If you’re a longtime reader of Celebrate
Science, you may remember that back in 2012 and 2013, I spent a lot of time
trying to develop a Nonfiction Family Tree. This effort to categorize and understand the various kinds of
nonfiction and the interplay among them was heavily influenced by the ideas of such nonfiction thought leaders as Marc Aronson, Myra Zarnowski, Sue Bartle, and Mary Ann Cappiello.
Eventually, I gave up on the family tree and
started to think about other ways to classify nonfiction, but recently I
decided to take a fresh look at the tree analogy, and I came up with
something that I think is worth sharing:
Traditional
Nonfiction
At
one time, nonfiction books for children routinely included concise, straightforward expository writing—prose that explains, describes, or informs. Most books were
text heavy, with just a few scattered images decorating rather than enriching
the content and meaning. While nearly all nonfiction now includes captivating
art and dynamic design that's integral to the presentation, some series books
continue to feature traditional straightforward text.
Browse-able
Nonfiction
Thanks
to Dorling Kindersley’s innovative Eyewitness Books series, the 1990s brought
remarkable changes to traditional expository nonfiction. These beautifully
designed, lavishly illustrated books with short text blocks and extended
captions revolutionized children’s nonfiction by giving fact-loving kids a
fresh, engaging way to access information. Today, National Geographic, Time for
Kids, and the Discovery Channel are all publishing engaging books in this
category.
Narrative Nonfiction
In
the mid-1990s, children’s authors began crafting narrative nonfiction—prose
that tells a true story or conveys an experience. Narrative nonfiction appeals
to fiction lovers because it includes real characters and settings; narrative
scenes; a theme; and, ideally, a narrative arc with rising tension, a climax, and
denouement. The scenes, which give readers an intimate look at the events and
people being described, are linked by transitional text that provides
necessary background while speeding through parts of the true story that don’t
require close inspection.
Expository Literature
When
Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, school funding priorities
changed. School library budgets were slashed, and many school librarians lost
their jobs. Around the same time, the proliferation of websites made
straightforward, kid-friendly information widely available without cost, which
meant general survey books about volcanoes or whales or the Boston Tea Party
were no longer mandatory purchases for libraries.
As
nonfiction book sales to schools and libraries slumped, authors and illustrators
had to raise their game. The result has been a new breed of finely-crafted
expository literature that delights as well as informs. Besides being
meticulously researched and fully faithful to the facts, expository literature features
captivating art, dynamic design, and rich engaging language. It may also
include strong voice, innovative point of view, carefully-chosen text
structure, and purposeful text format.
Active Nonfiction
Inspired
by the maker movement, publishers have recently began creating what booksellers
call “active nonfiction”—browse-able books that teach skills readers can use to
engage in an activity. It includes how-to guides, cookbooks, field guides, craft books, toy-book combinations that involve building a model, etc.
I’m happy with this new tree because it
highlights how nonfiction has changed and improved over the last two decades.
What do you think?
A few years ago, my book Under the Snow was featured in the Festival of Trees at the Concord Museum in Concord, MA. To celebrate the holiday season, I’m going to leave you with a photo of that gorgeous tree.
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