More than five years ago, I stopped writing my monthly SLJ column, “Consider the Source,” and began a blog, “Nonfiction Matters.” Since the end of May, I’ve put down my blogging gear and now I’m shifting back to my column. So, hello again to my old column readers and my recent blog readers—and welcome aboard to any new friends who’d like to join us.
What can you expect to find here? I’ll be addressing some of the same subjects I blogged about: Common Core (CC); nonfiction in general; schools; timely topics and how they relate to how we write, edit, and judge books for K-12 students; and, of course, the digital world. What’s the difference? A column gives me time to do some more cooking, and space to say more.
Let’s start with a book recommendation: everyone who’s grappling with the Common Core should grab a copy of John Kendall’s short and admirably clear Understanding Common Core State Standards. It’s published by ASCD, the curriculum development association, so it’s not the kind of Common Core ABCs you’ll find elsewhere. Instead, Kendall gives us the underlying logic behind the CC—why we need it, how it’s different from previous standards—based education guidelines, what it aims to do, and how. The book is like a blueprint showing a house’s architectural structure. (You can turn elsewhere for the appliances, furniture, and decorations. We’re in the midst of remodeling our kitchen, so these images come quickly to mind.)
Kendall points out that the Ohio Department of Education is developing a “hybrid CTE” (career and technical education) plan in which CC standards are woven in with what used to be called vocational education. As a father who recently watched his 11-year-old son build a bookshelf—and thus apply fractions, ratios, and measurements for the first time in the physical world—the idea of weaving together math, nonfiction, research, and physical work to produce a concrete result strikes me as brilliant.
I’ll give you the scoop on other noteworthy CC resources here as I come across them.
I’m also going to use this space to try something new. As an author, I’ve long been frustrated that nonfiction books for young readers receive scant notice, rather than more substantial reviews and essays. Like all books for young readers, the initial reviews in publications such as SLJ are constrained by word count and space, and so they’re essentially buying guides. And although critics and reviewers may occasionally write extended thoughts on picture books or novels, nonfiction almost never gets that kind of deep consideration. So I’m going to do that here for some classic texts, important books, and new ones. My essays and reflections won’t be buying guides—their purpose isn’t to grant or withhold a star. Rather, I want to think about what the author/illustrator/designer of a nonfiction book has attempted to do, and look at how they did it. That means that I may juxtapose two treatments of the same subject from different eras.
My goal is to explore and examine, not to provide you with another collection-development tool. I hope this deeper consideration—and your comments, disagreements, agreements, and the debates that are bound to follow—will be useful in thinking about nonfiction in general. To kick off that strand of this column, I’ll soon be writing an essay on Hendrik Van Loon’s 1921 The Story of Mankind, the first book to win the Newbery.
So friends, expect to see me here at least a couple of times a month, and remember, always “consider the source.”
About Marc Aronson
