Whale Fall: Behind the Book
Today is the official release date for Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-floor Ecosystem, and I couldn’t be more excited. The story behind this book traces back to 2019. While writing Ick! Delightfully, Disgusting Animals Dinners, Dwellings, and Defenses, I stumbled upon an article about zombie worms, aka bone-eating snot flower worms. Of course, I included them in […]
Look Out World . . . There’s No Stopping These Students!
Not long ago, school librarian Meredith Inkeles (@KRESLibrary) tweeted the following: After sharing Sibert Award-winning Summertime Sleepers by Melissa Stewart and Sarah S. Brannen with 3rd graders, they had some amazing questions about the mangrove killifish & the pixie frog. I think we have some research to do! A few minutes later, she followed up with a […]
Getting Ready for Informational Writing: The Idea Incubator
In most schools, students do an informational writing unit in the winter—right after the holiday break. But now’s the time to do one small thing that will make a HUGE difference when January rolls around. We all know that students do their best informational writing when they select their own topics. They’re more invested in the […]
Why I Write Expository Nonfiction
If you’re like most educators, you’ve probably heard the terms narrative nonfiction and expository nonfiction, but you might not be completely clear about the difference between these two writing styles. Both are meticulously researched and fully faithful to the facts, but they present ideas and information differently. Narrative nonfiction tells a story or conveys an experience, […]
The Benefits of a Visual-Tactile Writing Process
Not long ago, I spotted these two side-by-side images in a tweet from award-winning nonfiction author Steve Sheinkin. He was celebrating the completion of a book by showing that he had taken down his visual-tactile outline, and his magnetic white board was ready for him to begin work on a new title. Look at all those […]
Fiction or Nonfiction? What Kids Really Like to Read
On December 11, 2020, the article “Will My Grandkids Still Love Me If I Buy Them Nonfiction?” by Jay Mathews appeared in the Washington Post. Author Cynthia Levinson posted it on the NF Fest Facebook forum, sparking a lively discussion. When Cynthia returned to the conversation a few hours later, she wrote, “I posted this in the hopes that we could respond. Anyone […]
Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year
Social media. Some people love it. Some people hate it. And some people have mixed feelings. Sure, it can be a time suck, but it’s also a powerful tool for sharing ideas. I’ve learned so much from blog posts written by educators, Twitter conversations with teachers and librarians, and discussions within Facebook groups focused on […]
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 […]
Q&A with Deborah Hopkinson: Writing D-Day: The World War II Invasion that Changed History
In this fascinating interview, award-winning author Deborah Hopkinson shares some of the strategies she used in crafting her wonderful new narrative nonfiction book, D-Day: The World War II Invasion that Changed History. MS: You’ve written about World War II before. Was there a particular reason you decided to write about D-Day? DH: At author visits, […]