Chapter 10: Nonfiction: Biographies and Informational Books

Growing up I was never keen on nonfiction books. They existed on the side of the library I wouldn't dare explore unless it was required for my class. Nonfiction is easily stereotyped as a boring, informational book that consists of cold hard facts and nothing more interesting than an occasional picture of an animal and wordy text. I have learned through this class that this stereotype is stretched far from the truth. Nonfiction books consist of biographies and informational texts that pin point  the social and scientific world. This genre has come a long way from the poorly represented photographs that once appeared throughout nonfiction books, even receiving the Caldecott award three times.

These days children of all ages prefer to read nonfiction when given the opportunity over historical fiction, realistic fiction, and modern fantasy. Nonfiction offers many benefits to readers that every teacher should be aware of. Nonfiction addresses children's interests and questions, and builds knowledge of the natural and social world. Informational books consist of expository text structure which means to explain, inform, and describe. Most commonly these books are organized by the Dewey Decimal System to help organize the type of nonfiction book. Nonfiction books are a great way for students to learn informational facts about whatever they want to learn. This genre is great for students to build knowledge and questions off of about the natural and social world.