Korbey, H. (2013, July 12). How to get
kids hooked on nonfiction books this summer. [Web long comment.] Retrieved from
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/how-to-get-kids-hooked-on-nonfiction-books-this-summer/
Blogger Holly Korbey proposes that
nonfiction reading is as important, perhaps more important, than reading
fiction. One recent study by Publishers Weekly shows that children read four
times as much fiction as nonfiction. Children’s science writer Vicki Cobb wants to change the
imbalance. She strongly believes that children need to be exposed to more high
quality nonfiction books with Common Core connections and has created a
website, iNK THINK TANK, http://inkthinktank.com/, with
recommendations for grades K – 12.
While narrative fiction causes the
reader to look inward to self-discovery, nonfiction causes the reader to look
outward at the world at large. High quality writing, whether fiction or
nonfiction, uses dynamic literary devices that captivate the reader. The website
has many recommended books listed by grade level and cover science, biography,
poetry art, and other genres.
I agree that a well-written
nonfiction books is as fascinating as a fiction book. Nonfiction exposes
readers to ideas and investigates these experiences. Although, I am not
interested in science I am interested in other nonfiction ares such as
biographies, which the website does cover. The CCSS emphasizes nonfiction and
by 10th grade more reading for the curriculum will be nonfiction. This type of
reading may be more complex and the more exposure children have will ease their
introduction to a new area.
This was a wonderful article and summary. This concept is very timely in that Common Core focuses so heavily on nonfiction (especially for high schoolers).
ReplyDeleteThank you for introducing me to iNK THINK TANK. I love that they will arrange videoconferences with nonfiction authors. What a great resource!
I'm so glad I'm not in K-12 now. I love fiction and would be so unhappy with this nonfiction push.
ReplyDeleteI for one am excited to see the changes that common core and non fiction brings to the classroom. Last year when I started using more non fiction with my kindergartens I saw an amazing increase in expository writing. My students were excited and confident to use scientific vocabulary to describe experiences. Fiction is an important part of early education but perhaps it shouldn't be the only part.
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