Have a Great Summer, Everyone!
Teaching STEAM Through an Author’s Lens by Susan Edwards Richmond
Not long ago, my friend Susan Edwards Richmond, who is a children’s book author and preschool teacher at wildlife sanctuary in eastern Massachusetts, told me about some great book-based lessons educators created during a presentation she gave at a statewide meeting for Mass Audubon. I asked her to share some of their ideas here, and I’m […]
The Why and How of Teaching the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction by Christopher Hunt
Back in October, I joined Bluesky, and it’s helped me connect to a whole new group of fabulous educators. One of them is K-5 teacher-librarian Christopher Hunt, who wrote today’s post. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Chris. Despite the fact that some prominent publications don’t acknowledge or review children’s nonfiction, it’s an absolute fact that #KidsLoveNonfiction. […]
Children’s Fiction vs. Nonfiction Sales Figures
Around this time last year, I wrote a blog post that turned out to be very popular. In it, I used Bookscan data reported in Publisher’s Weekly to calculate nonfiction vs. fiction book sales for adult books and children’s books for the first half of 2022. Since another year has gone by, I thought I’d […]
Moon Book Parade: An Interview with Susan Edwards Richmond
Welcome back to the Moon Book Parade, highlighting five fantastic 2023 picture books that feature the Moon. You can scroll down to see the first post in this series, which ran last Thursday. Here’s a list of all the books: Full Moon Pups by Liz Garton Scanlon and Chuck Groenink Night Owl Night by Susan […]
Browse-alouds: Browseable Books as Read-alouds by Heather L. Montgomery
Today’s post comes from uber-talented children’s book author and enthusiastic environmental educator Heather L. Montgomery. When I want to think deeply about some aspect of nonfiction reading or writing, Heather is one of the first people I call. I love the ideas she shares here about the value of reading browseable nonfiction aloud to students. Thanks for […]
Telling It Like It Is: A Nonfiction Craft Book Review
I almost never review books on this blog, but I recently read a fascinating nonfiction craft book that I just have to share. Why did I love it so much? Because Tell It Like It Is: A Guide to Clear and Honest Writing by Roy Peter Clark does something we rarely see—it gives equal weight to […]
Organizing My Elementary Library Using the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction Classification System by Tom Bober
School librarian Tom Bober is a master at developing innovative ways to share nonfiction with the students and teachers at his school. In 2020, he created a delicious lesson for exploring active nonfiction with students and, in 2021, he incorporated the teaching strategies and author essays from Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Children’s Book Authors Share the Secret of […]
Getting Ready for March Madness Nonfiction
Inspired by the annual March Madness basketball tournament, in 2016, literacy coach Shelley Moody worked with instructional coach Valerie Glueck at Williams Elementary School in Oakland, Maine, to develop a month-long, whole-school activity in which students read sixteen nonfiction picture books (some narrative, some expository) and select their favorite. During Week 1, half the classes read the 8 […]
Why I Write Expository Nonfiction by Sue Heavenrich
Today we continue the series in which award-winning nonfiction authors discuss the joys and challenges of writing narrative nonfiction and expository nonfiction with an essay by Sue Heavenrich. Thank you, Sue. One of my memories from kid-years is carrying a notebook around and jotting down the names of birds, mammals, plants, even rocks. While visiting Grand Canyon National […]