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What are the best nonfiction Common Core books to stock with your shelves with? DK Publishing, Teacher Created Materials, Lerner Publishing and ReferencePoint Press are here to help fill your library’s nonfiction section by presenting their upcoming titles that fit perfectly into the new standards. This is a must-see resource for Common Core, featuring forthcoming books, nonfiction trends,  and answers to your questions!

Panelists
Jaimie Cona – Children’s Marketing Manager, DK Publishing
Susan Copeland – Director of Education, Teacher Created Materials
Terri Lynn Soutor – Vice President, Marketing & Digital Products, Lerner Publishing Group 
Chris Nasso -  Marketing Director, ReferencePoint Press

Moderator
John Peters - reviewer, School Library Journal

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I was listening to NPR, and I heard a review of Carolina Clay [The Life and Legend of Slave Potter Dave] by Leonard Todd. I thought, this is just an incredible story. It’s hard for me to know why it affected me so much, but my daughter’s a potter, and I’ve worked with clay all my life. He was a writer and I’m a writer, but I’m not heroic like Dave.

What made him heroic?

He dared to write on pots at a time when he could have been killed for that, and he signed his name. That’s just an amazingly courageous act—and subversive. But it’s also quiet, because he wasn’t saying anything—he was writing it. His ability and his talent gave him that kind of confidence and power, because he knew that if he was killed, who was going to make the 40-gallon jars?

You grew up in Cincinnati during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Did that help draw you to Dave’s story?

Oh, absolutely. I grew up in a neighborhood where I still live, close to downtown Cincinnati, which was predominantly African American at the time. All my friends were African American. We all remember the race riots, which happened about a block away from where we lived. I remember hearing things breaking and being with my African-American friends, and their parents being super-nervous and coming out all the time and telling us to stay on the grass and not to leave the yard.

Not much is known about Dave. How’d you find so many details about him?

It’s funny, I was talking to a friend of mine who writes biographies, and she doesn’t put anything in them that isn’t a fact. My biography really crosses that line and some people may not consider it a biography, which is fine with me.

The Library of Congress calls it a biography.

I couldn’t write the story of Dave without putting in things that I didn’t know he said or anyone else said, because there isn’t any record of that. There isn’t really another way to write the story, because all you have are bills of sale [of slaves] and these cryptic couplets [that he etched] on pots.

Your book feels so incredibly personal.

It’s interesting that you said that. When I worked on this book, I spent a lot of time feeling choked up and I couldn’t talk, or if the phone rang, I choked up.

What touched you the most?

It was the separation, the scenes where people are separated from people they love.

So many children and spouses—including Dave’s—were sold at the drop of a hat, and they never saw one another again.

That’s what really choked me up more than any sort of physical violence.

Do today’s kids understand how dehumanizing slavery is?

In a lot of ways, we’re failing our kids. Just recently, I went to a school to talk to a group of fourth graders, and one asked what I was working on.

I told her a little bit about Dave, and I showed her a slide of the woodcut of him on the auction block that’s in the book, and she said, “You mean he was being sold?” They’d done a whole unit on slavery, but she didn’t know that. And I said, “Yeah, slaves were bought and sold,” and she was stunned. Then she looked at me, and said, “Well, I hope the people that bought him were nice.”

What do you hope kids take away from the book?

I just want kids to realize there are a lot of ways to do what you believe is the right thing to do, and it doesn’t have to be screaming and yelling and fighting, or in any way violent.

There’s a woman who saved my mother during the Holocaust. She was a very quiet person and nobody’s ever heard of her. If I had to pick somebody, she’s the hero of my life. But she did what she did because she thought it was the most ordinary thing to do.

It’s very ordinary to want to write and read and express yourself. But because of the times, Dave couldn’t do that. So he became a quiet hero. If more kids knew about things like that, maybe they’d feel stronger themselves—and they could also do the right thing.

To read a starred review of Etched in Clay (Lee & Low), turn to page 117.

SPONSORED BY: Scholastic Library, DK Publishing, Capstone and Black Rabbit Books and School Library Journal
EVENT DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET/12:00 – 1:00 PM PT

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Need helping choosing books this fall? Check out this webcast dedicated to what’s new in nonfiction! Hear John Peters, Series Made Simple contributor and children’s literature consultant, discuss the trends in nonfiction and what the publishers have to say about the future of the genre. Scholastic Library, DK Publishing, Capstone and Black Rabbit Books will share their forthcoming titles to let you know how to stock up your library this spring!

Panelists

Jim Marshall – Director of Marketing, Scholastic Library Publishing

Jim Marshall is the Director of Marketing for Scholastic Library Publishing. Jim’s been with Scholastic Library Publishing over ten years. He’s been a publishing marketing professional for the last 15 years. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children

Allie Singer – Assistant Managing Editor, DK Publishing

Allie Singer loves working for DK Publishing because it gives her the opportunity to contribute to books that inspire, inform, and engage young readers. In her current role as Assistant Managing Editor, Allie works mainly on children’s and licensed product, and dabbles in digital and travel books.

Amy Cox – Marketing Manager, Capstone

Amy Cox, Library Marketing Manager at Capstone. With Capstone for almost five years, Amy enjoys helping librarians find just the right books to support their curriculum and ignite the imaginations of their students.

Jonathan Strickland – President, Black Rabbit Books

With Black Rabbit Books, Jonathan Strickland has created a K-12 publisher built on smart content derived from many sources amassed from a career spanning more than 25 years starting with Random House International (Bantam Doubleday Dell) and continuing through Penguin Putnam, World Almanac Education Group, and The Creative Company. Jonathan’s commitment to creating feature-driven publishing is based upon a personal obsession to find the AHA! moment for each topic—and find the best way to present this to children.

Moderator
John Peters - reviewer, School Library Journal

Can’t make it on February 20? No problem! Register now and you will get an email reminder from School Library Journal post-live event when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Follow us on Twitter! @SLJEvent  #SLJnonficbuzz

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With the focus on nonfiction, educators around the country have been asking for direction as they implement the goals of the Common Core initiative. A number of useful guides are available to assist those developing lists of retrospective titles. Librarians and teachers seeking fresh material to enhance their collections can continue to look to Curriculum Connections, and this column, as they move forward.

Each month “Nonfiction Notes” will highlight a few titles publishing that calendar month—books that  have caught our eye and display the hallmarks of quality nonfiction: accuracy, cohesiveness, lively writing, and an interesting approach, along with support materials in the form of informative illustrations, primary resources, author and source notes, and lists of further reading. We’ll be on the lookout particularly for books that offer unique perspectives, ask readers to consider multiple points of view, and generate conversation, as well as titles that will encourage more nonfiction leisure reading. On occasion, a fiction title may slip in—one that offers a perfect complement to a nonfiction study.

Here are some of our favorites publishing this month:

JAN 2013

Bolden, Tonya. Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty. (Abrams, 2013; Gr 5-10). This year marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. In this beautifully designed volume, Bolden tells the story of the document through the events and the work of individuals-citizens, soldiers, politicians, and abolitionists-that led to its eventual adoption. Reproductions of engravings, maps, paintings, and documents, and black-and-white archival photos, as well as the inclusion of well-chosen detailed captions, quotes, and primary sources enrich the text. Don’t miss the photo of Harriet Tubman in her nineties on page 94. See Vicki Reutter’s article “Whiskers, Dreams, and Grave-Robbing Schemes” in this issue of Curriculum Connections for more information about this and related titles.

Brown, Don. Henry and the Cannons: An Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolution. (Roaring Brook, 2013; Gr 2-5). In 1775, outside of Boston, MA, General George Washington fretted as the British occupied the city. Without cannons his troops had little chance against the crown’s soldiers. In stepped Henry Knox, a Boston Patriot and bookseller, who, despite preferring “a good meal to a good fight” was willing to trek 300 miles to Fort Ticonderoga, NY, to retrieve a cache of weapons captured earlier that year. A remarkable story of an indomitable spirit and an improbable winter journey over icy waterways and snow-covered mountains with 58 cannons in tow. Don Brown’s illustrations add information–and a touch of humor.

Bryant, Jen. A Splash of Red: the Life and Art of Horace Pippin. (Random House, 2013; Gr 2- 5). From an early age, Horace Pippin drew–he drew through his school years, his first jobs, in the trenches of World War I, and later, when he returned to the states, but it wasn’t until he was in his forties that this self-taught artist painted his first canvas. Delightfully detailed mixed-media illustrations by Melissa Sweet, winner of the NCTE 2012 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children (Balloons over Broadway, HMH) and a Caldecott Honor winner, illustrate the book. Historical and author and illustrator notes, complete the volume. Other recent titles offering ample opportunities for comparison to Splash of Red include Done Tate’s It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw (Lee & Low, 2012) and Chuck Close: Face Book (Abrams, 2012) by the artist. Beyond the images, students will want to discuss the distinct challenges these artists faced as they pursued their art.

Fradin, Judith Bloom & Dennis Brindell Fradin. The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery. illus. by Eric Velasquez. (Bloomsbury, 2013; Gr 3-6) In the mid-1800s Oberlin, OH, was a stop on the Underground Railroad and the home of a number of former slaves. This stirring story recounts the rescue of John Price in 1856 from slave hunters by its citizens. Mixed-media paintings, in shadowy deep blues, impart a sense of the danger and clandestine nature inherent in travel along the Underground Railroad. When an Ohio court upheld the legality of the Fugitive Slave Act, the 37 men involved in what came to be known as the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue were jailed. A photo of this remarkable group, as well as author notes, are included.

Halperin, Wendy Anderson. Peace. (S & S, 2013; Gr 2-8 ) What is peace? And how do we have meaningful conversations about it with children? Through a circular text (“For there to be peace in the world…”) and spreads featuring a kaleidoscope of pastel images of children at work, play, school, and home, Halperin explores the concept. Each page incorporates quotes from around the world and through time from Jimi Hendrix’s “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace” to Albert Camus’s “Peace is the only battle worth waging.” Writing extension possibilities abound. Perfect for sharing on International Day of Peace (September 21) or any day.

Stone, Tanya Lee. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles America’s First Black Paratroopers. (Candlewick, 2013; Gr 6 Up). In this title, Stone, the author of the Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream (2009; both Candlewick), examines the training of and discrimination endured by the African American servicemen chosen under the World War II directive to establish black aviation units. Archival photos and fascinating author notes provide insight into a Stone’s research and what she discovered along the way. You’ll find an interview with the author in this issue of Curriculum Connections.

And don’t miss…Michael J. Rosen’s Sailing the Unknown: Around the World with Captain Cook (Creative Editions, 2012; Gr 2-5). It didn’t take me long to mention a fiction title in this column (and a 2012 one at that), but clearly this picture book is one everyone will want on their shelves when the topic of exploration comes up. The story follows 11-year-old Nicholas Young as he travels with James Cook on the HMS Endeavour. Little is known about the actual boy, who was responsible for caring for the ship’s goat. The text, which takes the form of brief journal entries, charts the ship’s progress and life onboard an 18^th century vessel. Natural discussion prompts include point-of-view, exploration, and historical re-creation. Fluid watercolor scenes by Maria Cristina Pritelli take a birds-eye-view onto busy ports, exotic island locales, and the ship’s deck, and readers will enjoy trying to spot this engaging fellow who sports a red-and-white striped jersey reminiscent of another favorite fictional character.

When teachers and librarians consider instructional strategies to improve students’ ability to read nonfiction, they often start with text features. Text features are a central component of book construction, but understanding how they work is not the ultimate goal. Teachers also ask students to consider text structures, the larger format or outline with which the book is written. Text structures are important when considering how a book is constructed, but an understanding of text structures is not the ultimate goal, either. The goal is to teach children how the different elements of a nonfiction book work together to contribute to the overall meaning.

Text Types and Structures of Nonfiction Text

If students are unfamiliar with nonfiction texts, they may assume that every nonfiction book serves the same function. This is not the case. Different types of nonfiction books serve varied purposes. Having an understanding of what those purposes are can help students understand why an author selected a particular structure for the book, and how the two work together to create meaning.

The most common form of nonfiction is the survey, which provides an overview on a topic. Surveys often have nouns as their title. Think “Snakes” or “Africa.” Because there are so many of these books in school libraries, students may expect every nonfiction book to do what a survey does. Students need to know that concept books focus on abstract ideas or classifications, such as life cycles; that specialized nonfiction dives deeply into a precise topic and may draw on primary and secondary source material; and that biographies focus on the life of one or several people.

Identifying the type of book they are about to read can help students develop an understanding of each type’s common traits. When students know what type of nonfiction book they are about to read, they have a sense of the book’s purpose, and can anticipate the range of material within its pages.

Just as there are different kinds of nonfiction texts, there are different types of text structures. Exposition is the most common type, often found in surveys, as it introduces a topic and divides it into subtopics. But some nonfiction titles employ narration, choosing to tell a story. Nonfiction picture storybooks are an example of this, but nonfiction chapter books can also adopt this approach. At times nonfiction takes a linear or chronological structure, and at other times, an external sequence is used, such as the alphabet or numbers, days of the week, or months of the year. Compare-and-contrast, question-and-answer. and problem-solution are other familiar structures.

Having conversations with children about identifying the text type and purpose of a book, as well as its overall structure, will allow them to better understand how print and visual components of a book work together to convey meaning. These conversations will also aid in understanding how the components contribute to meaning-making, strengthening students’ reading and writing.

Examining Text Features Outside, Around, and Inside a Nonfiction Text

Just as there are many ways to structure an entire text in order to give it clarity and coherence, text features can also support comprehension. In Checking Out Nonfiction K-8: Good Choices for Best Learning (Christopher-Gordon Pub., 2000), authors Rosemary A. Bamford and Janice V. Kristo refer to these text features by their location: outside the body of the book, around the text, and inside the text. This is a useful way for educators to discuss with students how the specific parts of a book support and extend its overall design. Since not every book will have all possible text features, be sure to provide a range of materials.

Outside a Nonfiction Text.

Begin by considering these features:

• Table of contents
• Bibliography
• Index
• Glossary

Outside features help readers locate what they want, understand the overall structure of the book, learn the sources used to write it, find additional books to extend their understanding, and enrich or support vocabulary. It’s a good idea to spend some time showing how these features help readers from the start. For example, closely examine the table of contents. Does it reveal the specific topics to be discussed? How are the titles written—as questions, topics, vivid quotes from within the chapter? By stopping to examine a table of contents, readers ready themselves for what is to follow.

Around a Nonfiction Text.

Before delving into the main text, consider how the author has framed the book for the reader by exploring these features:

• Introduction
• Author’s Note
• Illustrator’s Note
• Preface
• Afterward
• Appendix

Around features not only introduce readers to a topic, they also provide additional information about the subject and the author’s experience researching it. By carefully examining an author’s note, for example, students might learn how that person became interested in the topic, the kind of research required to write the book, and what discoveries were made. This information demystifies the process of creating nonfiction and helps readers understand the passion writers have for the topics they investigate.

Inside a nonfiction text.

As you discuss reading a text, explore how these features support the text or extend it by providing additional information:

• Headings and subheadings
• Sidebars and insets
• Photographs and captions
• Diagrams
• Graphs, charts and tables
• Timelines
• Maps

While headings and subheadings can guide students as they read, photographs and captions extend and assist in comprehension. A photograph may show details not included in written text. Captions can go much further by pointing out details, providing additional information beyond the text or the photo, giving opinions, speculating, and posing questions for the reader to think about. It’s a good idea to consider how these features complement and extend the writing.

Both text structure and text features provide ways for writers to organize and introduce information, while keeping the narrative engaging. When we introduce these features of nonfiction to students, they benefit both as readers and writers. Having conversations about texts is a major component of the Common Core State Standards. Discussing how texts are constructed and using examples from quality nonfiction books is both illuminating and essential.

Tanya Lee Stone’s search—for photos and facts—has led her in surprising and rewarding directions. “To me, visual storytelling is as important as the text,” Stone has said, and that is certainly true of Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers (Candlewick, Jan. 2013). Through text and images the author paints a fascinating portrait of the African Americans who trained as part of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion under First Sergeant Walter Morris. Seventeen of those 20 men came from the all-black 92nd Infantry Division, whose roots could be traced back to the Buffalo Soldiers of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. The author spoke to Curriculum Connections about her research, and the Triple Nickles’ extraordinary legacy.

What attracted you to this topic? Did it have any relationship to your work on Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream (Candlewick, 2009)?
These stories are related in that they are both about extraordinary people, relatively unknown individuals, whose work paved the way for others. Change happens slowly—and it’s often due to individuals such as these. We owe them tribute.

When you begin a nonfiction work, do you have a sense of where you’re going, or do you let the research guide you?
The research did guide me, as did feedback from Marc Aronson and Hilary Van Dusen, who said, as they did with Almost Astronauts, “This story is too big for a picture book.” I tend to think cinematically, so I’m looking at the story through the points-of-view of the Triple Nickles’ and [their leader, First Sergeant] Walter Morris. What are the margins that inform those perspectives? That helps me shape my boundaries. Unfortunately, it took almost 10 years to write the book!

You interviewed Morris, as well as a number of the women represented in Almost Astronauts. It’s amazing to think that these events didn’t transpire that long ago.
It wasn’t that long ago. I think we have come a long way—and have a really long way to go. That’s why it’s important to highlight these stories. We can be proud of our achievements—and have them motivate us to do a whole lot more.

Your notes on your work on the identities of the Triple Nickles who did not graduate, and how you resolved inconsistencies discovered in your research, were fascinating.
That was so thrilling [figuring out the three men who hadn't graduated]! The first person I called when I made sense of that information was Ed Howard. He’s the historian at Fort Benning [where those first black paratroopers trained]. After the book was finished, Ed and I kept working to track down the information that was eluding me. I found two of the men through a document that noted who was paid when.

Is detective work also involved in photo research?
On occasion, a photograph is in opposition to a “fact” you have unearthed earlier. You have to use your journalistic skills to figure out the truth. Even in the archives, the labels are sometimes incorrect. There’s a photo of the 761st tank battalion (the camera is looking down into the tank as a man looks up), that has been mislabeled for decades. When I got to the 761st tank battalion section, I went back to the library. In the end, I agreed with who I believed was the most trusted scholar and relabeled the photo; [in my book] the label is different than the one attributed in the National Archives.

It is like being a detective. In order to be authoritative, everything must be verified.

Were there events that you uncovered that surprised you? I had no idea that balloon bombs launched from Japan were landing in western states such as Oregon, for instance.
I had no idea about the balloon bombs, either. I could have gone on and on about them. To include information about these weapons and to not provide background on the Japanese-American internment camps seemed wrong, [but] I also was aware that I had to balance these pieces with the rest of the story.

This is complicated material and the challenge was to select what was pertinent to the paratroopers’ story and would give readers the context they needed. There’s an unending wealth of stories to tell.

So many of the events we know of history depend on timing—when the many small actions of people come together, as you point out.
When change happens, we tend to forget that many events preceded it. There’s another parallel between Almost Astronauts and Courage, in that people sometimes say to me, “But [the Triple Nickles] didn’t get sent into combat” with a tone in their voice that suggests, “Why are you making such a big deal out of this?” What these men accomplished was of their time. If you’re looking at it through a 21st-century lens, you miss it.

Many children aren’t [aware of how the rights we enjoy now] were achieved. That’s why I spend the amount of time I spend on background.  With context, on their own, children can get to, “Wow, that’s a big deal.”

Listen to Tanya Lee Stone introduce and read from Courage Has No Color.

Meghan McCarthy, Susan Kuklin, Sue Macy, and Deborah Heiligman at NYPL’s Ethics & Nonfiction Panel.

The best juvenile nonfiction strives to be both entertaining and enlightening, but writing a book that is both factually accurate and enjoyable can be a big challenge, says author and illustrator Meghan McCarthy. McCarthy was on hand recently to discuss these issues with some of her peers at New York Public Library’s latest literary panel, “Ethics and Nonfiction,” held on January 5. NYPL Youth Materials Specialist—and SLJ blogger—Betsy Bird moderated.

For these authors, a strong commitment to conveying the truth is paramount. When Deborah Heiligman wrote Honeybees (National Geographic, 2002), it wasn’t until the last possible minute that she noticed a factual error that the book’s illustrator had made: several bees are depicted flying in curlicues, not in a beeline as the insects actually travel. While it was too late in the publishing process to correct the mistake, Heiligman’s consternation over this relatively minor detail illustrates the strict allegiance that many authors have to accurately representing their subjects.

Panelists addressed the tension between crafting a good story and correctly portraying their subject. “It’s so hard to…infuse the story with excitement and stick to the letter of the law,” said Sue Macy, who wrote a precise history of women’s basketball in Basketball Belles (Holiday House, 2011) but wished that the book had been more entertaining in places. “I fight myself on this all the time because you want people to read the book but you also want to be accurate.” She is currently dealing with this very issue as she works on a picture book on women’s roller derby in the 1940s. One moment in her book—a character jumping over the railing during a game—may not have actually occurred, but Macy (who will note for readers that this detail represents creative license on her part) believes this addition will enliven the narrative.

Though Heiligman disagreed with Macy about this particular example, she, too, acknowledged the difficulty of adhering to the facts when constructing a narrative. In her picture book The Boy Who Loved Math (Roaring Brook, 2013), the story of Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdös, she eliminated a line about how her subject’s sisters died of scarlet fever while he was being born, stating that she felt this would set a depressing tone and distract young readers from the rest of the book.

Authors also discussed the problem of how to proceed when not all the facts are available to them. When Susan Kuklin wrote Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery (Holt, 1998), the story of a Pakistani boy who became an activist against child labor, she came across conflicting information about the boy’s death. Unsure whether his death at age 12 was an accident or murder, she included both possibilities in her book. In this case, this was a “blessing in disguise,” as it provided opportunities for students to debate this question for themselves.

Panelists concluded by discussing the problem of information that some might see as inappropriate for younger readers. When working on Mary Leakey: In Search of Human Beginnings (W.H. Freeman and Co., 1995), Heiligman had some reservations about depicting Leakey’s affair with Richard Leaky, wondering if it would affect book sales, but ultimately included it. Macy said that when she was recently asked to write a middle-grade book on astronaut Sally Ride, she needed to be able to include that Ride had a same-sex partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Though her publishers were wary of the book being labeled a coming-out biography, Macy felt strongly that she needed to incorporate Ride’s relationship with O’Shaughnessy in order to honestly portray her life.

Ultimately, Heiligman’s words underscored the importance of accuracy in children’s nonfiction: “We have to make the choices as nonfiction writers to be…honest and true.”

What is reassuring is that we know that children of all ages can think critically about the world in creative ways, particularly when they are given robust and developmentally appropriate texts as part of a well-crafted, student-centered curriculum. These specific groupings of books or multimodal digital texts are referred to as clusters, or text sets. Situating students within the context of a text cluster allows librarians and teachers to use their collections in new ways. Teachers already have tried-and-true books and can use their library to build outward—moving from highlighting a single text to using a text cluster.

Not only do clusters offer an opportunity to differentiate reading, they create a synergy within the curriculum, allowing students to consider multiple perspectives. When readers see that knowledge is not fixed, that there is no single way to represent an idea, a literary theme, a historical event, or a scientific concept, they see the role of the author in new and exciting ways. When given the opportunity to pen their own works, they can apply what they have learned about a variety of different genres and text types.

Text clusters, or text sets, offer rich opportunities in science, language arts, social studies, and the related arts such as music and art. Here are specific ways to use clusters in your library and classroom, and in your work with grade-level teams.

Clustering Concepts: Ecosystems

Text clusters can be used as a tool to teach science content standards as well as the Common Core State Standards for language arts and content literacy. Let’s say you are working with a third grade teacher who is teaching ecosystems or animal habitats. Most likely, your library has a variety of books on different ecosystems and animal habitats to support student inquiry. But to explore that topic with a tighter focus, and model the thinking across texts, the unit could launch with an exploration of how ecosystems change over time.

First, recommend that the teacher read aloud Joyce Sidman’s Song of the Water Boatman (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), illustrated by Beckie Prange. Moving from spring to winter, the book carries readers through four seasons in the life cycle of a pond. On each spread a poem, a nonfiction paragraph, and a woodcut illustration can be found.

Follow that title with the nonfiction picture storybook The Wolves are Back (Penguin, 2008) by Jean Craighead George, about the restoration of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Students will understand what happens when one animal is removed from an ecosystem, and how that ecosystem shifts its balance when the animal returns.

Finally, the class could explore Thomas F. Yezerski’s Meadowlands (Farrar, 2011), an illustrated history of the wetlands region in northern New Jersey. In small groups, children can discuss how an entire ecosystem can suffer extensive damage and yet manage to rebuild itself over time. Each of these titles offers a different perspective and models a different text structure (poems and paragraphs; narrative; exposition) that youngsters can reference as they they compose in response to the study.

Clustering Biographies: Powerful Pairs and Triplets

Since biographies of the famous and infamous are abundant and ever increasing, it’s easy to put together “bio-clusters.” Start small with two titles that can be compared, and then build larger collections of books, and primary and secondary sources (photographs, prints, letters, newspaper articles, maps, political cartoons). Here are a couple of book clusters to get started.

Powerful Pairs: Beginning with Biographies

The CCSStandards call for us to begin comparing two texts on the same topic with students as early as kindergarten. Picture books are a good place to start because it’s easy for young readers to spot the differences in illustrated works. Using biographies about the same person is one way to show children that informational texts on the same topic are not the same.

For example, two picture books about Jane Goodall, can be used to highlight different approaches to the same information. That is, not all authors select the identical information to spotlight. Me…Jane (Little, Brown, 2011) written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell ends with a young Jane Goodall going to sleep and dreaming of her future on the continent of Africa where she studies animals. When readers turn the page, Goodall, wakes up as an adult. The dream has been realized.

In contrast, Jeanette Winter’s The Watcher (Random, 2011), children receive a fuller story of how Goodall saved her money, traveled to Africa, and met the scientist Louis Leakey. It was Leakey who suggested that Goodall study chimpanzees in Tanzania.

Both books also provide unique kinds of visual information. Me…Jane contains actual writing and illustrations by the young Goodall, who as a girl, organized a group called The Alligator Society. The Watcher presents pictures of Goodall’s early life in small, tightly framed images. In contrast, once the woman begins working with chimpanzees, the pictures burst out of their frames and become two-page spreads. Her joy and sense of the freedom are obvious.

Terrific Triplets: A Cluster of Biographies

In books for older readers, bio-clusters raise additional questions about how history is written. The following titles bring readers face to face with contradictory information. In Amelia Lost (Random, 2011) author Candace Fleming casts doubt on Earhart’s claim that she saw her first airplane at the 1908 Iowa State Fair when she was 11 years old. According to Fleming’s research, there were no planes in Iowa at that time. She suggests that the aviatrix fabricated stories to suit an image she wanted to project.

Two other books, Amelia Earhart (Abrams, 2008), by Shelley Tanaka, and Corinne Szabo’s photobiography, Sky Pioneer (National Geographic, 1997), report that Earhart saw a plane at the fair as fact. The authors of these titles relied on Earhart’s own writings. Here is an opportunity to discuss with students that the sources authors consult can matter and that they may present conflicting information.

This cluster presents many additional opportunities to make comparisons. There are differences in text organization, visual information, theme, and more. Using these books, educators can initiate important conversations about craft and structure, the use of evidence to support ideas, and point-of-view.

Professional Sources Can Guide You

There are many ways to use text clusters or text sets in the library and in the classroom. What we have offered is a mere starting point. Professional resources are available to provide additional guidance as you begin working with clusters.

Eds. Note- two of the authors of this article have written relevant texts on the subject.

Myra Zarnowski’s History Makers (Heinemann, 2003) outlines how to compare biographies using such criteria as accuracy, style, illustration, theme, and selection and interpretation of information. A data chart is provided for gathering information and student samples show how it is done. In Making Sense of History (Scholastic, 2006) Zarnowski describes a hands-on approach for learning about multiple perspectives in history books.

For an up-to-date source on planning with clusters of nonfiction material, see Mary Ann Cappiello & Erika Thulin Dawes’s Teaching with Text Sets (Shell Education, 2012). This book describes innovative ways to incorporate nonfiction literature, as well as other genres, in the classroom while achieving CCSS and content standards. It provides both ready-to-use ideas and guidance for developing your own units of study using specific text models.

Elementary teachers often feel that it is impossible to meet all the literacy, math, science, and social studies benchmarks for which they are accountable. Middle and secondary content specialists lament the lack of time they have to delve into specific moments in history, concepts in economics, or specialized topics in the sciences that can serve as a catalyst for understanding essential concepts. As a result, students sprint through the content standards, with no time to rest, breathe deeply, or examine closely.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Content Literacy, on the other hand, are process-oriented. Teachers have an opportunity to choose broadly the content to examine, and can view the CCSS as a toolkit to explore topics, themes, and genres.

There are practical ways to teach for content over coverage. Primary teachers will want to integrate their teaching and create multidisciplinary curriculum units. Secondary science and social studies teachers can use the CCSS as a vehicle for exploring important topics within their required state content standards at a greater depth and model the ways in which professionals approach their disciplines, as they equip students with some of “the tools of the trade.”

Such work begins with selecting a range of materials for units of study, material beyond traditional basal readers and textbooks. If the educators in your school must use required texts, they can incorporate these resources into a larger curriculum text set. Librarians can help them find books and materials outside the same old parade of facts, and lead them to a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres when possible and appropriate. You can also assist them in locating relevant newspaper and magazine articles in digital databases, and point to museum, library, and research-based websites for examples of available primary and secondary sources. As much as possible, encourage teachers to rely upon a number of formats, so that students can read, listen to, and view texts in more than one modality.

After selecting material for content study, we need to consider approach. One misconception our students often have is that all nonfiction should be read in the same way. They are unaware that historians and scientists approach content differently. We can teach students to read as these professionals do by modeling and allowing them to try out these processes. The CCSS foster disciplinary literacy, recognizing that each field of study has its own framework for asking questions, considering evidence, and creating new content to communicate knowledge.

As educator Sam Wineburg has explained, historians rigorously question what they read. The questions they raise about historical sources are the same questions that our students should be asking. Who wrote it? Why? What do they want me to know? Historians also compare different accounts of the same events.  Do my sources agree on the facts? If not, why not? How do they differ? And finally, they ask about the unique conditions of the era they are examining and consider how these conditions influenced people’s behavior. What is distinctive about the period I am studying? What is familiar? What is unfamiliar? Encourage your students to use these frameworks referred to as sourcing, corroborating, and contextualizing.

Scientists also question rigorously. They evaluate claims being made by others to see if they come from carefully planned observations, and try to determine if inferences are justified. When our students are reading nonfiction accounts of scientists engaged in inquiry, they, too, can pose questions: What is the problem the scientists are trying to solve? Are they collaborating with others? How? Is there evidence that they are willing to reconsider previous conclusions in the face of new evidence? Are the investigative methods they are using creative and imaginative? What have they learned? What else do they want to know?

These queries will move conversations about nonfiction sources well beyond factual recall and remembering. Instead, students will begin to think about how knowledge is created and how scientists and historians continue to refine their understandings. In other words, your discussion will present science and history as subjects that are vibrant and alive.

As we introduce more nonfiction, let’s keep in mind that to engage in critical thinking, we need a robust and varied collection of material to investigate. These clusters of information sources are the foundation of critical conversations.

This list of tools and resources from SLJ staff, bloggers, and contributors will enrich your understanding of the national initiative to implement new standards of language arts, information literacy, and mathematics for grades K–12.

SLJ 3-Part Webcast Series: On Common Core

We kicked off a 3-part free webcast series last week on the on how the new Common Core education standards are impacting your library, your school, and your students. You still have time to register for the next session, Librarians, the Secret Weapon, being held on November 20. In these three (3) one-hour webcasts, library, literacy, and education experts from across the country will explore how to effectively implement this nationwide initiative.

All Aboard!: Implementing Common Core offers school librarians an opportunity to take the lead.
By Rebecca Hill

Understanding the Common Core State Standards : A review of John Kendall’s book, a primer on CCSS
By Alicia Eames

CCSS and us: a video Q&A with John Kendall
By Joyce Valenza

Librarian Creates Guide to the Common Core Standards 
By SLJ Staff

Editorials by SLJ  Editor-in-Chief, Rebecca T. Miller on Librarians and the Common Core

‘I Can Help You With That’: Providing solutions puts librarians at the center of Common Core | SLJ June 2012 Editorial

What Creativity Looks Like: Put a Bunch of Librarians in a Room, and Great Ideas Fly | Editorial
Entries from SLJ’s “On Common Core” column by various experts in the education and library fields

By Olga Nesi
The New Standards Dovetail Elegantly with Inquiry, and We Know Inquiry
The Question of Text Complexity: Reader and task trump traditional measures

By Paige Jaeger
Is a Picture Worth $2,500?: Understanding Facts Visually

By Melissa Jacobs-Israel
A Sticker Won’t Do the Job: We need appealing nonfiction that will engage students and build rigor
Making the Parent Connection

By Mary Ann Cappiello, Myra Zarnowski, and Marc Aronson
Cultivating Collaboration
Creating Community

Installments from Christopher Harris’s “The Next Big Thing” column

The End of Nonfiction: Common Core standards force us to rethink categorization
A Librarian’s Tricks for Finding Those ‘Complex Texts’ Cited in the Common Core
We Could Be Heroes: Research plus tech skills are a hot commodity
A Video Hosting Solution for Schools

Related entries from “Consider the Source” blog by author and educator Marc Aronson

The Problem with Common Core’s ‘Appendix B’
The Reign in Spain
The issues and questions raised by Common Core come up abroad as well.
Convergence
Discusses a set of books that looks at one moment in history from three different angles.
Shuffling Off to Buffalo
The role of the librarian in teaching students about “guided inquiry.”

Tools profiled in Joyce Valenza’s column, “Neverending Search”

New from AASL: Best Websites for Teaching and Learning
New Google Education Search Hub
You’re gonna want to share ShareMyLesson

Informational texts, novels, ideas, and websites that align with the Common Core

The Wild World of Steve Jenkins | An Author Study
By Barbara Auerbach

On the Radar—Top Picks from the Editors at Junior Library Guild: New Science Nonfiction Supports Common Core
By Deborah B. Ford

To Infinity and Beyond | New Sci-Fi Titles for Teens
By Joyce Adams Burner

Underneath the glitz of spaceships, extraterrestrials, and techno bling, these young adult sci-fi novels feature complex characters exploring the question of what it means to be human. Incorporate them into social studies, technology, and literature classes, and blast off into discussions touching on politics, culture, science, the environment. The possibilities are limitless!

Afghan Days, Afghan Dreams
By Daryl Grabarek

The resources are ideal for teachers looking to educate students about Afghanistan while also embracing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Kno Launches K–12 E-Textbooks, Geared Toward Parents, Home Use
By Kathy Ishizuka

Education software outfit Kno has partnered with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to offer interactive textbooks for K–12 students. The digital titles, which align with Common Core subjects, are available for $9.99 or less for a one-year rental.

At the Core: Audiobooks Promote Critical Reading Habits | Listen In
By Sharon Grover and Lizette Hannegan

Finding a Voice | Writers’ Guides
By Vicki Reutter
These three guides make the often daunting task of writing a little easier by instructing students how to write in a variety of genres, including journalism, poetry, humor, and more.

Libraries, Ebooks and Beyond: Library “Makers” Share How It’s Done
By The Digital Shift

Searching for some great ways to get kids hooked on creating digital content? Attendees at the October 17 Digital Shift event got some great tips from Wes Fryer, Melissa Techman, Liz Castro and Erin Daly, all participants in a panel on “Makers in the Library.”

Get Kids Designing with Student-Created Games | The Gaming Life
By Brian Mayer
A program that gives students a new avenue to display mastery-level understanding of the curriculum while incorporating 21st-century skills as well as the Common Core Standards.

What Is the Future of Reference?
By Henrietta Thornton-Verma

Christopher Harris, of New York’s Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, and Wendy Stephens, of New Market, Alabama’s Buckhorn High School led a spirited discussion of the merits of print vs. digital learning, the impact of those Common Core guidelines on publishers’ plans, and other timely and vexing topics.

News Bites: Support Common Core with a New Nonfiction Program from Scholastic
By Phyllis Levy Mandell

Wii Learn: Surprise elementary grade students with a fun way to learn math
By Matthew C. Winner and Meghan Hearn

Viewing the video game console through the eyes of an educator opens up a world of mathematical applications through which students can master concepts, teachers can align with the Common Core Standards, and classrooms can reflect students’ experiences and interests.

Common Core in the news:

Romney Doesn’t Support Fed Dollars for Common Core
By Rocco Staino

Study: Teacher Support for Common Core Standards Growing; Public Awareness Still Lags
By Debra Lau Whelan

Kentucky First to Adopt Common Core State Standards Initiative
By Lauren Barack

Watch Steve Jenkins in his studio »»»

The idea came to me last fall as I sat in a high school auditorium in Brooklyn, New York listening to award-winning author Marc Aronson address a group of school librarians on the Common Core and its emphasis on nonfiction—not the “safely bland” texts that so many teachers seem to favor for their brevity or simplicity, but well-crafted “literary” nonfiction that engages and offers a point of view. He explained that as information specialists it was our job to provide teachers with the resources they would need to support this new curriculum.

I started thinking about my nonfiction collection and all of the authors that embody the qualities Aronson had described. How could I sell these more complex, nonfiction picture books to the teachers and students I served? Traditionally, elementary author studies invoked names such as Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, or Patricia Polacco. Why not broaden the practice to include nonfiction writers with a significant body of work? Since most teachers at my school tend to assign animal research reports to introduce nonfiction, I chose Steve Jenkins for my first nonfiction author study—a writer whose books can be found in most classrooms and libraries.

Not unlike Leo Lionni, Jenkins grew up with a menagerie at home—lizards, mice, insects—“My father was a scientist and encouraged my interest in the natural world.” Jenkins also loved to draw and paint; his signature cut-and-torn paper collages make his books easily identifiable to young readers. The author collects handmade papers from around the world, and even makes his own. He has written and/or illustrated dozens of award-winning books, many with his wife, Robin Page.

While the average Lexile level of his books falls in the mid-800s—around a 4th grade level—the copious illustrations and clear, straightforward text make them accessible to students in the 2nd and 3rd grades as well. In addition, many titles offer “…two levels of text, one that can be managed by a beginning reader and a second that can be read by a more proficient reader, or aloud, by an adult if a younger child is interested in finding out more.” Teaching vocabulary and assigning and modeling clearly defined tasks render the texts even more accessible. Visit Jenkins’s website for biographical information, a gallery of his work, and an excellent slideshow titled “Making Books.”

Prehistoric Actual Size (Houghton Mifflin, 2005) presents young readers with striking images of 18 creatures. Single- and double-page spreads, including two dramatic gatefolds, portray all or part of the animal, depending on its true size. Images include one or two sentences about the creature along with information about when it lived and its length in standard and metric measure. One or two paragraphs with a small picture of the complete animal appear at the back.

Introduce the book by passing around a variety of small plastic dinosaurs for students to examine and identify. Explain that these toys do not represent the relative or actual size of these prehistoric creatures. Ask students how we know the size of animals that no longer exist (vocabulary: archaeologist, fossil, skeleton). Read the book, ask “What did you notice? Turn and talk to your neighbor about something that surprised you…Why do you think the illustrator sometimes shows only part of the animal?”

As a follow-up activity, groups of students can choose one animal from the book to research. With a roll of brown kraft paper, they might like to sketch and color the entire animal or an impressive part …actual size. They can label their drawings with the creature’s name and measure and add a short description of when and where it lived, what it ate, and any other facts they would like to include.

Though dinosaurs are gone forever, Almost Gone: The World’s Rarest Animals (HarperCollins, 2006) introduces the concept of endangered species. Single- or double-page spreads offer a textured collage of the animal accompanied by its name, where it lives, and the number left—from as few as one (the Abington Island tortoise) to nearly 500 (Bactrian camel). A large-print paragraph describes the species and what threatens its survival. An introduction explains the consequences of extinction: “Every living thing is connected to many other living things, often in ways we don’t understand or even suspect. And once an animal or plant is gone, it can never come back. All the living things that interact with it will never be the same….”

Before reading the book, have students name one animal that is extinct. Introduce vocabulary such as  “endangered” and “rare.” Ask the class why they think a species becomes endangered. Present a short slideshow of photographs of some of the animals mentioned in the book such as the California condor, Yangtze River dolphin, or Miami blue butterfly. Explain that these species are headed toward extinction like the dinosaurs. As you read, ask students to record at least one cause of endangerment in their notebooks or on a post-it; create a list of these causes including items such as overhunting, loss of habitat, pollution, etc. Query  students about how we can protect animals and why it is important to do so.

Living Color (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) explores the vibrant hues of the animal kingdom. The introduction explains that, “If an animal is very colorful, it is likely that its brilliant skin, scales, or feathers somehow help it stay alive.” Each color is allotted one or two full spreads with five to seven monochromatic images of creatures with a paragraph about each. As there are two levels of text here, teachers can read the simpler, more provocative text to prompt discussion. “Blue says …Don’t touch! Look at me! Don’t eat me…I’m here to help. I’m a mystery. Now you see me, now you don’t.”

Children can guess what each message means. Back matter thumbnail illustrations of each animal accompany information about size, habitat, diet, and more. Introduce the book by asking students their favorite color. Challenge them to think of an animal that is that color. After sharing the simple text, divide the class into seven groups: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, and pink). Each group is responsible for reading and reporting on the different ways their color helps animals survive. Watch the video “Steve Jenkins on creating Living Color” on TeachingBooks.net. In their color groups, have each student choose an animal and create a collage illustration in the way that Jenkins does. Include a caption with the creature’s name and what purpose its color serves. Your bulletin board will be a rainbow of the natural world.

In I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World (Houghton Mifflin, 2005) Jenkins and co-author Robin Page introduce children to six habitats. They explain that living things “…thrive in all these habitats because, over many generations, animals adapt. They change their size, shape, and habits to fit different conditions.”

Each environment considered opens with an “I Spy” spread featuring eight partially hidden animals. “In the desert I see…” Students can first locate the living things on the page and describe what they see using adjectives and prepositions: “I see an orange-and black-striped creature hiding behind some rocks and cactus on the right.” Have children guess what the animal might be. Then turn the page to view each one featured with its name and a descriptive phrase such as “…a stinging anemone hitching a ride.”

More details about each creature are available at the back of the book. Divide students into six groups and assign each a different habitat. Have them create a group mural with each student responsible for drawing or creating a paper collage representation of one animal from the designated locale. They can write a brief riddle to help viewers identify each species: “Though I am only two or three inches long, my big red eyes scare off predators. I like to hop from tree to tree. Can you find me?”

Another husband-wife collaboration, sisters & brothers (Houghton Mifflin, 2008), examines animal siblings. Once again there are two levels of text: a header or footer offers a word or phrase that characterizes the relationship such as “quadruplets,” “sibling rivalry,” or “stepsisters and stepbrothers.”

Bold images of the young animals pop against the white background of the pages. The short cryptic captions in large print such as “Exactly alike,” “Girls rule!,” “I’m having my family for dinner…,” or “Friends for life” are great conversation starters. Before reading the book aloud ask youngsters, “How many brothers or sisters or cousins do you live with? How do you get along? Turn and talk to your neighbor about something you enjoy doing together and something you fight about.” Introduce the word “sibling” and explain that animals have brothers and sisters too—sometimes just one and sometimes thousands! After reading the book, have students work with a partner or in a group to either write or improvise a skit about animal siblings that captures and reveals their special relationship. Beforehand, distribute the longer explanation that also appears on each spread. They can make masks or puppets to enhance their skits.

Jenkins says, “I believe we should teach science as a process…not just a collection of facts. It’s a tool that allows children to test their own theories and to trust their own conclusions.” This is just what the Common Core dictates; children need to learn to think for themselves and process new ideas, not simply to summarize them. The books and activities mentioned above do just that.

Many of the ELA reading, writing, speaking and listening standards for K-5 informational texts are incorporated into the lessons described. The titles and activities suggested above reference the following Common Core State Standards:

RI.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
RI.2.6 Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
W. 2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
W. 2.7  Participate in shared research and writing projects.
SL. 2.2 Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud.
RI. 3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., keywords, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
RI. 3.7 Use information gained from illustrations…and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
W. 3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting appoint of view with reasons.

Related TeachingBooks.net resources »»»

Watch Steve Jenkins in his studio »»»

It may seem obvious to you, dear reader, but not everyone knows that the library is the heart of the school community, the place where student and faculty life converge—where children race to reserve the latest installment in that must-read series, to find that just-right book, to explore online resources, to work and collaborate on research projects, to reread a favorite fiction title before the movie is released, and to talk about the books they love with people who care. It’s the place where teachers discover new resources to incorporate into lesson plans, gather to discuss and map curriculum, and to attend professional development workshops after school hours.

As the center of the school, the library is also the logical place to educate teachers, parents, and students about the quality materials available for children and young adults, and to develop a culture of nonfiction within your school. While many librarians already offer breakfast booktalks, provide curriculum-related booklists, and brief teachers on the latest reference materials, we would like to add a few of our suggestions for creating a community around nonfiction.

Consider kicking off the year with a “Nonfiction Tasting” one day at lunch or before or after school. Think of this as the equivalent to a wine tasting or a chocolate sampling. The goal is not to determine the best chocolate, but to taste the range of differences between milk and dark, 50 percent cacao versus 80 percent. You might want to introduce your tasting menu with a chocolate menu to take advantage of this metaphor. After sampling the treats, have teachers explore several informational picture books on the same subject. (It’s helpful to have multiple copies of each book on hand. Think interlibrary loan, if necessary.)

Again, the object is not to select the best of the group, but to expose teachers to the variety of texts available on a topic, and to begin a conversation about scope and approach: narrow versus broad, narrative versus expository. What media is used to illustrate the works: reproductions of oil paintings, photography, sketches, diagrams, or a combination of these styles? What points-of-view are explored?

You might want to follow up your “Nonfiction Tasting” with a “Nonfiction Book Club” for staff. Start small, offering a club that meets three times during the first quarter. To capitalize on the work that you started, continue to look at multiple titles on the same subject as a way of furthering teachers’ knowledge of nonfiction. Once the first group is launched, you can be more strategic about how future groups can operate. Plan with grade-level teams to run a nonfiction book club during team meetings once a month, or, combine your nonfiction club with a monthly vertical subject area team meeting. Because you know your school, you’re aware of the best ways to increase both interest and expertise in nonfiction by using time that is already set aside before, during, or after school.

Once teacher book clubs have been established, you might want to gather a group of avid nonfiction readers of different ages together to create “Team Nonfiction.” You probably already know many of those students because they return to the library again and again looking for books. How can they help you spread the word among students? Team Nonfiction can create book displays based on milestone anniversaries of major events or school-wide activities, and recommend nonfiction authors to spotlight for others. Members of the group can help you design an interest inventory. Once the inventory is complete, you’ll have information on the personal interests and hobbies of your school population—a useful tool for both reader’s advisory and collection development.

Finally, the students can help you develop a community of nonfiction book recommendations. Start your own school version of Goodreads by creating a review site on your school webpage and/or a bulletin of student-authored book reviews within the library itself. A number of online catalogs have this capability built right into them. The concept of Team Nonfiction can be modified to work with single grades (one per month of the school year), to sponsor events, to curate displays, and to write reviews.

In January, when the American Library Association and the National Council of Teachers of English both announce their annual nonfiction award winners, host a “Mock Orbis Pictus/Sibert/YALSA Nonfiction Award” program, working with grade-level teams on book selection. If you’ve created a book review culture in your school, you can start the selection process by returning to the titles already recommended by students.

Sometime during the academic year host a “Nonfiction Family Night.” Parents want to support their children’s reading, but they often don’t know where to begin, and most know very little about children’s and young adult nonfiction. They assume that they should be reading fiction aloud to their children, because that’s what they’ve traditionally done. But for many school-aged children, and their parents, nonfiction is what they prefer. By organizing an event for families, you can capitalize on their interests in hobbies or seasonal activities, and show them how they can spend time together as a family reading, and connect to their life and interests outside of school. It might be helpful to invite local experts from science and nature centers, history museums, construction trades, and restaurants to share their expertise on a topic about which you have a great collection.

Once you have established a community around nonfiction, you can begin to help groups of teachers think more strategically about the ways in which the Common Core State Standards challenge all of us to think deeply about content over coverage and the resulting curricular implications.

Cultivating Collaboration: The First “C”

The Common Core (CCSS) has arrived. We’ve had time to study the standards, peruse the list of recommended materials, and explore the suggested curriculum maps and assessments. Now, how do we begin to put this nationwide initiative into operation? What meaningful steps forward can we take? In this column, we’ll focus on the ideas that shape our approach to the standards. All start with the letter “C”—we call them “The 10 C’s.” We begin with the concept that holds all the others together: collaboration.

Librarians, teachers, administrators, parents, and children must work in concert. Why? Because we bring different strengths, abilities, and interests to the conversation. Teachers are familiar with grade-level curricula, and they get to know their students’ needs and interests early in the year. Librarians are adept at finding the best resources, whatever the subject matter, or reading ability of the student. Administrators understand the importance of librarian-teacher collaboration and can provide common planning time and guidance. Add the enthusiasm and support of parents and children for a rigorous curriculum and all the stakeholders have entered the picture.

The best place for the collaboration to begin is around the topic of quality nonfiction. Under the Common Core, the expectation is that 50 percent of elementary grade reading is in informational texts; at the high school level, the percentage increases to 70 percent. That’s a challenge, but it also offers educators an opportunity to launch a conversation in their school communities. Begin with these two essential questions: What is quality nonfiction? Where can I find it?

Identifying Quality Nonfiction Literature
While there are no hard and fast rules on what constitutes quality nonfiction, there is consensus on some basics. Begin the dialogue by sharing the criteria used by award and book selection committees. How do they go about selecting the titles? What do articles and reviews in journals such as School Library Journal, The Horn Book Magazine, Journal of Children’s Literature, Reading Teacher, and Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy contribute to this discussion? For starters, consider accuracy, organization, style of writing, visual material, documentation, and connections to the curriculum in relation to specific titles.

Finding Quality Nonfiction Literature
Educators have an immediate need to identify quality nonfiction literature in all the content areas. Lean on your librarians. As one colleague put it, librarians “have the keys to the castle.” They know good literature and they know how to find it. We suggest that together teachers and librarians begin by examining yearly professional book lists to see which books fit either established curriculum or current topics of interest.

Here is our starter list and a brief description of what each offers.

NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
Each year, one nonfiction title and up to five honor books in any content area are recognized. The website lists titles selected each year since 1990.

Notable Social Studies Trade Books For Young People A list of K-8 titles of recommended books for teaching social studies. The website lists titles selected each year since 2000.

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12
Lists recommended science books since 1996. Since 2010, the list contains links to activities related to selected books.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Lists winners and honor books since 2001. Books are selected for their engaging, distinctive language, visual presentation, documentation, and being “respectful and of interest to children.”

As this school year begins, collaborating with colleagues to identify nonfiction that supports a content-rich curriculum is essential to the success of the CCSS. Working together we can identify the raw materials we need to support teaching and learning. From there, we can decide on the best  use these resources. As we take these steps together, we work towards building an effective school community, whose hub should clearly be the school library.

In last month’s issue of Curriculum Connections the authors of On Common Core introduced themselves and the series.

SPONSORED BY: Lerner Publishing Group, DK Publishing, Scholastic Library Publishing, Teacher Created Materials Library, and School Library Journal.
EVENT DATE AND TIME: Thursday, September 27, 2012, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET/10:00 AM – 11:00 PM PT

This archive is no longer available.

If you think that Rudyard Kipling’s Elephant’s Child was justly spanked for his “’satiable curtiosity” do NOT tune in to this webcast—because the informational books our panelists will be featuring are far and away more likely to stimulate that “curtiosity” in today’s young pachyderms than to punish it. For striking insights into some unsolved mysteries of the past and present, stunning glimpses of the animal world’s wonders, and a walloping view of the greatest rivalry in dinosaur studies ever, join us to “talk book” about Dona Herweck Rice’s Unsolved! History’s Mysteries (Teacher Created Materials), Barbara A. Somervill’s Ancient Maya (Scholastic), Super Nature Encyclopedia (DK), and Rebecca L. Johnson’s Battle Of The Dinosaur Bones: Othniel Charles Marsh Vs. Edward Drinker Cope (Lerner/21^st Century).

Panelists:

Terri Lynn Soutor – Vice President, Marketing & Digital Products, Lerner Publishing Group
Allie Singer – Assistant Managing Editor, DK Publishing
Jim Marshall – Director of Marketing, Scholastic Library Publishing
Kimberly Bernard – Academic Officer, Teacher Created Materials
Alexandra Sena – National Sales Director of Channel Sales, Shell Education/Teacher Created Materials

Moderator:

John Peters – reviewer, School Library Journal

Can’t make it on September 27? No problem! Register now and you will get an email reminder from School Library Journal post-live event when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Follow us on Twitter! @SLJEvent  #sljnonfic

By registering for this webcast, you are agreeing that School Library Journal may share your registration information with sponsors currently shown and future sponsors of this event. Click here to review the entire School Library Journal Privacy Policy.

EVENT DATE AND TIME: Thursday, March 1, 2012, 1:00 PM ET

Archive now available!

Looking to do some end of the school year reference buying? Come and hear about new nonfiction from ReferencePoint, ABDO, and Scholastic. The webcast will include series books, standalone titles, books for reports, and books for general-interest reading.

Among the titles highlighted will be Brian Selznick by Sheila Griffin Llanas (ABDO), Online Predator: Issues in the Digital Age by Carla Mooney from (ReferencePoint), and Peter Benoit’s The Statue of Liberty (Scholastic).

Presenters: 

Chris Nasso, Marketing Director, ReferencePoint Press
Chris Nasso is the marketing director for ReferencePoint Press, a company founded in 2007 to publish high-quality nonfiction titles for students in grades 6-12.

Before joining ReferencePoint Press, Chris served as the publisher of Greenhaven Press, Lucent Books, and KidHaven Press from 2006 through 2011. Prior to that, Chris worked at Gale (now part of Cengage Learning) for many years in the editorial area, and then in new product development where she conceptualized, created, and helped to market new print and electronic reference products designed for, variously, middle school, high school, and early college students.

Jim Marshall, Director of Marketing, Scholastic Library Publishing
Jim Marshall is the Director of Marketing for Scholastic Library Publishing. Jim’s been with Scholastic Library Publishing over ten years. He’s been a publishing marketing professional for the last 15 years. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children

Dan Verdick, Director of Marketing, ABDO Publishing
Dan Verdick is an author and library speaker whose had led sessions at district- and state-level meetings across the US, and been featured on the NBC Today Show and in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Dan is the Director of Marketing for educational publisher ABDO Publishing Group. He and his wife live in a suburb of Saint Paul with their two school-age readers.

Moderator
Trevelyn Jones, Book Review Editor, School Library Journal

Can’t make it on March 1? No problem! Register now and you will get an email reminder from School Library Journal post-live event when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Follow us on Twitter! @SLJEvent #sljnonfic

Archive expires Sept. 1

Archive now available!

The world around us is constantly changing and evolving; the same should be said of your nonfiction collection! The Egypt of one year ago no longer exists, new social networking tools have been created that complicate teen relationships more than ever, and movements like Occupy Wall Street have redefined activism. It is important for your students and young patrons to have the resources they need to research and understand the society in which they live as well as communities beyond their borders.

The Nonfiction Announcements Spring 2012 one hour webcast will include titles for grade levels three through 12, both in series and non-series formats.

Presenters:

Jonathan Strickland, Black Rabbit Books, Associate Publisher

Lindsay Matvick, Lerner Publishing Group, Senior Publicist

Mark Enslow, President, Enslow Publishers
Moderator:
Dodie Ownes, Editor, SLJTeen

Can’t make it on February 9? No problem! Register now and you will get an email reminder from School Library Journal post-live event when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Follow us on Twitter! @SLJEvent #sljspringbuzz

Archive expires Aug. 9