Exciting Kids About Non-Fiction
There’s a great scene in the movie Three Men and a Baby where actor Tom Selleck rocks the baby girl in his arms and gently reads aloud to her in a sweet voice. No, he does not read a fairy tale or other predictable bedtime story. He reads aloud a basketball story from the Sports page of the newspaper. “It doesn’t matter what I read,” he points out to a friend watching him read sweetly to the baby. “It just matters that I read like this (in a sweet voice).”
Selleck’s
character actually makes a really good point: reading aloud does not need to be
isolated to traditional storybook stories. Parents may also include a healthy
dose of nonfiction stories in their read-aloud rotation. In fact, since the
federal government’s recently mandated Common Core standards place a lot of
emphasis on nonfiction texts, parents who read nonfiction to their children can
help prepare them for the sounds of texts they will soon find prevalent in
their schools.
What Are the Types of
Nonfiction for Children?
Without
getting too technical, I have seen a lot of elementary classroom teachers
classify their nonfiction texts into four categories:
1. How-to Books: books that tell you how to
do things.
2. Informational Picture Storybooks: books
that sound like typical narrative stories but have factual information.
3. “All About” Books: books that give a lot
of information about a topic.
4. Question & Answer Books: books that
have a question and an answer.
Whatever type of nonfiction book
you choose, keep in mind the interests of your child as well as your child’s
reading capabilities.
How Do You Choose Nonfiction
Books for Children?
Interests. The most important thing for parents to consider when
selecting a nonfiction book – or any type of book, for that matter – for their
child is to choose a book that interests their child. Reading should always
revolve around the child’s interests. If your child likes dinosaurs, find lots
of dinosaur books. If your child wants to learn how to bake cupcakes, find
interesting baking cookbooks. I had one girl student who would read every book,
magazine or newspaper article she could get her hands on about swimming. She
was three years old and could not read the words, but she sat mesmerized by
photos of Janet Evans and Missy Franklin.
Pictures. Try to look for books with great photographs or
illustrations. Even if the book has few words, time spent in front of books is
quality time. I’ve seen children stare in awe at books about how skyscrapers
are made, books about freaky-looking reptiles and books about Presidents. Pages
over screens: more time spent in front of books means less time spent in front
of televisions and video games.
Accessibility. Make sure the texts of the books you choose are
appropriate for your child. Informational picture storybooks often deal with
detailed historical and technical information in an engaging and
age-appropriate way. In fact, I often recommend to adults to read as many
children’s books as they can to provide them the basic background knowledge
they need to understand certain subjects (I, personally, tend to read
children’s book biographies to see if particular figures are worth my reading
time at the adult level; it’s a good way to sound intelligent at cocktail
parties, too).
How Do I Read Nonfiction Books with My
Child?
Be prepared for even more
questioning from your child when reading nonfiction texts. One of the amazing
things about children as they look to us parents as authorities on everything.
While I like to consider myself well informed, I am not Google. So I try to
research topics a little bit before I read with my children so I can stay a few
steps ahead and seem somewhat competent in dealing with their questions.
Children are naturally curious
about a wide range of topics, and nonfiction offers children answers to many of
their questions, as well as pathways to many more questions. Probably the most
rewarding part about reading nonfiction texts with children is the interaction
between parent and child. While many storybook readings make for passive child
audiences, nonfiction rarely produces such an effect. Also, nonfiction often
deals with the “here and now.” I’ve seen many children enjoy talking about
newspaper and magazine articles with their parents.
So try out nonfiction, and do not
worry about not knowing everything. To your child, you are the wisest person on
the planet. After all, you were wise enough to spend time reading with your
child.
Danny Brassell, Ph.D., is “America’s Leading Reading Ambassador,”
helping parents and educators inspire kids to love reading and achieve more. He
is the author of 14 books, and he acted as the lead consultant for the Building
School-Home Relationships kits (Shell,
2012) that have been enthusiastically
adapted in school districts across the country. A father of three and professor in the Teacher Education Department at California
State University-Dominguez Hills, he is the founder of The Lazy Readers’ Book
Club, www.lazyreaders.com, Google’s #1-ranked site for cool, “short book
recommendations” for all ages. Watch video tips and learn more from
Danny at www.dannybrassell.com,
where you can check out his TEDx-Village Gate talk The Reading Makeover and download other free resources.
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