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RE: Nonfiction
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From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:12:09 -0700
I agree wholeheartedly with Marc that nonfiction is the "anti-textbook ." When I worked as a school librarian I always encouraged teach ers to use nonfiction books in the lessons they were teaching, particularly in the areas of history, science, language arts, music, and art.&nbs p;Knowing how limited a classroom teacher's free time is, I would go so far as to select the books myself, check them out to under her name and p ersonally deliver them to the classroom. I found they were very appreciativ e and receptive to the gesture. In a short time, I had many teachers coming to me with specific requests for books they could use in their lessons. Te achers do want these books as alternatives and supplements for their lesson s because they realize that good nonfiction books do an exemplary job of in troducing young people to subject-matter and their students respond enthusi astically to them.
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon : The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Vi sit my web site, http://www.sully-w riter.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Readin g http://sullywriter.wordpress .com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
AMILY: verdana; COLOR: black; MARGIN-LEFT: 8px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=reply
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re:
Nonfiction From: bookma rch_at_aol.com Date: Mon, October 11, 2010 7:14 am To: pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us , ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu
There has not been a big rush to respond to the initial question o n nonfiction,so I wonder if I may be indulged in slightly reframing it -- o r at least 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 thr ough middle school when books are lively, colorful, and match the interests of readers -- whether detectives, dinos, pirates, trucks, or, more recentl y, body functions. Years ago Betty Carter pointed out that some of the most popular nonfiction of all was How to Draw Horses -- and surely the modern equivalent books that tell you how to draw Manga or Anime have their ardent fans. On the other hand, though, nonfiction both gains and suffers from th e fact that every single young person in America is exposed to nonfiction s ubjects every day -- in school. School cannibalizes nonfiction -- turning i nteresting areas into textbook dullness, or -- increasingly -- database sni ppets. So nonfiction books, especially as they ar e aimed at upper middle gr ade and high school, face the challenge that they need to deal with subject s teachers teach (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 students). I would urge those of you who evaluate nonfiction to keep two key things in mind: nonfiction is literature (indeed this is reco gnized in the new National Core Standards) -- it is a form of writing desig ned not just to engage the reader, but to inspire the reader to think, to q uestion, to look at the world in new ways. And second, nonfiction books for younger readers are (or can be) very carefully designed and illustrated. A s much care and thought often goes into the design and illustration of phot o-illustrated nonfiction as the best picture book. The nonfiction we create has nothing in common with textbooks -- in fact it is the anti-textbook.
Maybe we should call nonfiction: heavily illustrated, beautifully desi gned, idea books. A mental challenge in a beautiful package.
Marc Aronson
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:12:09 -0700
I agree wholeheartedly with Marc that nonfiction is the "anti-textbook ." When I worked as a school librarian I always encouraged teach ers to use nonfiction books in the lessons they were teaching, particularly in the areas of history, science, language arts, music, and art.&nbs p;Knowing how limited a classroom teacher's free time is, I would go so far as to select the books myself, check them out to under her name and p ersonally deliver them to the classroom. I found they were very appreciativ e and receptive to the gesture. In a short time, I had many teachers coming to me with specific requests for books they could use in their lessons. Te achers do want these books as alternatives and supplements for their lesson s because they realize that good nonfiction books do an exemplary job of in troducing young people to subject-matter and their students respond enthusi astically to them.
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon : The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Vi sit my web site, http://www.sully-w riter.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Readin g http://sullywriter.wordpress .com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
AMILY: verdana; COLOR: black; MARGIN-LEFT: 8px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=reply
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re:
Nonfiction From: bookma rch_at_aol.com Date: Mon, October 11, 2010 7:14 am To: pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us , ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu
There has not been a big rush to respond to the initial question o n nonfiction,so I wonder if I may be indulged in slightly reframing it -- o r at least 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 thr ough middle school when books are lively, colorful, and match the interests of readers -- whether detectives, dinos, pirates, trucks, or, more recentl y, body functions. Years ago Betty Carter pointed out that some of the most popular nonfiction of all was How to Draw Horses -- and surely the modern equivalent books that tell you how to draw Manga or Anime have their ardent fans. On the other hand, though, nonfiction both gains and suffers from th e fact that every single young person in America is exposed to nonfiction s ubjects every day -- in school. School cannibalizes nonfiction -- turning i nteresting areas into textbook dullness, or -- increasingly -- database sni ppets. So nonfiction books, especially as they ar e aimed at upper middle gr ade and high school, face the challenge that they need to deal with subject s teachers teach (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 students). I would urge those of you who evaluate nonfiction to keep two key things in mind: nonfiction is literature (indeed this is reco gnized in the new National Core Standards) -- it is a form of writing desig ned not just to engage the reader, but to inspire the reader to think, to q uestion, to look at the world in new ways. And second, nonfiction books for younger readers are (or can be) very carefully designed and illustrated. A s much care and thought often goes into the design and illustration of phot o-illustrated nonfiction as the best picture book. The nonfiction we create has nothing in common with textbooks -- in fact it is the anti-textbook.
Maybe we should call nonfiction: heavily illustrated, beautifully desi gned, idea books. A mental challenge in a beautiful package.
Marc Aronson
---Received on Mon 11 Oct 2010 06:12:09 AM CDT
