For the first few weeks, I focused on the
pre-writing process. Then, I turned my attention to text characteristics and
discussed text format, text scaffolding, and text density, text structure,
voice, language devices. You can scroll down to read those posts.
Today, I’m going to conclude this series by
talking about point of view.
Traditionally, nonfiction for children was
written with third-person narration, but in recent years, people have begun
experimenting. Today second-person narration is becoming increasingly popular
in expository nonfiction.
As
you read the following excerpt from Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes by
Nicola Davies, notice how addressing readers with “you” makes the information
relevant to their lives and their world:
"Right
now there are more microbes living on your skin than there are people on Earth, and there are ten or even a hundred times as many as that in your stomach."
Now
take a look at a few lines from Bone by
Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by
Sara Levine:
"Can
you imagine how you’d look if we added some bones to your spine?
What
if your vertebrae didn’t stop at your rear end?
What if they kept going? YOU’D HAVE A TAIL!
What if they kept going? YOU’D HAVE A TAIL!
Tails
are made of vertebrae. Lots of animals have tails. They
wag on happy dogs and sweep side to side to help alligators
swim through the water."
According
to Levine, as she crafted her manuscript, she looked for ways to “make learning
interactive, relevant, and fun.” She thought about how “children enjoy being
addressed directly and being active participants in responding to questions
that make them think, especially about silly possibilities.”
When you think of nonfiction with a first-person point of view, personal narratives like
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson or Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka or The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life by Lois Ehlert probably
come to mind. But authors are also trying some innovative ways of utilizing
first person narration.
One
of my favorite examples is Birds of a Feather:
Bowerbirds and Me by Susan L. Roth. It’s an expository
autobiographical meditation in which Roth explores her
own creative process by comparing her artistic technique to the way a male
bowerbird constructs a beautiful, extravagant nest to attract a mate. The book’s
structure and format is absolutely brilliant, and the artwork is stunning.
To
help students gain a better understand of how authors use point of view, read
aloud and discuss portions of Bone by Bone:
Comparing Animal Skeletons, Birds of a Feather:
Bowerbirds and Me, and Frog Song by Brenda Z.
Guiberson. Then organize students into small groups and
give each team a packet of sticky notes and three to five expository nonfiction
books with various points of view. Possibilities include:
Birds of Every Color
by Sneed B. Collard III
Earth by the Numbers by
Steve Jenkins
A Hundred Billion
Trillion Stars by Seth Fishman
If You Hopped Like a Frog by David Schwartz
If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian
Pink Is for Blobfish:
Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals by Jess Keating
Planting the Wild
Garden
by Kathryn O. Galbraith
This
Is How We Do It: One
Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World by Matt
LaMothe
Trees:
A Rooted History by Piotr Socha and Wojciech Grajkowski
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell
Then
invite students to classify the books by point of view and label each one with
a sticky note.
When
the teams complete this task, encourage each group to rotate to a different
table, leaving their books behind. Students should review the books at their
new table and discuss how the previous group classified the books. If they
disagree with the previous group, they should add a second sticky note
explaining their rationale.
Repeat
this process until each group has reviewed all the books. Then have a brief
class discussion about books that have multiple sticky notes on them.
So interesting. I’m going to read the books and bring sticky notes to my book discussion group. It will give us options as we construct our NF exposition books
ReplyDelete