After reading this recent article on PLOS
SciComm, veteran astronomy instructor and author Meg Thacher responded on
Facebook, admitting that she had once harbored a bias against nonfiction for
kids—thinking of fiction as “real reading” and nonfiction “as research.” What
changed her mind? Read on to find out.
When
I was a kid, I loved fiction. Speculative, historical, contemporary,
mystery—I didn’t care what it was. I got lost in other worlds and other
characters. Nonfiction books were boring. I only cracked them open when
I was required to write a school report. So when I became a children’s writer, of
course I was going to write fiction. This despite the fact that I teach
astronomy and literally everyone I knew suggested writing about it.
Although
my first picture book manuscript was astronomy-related, it was informational fiction. As was the
middle-grade novel I wrote next. It wasn’t until I started writing for
magazines that I tried nonfiction. But I never meant to become a nonfiction
writer—I was simply leveraging my professional credentials to get magazine
gigs.
Then
my son Ben (seen below reading the newspaper at age 3) introduced me to all of the incredible nonfiction books that had
appeared in the world in the 35 years since I’d been his age. Nonfiction was
nothing like I remembered. I was hooked.
Like many
parents, I had steered Ben to the kinds of books I’d enjoyed at his age:
fiction, of course. The first thing he did whenever we got a new book was turn
to the end and wail in despair. Sixty pages?? We’d get out the calendar
and set a daily reading goal that he struggled to keep up with. I couldn’t
understand it. My youngest devoured books—even the ones that were assigned for
school. What was wrong with this kid?
Then
the school librarian let Ben choose a book on his own. He came home with Guinness
World Records for that year. Next was a book about pirates, and then a
narrative about the life of a Komodo dragon. There were no more reading
struggles: Ben would flip the pages and learn amazing facts. He’d exceed his
daily reading requirement. I had misdiagnosed him as a reluctant reader.
Turns out he was an info-kid.
And
once I started writing nonfiction, I realized that I love getting lost in
research: going down a rabbit hole looking for facts, finding and wading
through scholarly articles, digging around for the contact info of an expert I
can interview, and reading all this wonderful new nonfiction.
When
I was in school, I would never have thought of reading nonfiction for pleasure.
If I wanted to read something fun, I’d pick up Charlotte’s Web, not A
Guide to Spiders and Their Kin (with apologies to Herbert and Lorna Levi). Back
in the day, kids’ nonfiction was created mostly by educational publishers, in
one flavor.
Now there are 5 Kinds of Nonfiction. It’s still published
by educational publishers, but trade publishers have also taken it on. Nonfiction
books are engaging, colorful, and written in rich language. From Bug Atlas
to Praying Mantis vs. Black Widow Spider, there are spider books in all
5 flavors and the blended kinds in between.
My
first book, Sky Gazing, is an example of a blended book. It’s browsable (lots of space facts)
and active (how to observe the
sky). When I introduce Sky Gazing to kids (and adults), I tell them it’s
132 pages—groooan—but is not meant to be read cover to cover—yayyy!
You can flip through and read just the stuff you’re curious about. Want to know
how many spacecraft have visited Mars? Flip to page 73. Interested in the life
cycle of a star? Flip to page 112—there’s also a graphic novel version on page
113.
Flip! Flip! Flip! There’s no need to
slog through miles of text with browsable nonfiction. Read the main text, the
sidebars, or just the captions. Nonfiction books these days are full of text
features that make information easier to digest. It’s fun to read (and it’s fun
to write).
So
how can I convince you adults to share nonfiction with the children in your
life? Seeing is believing. The next time you’re in a library with your kid,
take a detour to the nonfiction section. Check out a few books and take them
home. I bet you’ll be impressed.
Meg
Thacher
has written 30 articles for kids’ nonfiction magazine. Her first book, Sky
Gazing: A Guide to the Moon, Sun, Planets, Stars, Eclipses, Constellations
(Storey, 2020), won the 2022 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize. She has two more books
coming out this fall: The Terrestrial Planets (BrightPoint) and Using
Solar Farms to Fight Climate Change (North Star). In her spare time, Meg
teaches astronomy at Smith College in Massachusetts.
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One Response
Great post! Thanks for sharing your deep dive into NF.