Update June 24, 2024: My thinking about nonfiction classification has evolved since I wrote this post, but I’ve decided not to delete it because there’s value in looking back at my past ideas. For my current thinking, please see the book 5 Kinds of Nonfiction as well as information on my website.
About a year ago, I introduced the Nonfiction Family Tree. It was so popular that I developed an activity to help students
understand the classification system by sorting books into the five different
categories.
Some teachers and librarians have now tried this activity with the students, and I’m beginning to get feedback from kids. Here’s what they’re saying:
It’s
so important for educators to keep comments like these in mind as they add
books to their classroom and library book collections and select titles for
instruction.
so important for educators to keep comments like these in mind as they add
books to their classroom and library book collections and select titles for
instruction.
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3 Responses
Love the visual of the nonfiction family tree. It is so user-friendly for students, and obviously works based on the comments you've received. Just out of curiosity, where would you categorize nonfiction poetry collections like those by Joyce Sidman?
Some people would say that poetry is neither fiction nor nonfiction. It is a totally separate category, and I think that's valid.
Personally, I would call Joyce's books expository literature because they include expository text along with the poems.
I love the student who said he loves books just as long as they're about sharks! So valuable to hear directly from them 🙂