CCBC-Net Archives
Re: Nonfiction
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:14:54 -0400 (EDT)
There has not been a big rush to respond to the initial question on nonfict ion,so I wonder if I may be indulged in slightly reframing it -- or at leas t mapping out the NF world as I see it? NF is poised in an unusual spot in the library. On the one hand it is an easy popular choice through middle sc hool when books are lively, colorful, and match the interests of readers -- whether detectives, dinos, pirates, trucks, or, more recently, body functi ons. Years ago Betty Carter pointed out that some of the most popular nonfi ction of all was How to Draw Horses -- and surely the modern equivalent boo ks that tell you how to draw Manga or Anime have their ardent fans. On the other hand, though, nonfiction both gains and suffers from the fact that ev ery single young person in America is exposed to nonfiction subjects every day -- in school. School cannibalizes nonfiction -- turning interesting are as into textbook dullness, or -- increasingly -- database snippets. So nonf iction books, especially as they are ai med at upper middle grade and high s chool, face the challenge that they need to deal with subjects teachers tea ch (in the hope that a school might use them) and need to be as completely unlike the classroom text as possible (to engage the reading interest of st udents). I would urge those of you who evaluate nonfiction to keep two key things in mind: nonfiction is literature (indeed this is recognized in the new National Core Standards) -- it is a form of writing designed not just t o engage the reader, but to inspire the reader to think, to question, to lo ok at the world in new ways. And second, nonfiction books for younger reade rs are (or can be) very carefully designed and illustrated. As much care an d thought often goes into the design and illustration of photo-illustrated nonfiction as the best picture book. The nonfiction we create has nothing i n common with textbooks -- in fact it is the anti-textbook.
Maybe we should call nonfiction: heavily illustrated, beautifully designed, idea books. A mental challenge in a beautiful package.
Marc Aronson
Received on Mon 11 Oct 2010 07:14:54 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:14:54 -0400 (EDT)
There has not been a big rush to respond to the initial question on nonfict ion,so I wonder if I may be indulged in slightly reframing it -- or at leas t mapping out the NF world as I see it? NF is poised in an unusual spot in the library. On the one hand it is an easy popular choice through middle sc hool when books are lively, colorful, and match the interests of readers -- whether detectives, dinos, pirates, trucks, or, more recently, body functi ons. Years ago Betty Carter pointed out that some of the most popular nonfi ction of all was How to Draw Horses -- and surely the modern equivalent boo ks that tell you how to draw Manga or Anime have their ardent fans. On the other hand, though, nonfiction both gains and suffers from the fact that ev ery single young person in America is exposed to nonfiction subjects every day -- in school. School cannibalizes nonfiction -- turning interesting are as into textbook dullness, or -- increasingly -- database snippets. So nonf iction books, especially as they are ai med at upper middle grade and high s chool, face the challenge that they need to deal with subjects teachers tea ch (in the hope that a school might use them) and need to be as completely unlike the classroom text as possible (to engage the reading interest of st udents). I would urge those of you who evaluate nonfiction to keep two key things in mind: nonfiction is literature (indeed this is recognized in the new National Core Standards) -- it is a form of writing designed not just t o engage the reader, but to inspire the reader to think, to question, to lo ok at the world in new ways. And second, nonfiction books for younger reade rs are (or can be) very carefully designed and illustrated. As much care an d thought often goes into the design and illustration of photo-illustrated nonfiction as the best picture book. The nonfiction we create has nothing i n common with textbooks -- in fact it is the anti-textbook.
Maybe we should call nonfiction: heavily illustrated, beautifully designed, idea books. A mental challenge in a beautiful package.
Marc Aronson
Received on Mon 11 Oct 2010 07:14:54 AM CDT
