Kids are so honest. They say what they think.
Kids are so curious. They have a million questions.
And they’re always making connections. Surprising, thoughtful
connections. They help me see my books and my writing process in new and different
ways.
Once in a while, when teachers and librarians have worked together
to prepare students really well, I end up having incredible conversations with children
about nonfiction books and writing. That’s what happened on Wednesday at Osborn
Hill Elementary School in Fairfield, CT.
During my final presentation of the day, a second grader in
Mrs. Cashel’s class asked an insightful, probing question about my book When Rain Falls:
“Would you say that book is narrative nonfiction or
expository nonfiction?”
Why is that such a great question? Because there’s no clear cut
answer. In fact, not long ago, I listened in as two skilled, experienced
literacy educators from Maine debated this same question about my book Under the Snow, which is a companion
title to When Rain Falls and has the
same format. Each of those educators made convincing arguments to support her
point of view.
While most nonfiction books for children can clearly be
classified as having either a narrative or an expository writing style, some fall
into a gray area. In the case of When
Rain Falls and Under the Snow, wordless
art on the endpapers and title page act as bookends that create a
quasi-storyline surrounding an expository center that describes how various animals
behave during a rainstorm or a cold, snowy winter.
So how did I answer that child’s question? By facilitating
what turned out to be an astonishingly sophisticated conversation in which the primary
students discussed many of the same points as the literacy educators. In the
end, the children concluded that there really was no right or wrong answer.
Brilliant!
Note: After the children left, I asked how they were able to have such a rich, thoughtful discussion. I discovered that their ELA curriculum is a modified version of Columbia University’s Teachers College Reading & Writing Project’s Unit of Study program. Earlier in the year, they had studied the difference between narrative nonfiction and expository nonfiction. Like me, the teachers were thrilled by the children's level of thinking and articulation and at how well they applied their prior knowledge.
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