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Re: ccbc-net digest: June 09, 2014
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From: deborahhopkinson_at_yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:06:08 +0000
While I agree with Mary that narrative nonfiction needs to be engaging and dramatic, I do think it is possible -- and essential -- to write nonfiction that is entertaining but also provides appropriate context that supports the narrative thread.
The Hive Detectives is a fantastic example of this in its layout and design. We are invested in the story BECAUSE we understand the context and what’s at stake. And of course oral histories, interviews, art, photographs, maps, and picture books can help support longer narrative nonfiction in this regard.
A couple of examples from adult nonfiction come to mind of exceptional use of context. One, of course, is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s classic Pulitzer Prize winning A Midwife’s Tale. The context here is the key -- the way in to making her life and times come alive.
Also I just reviewed a fantastic adult nonfiction book, Judith Flanders’ The Victorian City, that would be great to excerpt and use in conjunction with teaching any Dickens novel. In one sense it is ALL context: fascinating, detailed, vibrant, entertaining, and endlessly fun.
Deborah Hopkinson
Sent from Windows Mail
From: Mary Losure Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 10:40 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of
I think narrative non-fiction for kids will become more and more popular if we take a few tips from best- selling narrative non- fiction books for the adult market.
They are people centered. They have characters that are real. Every bit of information advances the story. Nothing is included simply because it's "educational" or provides "context" that has nothing to do with the story.
I think it would help if the adult gatekeepers to children's literature were to keep in mind that non-fiction written for children to read for pleasure does not have be on "important" topics or be full of "context" to have value. Stories about everyday people -- especially the women and children who are often left out of the historical record -- offer huge possibilities for narrative non-fiction. I also think such stories will add more diverse voices to the world of children's books.
Mary Losure Children's book author www.marylosure.com
>
> Subject: Teen, YA, and women-related nonfiction
> From: Lionel Bender <lionheart.brw_at_btinternet.com>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:06:44 +0100
> X-Message-Number: 1
>
> As a book packager producing children's illustrated nonfiction for a range of publishers and as initiator of the 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference, I am aware of many of the problems of Teen, YA, and Women-related NF.
>
> First, publishers in general believe Teen and YA kids do not read many or any books—fiction or nonfiction—just as they used to believe boys don't read. They can find lots of evidence to support this, particularly for NF. Result: There are few of these books on the market, and there is little sign of things changing among mainstream publishers. A few new publishers have emerged to fill this niche, but most of the books they produce are not Common Core material but lifestyle guides, edgy subjects, or very much at the pseudo-adult end of the spectrum. These publishers are making inroads, so there is a chance other publishers will jump on the bandwagon.
>
> Second, there are Teen and YA titles out there that are perfect for Common Core, but they are hard to find. The big NF educational, school-and-library publishers such as Lerner, Capstone, and Rosen do produce biographies about sportswomen, famous women in history, and famous women in science—admittedly a fraction of the number about famous men—but you won't find these in bookstores. Why? Because these titles do not fly off shelves, bookstores don't stock them. If you ask a bookstore to supply them, it possibly won't or even can't. Publishers don't want to deal with small orders or it is economically unviable for bookstores to make them, so bookstores have to resort to dealing with wholesalers. Wholesalers won't stock such books because they don't fly off the shelves. As an individual, buying direct from a publisher is far too costly. And now, some publishers products are effectively unavailable from online stores such as Amazon. So these books are hard to find and sometimes too costly to buy. You have to trawl through each and every publisher's website to find them.
>
> Because such books are not widely read or are hard to find, they are not widely reviewed. So teachers, librarians, parents, bookstore owners, let alone children, are not aware they exist.
>
> Random reports do show that older kids do like to read NF. But like the boys saga, they read what interest them—celebrities, lifestyle choices—rather than what they are given or can easily find.
>
> As for authors self-publishing such titles or creating ebooks of them, if the books are illustrated they are either too costly to produce as picture research and picture reproduction fees prices are prohibitively high, or software does not yet exist for creating a standard ebook format suitable for all readers.
>
>
> Lionel Bender
> Bender Richardson White
> www.brw.co.uk
> www.childrensNFconference.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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Received on Tue 10 Jun 2014 01:54:04 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:06:08 +0000
While I agree with Mary that narrative nonfiction needs to be engaging and dramatic, I do think it is possible -- and essential -- to write nonfiction that is entertaining but also provides appropriate context that supports the narrative thread.
The Hive Detectives is a fantastic example of this in its layout and design. We are invested in the story BECAUSE we understand the context and what’s at stake. And of course oral histories, interviews, art, photographs, maps, and picture books can help support longer narrative nonfiction in this regard.
A couple of examples from adult nonfiction come to mind of exceptional use of context. One, of course, is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s classic Pulitzer Prize winning A Midwife’s Tale. The context here is the key -- the way in to making her life and times come alive.
Also I just reviewed a fantastic adult nonfiction book, Judith Flanders’ The Victorian City, that would be great to excerpt and use in conjunction with teaching any Dickens novel. In one sense it is ALL context: fascinating, detailed, vibrant, entertaining, and endlessly fun.
Deborah Hopkinson
Sent from Windows Mail
From: Mary Losure Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 10:40 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of
I think narrative non-fiction for kids will become more and more popular if we take a few tips from best- selling narrative non- fiction books for the adult market.
They are people centered. They have characters that are real. Every bit of information advances the story. Nothing is included simply because it's "educational" or provides "context" that has nothing to do with the story.
I think it would help if the adult gatekeepers to children's literature were to keep in mind that non-fiction written for children to read for pleasure does not have be on "important" topics or be full of "context" to have value. Stories about everyday people -- especially the women and children who are often left out of the historical record -- offer huge possibilities for narrative non-fiction. I also think such stories will add more diverse voices to the world of children's books.
Mary Losure Children's book author www.marylosure.com
>
> Subject: Teen, YA, and women-related nonfiction
> From: Lionel Bender <lionheart.brw_at_btinternet.com>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:06:44 +0100
> X-Message-Number: 1
>
> As a book packager producing children's illustrated nonfiction for a range of publishers and as initiator of the 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference, I am aware of many of the problems of Teen, YA, and Women-related NF.
>
> First, publishers in general believe Teen and YA kids do not read many or any books—fiction or nonfiction—just as they used to believe boys don't read. They can find lots of evidence to support this, particularly for NF. Result: There are few of these books on the market, and there is little sign of things changing among mainstream publishers. A few new publishers have emerged to fill this niche, but most of the books they produce are not Common Core material but lifestyle guides, edgy subjects, or very much at the pseudo-adult end of the spectrum. These publishers are making inroads, so there is a chance other publishers will jump on the bandwagon.
>
> Second, there are Teen and YA titles out there that are perfect for Common Core, but they are hard to find. The big NF educational, school-and-library publishers such as Lerner, Capstone, and Rosen do produce biographies about sportswomen, famous women in history, and famous women in science—admittedly a fraction of the number about famous men—but you won't find these in bookstores. Why? Because these titles do not fly off shelves, bookstores don't stock them. If you ask a bookstore to supply them, it possibly won't or even can't. Publishers don't want to deal with small orders or it is economically unviable for bookstores to make them, so bookstores have to resort to dealing with wholesalers. Wholesalers won't stock such books because they don't fly off the shelves. As an individual, buying direct from a publisher is far too costly. And now, some publishers products are effectively unavailable from online stores such as Amazon. So these books are hard to find and sometimes too costly to buy. You have to trawl through each and every publisher's website to find them.
>
> Because such books are not widely read or are hard to find, they are not widely reviewed. So teachers, librarians, parents, bookstore owners, let alone children, are not aware they exist.
>
> Random reports do show that older kids do like to read NF. But like the boys saga, they read what interest them—celebrities, lifestyle choices—rather than what they are given or can easily find.
>
> As for authors self-publishing such titles or creating ebooks of them, if the books are illustrated they are either too costly to produce as picture research and picture reproduction fees prices are prohibitively high, or software does not yet exist for creating a standard ebook format suitable for all readers.
>
>
> Lionel Bender
> Bender Richardson White
> www.brw.co.uk
> www.childrensNFconference.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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Received on Tue 10 Jun 2014 01:54:04 PM CDT
