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This article focuses on ways of building upon the well-documented linguistic abilities of children socialized in African American speech communities to help them become more fluent and effective writers. It examines the use of African American English rhetorical features in five picturebook biographies written by Andrea Davis Pinkney. It describes how Pinkney employs these features to convey important ideas about her biographical subjects and to connect powerfully with her readers. The article suggests strategies for using Pinkney’s biographies as mentor texts to model how students can incorporate African American English expressive features into their own writing in ways that are not only culturally relevant, but also help them meet the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.