Behind the Books: Blending Writing Styles
For the last few weeks, I’ve been discussing the two nonfiction writing styles—narrative and expository. Many great books fit snugly into one category or the other, but then there are the outliers. For example, some nonfiction books that are expository overall, include narrative sections at the beginning and end. And when you really think about it, […]
Behind the Books: Two Kinds of Expository Nonfiction
This week’s topic is one of my favorites—expository nonfiction. As far as I’m concerned, this is a golden moment for expository nonfiction because, in recent years, it’s gone through an exciting transformation. Once upon a time, it was boring and stodgy and matter-of-fact, but today’s nonfiction books MUST delight as well as inform young readers, […]
Behind the Books: Two Kinds of Narrative Nonfiction
I’ve written about narrative nonfiction many times before on this blog, and yet my ideas keep evolving. For a long time, I’ve felt that there are two distinct kinds of narrative nonfiction, but I was having trouble articulating the differences. Luckily, a Tweep came to my rescue. During a series of conversations with Mary Ann […]
Behind the Books: Author Purpose vs. Writing Styles
This year, I’m taking a close look at what I call the Nonfiction Triumvirate—nonfiction categories, writing styles, and text structures. For the last month or so, I’ve been focusing on Nonfiction Categories. If you missed the discussion, you can scroll down or use the search box to see past posts. Today, I was planning to […]
Behind the Books: Choosing a Nonfiction Category
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. One of the most challenging parts […]
Behind the Books: A Look at Concept Books
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. For the last few of weeks, […]
Behind the Books: A Look at Specialized Nonfiction
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. For the last few weeks, I’ve […]
Behind the Books: A Look at Survey Books
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. Last week, I began discussing what […]
Behind the Books: A Look at Life Stories
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. Last year at this time, I […]
Behind the Books: Go, Go, PebbleGo*
Lately, it seems like Capstone’s PebbleGo is sweeping the nation. At almost every school I visit, elementary students are using the research database to gather information for reports and projects. I think that’s great because I rely heavily on research databases too, and now I can discuss that part of my research process with students. […]