Back in 2017, I proposed a five-category system
for classifying children’s nonfiction on
my blog, and the response was incredible.

Teachers loved it. So did librarians and
children’s book authors and editors. People praised the clarity it brought to
the range of children’s nonfiction available today. In May 2018, School Library Journal published an article
about the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction. Again, the response was incredibly positive. I’ve
spoken about the system at a number of conferences, and later this year, 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing with Children’s Books, co-written by literacy educator Marlene Correia, will hit bookshelves.

Because so many people want information now, I’ve been discussing each of the categories and providing
an updated list of exemplar books. You can scroll down to read the earlier
post. Today, I’m finishing up by discussing active nonfiction. 

Active nonfiction has been around since at least the 1980s, but thanks
to the maker movement, these
books have really hit their stride in recent years. And now, with the Coronavirus causing school shutdowns, Nielsen BookScan data show that this kind of nonfiction is leading juvenile book sales. 


Active nonfiction titles
are highly interactive and/or teach skills that readers
can use to engage in an activity. Written with an expository writing style, these
field guides, craft books, cookbooks, books of scientific experiments, book-model
combinations, etc. are richly designed and carefully formatted to make the
information and procedures they present clear and accessible.

These books, which are currently extremely popular with young readers,
are the perfect addition to
school and library makerspaces. And they’re perfect for lessons like this one developed by school librarian Tom Bober.

Here
are some recently-published examples:

Brain
Games: The Mind-Blowing Science of Your Amazing Brain by Jennifer Swanson

Code This! Puzzles, Games, Challenges, and Computer Coding Concepts
for the Problem Solver in You by Jennifer
Szymanski

Cooking Class Global Feast! 44 Recipes that Celebrate the
World’s Cultures by Deanna F. Cook

Hair-Raising Hairstyles that Make a Statement by Rebecca Rissman 

The
Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes by Doug Stillinger

National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America by Jonathan Alderfer 

Ralph Masiello’s Alien
Drawing Book
by Ralph Masiello

Wildlife Ranger Action Guide: Track, Spot & Provide
Healthy Habitat for Creatures Close to Home by Mary Kay Carson