Kids Paying More Attention to Nonfiction
RSSBy Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 09/28/2009
Nonfiction is gaining more popularity with younger readers, according to the Children’s Choices Booklist—an annual list in which students read, critique, and vote for their favorite books.
“[Non-fiction] is very popular with reluctant readers,” says Stan Steiner of Boise State University’s Department of Literacy and chair of this year’s Children's Choices Booklist. “You read nonfiction a little differently, with pictures and a couple of captions first, and then for information. Quite a few made our list last year.”
Cosponsored by the International Reading Association (IRA) and the Children’s Book Council, a number of schools across the country are selected each year and their students are asked to rank their favorite titles submitted by publishers. Several thousand books have already arrived at 13 different K-12 schools, and students will answer questions about the books to determine which will make it to the top 30. Kindergarteners through sixth graders decide the children’s list, while seventh through twelfth graders determine the young adults’ list.
“It’s more the books that they like and they think other kids will like to read,” says Mary Cash, who has coordinated the program for IRA for the past 20 years.
As schools are chosen to participate in the three-week project, they get to keep all the books their students read, benefiting both classrooms and libraries.
“The kids are crazy excited,” says Lisa Morris-Wilkey, chair of this year’s Young Adults’ Choices Booklist, and a school librarian at Ironwood Elementary School in Casa Grande. AZ. “And so are entire communities—even school boards.”
Morris-Wilkey notes that while students get a kick out of having their opinions count, librarians and teachers also find the lists valuable, since there are often titles that educators have yet to hear of—but their students clearly love. Books chosen by children this year will be released at IRA’s annual conference next April in Chicago.
“This is an exciting time for young adult literature as there are so many outstanding titles being published,” says Morris-Wilkey. “And teachers are discovering that there are new titles that can be added to their more traditional literature offerings.”
