Celebrate Nonfiction

Exploring the Joy of Nonfiction Reading and Writing

AASL Handout: 5 Kinds of Nonfiction

Many school librarians have worked hard to add award-winning narrative nonfiction to their collections, but studies show that 42 percent of elementary students prefer expository nonfiction. This session
breaks down the five categories of nonfiction children’s books (four of which have an expository writing style), offers tips for
updating book collections, and provides strategies for integrating a variety of
nonfiction texts into reading and writing lessons.

Background
I’ve
written about the 5 kinds of nonfiction on my blog:

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2017/12/behind-books-nonfiction-family-tree.html

I’ve
discussed the 5 kinds of nonfiction in this video created for Colby Sharp’s
vlog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4vd1XEPu6E

Narrative vs.
Expository Sample Texts

Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley and
Nic Bishop (Scholastic, 1999)

Frog or Toad? How Do
You Know?
by Melissa Stewart (Enslow, 2011)

Citations for
Articles about Student Preference for Expository Nonfiction

Caswell,
Linda J. and Nell K. Duke. “Non-Narrative as a Catalyst for Literacy
Development.” Language Arts, 1998, p. 108-117.

Doiron,
Ray. “Boy Books, Girl Books: Should We Re-Organize Our School Library
Collections?” Teacher Librarian. 2003, p. 14-16.

Hynes,
Myrna. “‘I Read for Facts’: Reading Nonfiction in a Fictional World.” Language
Arts, 2000, p. 485-495.

Mohr,
Kathleen A. J. “Children’s Choices for Recreational Reading: A Three-Part
Investigation of Selection Preferences, Rationales, and Processes.” Journal
of Literacy Research. 2006, p. 81–104.

Repanskey,
Lisa L., Jeanne Schumm, and Jacqueline Johnson. “First and Fourth Grade Boys’
and Girls’ Preferences for and Perceptions about Narrative and Expository
Text.” Reading Psychology,
2017. p. 1–40.

Characteristics of
the 5 Categories and Activity for Students

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2018/03/classifying-nonfiction-activities-for.html



Nonfiction Continuum
http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-classroom-gateway-nonfiction-and.html

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2018/04/classifying-nonfiction-continuum.html

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