Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Seth Fishman

My dad didn’t know how to do anything. Except, perhaps, read books, tell jokes, and find oil (he was a geologist in Texas). Seth’s dad riding an ostrich But I never learned any of the basic cool parenting things that both moms and dads often teach their kids like how to fish, how to change […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Sarah Albee

At school visits kids always ask me where I get my ideas. I talk about how it’s important to keep a notebook handy. Ideas can show up suddenly, often when you’re busy doing something besides sitting at your desk, and snagging them can require lightning-quick reflexes, like capturing the snitch in a Quidditch game.   […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Susan Hood

One day I saw this necklace on Etsy and knew I had to have it. Those who know their Dewey Decimal System will know it says “I still believe in fairy tales.” And I do. Not the insipid Sleeping Beauty/Prince Charming movies I grew up with, but the stories that terrified and fascinated me as […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Heather L. Montgomery

I’m passionate about getting kids hooked on nature. For many years, I worked as an environmental educator. Leading kids knee-deep in a stream, paddling through a rock-walled canyon, standing under a rushing waterfall, that’s how I connected students to nature. I’ve taught tens of thousands of kids. I never considered becoming a writer until, one […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Barbara Kerley

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been super interested in other people. I like to think it’s because I’m curious, but honestly, I think it’s because I am this weird mix of really nosy and also pretty shy. Starting in third grade and for years beyond, my favorite book—hands down—was HARRIET THE SPY […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Elizabeth Partridge

Since I was a teenager, I’ve been haunted by the Vietnam War. During high school and college, I was passionately against the war. I hated the suffering, death, and destruction the war brought. My heart broke for the Vietnamese, for the Americans sent to fight, and for our torn, divided country. After the war, protestors […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Barb Rosenstock

The question I get asked most at school visits is, “Why do you write biography?” Early on, that question caught me off-guard—the “why” of it never occurred to me. Barb and Grandpa Stan To know why I write biography, you’d have to have met my grandpa, Stan. He was the kind of Chicago character who […]

Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Melissa Stewart

Last year, award-winning children’s book author Laura Purdie Salas wrote this wonderful post for Celebrate Science. I especially love this quotation:   “. . . there’s a common, crushing misconception that fiction is creative writing drawn from the depths of a writer’s soul, while nonfiction is simply a recitation of facts that any basic robot […]

Classifying Nonfiction: A Fresh Look at Nonfiction Categories

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. A couple of months ago, a […]

5 Faves: Expository Nonfiction Recommended by Cathy Mere

When I was in school (okay, many years ago), we did a research report nearly every year. Teachers were pretty explicit about their process (which wasn’t always the same), and we just had to learn to follow the rules to get a good grade. It was a simple, albeit time-consuming, game.     Across years of […]