Coupling Royster's (2000) conceptual framework of zamani with Rosenblatt's (1978) reader response theory, the researcher explored the ways African American women's writings supported, nurtured, and “mentored” the writings of adolescent girls. Findings show that the mentor texts served to help the girls generate ideas for their writings, think about their identities, understand the structure and style of genres, and invoke a response from readers through the use of critical language. Understanding the purpose of literary mentors is useful for English educators in appreciating the varied utility of texts and how they can be used to advance the writings and identities of youth.
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