Armchair BEA Day 4: Non-Fiction

We're glad you're back! What a fun week of talking about books and blogging!

Kellee:

We bridge the genre gap from fiction to all things non-fiction.  Do you read non-fiction?  Why or why not?  Is there a specific type of non-fiction that you prefer to read (i.e., historical, true crime, memoirs, biographies, etc.)?  What is the perfect book for a first-time non-fiction reader? I was never a nonfiction reader as a child. I didn't mind researching and finding out new information, but I never said to myself, "Hm. Today I want to read about snakes." So, when I became a teacher, I knew I needed to close this gap in my reading because nonfiction is too important. One of my goals was to find nonfiction that was of high quality that students would enjoy, so I began reading nonfiction to find the best titles. There are two types of informational nonfiction in my opinion: narrative and picture book-ish information filled texts. I, personally, have grown to love narrative nonfiction. My favorite authors are Jim Murphy, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Candace Fleming, and Tanya Lee Stone. Even though I love these books so much, I have found that within the classroom it is the other type of informational nonfiction that flies off the shelf: Guinness Books of World Records, any animal book, books of lists and weird things, Ripley's Believe it or Not. I'm still working on embracing these types of books, but I make sure to have them in my classroom for my students. 

     As I've grown as a teacher, I've come to realize that nonfiction in the classroom can include picture books. Picture books are a great way to teach about a topic in an interesting, shorter way. Participating in Alyson Beecher's weekly Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesdays has helped me expand my knowledge of nonfiction picture books and has helped me be introduced to such an extensive number of nonfiction books. Check out our Nonfiction PB Wednesday posts to see some of our favorites. 

Jen:

We bridge the genre gap from fiction to all things non-fiction.  Do you read non-fiction?  Why or why not?  Is there a specific type of non-fiction that you prefer to read (i.e., historical, true crime, memoirs, biographies, etc.)?  What is the perfect book for a first-time non-fiction reader? So today the topic is to talk about all things non-fiction...oops! Because I totally talked about that on Tuesday. That's okay though because I love non-fiction and I can just keep talking about it. For a while now, Kellee and I have been participating in Kid Lit Frenzy's Non-Fiction Picture Book Wednesdays and I'm always finding new non-fiction to add to my list of books to read because of it. Recently, Aly from Kid Lit Frenzy shared that she will be part of a series started by Great Kid Books with 100 Scope Notes, & The Nonfiction Detectives called Common Core IRL: In Real Libraries. I was so impressed by their Common Core IRL posts when I saw them and I can't wait for more installments. They told me there will be more on the way. I would love to hear how you find out about non-fiction books. Do you have a favorite book blogger or resource who shares non-fiction texts? Please share! 

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