Behind the Books: More Thoughts About the Nonfiction Family Tree

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I’m, er, obsessed with classifying nonfiction. It helps me think about all the possible ways I can write nonfiction for kids.

I started thinking about a nonfiction family tree in 2012 and have been revising it ever since, inspired by the ideas of such thought leaders as Jonathan Hunt and Marc Aronson.

Last weekend, I attended a thought-provoking session at NE-SCBWI led by the talented nonfiction authors Loree Griffin Burns and Alexandra Siy. During one segment of the 2-hour talk, Loree presented a system for organizing nonfiction based on the structure of the text. And I think she came up with some ideas that all nonfiction authors should consider.

Loree divided nonfiction structures into two broad categories—Concept structures and Narrative structures. I’m going to take a closer look at the Concept category next week, but I’ll focus on her thoughts about narrative structures today.

Loree divides narrative nonfiction into four subcategories: chronological, adjusted chronological (such as books with en media res openings), braided chronological (books with multiple strands), and circular. Here are a couple of examples in each category:

Chronological

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeannette Winter

Adjusted chronological

Almost Astronauts by Tanya Lee Stone

Temple Grandin by Sy Montgomery

Braided chronological

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin

The Immortal Life of Henreitta Lacks

Circular

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart (illus. Nicole Wong)

Pumpkin Circle by George Levenson and Shmuel Thaler

You’ll see a lot of overlap with the way I’ve subdivided narrative nonfiction in previous posts. Here's a recap:

Chronological narrative

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

Buried Alive by Elaine Scott

The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton (illus. Tony Persiani)

The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley (illus Brian Selznick)

Marvelous Mattie by Emily Arnold McCully

Noah Webster & His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola

Pop: The Invention of Bubble Gum by Megan McCarthy

The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass (E.B. Lewis)

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

What to Do About Alice? by Barbara Kerley (illus. Edwin Fotheringham)

Episodic narrative

Ballet for Martha by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan

Brave Girl by Michelle Markel

When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan

Mixed narrative
Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin

We’ve Got a Job by Cynthia Levinson

 

Circle narrative

Coral Reef by Jason Chin

A Drop of Water by Gordon Morrison

Frog in a Bog by John Himmelman

Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley

Redwoods by Jason Chin

Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart

When Rain Falls by Melissa Stewart

Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre

Cumulative narrative

Here Is Antarctica by Madeleine Dunphy

Here Is the African Savanna by Madeleine Dunphy (illus Tom Leonard)

Here Is the Coral Reef by Madeleine Dunphy (illus Tom Leonard)

Here Is the Tropical Rain Forest by Madeleine Dunphy (illus Michael Rothman)

Here Is the Wetland by Madeleine Dunphy (illus Wayne McLoughlin)

Here Is the Southwestern Desert by Madeleine Dunphy (illus Ann Coe)

Here Is the Arctic Winter by Madeleine Dunphy (illus Alan James Robinson)

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart

Older Than the Stars by Karen C. Fox

Journey narrative

If Stones Could Speak by Marc Aronson

Lost Treasure of the Inca by Peter Lourie

Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain by Sy Montgomery

Here’s how the two systems compare:

--We both recognize Chronological Narratives as a distinct category.

--I think Loree would lump my Episodic Narrative titles into her Chronological category.

--Loree’s Adjusted and Braided categories are basically subdivisions of my Mixed category. But I really like her uses of the word "braided." I may end up borrowing it.

--My circle and cumulative categories are subdivisions of Loree’s circular category.

--I wonder where Loree would place the books that I think of a Journey Narratives.

Next week I’ll take a closer look at Loree’s Concept structures categories.