As you read the mentor essays in Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing, you’ll notice that, in some cases, professional writers start with a specific focus in mind. But for others, finding a focus is part of their creative process. In most cases, student writers will probably be in this second group. How can writers find a focus? One way is by asking questions. As you’ll discover in Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep, when I saw a Pinterest board with an incredible variety of seeds, I asked myself: “How does a seed’s external features contrib ..read more

Some of the most popular posts of all time on this blog are the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction book lists I first published in early 2018. When the book 5 Kinds of Nonfiction came out in 2021, it contained expanded, updated lists along with QR codes that readers could use to access additional titles sorted by category in the future. I've been updating these lists each year, but I just realized that I haven’t been announcing when the new lists are available. So today I’m providing a link to the page on my website where these lists live. You’ll find titles from 2023 as well as some older ..read more

Today I’m continuing to share strategies from the anthology Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing that students can use to choose topics they’re excited about for nonfiction writing projects. You can scroll down to read some of the earlier suggestions. One of the fifty authors who contributed an essay to Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep is Jess Keating. She also provided a fabulous idea-generating technique that she calls “One Amazing Thing.” Each morning, students draw an empty box in their writer’s notebook, write the words “One Amazing T ..read more

Rachel Carson considered herself a scientist first and a writer second. In fact, she often said that the natural world gave her something to write about. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been enamored with the wildlife and wild places since I was 8 years old, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have found a career that allows me to spend my days exploring the world around us and then sharing my new knowledge with kids. During school visits, students often ask me why I write nonfiction. And my answer is that while fiction writers enjoy inventing characters and creating worlds, for me, the ..read more

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been describing strategies from the anthology Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing that students can use to choose topics they’re excited about for nonfiction writing projects. You can scroll down to read these posts. But to create a list of possible topics—an Idea Incubator—students need to know how to recognize their personal interests. For some children, this is easy, but for others it can be a struggle. If your students need support developing a spirit of inquiry, I recommend using (or adapting ..read more

Back in October, I joined Bluesky, and it’s helped me connect to a whole new group of fabulous educators. One of them is K-5 teacher-librarian Christopher Hunt, who wrote today’s post. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Chris. Despite the fact that some prominent publications don’t acknowledge or review children’s nonfiction, it’s an absolute fact that #KidsLoveNonfiction. Anybody in the library world sees proof of it every day. Many student patrons only check out nonfiction, week after week. That’s why I make it my mission to purchase eye-catching nonfiction that looks fantastic on di ..read more

Last week, I began sharing some of the teaching strategies included in Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing. Today, I’m going to pick up where I left off by discussing how to help students make an assigned topic their own. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I always advocate for letting students write about topics that fascinate them. You might think that strategy is at odds with a teacher’s need to integrate language arts with content area instruction. But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s say your class is studying the A ..read more

How often do you read a book because it’s recommended by someone you know and trust? Students are no different. That’s why book talks are a great way to get students excited about books and reading. These 2- to 4- minute oral advertisements can make students aware of the wide range of books available in your classroom or library collection. Chances are you’ve done book talks to share your passion for fiction books, but have you ever tried this technique with nonfiction titles? If not, it’s time to give it a try. You can begin by sharing at least one book from each category in the 5 Kind ..read more

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As you read the essays in Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing, it will become clear that professional nonfiction authors choose topics that resonate deeply with them, often for reasons only they know. The ideas may trace back to childhood curiosity, a deeply held belief, or even a missed opportunity.  Even though students may not have enough life experience to fully understand their unique passions and perspectives the same way adult writers do, they can still learn strategies for choosing topics that are related to their person ..read more