5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children's Books

by Melissa Stewart, Marlene Correia

Once upon a time...children's nonfiction books were stodgy, concise, and not very kid friendly. Most were text heavy, with just a few scattered images decorating the content and meaning, rather than enhancing it. Over the last 20 years, children's nonfiction has evolved into a new breed of visually dynamic and engaging texts.In 5 Kinds of Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children's Books , Melissa Stewart and Dr. Marlene Correia present a new way to sort nonfiction into five major categories and show how doing so can help teachers and librarians build stronger readers and writers. Along the way, Introduce the 5 kinds of Active, Browseable, Traditional, Expository Literature, and Narrative -;and explore each category through discussions, classroom examples, and insights from leading children's book authorsOffer tips for building strong, diverse classroom texts and library collectionsProvide more than 20 activities to enhance literacy instructionInclude innovative strategies for sharing and celebrating nonfiction with students.With more than 150 exemplary nonfiction book recommendations and Stewart and Correia's extensive knowledge of literacy instruction, 5 Kinds of Nonfiction will elevate your understanding of nonfiction in ways that speak specifically to the info-kids in your classrooms, but will inspire all readers and writers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Professional Development, Writing

240 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2021

About the author

Melissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 science and nature books for children. She offers a wide range of programs for schools, libraries, nature centers, and conferences. www.melissa-stewart.com"

Reviews

[Dedra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and practical. This is a book elementary and middle school librarians should have in their toolkit.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to librarians who may not have focused on juvenile nonfiction. It is very easy to read and understand. Plus it presents a wide variety of diverse nonfiction books that can certainly be recommended to customers- and that cover so many subjects and age ranges. I would say my favorite type is the browsable nonfiction- though I enjoy all kinds, and it depends more on the subject. I wish all textbook publishers would understand development level and use illustrations and text suitably- this book is certainly a start.

[Lauren Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to all elementary teachers and librarians. In addition to explaining the five kinds of nonfiction, Stuart and Correia provide activities and tips that can be used in the classroom. This book is so practical. I'm looking forward to using the concepts in this book and reevaluating how I teach nonfiction and text features at each grade level.

[Denese Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of engaging activities for students as well as tons of nonfiction book suggestions to use as read alouds or with instruction. When students learn how to identify the different types of nonfiction, as presented in this book, they will be better equipped to find books they are interested in reading as well as books to use for research. This book is very well organized and perfect for classroom teachers and librarians.

[Cicero · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for educators and librarians who wish to help learners understand how nonfiction organizes its information to facilitate comprehension. An additional perk are the numerous lesson ideas.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a paradigm shifting book! Everyone connected with reading education should read it.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well done! I especially liked the first few chapters that bring awareness to how much children enjoy and want to read non-fiction, yet we educators tend to promote and read fiction titles. There were tons of great suggestions for non-fiction books that you could add to your school or classroom library, and detailed descriptions and examples of the 5 different types.

The later chapters in the book had numerous suggested activities for introducing kids to the different types of non-fiction and having them sort sets of books into the five different types to make them aware of the features of each. I am not sure how relevant or useful that would actually be in a typical public school classroom. I am not opposed to it; I am just not sure if there is a need for it. It seems like this would be more of an enrichment activity, or perhaps a tie-in to non-fiction text features, text structures, and students using author craft moves in their own writing (all topics addressed in the book). An additional challenge would be building a collection with enough books that you could actually do these activities.

All in all, a fantastic review of the many wonderful types of non-fiction texts available to us now. I definitely plan to reference this books when creating book orders for my school library.

[Niki · Rating 5 out of 5]

It should not have taken me so long to read this fantastic educational resource! 5 Kinds of Nonfiction is a treasure trove of great ideas and lesson ideas for incorporating nonfiction into our teaching and read alouds, as well as into our libraries and classroom book collections. Stewart and Correia include many exemplar titles and I can't wait to go shopping and beef up our nonfiction offerings and also to find a class interested in diving into the 5 kinds of nonfiction!

5 Kinds of Nonfiction was a great book to inspire and reinvigorate my teaching!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has listed many wonderful resources to include in the classroom library. It also gives a compelling argument as to why we need to better organize and promote nonfiction books in the classroom. It has certainly made me think about how I hope to expand my nonfiction selection as well as organize it by the five types of nonfiction.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving this book, and all the activities, ideas, and practical takeaways! I paid way too much for it at an Educators' conference, when I could read it for free through my Graduate school library as an E-book...if that says anything for its usefulness and quality.

[Deborah]

To my writer-friends,
I know this was published for teachers, but I learned a ton and was so inspired by this book! Highly recommend.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book to learn more about children's nonfiction writing and how to use nonfiction books to teach children. Great resource for the children's book writer, teacher, and parent.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will use this information in my practice as a school librarian.

[Kari Allsup · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s more geared toward elementary students, but the lesson plans it includes could be adapted for older students.