrator of an informational book and say what each does.RL.K.7Say which moment of the story a picture shows.
Comes NextRL.1.6Tell who is telling the story at different points in it.

Practice RL.K.6

Quick Check

  1. Who is the author of Bear Can’t Sleep?
  2. What did Theo Banks do?
  3. What does an author do, and what does an illustrator do?

RL.K.6: Other Names

RL.K.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.