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.
you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I’m, er, obsessed with
classifying nonfiction. It helps me think about all the possible ways I can
write nonfiction for kids.
I
started thinking about a nonfiction family tree in 2012 and have been revising it ever since, inspired by the ideas of
such thought leaders as Jonathan Hunt
and Marc Aronson.
Last
weekend, I attended a thought-provoking session at NE-SCBWI led by the talented
nonfiction authors Loree Griffin Burns
and Alexandra Siy. During one
segment of the 2-hour talk, Loree presented a system for organizing nonfiction based
on the structure of the text. And I think she came up with some ideas that all nonfiction
authors should consider.
Loree
divided nonfiction structures into two broad categories—Concept structures and Narrative
structures. I’m going to take a closer look at the Concept category next
week, but I’ll focus on her thoughts about narrative structures today.
Loree
divides narrative nonfiction into four subcategories: chronological, adjusted chronological (such as books with en media res openings), braided chronological (books with
multiple strands), and circular. Here
are a couple of examples in each category:
Chronological
The
Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
The
Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeannette Winter
Adjusted chronological
Almost Astronauts by
Tanya Lee Stone
Temple Grandin by
Sy Montgomery
Braided chronological
Bomb by Steve Sheinkin
The Immortal Life of
Henreitta Lacks
Circular
No Monkeys, No Chocolate by
Melissa Stewart (illus. Nicole Wong)
Pumpkin Circle by George
Levenson and Shmuel Thaler
You’ll
see a lot of overlap with the way I’ve subdivided narrative nonfiction in
previous posts. Here’s a recap:
Chris Barton (illus. Tony Persiani)
Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley (illus Brian
Selznick)
Marvelous Mattie by Emily Arnold McCully
Jeri Chase Ferris
the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by
Claire A. Nivola
The Invention of Bubble Gum by Megan McCarthy
Anderson by Hester Bass (E.B. Lewis)
Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson
Mixed narrative
Amelia Lost by
Candace Fleming
Madeleine Dunphy (illus Tom Leonard)
(illus Tom Leonard)
Madeleine Dunphy (illus Michael Rothman)
Wayne McLoughlin)
Madeleine Dunphy (illus Ann Coe)
(illus Alan James Robinson)
Sy Montgomery
Sy Montgomery
Here’s
how the two systems compare:
–We
both recognize Chronological Narratives as a distinct category.
–I
think Loree would lump my Episodic Narrative titles into her Chronological
category.
–Loree’s
Adjusted and Braided categories are basically subdivisions of my Mixed
category. But I really like her uses of the word “braided.” I may end up borrowing it.
–My
circle and cumulative categories are subdivisions of Loree’s circular category.
–I
wonder where Loree would place the books that I think of a Journey Narratives.
Next
week I’ll take a closer look at Loree’s Concept structures categories.
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4 Responses
Awesome post Melissa! Very informative and thought provoking. Wondering how I missed this workshop at the conference. (boo). Thanks for recapping the information here.
Hi, Melissa,
Thanks for pointing me to this post. I'll have to reread some of the Journey Narratives you mention, but my instinct is that I'd lump them into the Chronological category?
One of the interesting ideas to fall out of the preparation for this talk for me was this: in the end, the category labels don't really matter all that much. As you say, the important thing is to recognize that there are different structures and to have seen them at work. That way we can make intentional choices with our own work, choices that will ultimately pair the perfect structure with a great story.
Thanks for all you do to foster nonfiction thinking and discussing, Melissa.
Best,
Loree
http://www.loreeburns.com
Thank YOU, Loree, for expanding my thinking on this topic.
I was at Loree's and Alex's structure workshop and found it incredibly helpful as I am thinking about my next book. And Melissa, this post adds fascinating new angles. Thank you both!