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What's up with nonfiction?

March 28, 2007

Sue Shaver, one of our regular reviewers, writes that the use of nonfiction has declined in her library: "Personally, I am finding more and more that my high school students are not as curious about various topics as they used to be. There will be an occasional resurgence in interest for WWII at the junior high level, but even interest in non-fiction sports titles has fallen off. Whether this is just a reflection of our area [Nebraska] or a trend everywhere in schools, I’m interested in knowing....Students at the junior high level continue to read some non-fiction on their own and still lots of fiction, with high school students checking out fiction for our sustained silent reading school-wide program. Non-fiction is used only for research and then it seems teachers don’t even do as much of that as they used to."
 
I've been wondering myself about what's happening with nonfiction, and how the Internet is having an impact on collections and research. Our April issue features a piece ("Do Books Still Matter?") by regular SLJ contributor (and author and editor) Marc Aronson that considers the future of nonfiction. 

What can a good book do that a web site can't? A lot, according to Aronson: "But a book that conveys an author's judgement and passions--one that makes clear his or her particular vision, that goes beyond simple précis to provide in-depth analysis and exploration of a subject--offers something very different from a web site."

 

Posted by Brian Kenney on March 28, 2007 | Comments (1)