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RE: Not Nonfiction
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From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:28:01 -0700
Ginny is right. Kids are confused by the word "nonfiction" because of the difference between how libraries use the term to categorize books and h ow it is used to define a genre of writing. That's one of several reasons w hy I dislike the term.
I told my students that "nonfiction" is a stupid word. Labelling books as "not fiction" does nothing to describe what the book is. It's like calling 7-Up the "uncola." Describing something as not something is meaningless. Libraries include drama, folklore, graphic novel s, and poetry in nonfiction even though it is "imaginative writing," anothe r troublesome phrase used to describe works of fiction. Nonfiction has nonf iction but also other kinds of books, too. Yes, that can be very confusing. Zena Sutherland came up with the phrase "informational book," as an altern ative to nonfiction. I loathe that description, too, because it implies tha t books that are not fiction are strictly utilitarian and less than li terary. An almanac, an atlas, a phone directory, or a dictionary may fit th at label well, but I'd like to think my book about the Manhattan Project is more interesting than a phone directory. Books by authors like Russel l Freedman and Jim Murphy are more than "informat ional."
I use the word nonfiction because nobody has come up with a satisfacto ry alternative and we're probably stuck with it, but I do make a poin t of stressing to people its inadequacies.
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
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Not Nonfiction From: Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu Date: Tue, October 19, 201 0 10:32 am To: Debbie Reese debreese_at_illinois.edu Cc: ccbc-net digest recipients ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu What a terrific discussion!
Before the topic changes, I'll note tha t somewhere along the way I noticed fleeting references to Poetry and t o Folklore. The inclusion of these two literary forms in the Dewey Deci mal System's "nonfiction" category has always confused kids. It also co nfuses most teaching about
"nonfiction" in which all DDS nonfiction is included. Most of the messages on this topic haven't addressed Poetry o r Folklore specifically, but I want to point out that in my opinion nei ther one really has a place in the topic of nonfiction.
Cordiall y, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:28:01 -0700
Ginny is right. Kids are confused by the word "nonfiction" because of the difference between how libraries use the term to categorize books and h ow it is used to define a genre of writing. That's one of several reasons w hy I dislike the term.
I told my students that "nonfiction" is a stupid word. Labelling books as "not fiction" does nothing to describe what the book is. It's like calling 7-Up the "uncola." Describing something as not something is meaningless. Libraries include drama, folklore, graphic novel s, and poetry in nonfiction even though it is "imaginative writing," anothe r troublesome phrase used to describe works of fiction. Nonfiction has nonf iction but also other kinds of books, too. Yes, that can be very confusing. Zena Sutherland came up with the phrase "informational book," as an altern ative to nonfiction. I loathe that description, too, because it implies tha t books that are not fiction are strictly utilitarian and less than li terary. An almanac, an atlas, a phone directory, or a dictionary may fit th at label well, but I'd like to think my book about the Manhattan Project is more interesting than a phone directory. Books by authors like Russel l Freedman and Jim Murphy are more than "informat ional."
I use the word nonfiction because nobody has come up with a satisfacto ry alternative and we're probably stuck with it, but I do make a poin t of stressing to people its inadequacies.
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:&nbs
p;
Not Nonfiction From: Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu Date: Tue, October 19, 201 0 10:32 am To: Debbie Reese debreese_at_illinois.edu Cc: ccbc-net digest recipients ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu What a terrific discussion!
Before the topic changes, I'll note tha t somewhere along the way I noticed fleeting references to Poetry and t o Folklore. The inclusion of these two literary forms in the Dewey Deci mal System's "nonfiction" category has always confused kids. It also co nfuses most teaching about
"nonfiction" in which all DDS nonfiction is included. Most of the messages on this topic haven't addressed Poetry o r Folklore specifically, but I want to point out that in my opinion nei ther one really has a place in the topic of nonfiction.
Cordiall y, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu
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