November 21, 2024 • 28 mins
Open the gates to the golden age of nonfiction literature with Dr. Lisa Hassler and Melissa Taylor, founder of Imagination Soup, as they unravel the often-overlooked power of nonfiction books in education. Did you know that 84% of first graders show a preference for nonfiction, yet these books are not as prevalent as they should be in children's literature? Join us as we discuss the crucial role nonfiction plays in nurturing literacy skills in our information-laden world. Melissa shares her journey from teaching to becoming a curator of children's books, emphasizing the need for incorporating more nonfiction into both classrooms and homes to prepare children for future academic success.
Immerse yourself in the diverse world of nonfiction genres—ranging from browsable to narrative styles—and discover how they can enrich children's vocabulary and reading skills. We’ll discuss beloved titles like "Honey Bee" by Candace Fleming and explore how visual elements in these books enhance comprehension and visual literacy. Together, we celebrate the joy these books bring, encouraging both children and adults to dive into a world that satisfies curiosity and fosters knowledge-sharing. Plus, learn about the five kinds of nonfiction as we discuss why diversifying children's reading materials is vital for their development.
In a practical segment, we delve into strategies for educators and parents to seamlessly incorporate nonfiction into reading and writing education. Discover innovative activities like scavenger hunts for text features, and learn how nonfiction can transform writing instruction through mentor texts and modeling. We also highlight the importance of social reading experiences, such as book clubs and reading challenges, to motivate young readers. Don't miss out on Melissa’s curated list of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books for Kids, to kickstart your child’s nonfiction adventure! *2024 Best Holiday Toys and Gifts for Kids
💡 This episode is CPD accredited!
Educators can now earn Continuing Professional Development (CPD) minutes by listening. To claim your certificate:
- Listen to the full episode
- Visit https://thecpd.group/podcast
- Enter c
Great News! The Brighter Side of Education is now CPD Accredited!
Sponsored by Dr. Gregg Hassler Jr., DMD
Trusted dental care for healthy smiles and stronger communities—building brighter futures daily.
Head to the show notes to find if this episode is CPD eligible and details on how to claim your CPD certification!
Sponsored by Dr. Gregg Hassler Jr., DMD
Trusted dental care for healthy smiles and stronger communities—building brighter futures daily.
If you have a story about what's working in your schools that you'd like to share, email me at lisa@drlisahassler.com or visit www.drlisahassler.com. Subscribe, tell a friend, and consider becoming a supporter by clicking the link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2048018/support.
The music in this podcast was written and performed by Brandon Picciolini of the Lonesome Family
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (00:09):
Welcome to the brighter side of education,
research, innovation andresources.
I'm your host, Dr Lisa Hassler,here to enlighten and brighten
the classrooms in Americathrough focused conversation on
important topics in education.
In each episode, I discussproblems we as teachers and
parents are facing and whatpeople are doing in their
communities to fix it.
(00:29):
What are the variables and howcan we duplicate it to maximize
student outcomes?
Today, we're diving into theimportance of nonfiction books
in children's literature, atopic that's not just
fascinating but criticallyimportant for the future of our
young readers, especially in ourcurrent age of information
overload and widespreadmisinformation.
Did you know that, contrary topopular belief, many children
(00:52):
actually prefer nonfiction books?
A study published in theJournal of Literacy Research
found that a staggering 84% offirst graders, both boys and
girls, chose nonfiction whengiven the option.
This preference, however, isn'treflected in what's typically
offered to children.
In fact, nonfiction booksaccount for only 24 percent of
(01:13):
children's books sold.
The National Council ofTeachers of English notes that
many adults, including educators, tend to select fiction when
sharing books with children.
This disconnection between whatchildren want to read and what
they're often given is a missedopportunity in literacy
education.
Importantly, for some children,nonfiction is more than just
(01:35):
informative.
It's a gateway to literacyitself.
Researchers point out that theinformational text can be the
key that unlocks reading forsome young readers, emphasizing
that nonfiction serves as aportal to knowledge, sparking
curiosity and fueling a sense ofwonder in young minds.
Moreover, nonfiction does morethan just communicate facts.
(01:55):
In today's world, wheremisinformation runs rampant,
nonfiction plays a crucial rolein developing 21st century
skills.
It helps children becomecritically and informationally
literate, offering multipleperspectives on events, sharing
scientific discoveries andaddressing complex societal
issues.
Joining me today to shareinsights on the value of
(02:16):
nonfiction in children'sliteracy and offer tips for
engaging young readers isMelissa Taylor.
Melissa is the founder andeditor of Imagination Soup, the
popular education based websiteand blog that was selected as
the best blog by PBS Kids andScholastic Parent and Child
magazine.
Melissa, a former teacher andliteracy trainer, now freelances
(02:36):
for publications like Penguin,Random Houses, Brightly and USA
Today Health.
Her goal is to make life easierby sharing the best children's
books and resources to hookchildren on reading and learning
.
Recently, she's partnered withNational Geographic Kids Books
to highlight how nonfictionreading boosts academic success
and lifelong learning.
Welcome, Melissa, it's sowonderful for you to join us
(02:59):
today.
Melissa Taylor (03:01):
Thank you so much for having me, lisa.
I'm excited to talk about myfavorite thing reading.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (03:06):
Me too.
So now you had a diverse careerin education, from teaching to
creating Imagination Soup.
Can you tell us about yourjourney and what Imagination
Soup offers to parents andeducators?
Melissa Taylor (03:18):
Sure, yes, I was a teacher and a literacy
trainer until I had my kids, andthen I decided to leave the
classroom and become a freelancewriter and I was also teaching
writing workshops for kids outof my home.
And that was back in 2009 whenblogging was just a new thing
and one of my entrepreneurgroups said hey, there's this
(03:39):
new thing called blogging.
You should start it.
And that's how I startedImagination Soup.
And it started out when my kidswere little.
So I was doing more children'slearning activities because of
my teaching background and thenit sort of morphed into only
children's book reviews as mykids aged out.
And really it's this idea thatone of my superpowers is reading
(03:59):
fast.
So I hope that I can save timeto my audience, who is parents,
grandparents, teachers andlibrarians, that I can read all
the books and curate the bestones so that they can easily
find what is recommended andalready previewed and I can tell
people like this is reallyre-readable, this is really kid
(04:20):
appropriate and they can trustthat.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (04:22):
Yeah, I've seen some of your lists that
you've compiled.
One of them I love is the listof character costume books.
Got some great fall book listsand they go by genre, the age
grade level.
Those are some fun lists, Thankyou.
In your recent article withNational Geographic for Kids,
you emphasize the importance ofnonfiction in a child's reading
diet.
(04:42):
So how does this exposure tononfiction contribute to the
overall literacy development andwhy is it often
underrepresented in classroomsand homes?
Melissa Taylor (04:51):
do you think so many things to unpack there.
So it's really interesting howmost classrooms that they've
surveyed in the research hasmaybe 20% nonfiction books and
kids love nonfiction and it'sreally important to have access
to the nonfiction books becauseas they go through the grades as
(05:12):
you know, being a formerteacher they are going to need
to comprehend nonfictionprimarily, especially in middle
school and high school, as wellas they do fiction.
And when I was teaching fifthgrade and I would do my
assessments a couple times ayear my students regularly
tested at least a grade levelbelow on nonfiction and part of
that was just exposure andpractice.
(05:33):
So Common Core is evenemphasizing it now, saying that
kids really need to be reading50% of the time in nonfiction,
or they call it informationaltexts, so that they can read for
information, and it's adifferent kind of reading, but
it's so important that kids haveaccess and exposure and direct
instruction with nonfictiontexts right.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (05:53):
Absolutely and being able to digest, so that
overall literacy development,just being able to have the
fluency in knowing how to unpacka nonfiction text, you know
when it comes to looking at thetable of contents and the index
and how do you know yourheadings, and so being able to
kind of take those bits apartand digest it into manageable
(06:15):
chunks of information, becausesometimes we get a cognitive
overload with too muchinformation If they're thinking
they need to read it from coverto cover in one sitting and not
realizing that with nonfictionwe often have the wonderful
ability to browse, so it's agreat way to get kids hooked
into what it is they're alreadyinterested in.
Melissa Taylor (06:35):
Yeah, it just engages that natural curiosity
that children already have.
They're curious about the worldand hopefully we can build on
that.
So then they're also connectingit to their reading life and
then when they read about whalesthey're building their
background knowledge so thatwhenever they read more about
whales in their life they'llhave somewhere to put that.
Because they have that schemaThey've built that background
(06:56):
knowledge whether they'rereading about a fiction story or
a nonfiction story that has awhale in it.
I think that's so important.
We often forget that we can'tmake sense of information if we
don't have any backgroundknowledge in it.
I would never be able tocomprehend a physics textbook,
for example, because I have noclue about that, or cars.
So I always give the example ofwhen I taught bilingual four or
(07:16):
five and there was a readingpassage, a state assessment was
about spelunking and there wasno chance they were going to be
able to comprehend that becausethey had no schema about that.
So we do really want to buildthat to that vocabulary.
That nonfiction builds thebackground knowledge that I
think even for our youngerlearners they can understand,
really have more sustained,complex pretend play if we've
(07:39):
been reading nonfiction to them.
So if they're playing aveterinarian and we've
introduced some nonfiction books, maybe even a video, and they
know about veterinarians, theyknow the vocabulary that goes
with it, then their play isgoing to be elevated.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (07:53):
Yeah, definitely, because they're
going to say this is what theywould look like, this is the
words they would use, these arethe tools they would use, this
is the actions that they woulddo the job.
And when you think about thescience of reading, it has to do
with building vocabulary toincrease comprehension.
What you were talking about isif you give a child a passage
and you want to talk aboutsplunking, but they've never
(08:13):
heard of it before, it's a gapin their knowledge.
But if nonfiction text had moreavailability instead of this
small percentage that is oftenin our homes, in our classrooms,
then they would have a widerknowledge to comprehend more
texts.
I did some tests with my kids Idon't know if it was Terranova
or something like that and onewas what is this child doing?
(08:33):
It was a little kid bendingover by a cat carrier and the
child has his little hand by him.
Like you know, come to me kindof a thing.
If you were imagining that.
And the word was coax.
I don't know any seven-year-oldthat's going to get coax out of
that picture.
Where is this word coming from?
And steep, oh, they had ateabag in a cup and I'm like,
(08:55):
once again, unless their grandmaor their mom or someone is
really enjoying the teabags.
They're not going to know thatthat was so unrealistic.
So this vocabulary base comeswith being exposed to it, and I
think that when adults think ofchildren, we think of fantasy.
We think that nonfiction isgoing to be not as engaging.
(09:16):
However, the National EducationAssociation is calling this
time, right now, golden age fornonfiction.
There's been an evolution whenit comes to how nonfictions have
been rolled out recently.
As someone who reviews hundredsof books monthly, what trends
are you seeing now in children'snonfiction publishing, and how
have the books evolved to engageyoung readers?
Melissa Taylor (09:38):
That's such a good question.
I remember back when I wasteaching struggling to even find
books that were comprehensibleto those primary readers, those
first, second, third graders.
And now there's a wealth ofthose books, so they're skewing
for early readers.
They can read them.
Of course National Geographichas the best ones, but also I'm
seeing an overabundance ofbiographies.
(09:59):
There's a lot of biographies.
But the cool thing that I liketoo is that we're seeing graphic
novels that are nonfiction.
There's history comics andthere's science comics and those
series are so engaging to read.
They're sort of a blend ofinformational fiction and
nonfiction, because you'll havelike a main character.
I think there's one about bats.
That's a science comic that thebat is the narrator, so it's
(10:22):
giving you some of that feel,sort of a little story arc while
conveying information.
So those are really fun.
I love seeing that.
And Survival Scouts is anotherone that's a main character.
That's a girl, but she's goingthrough these.
The last one this year, I think, was about a tsunami and you
learn all about tsunamis throughthis character's experience,
(10:44):
which is really a fun way toconvey information and it feels
familiar to kids because of thatstory arc.
But it's also nonfictionelements too.
So I'm really happy to see thattrend.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (10:56):
Yeah, I think that's a big difference.
When you think about the waythat we had grown up with
nonfiction texts, it was verydifferent.
My son, for instance he's 32.
So this is kind of a while ago.
But he was young, maybe nine orso, and we had gone to some
garage sale and he gravitatedtoward this giant dictionary.
I mean, it was huge.
This thing had to be like 10inches thick at least and it was
(11:19):
really old.
The top cover wasn't even on itand when you looked at the new
words for the year that they hadjust added, airplane was in it.
And he loved this dictionary somuch he slept with it, and that
to me, is a very traditionalnonfiction type of a book.
It's alphabetized words.
If you get a little sketch hereand there, it's really exciting
.
If you got a color picture, wow, that one really is going to
(11:40):
pop out at you.
So this new way is much moreengaging and National Geographic
has always done a great jobwith that.
You've highlighted the NationalGeographic Kids Almanac as a
top resource, so can you explainwhat makes it particularly
effective and how educators andparents can leverage these kinds
of nonfiction resources tobuild reading skills?
Melissa Taylor (12:01):
For sure.
I mean, the Almanac is one ofthe best books that a family can
have, because you get a hugebang for your buck it's $15.99.
So it's really affordable.
And there's almost a page forevery day of the year.
And it just has this wealth ofdiverse information.
It has photographs that engagereaders.
There's exposures to so manykinds of knowledge maps,
(12:22):
infographics, cartoons and avariety of expository formats
that you'll find in other books.
But it's browsable, as MelissaStewart calls it.
You don't have to read it coverto cover.
You can flip to any page andstart reading, which is so
appealing to many kids.
That was my oldest daughter'spreference.
She loved the Almanac and theWeird but True books because she
could just flip to a page,start reading and then she would
(12:43):
tell us all the facts that shelearned, which was so amazing.
It has interactive elements,which are fun.
It has jokes and riddles,quizzes and activities.
And then I just think thedesign, from an overall
perspective of design, is reallysupportive for reading
comprehension because it hasthose nonfiction text features
that you'll see in other booksbut maybe not as pretty.
(13:05):
So there are headers, there'scaptions, there's lists, and it
really helps support readers,make sense of the information
that they're reading.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (13:12):
Yeah, when you are able to put into words what
you've read and share thatknowledge with others, then you
are putting that more into yourlong-term memory and so you're
storing that once you share that.
So that's why those discussionsand the conversations are so
important to have.
Do you have any favoritenonfiction books, like any
family favorites, or one that'spopping out to you, just
(13:34):
wondering?
Melissa Taylor (13:35):
Oh my goodness, there's so many, it depends.
I have to classify them.
It's like picking your favoritekid.
I think I love the lyricalnonfiction books.
One of my favorites is HoneyBee.
It's written by Candace Fleming.
The writing in it is sobeautiful you can use it as a
mentor text to teach almostanything, including figurative
language and story arc.
(13:55):
I love some of the historical.
There's a new one calledEvidence and it's about a
scientist who figured out wherecholera was spreading in London
in Victorian time, by DeborahHopkinson, and that is so
beautiful to read.
I also love the Almanac becauseI'm always learning new things.
I just learned that the largestsnowflake was 15 inches wide
(14:17):
and also I have follow-upquestions about how they figured
that out.
So I do have a nonfiction booklist divided by grade and age on
my website to kind of helpsteer educators and parents and
grandparents who are looking tosay which are appropriate for my
reader, so hopefully that canhelp.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (14:35):
Definitely, and there's different genres of
nonfiction right.
So, beyond the traditional,what other kinds of genres are
out there?
Melissa Taylor (14:42):
Oh so, Melissa Stewart, are you talking about
Melissa Stewart's five kinds ofnonfiction?
Yeah, yeah, Melissa Stewart,she was a fabulous writer.
Anything she writes is amazing.
She took a year off to do someresearch and kind of categorize
nonfiction and she found thatthere's browsable, so that's
those almanac type short textblocks, captions, really
digestible chunks that'simportant to have access to.
(15:03):
There's active nonfiction whichis craft books or cookbooks,
something like that where you'redoing and learning something
which totally counts.
I mean, if you're readinganything cooking, you're
following craft sequentialdirections.
It's a really important thingto consider.
Traditional, which is a topicalmaybe dogs or cat books that you
have, cars, Expository is thattopical?
(15:25):
But it's more focused in anarrow niche and probably with
more writing.
Craft lyricism, more specific.
So it's maybe about animalhomes and it's this beautifully
written, really focusing on thelanguage and the vivid verbs.
And then the last one isnarrative.
So that's a nonfiction bookthat's written like a story,
(15:45):
that has characters and dialogue.
You often see that withbiographies.
I think if you can expose kidsto all of those things, then
you're winning.
Same with us as adults we readmemoir and then we'll read a
maybe more traditional topicalbook.
We want to have that exposurefor our kids, because that'll
set them up for success.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (16:02):
Yeah, that can leverage the reading skills If
you've got a curious kid andthey want to know all about
plants or trains.
So all that building ofvocabulary, but actually
elevating and bringing up theirreading level as well and
exposing them to words that theynever would have on a reading
list.
They're not going to have thatbasal reader because it's not
(16:22):
going to be along those lines of.
This is grade level words, butthose ones that kind of pop out
at you something likephotosynthesis in a
kindergartner's mouth and you'dsay, well, it's a big word and
they probably won't be able tobreak it up.
It's multisyllabic, and yet itbecomes fun for them to know
those big words and to sharethat knowledge, like you were
talking about, to surprise theirgrandma.
(16:43):
And the parents get so proudwhen they can say the big words
when they're little because theysound so smart.
And then we're all so proud ofour kids, like, look at this,
they know all about trains.
Melissa Taylor (16:53):
Tell them about the engine, it's amazing it's
like the dinosaurs that theyknow, all these dinosaurs that I
can't even pronounce.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (16:59):
Yes, yes.
Melissa Taylor (17:00):
It can be experts.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (17:01):
Definitely so.
How does increased the use ofthe visual elements in these
nonfiction books support visualliteracy, and why is that so
important in today's world?
Melissa Taylor (17:11):
It really supports comprehension.
So it also supports determiningwhat's important, which is
really an important readingstrategy when you're thinking
about helping kids figure outhow to summarize eventually, if
they can use the visual elementsto decide what's important and
what's interesting.
I think so many kids,especially in the elementary
grades, really struggle withthat and I've always found that
(17:32):
some kids are sort of naturalretailers and natural
summarizers.
So if you ask what somethingwas about, you may get a one
short sentence that's greatsummary or a monologue for two
hours about every single detailin the book.
So the visual elements canreally help them go.
Okay, so this is about theEiffel Tower and that's a
structure in France.
Instead of like did you know,the Eiffel Tower has a hidden
(17:54):
apartment and it's totallyInteresting but not important,
right, right.
So I like that for the visuals.
I think it also just helps themmake sense of, cognitively, how
to structure the information.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (18:07):
Definitely Children having reading
disabilities or children thatdon't speak fluent English.
Those images within the textmakes a little bridge that
allows you to improve thecomprehension on topic.
Melissa Taylor (18:20):
Yes, Then you have that picture in your head.
I had a little girl who wasfrom a very severe poverty
situation and she didn't knowthe word butterfly in English or
Spanish.
But once we figured that outshe didn't know what she was
reading about.
We showed her a picture andthen we could help match write
the word with the picture.
Then she could visualize it,Then she could comprehend what
she was reading.
(18:40):
She was five.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (18:41):
So it just improves that visual literacy,
and we see it all over thedifferent types of maps that you
see when you go to a park,you're on a bus and they're
going to have a diagram, maybe,of the route.
So being able to see thosedifferent images within the text
of a nonfiction book helpsprepare them for also what
they're going to encounter inthe real world when they're
(19:02):
outside of the classroom.
But nonfiction isn't just forreading, though.
It's crucial for writinginstruction.
So how can educators usenonfiction literature to support
and inspire young writers, andcan you share some strategies
for incorporating nonfictioninto writing lessons?
Melissa Taylor (19:20):
I love using nonfiction, like I mentioned
with Honey Bee by CandiceFleming.
I use that a lot so that I evenas a mentor text for fiction
writing, because you can studycraft moves with a book like
that, because her word choiceand her figurative language are
two things that you can pull outand study as a mentor text
because it's incredible.
And then if you're reading alot of nonfiction too, it sparks
(19:43):
curiosity.
So then that could lead toresearch on a nonfiction topic,
which is really cool.
But then using text structureto help kids understand their
own writing, so that if you'regoing to do compare and contrast
writing, you'll want to use amentor text.
That's a compare and contrastmentor text, that's a nonfiction
one.
And I always say you've got amodel scaffold instruction and
(20:07):
then provide that guidedinstruction.
So if you are teaching whateveryou're teaching in nonfiction
writing or any other integratedcurriculums, you just always
want to make sure you use a goodmentor text.
You're modeling writing outloud.
So that's one thing that youthink allows that you can be
thinking about how your brain ismoving through the writing
(20:27):
process, showing kids how thatlooks for you so that they can
learn from you, and I thinkthat's really a crucial step
that a lot of teachers forget,that we can't just assign them
here.
Go write an animal report wehave.
Every single step of the wayneeds to be modeled and guided
of.
Here's how I take this passageand write a note, and here's how
(20:47):
I turn it into my own words.
And now here's how I'm going towrite a sentence about it.
And then we scaffold it.
Then we give them that guidedindependent practice.
So whatever we're teaching,that's the most important thing.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (21:01):
Yeah, when it comes to delivering that
informative paragraph, if theyhave the knowledge because
they've read the facts in anengaging way, then they're ready
to share it because they'reexcited about it and they
already know it and they're notsearching for all of this
because they already have somelittle base and so it makes it a
more natural way of telling ifthey're able to have that
(21:22):
vocabulary, have those goodmodels, like you were saying,
with the texts, and then come totheir voice a little bit better
.
So do you have any tips forteaching children how to use
those text features effectively?
Melissa Taylor (21:34):
Sure, I think, like I said, with writing you're
going to model everything andthen you practice.
So I think it's fun to doscavenger hunts, see if you can
find table of contents, whatbooks have the table of contents
, what books have index and whatbooks don't.
And with a dictionary we dodictionary races.
So can you find the headerwords for the word caption, that
(21:55):
kind of thing?
Just kind of make it playfuland fun, but remember to
scaffold it so you're notteaching every single text
structure all in one day, you'rejust doing it little by little
so that they learn what aninfographic is.
Find an infographic let's share.
Let's talk about it.
How did it change yourcomprehension of the information
?
If it did, where's the captions?
(22:16):
Did it have a caption?
Where's the bolded words?
And so you just want to makesure you're again modeling
scaffolding practice, guided andindependent.
Just kind of make it as playfulas you can.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (22:27):
Those are wonderful.
Do you have more ideas or gameson your website as well?
Melissa Taylor (22:31):
I have some.
I have some scavenger hunts.
I have some bingos.
I do have a few, yeah.
Oh fun and usually they're freeprintables and you can download
them.
I have for Scavenger, hunt andnonfiction and picture books and
there's different bingo onesfor summer reading and that kind
of thing.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (22:51):
And you also have some publications like book
clubs for kids and readingchallenges for kids.
So how do those resourcescomplement your work in
promoting children's literacy?
Melissa Taylor (22:56):
I find that so many kids are motivated by
different things.
So my oldest daughter reallystruggled to read.
She didn't like it, and one ofthe things that worked for me
with her was making readingsocial.
So that's why we started a bookclub when she was in second
grade a mom and daughter bookclub and it really helped
motivate her because then shecould hang out with her friends
(23:17):
and it was fun and she saw herfriends really enjoying the book
.
So that's why I made the bookclub resource.
But I saw that with my ownstudents also.
And then the reading challenges.
Like I'm not a person who likesa reading challenge per se
because I don't know why, but alot of people do.
So that's like if it motivatesyou and that helps you, then
that's why I provide it, becauseI'm just trying to give people
(23:38):
a variety of choices to supportthe goal, which is helping kids
love reading and becomeproficient readers.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (23:45):
Yeah, and then those are available on your
website as well.
Yes, so parents can just gothere and then download it.
Would they download it andprint it?
Correct, awesome, yes, allright.
So, as we end our conversation,what advice would you give to
parents and educators who wantto incorporate more nonfiction
into their children's readingroutines?
Melissa Taylor (24:03):
I think, access.
So make sure that you'reproviding nonfiction books.
You don't have to buy them.
You can go to the library andjust check out as many
nonfiction books as you can Buythe Almanac, because that's like
almost 365 pages.
That'll keep you busy for awhile.
Remember to include nonfictionin your read-alouds.
A lot of times when we do that,by the time we read aloud with
(24:25):
our kids, that's so special.
We only use fiction books, butit can be nonfiction too, so
don't forget that.
And I also think it's reallyimportant to model that you're
reading nonfiction and sharingyour enthusiasm about what
you're learning, just like yourkids would about.
The snowflake is 15 inches wide, whoa, yeah, so that counts for
a lot.
Kids are learning from ourbehavior.
(24:46):
Right, we're, they're readingand maybe we're reading too.
I always used to excuse not toclean my house, but, like I
would say, I'm a being a goodreading role model.
So those are some easy ways toincorporate nonfiction and also
leave around books in your house.
It kind of looks messy, but forsome reason, if I would leave
stacks of books around my houseintentionally, my kids would
(25:10):
just pick them up and startreading.
It was really cool.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (25:14):
You know, I think that that's really good
advice, because when we thinkabout books that are neatly put
away on bookshelves right, howoften are they going to pull out
each one of those books?
And even when you go to alibrary, the ones that are
sitting displayed on the top ofthe shelf, those ones because
you can now see the cover becomemore appealing.
So it's just being able to seeit.
(25:34):
It's like, oh, it's out of thestack, look at that, it looks
like a fun book.
I can't wait to open it up andflip through it and then, next
thing you know, they're sittingthere reading it.
So, yeah, being able to havethem out so they could see the
covers, I think.
And those nonfiction books havegotten so engaging.
Those covers are so bright andvivid and beautiful.
Yes, how can they go toImagination Soup?
Melissa Tayl (25:56):
ImaginationSoupnet and on social media.
I'm at Imagination Soup.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (26:05):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, Melissa, to discuss
the many benefits of nonfictionreading for children.
Melissa Taylor (26:07):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (26:12):
I hope today's discussion has inspired you to
take a fresh look at nonfictionin children's literacy.
Now, to put these insights intoaction, diversify your child's
bookshelf with engagingnonfiction books.
Follow your child's curiosityto find nonfiction books on
topics they love and incorporatenonfiction into writing
activities.
And if you don't know where tostart, check out Imagination
(26:33):
Soup's website for Melissa's 100Best Nonfiction Books for Kids
recommendations.
By embracing nonfiction, we'renot just fostering literacy
skills.
We're nurturing curiosity,critical thinking and preparing
the next generation to beinformed thinkers ready to
tackle the complex issues of ourworld.
If you have a story aboutwhat's working in your schools
that you'd like to share, youcan email me at lisa at
(27:14):
drlisahasslercom or visit mywebsite at wwwdrlisahasslercom.
Thank you.
In the show notes, it is themission of this podcast to shine
light on the good in educationso that it spreads, affecting
positive change.
So let's keep working togetherto find solutions that focus on
our children's success.
Welcome to the brighter side of education,
research, innovation andresources.
I'm your host, Dr Lisa Hassler,here to enlighten and brighten
the classrooms in Americathrough focused conversation on
important topics in education.
In each episode, I discussproblems we as teachers and
parents are facing and whatpeople are doing in their
communities to fix it.
(00:29):
What are the variables and howcan we duplicate it to maximize
student outcomes?
Today, we're diving into theimportance of nonfiction books
in children's literature, atopic that's not just
fascinating but criticallyimportant for the future of our
young readers, especially in ourcurrent age of information
overload and widespreadmisinformation.
Did you know that, contrary topopular belief, many children
(00:52):
actually prefer nonfiction books?
A study published in theJournal of Literacy Research
found that a staggering 84% offirst graders, both boys and
girls, chose nonfiction whengiven the option.
This preference, however, isn'treflected in what's typically
offered to children.
In fact, nonfiction booksaccount for only 24 percent of
(01:13):
children's books sold.
The National Council ofTeachers of English notes that
many adults, including educators, tend to select fiction when
sharing books with children.
This disconnection between whatchildren want to read and what
they're often given is a missedopportunity in literacy
education.
Importantly, for some children,nonfiction is more than just
(01:35):
informative.
It's a gateway to literacyitself.
Researchers point out that theinformational text can be the
key that unlocks reading forsome young readers, emphasizing
that nonfiction serves as aportal to knowledge, sparking
curiosity and fueling a sense ofwonder in young minds.
Moreover, nonfiction does morethan just communicate facts.
(01:55):
In today's world, wheremisinformation runs rampant,
nonfiction plays a crucial rolein developing 21st century
skills.
It helps children becomecritically and informationally
literate, offering multipleperspectives on events, sharing
scientific discoveries andaddressing complex societal
issues.
Joining me today to shareinsights on the value of
(02:16):
nonfiction in children'sliteracy and offer tips for
engaging young readers isMelissa Taylor.
Melissa is the founder andeditor of Imagination Soup, the
popular education based websiteand blog that was selected as
the best blog by PBS Kids andScholastic Parent and Child
magazine.
Melissa, a former teacher andliteracy trainer, now freelances
(02:36):
for publications like Penguin,Random Houses, Brightly and USA
Today Health.
Her goal is to make life easierby sharing the best children's
books and resources to hookchildren on reading and learning
.
Recently, she's partnered withNational Geographic Kids Books
to highlight how nonfictionreading boosts academic success
and lifelong learning.
Welcome, Melissa, it's sowonderful for you to join us
(02:59):
today.
Melissa Taylor (03:01):
Thank you so much for having me, lisa.
I'm excited to talk about myfavorite thing reading.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (03:06):
Me too.
So now you had a diverse careerin education, from teaching to
creating Imagination Soup.
Can you tell us about yourjourney and what Imagination
Soup offers to parents andeducators?
Melissa Taylor (03:18):
Sure, yes, I was a teacher and a literacy
trainer until I had my kids, andthen I decided to leave the
classroom and become a freelancewriter and I was also teaching
writing workshops for kids outof my home.
And that was back in 2009 whenblogging was just a new thing
and one of my entrepreneurgroups said hey, there's this
(03:39):
new thing called blogging.
You should start it.
And that's how I startedImagination Soup.
And it started out when my kidswere little.
So I was doing more children'slearning activities because of
my teaching background and thenit sort of morphed into only
children's book reviews as mykids aged out.
And really it's this idea thatone of my superpowers is reading
(03:59):
fast.
So I hope that I can save timeto my audience, who is parents,
grandparents, teachers andlibrarians, that I can read all
the books and curate the bestones so that they can easily
find what is recommended andalready previewed and I can tell
people like this is reallyre-readable, this is really kid
(04:20):
appropriate and they can trustthat.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (04:22):
Yeah, I've seen some of your lists that
you've compiled.
One of them I love is the listof character costume books.
Got some great fall book listsand they go by genre, the age
grade level.
Those are some fun lists, Thankyou.
In your recent article withNational Geographic for Kids,
you emphasize the importance ofnonfiction in a child's reading
diet.
(04:42):
So how does this exposure tononfiction contribute to the
overall literacy development andwhy is it often
underrepresented in classroomsand homes?
Melissa Taylor (04:51):
do you think so many things to unpack there.
So it's really interesting howmost classrooms that they've
surveyed in the research hasmaybe 20% nonfiction books and
kids love nonfiction and it'sreally important to have access
to the nonfiction books becauseas they go through the grades as
(05:12):
you know, being a formerteacher they are going to need
to comprehend nonfictionprimarily, especially in middle
school and high school, as wellas they do fiction.
And when I was teaching fifthgrade and I would do my
assessments a couple times ayear my students regularly
tested at least a grade levelbelow on nonfiction and part of
that was just exposure andpractice.
(05:33):
So Common Core is evenemphasizing it now, saying that
kids really need to be reading50% of the time in nonfiction,
or they call it informationaltexts, so that they can read for
information, and it's adifferent kind of reading, but
it's so important that kids haveaccess and exposure and direct
instruction with nonfictiontexts right.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (05:53):
Absolutely and being able to digest, so that
overall literacy development,just being able to have the
fluency in knowing how to unpacka nonfiction text, you know
when it comes to looking at thetable of contents and the index
and how do you know yourheadings, and so being able to
kind of take those bits apartand digest it into manageable
(06:15):
chunks of information, becausesometimes we get a cognitive
overload with too muchinformation If they're thinking
they need to read it from coverto cover in one sitting and not
realizing that with nonfictionwe often have the wonderful
ability to browse, so it's agreat way to get kids hooked
into what it is they're alreadyinterested in.
Melissa Taylor (06:35):
Yeah, it just engages that natural curiosity
that children already have.
They're curious about the worldand hopefully we can build on
that.
So then they're also connectingit to their reading life and
then when they read about whalesthey're building their
background knowledge so thatwhenever they read more about
whales in their life they'llhave somewhere to put that.
Because they have that schemaThey've built that background
(06:56):
knowledge whether they'rereading about a fiction story or
a nonfiction story that has awhale in it.
I think that's so important.
We often forget that we can'tmake sense of information if we
don't have any backgroundknowledge in it.
I would never be able tocomprehend a physics textbook,
for example, because I have noclue about that, or cars.
So I always give the example ofwhen I taught bilingual four or
(07:16):
five and there was a readingpassage, a state assessment was
about spelunking and there wasno chance they were going to be
able to comprehend that becausethey had no schema about that.
So we do really want to buildthat to that vocabulary.
That nonfiction builds thebackground knowledge that I
think even for our youngerlearners they can understand,
really have more sustained,complex pretend play if we've
(07:39):
been reading nonfiction to them.
So if they're playing aveterinarian and we've
introduced some nonfiction books, maybe even a video, and they
know about veterinarians, theyknow the vocabulary that goes
with it, then their play isgoing to be elevated.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (07:53):
Yeah, definitely, because they're
going to say this is what theywould look like, this is the
words they would use, these arethe tools they would use, this
is the actions that they woulddo the job.
And when you think about thescience of reading, it has to do
with building vocabulary toincrease comprehension.
What you were talking about isif you give a child a passage
and you want to talk aboutsplunking, but they've never
(08:13):
heard of it before, it's a gapin their knowledge.
But if nonfiction text had moreavailability instead of this
small percentage that is oftenin our homes, in our classrooms,
then they would have a widerknowledge to comprehend more
texts.
I did some tests with my kids Idon't know if it was Terranova
or something like that and onewas what is this child doing?
(08:33):
It was a little kid bendingover by a cat carrier and the
child has his little hand by him.
Like you know, come to me kindof a thing.
If you were imagining that.
And the word was coax.
I don't know any seven-year-oldthat's going to get coax out of
that picture.
Where is this word coming from?
And steep, oh, they had ateabag in a cup and I'm like,
(08:55):
once again, unless their grandmaor their mom or someone is
really enjoying the teabags.
They're not going to know thatthat was so unrealistic.
So this vocabulary base comeswith being exposed to it, and I
think that when adults think ofchildren, we think of fantasy.
We think that nonfiction isgoing to be not as engaging.
(09:16):
However, the National EducationAssociation is calling this
time, right now, golden age fornonfiction.
There's been an evolution whenit comes to how nonfictions have
been rolled out recently.
As someone who reviews hundredsof books monthly, what trends
are you seeing now in children'snonfiction publishing, and how
have the books evolved to engageyoung readers?
Melissa Taylor (09:38):
That's such a good question.
I remember back when I wasteaching struggling to even find
books that were comprehensibleto those primary readers, those
first, second, third graders.
And now there's a wealth ofthose books, so they're skewing
for early readers.
They can read them.
Of course National Geographichas the best ones, but also I'm
seeing an overabundance ofbiographies.
(09:59):
There's a lot of biographies.
But the cool thing that I liketoo is that we're seeing graphic
novels that are nonfiction.
There's history comics andthere's science comics and those
series are so engaging to read.
They're sort of a blend ofinformational fiction and
nonfiction, because you'll havelike a main character.
I think there's one about bats.
That's a science comic that thebat is the narrator, so it's
(10:22):
giving you some of that feel,sort of a little story arc while
conveying information.
So those are really fun.
I love seeing that.
And Survival Scouts is anotherone that's a main character.
That's a girl, but she's goingthrough these.
The last one this year, I think, was about a tsunami and you
learn all about tsunamis throughthis character's experience,
(10:44):
which is really a fun way toconvey information and it feels
familiar to kids because of thatstory arc.
But it's also nonfictionelements too.
So I'm really happy to see thattrend.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (10:56):
Yeah, I think that's a big difference.
When you think about the waythat we had grown up with
nonfiction texts, it was verydifferent.
My son, for instance he's 32.
So this is kind of a while ago.
But he was young, maybe nine orso, and we had gone to some
garage sale and he gravitatedtoward this giant dictionary.
I mean, it was huge.
This thing had to be like 10inches thick at least and it was
(11:19):
really old.
The top cover wasn't even on itand when you looked at the new
words for the year that they hadjust added, airplane was in it.
And he loved this dictionary somuch he slept with it, and that
to me, is a very traditionalnonfiction type of a book.
It's alphabetized words.
If you get a little sketch hereand there, it's really exciting
.
If you got a color picture, wow, that one really is going to
(11:40):
pop out at you.
So this new way is much moreengaging and National Geographic
has always done a great jobwith that.
You've highlighted the NationalGeographic Kids Almanac as a
top resource, so can you explainwhat makes it particularly
effective and how educators andparents can leverage these kinds
of nonfiction resources tobuild reading skills?
Melissa Taylor (12:01):
For sure.
I mean, the Almanac is one ofthe best books that a family can
have, because you get a hugebang for your buck it's $15.99.
So it's really affordable.
And there's almost a page forevery day of the year.
And it just has this wealth ofdiverse information.
It has photographs that engagereaders.
There's exposures to so manykinds of knowledge maps,
(12:22):
infographics, cartoons and avariety of expository formats
that you'll find in other books.
But it's browsable, as MelissaStewart calls it.
You don't have to read it coverto cover.
You can flip to any page andstart reading, which is so
appealing to many kids.
That was my oldest daughter'spreference.
She loved the Almanac and theWeird but True books because she
could just flip to a page,start reading and then she would
(12:43):
tell us all the facts that shelearned, which was so amazing.
It has interactive elements,which are fun.
It has jokes and riddles,quizzes and activities.
And then I just think thedesign, from an overall
perspective of design, is reallysupportive for reading
comprehension because it hasthose nonfiction text features
that you'll see in other booksbut maybe not as pretty.
(13:05):
So there are headers, there'scaptions, there's lists, and it
really helps support readers,make sense of the information
that they're reading.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (13:12):
Yeah, when you are able to put into words what
you've read and share thatknowledge with others, then you
are putting that more into yourlong-term memory and so you're
storing that once you share that.
So that's why those discussionsand the conversations are so
important to have.
Do you have any favoritenonfiction books, like any
family favorites, or one that'spopping out to you, just
(13:34):
wondering?
Melissa Taylor (13:35):
Oh my goodness, there's so many, it depends.
I have to classify them.
It's like picking your favoritekid.
I think I love the lyricalnonfiction books.
One of my favorites is HoneyBee.
It's written by Candace Fleming.
The writing in it is sobeautiful you can use it as a
mentor text to teach almostanything, including figurative
language and story arc.
(13:55):
I love some of the historical.
There's a new one calledEvidence and it's about a
scientist who figured out wherecholera was spreading in London
in Victorian time, by DeborahHopkinson, and that is so
beautiful to read.
I also love the Almanac becauseI'm always learning new things.
I just learned that the largestsnowflake was 15 inches wide
(14:17):
and also I have follow-upquestions about how they figured
that out.
So I do have a nonfiction booklist divided by grade and age on
my website to kind of helpsteer educators and parents and
grandparents who are looking tosay which are appropriate for my
reader, so hopefully that canhelp.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (14:35):
Definitely, and there's different genres of
nonfiction right.
So, beyond the traditional,what other kinds of genres are
out there?
Melissa Taylor (14:42):
Oh so, Melissa Stewart, are you talking about
Melissa Stewart's five kinds ofnonfiction?
Yeah, yeah, Melissa Stewart,she was a fabulous writer.
Anything she writes is amazing.
She took a year off to do someresearch and kind of categorize
nonfiction and she found thatthere's browsable, so that's
those almanac type short textblocks, captions, really
digestible chunks that'simportant to have access to.
(15:03):
There's active nonfiction whichis craft books or cookbooks,
something like that where you'redoing and learning something
which totally counts.
I mean, if you're readinganything cooking, you're
following craft sequentialdirections.
It's a really important thingto consider.
Traditional, which is a topicalmaybe dogs or cat books that you
have, cars, Expository is thattopical?
(15:25):
But it's more focused in anarrow niche and probably with
more writing.
Craft lyricism, more specific.
So it's maybe about animalhomes and it's this beautifully
written, really focusing on thelanguage and the vivid verbs.
And then the last one isnarrative.
So that's a nonfiction bookthat's written like a story,
(15:45):
that has characters and dialogue.
You often see that withbiographies.
I think if you can expose kidsto all of those things, then
you're winning.
Same with us as adults we readmemoir and then we'll read a
maybe more traditional topicalbook.
We want to have that exposurefor our kids, because that'll
set them up for success.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (16:02):
Yeah, that can leverage the reading skills If
you've got a curious kid andthey want to know all about
plants or trains.
So all that building ofvocabulary, but actually
elevating and bringing up theirreading level as well and
exposing them to words that theynever would have on a reading
list.
They're not going to have thatbasal reader because it's not
(16:22):
going to be along those lines of.
This is grade level words, butthose ones that kind of pop out
at you something likephotosynthesis in a
kindergartner's mouth and you'dsay, well, it's a big word and
they probably won't be able tobreak it up.
It's multisyllabic, and yet itbecomes fun for them to know
those big words and to sharethat knowledge, like you were
talking about, to surprise theirgrandma.
(16:43):
And the parents get so proudwhen they can say the big words
when they're little because theysound so smart.
And then we're all so proud ofour kids, like, look at this,
they know all about trains.
Melissa Taylor (16:53):
Tell them about the engine, it's amazing it's
like the dinosaurs that theyknow, all these dinosaurs that I
can't even pronounce.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (16:59):
Yes, yes.
Melissa Taylor (17:00):
It can be experts.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (17:01):
Definitely so.
How does increased the use ofthe visual elements in these
nonfiction books support visualliteracy, and why is that so
important in today's world?
Melissa Taylor (17:11):
It really supports comprehension.
So it also supports determiningwhat's important, which is
really an important readingstrategy when you're thinking
about helping kids figure outhow to summarize eventually, if
they can use the visual elementsto decide what's important and
what's interesting.
I think so many kids,especially in the elementary
grades, really struggle withthat and I've always found that
(17:32):
some kids are sort of naturalretailers and natural
summarizers.
So if you ask what somethingwas about, you may get a one
short sentence that's greatsummary or a monologue for two
hours about every single detailin the book.
So the visual elements canreally help them go.
Okay, so this is about theEiffel Tower and that's a
structure in France.
Instead of like did you know,the Eiffel Tower has a hidden
(17:54):
apartment and it's totallyInteresting but not important,
right, right.
So I like that for the visuals.
I think it also just helps themmake sense of, cognitively, how
to structure the information.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (18:07):
Definitely Children having reading
disabilities or children thatdon't speak fluent English.
Those images within the textmakes a little bridge that
allows you to improve thecomprehension on topic.
Melissa Taylor (18:20):
Yes, Then you have that picture in your head.
I had a little girl who wasfrom a very severe poverty
situation and she didn't knowthe word butterfly in English or
Spanish.
But once we figured that outshe didn't know what she was
reading about.
We showed her a picture andthen we could help match write
the word with the picture.
Then she could visualize it,Then she could comprehend what
she was reading.
(18:40):
She was five.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (18:41):
So it just improves that visual literacy,
and we see it all over thedifferent types of maps that you
see when you go to a park,you're on a bus and they're
going to have a diagram, maybe,of the route.
So being able to see thosedifferent images within the text
of a nonfiction book helpsprepare them for also what
they're going to encounter inthe real world when they're
(19:02):
outside of the classroom.
But nonfiction isn't just forreading, though.
It's crucial for writinginstruction.
So how can educators usenonfiction literature to support
and inspire young writers, andcan you share some strategies
for incorporating nonfictioninto writing lessons?
Melissa Taylor (19:20):
I love using nonfiction, like I mentioned
with Honey Bee by CandiceFleming.
I use that a lot so that I evenas a mentor text for fiction
writing, because you can studycraft moves with a book like
that, because her word choiceand her figurative language are
two things that you can pull outand study as a mentor text
because it's incredible.
And then if you're reading alot of nonfiction too, it sparks
(19:43):
curiosity.
So then that could lead toresearch on a nonfiction topic,
which is really cool.
But then using text structureto help kids understand their
own writing, so that if you'regoing to do compare and contrast
writing, you'll want to use amentor text.
That's a compare and contrastmentor text, that's a nonfiction
one.
And I always say you've got amodel scaffold instruction and
(20:07):
then provide that guidedinstruction.
So if you are teaching whateveryou're teaching in nonfiction
writing or any other integratedcurriculums, you just always
want to make sure you use a goodmentor text.
You're modeling writing outloud.
So that's one thing that youthink allows that you can be
thinking about how your brain ismoving through the writing
(20:27):
process, showing kids how thatlooks for you so that they can
learn from you, and I thinkthat's really a crucial step
that a lot of teachers forget,that we can't just assign them
here.
Go write an animal report wehave.
Every single step of the wayneeds to be modeled and guided
of.
Here's how I take this passageand write a note, and here's how
(20:47):
I turn it into my own words.
And now here's how I'm going towrite a sentence about it.
And then we scaffold it.
Then we give them that guidedindependent practice.
So whatever we're teaching,that's the most important thing.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (21:01):
Yeah, when it comes to delivering that
informative paragraph, if theyhave the knowledge because
they've read the facts in anengaging way, then they're ready
to share it because they'reexcited about it and they
already know it and they're notsearching for all of this
because they already have somelittle base and so it makes it a
more natural way of telling ifthey're able to have that
(21:22):
vocabulary, have those goodmodels, like you were saying,
with the texts, and then come totheir voice a little bit better
.
So do you have any tips forteaching children how to use
those text features effectively?
Melissa Taylor (21:34):
Sure, I think, like I said, with writing you're
going to model everything andthen you practice.
So I think it's fun to doscavenger hunts, see if you can
find table of contents, whatbooks have the table of contents
, what books have index and whatbooks don't.
And with a dictionary we dodictionary races.
So can you find the headerwords for the word caption, that
(21:55):
kind of thing?
Just kind of make it playfuland fun, but remember to
scaffold it so you're notteaching every single text
structure all in one day, you'rejust doing it little by little
so that they learn what aninfographic is.
Find an infographic let's share.
Let's talk about it.
How did it change yourcomprehension of the information
?
If it did, where's the captions?
(22:16):
Did it have a caption?
Where's the bolded words?
And so you just want to makesure you're again modeling
scaffolding practice, guided andindependent.
Just kind of make it as playfulas you can.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (22:27):
Those are wonderful.
Do you have more ideas or gameson your website as well?
Melissa Taylor (22:31):
I have some.
I have some scavenger hunts.
I have some bingos.
I do have a few, yeah.
Oh fun and usually they're freeprintables and you can download
them.
I have for Scavenger, hunt andnonfiction and picture books and
there's different bingo onesfor summer reading and that kind
of thing.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (22:51):
And you also have some publications like book
clubs for kids and readingchallenges for kids.
So how do those resourcescomplement your work in
promoting children's literacy?
Melissa Taylor (22:56):
I find that so many kids are motivated by
different things.
So my oldest daughter reallystruggled to read.
She didn't like it, and one ofthe things that worked for me
with her was making readingsocial.
So that's why we started a bookclub when she was in second
grade a mom and daughter bookclub and it really helped
motivate her because then shecould hang out with her friends
(23:17):
and it was fun and she saw herfriends really enjoying the book
.
So that's why I made the bookclub resource.
But I saw that with my ownstudents also.
And then the reading challenges.
Like I'm not a person who likesa reading challenge per se
because I don't know why, but alot of people do.
So that's like if it motivatesyou and that helps you, then
that's why I provide it, becauseI'm just trying to give people
(23:38):
a variety of choices to supportthe goal, which is helping kids
love reading and becomeproficient readers.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (23:45):
Yeah, and then those are available on your
website as well.
Yes, so parents can just gothere and then download it.
Would they download it andprint it?
Correct, awesome, yes, allright.
So, as we end our conversation,what advice would you give to
parents and educators who wantto incorporate more nonfiction
into their children's readingroutines?
Melissa Taylor (24:03):
I think, access.
So make sure that you'reproviding nonfiction books.
You don't have to buy them.
You can go to the library andjust check out as many
nonfiction books as you can Buythe Almanac, because that's like
almost 365 pages.
That'll keep you busy for awhile.
Remember to include nonfictionin your read-alouds.
A lot of times when we do that,by the time we read aloud with
(24:25):
our kids, that's so special.
We only use fiction books, butit can be nonfiction too, so
don't forget that.
And I also think it's reallyimportant to model that you're
reading nonfiction and sharingyour enthusiasm about what
you're learning, just like yourkids would about.
The snowflake is 15 inches wide, whoa, yeah, so that counts for
a lot.
Kids are learning from ourbehavior.
(24:46):
Right, we're, they're readingand maybe we're reading too.
I always used to excuse not toclean my house, but, like I
would say, I'm a being a goodreading role model.
So those are some easy ways toincorporate nonfiction and also
leave around books in your house.
It kind of looks messy, but forsome reason, if I would leave
stacks of books around my houseintentionally, my kids would
(25:10):
just pick them up and startreading.
It was really cool.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (25:14):
You know, I think that that's really good
advice, because when we thinkabout books that are neatly put
away on bookshelves right, howoften are they going to pull out
each one of those books?
And even when you go to alibrary, the ones that are
sitting displayed on the top ofthe shelf, those ones because
you can now see the cover becomemore appealing.
So it's just being able to seeit.
(25:34):
It's like, oh, it's out of thestack, look at that, it looks
like a fun book.
I can't wait to open it up andflip through it and then, next
thing you know, they're sittingthere reading it.
So, yeah, being able to havethem out so they could see the
covers, I think.
And those nonfiction books havegotten so engaging.
Those covers are so bright andvivid and beautiful.
Yes, how can they go toImagination Soup?
Melissa Tayl (25:56):
ImaginationSoupnet and on social media.
I'm at Imagination Soup.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (26:05):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, Melissa, to discuss
the many benefits of nonfictionreading for children.
Melissa Taylor (26:07):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Lisa Hassler (26:12):
I hope today's discussion has inspired you to
take a fresh look at nonfictionin children's literacy.
Now, to put these insights intoaction, diversify your child's
bookshelf with engagingnonfiction books.
Follow your child's curiosityto find nonfiction books on
topics they love and incorporatenonfiction into writing
activities.
And if you don't know where tostart, check out Imagination
(26:33):
Soup's website for Melissa's 100Best Nonfiction Books for Kids
recommendations.
By embracing nonfiction, we'renot just fostering literacy
skills.
We're nurturing curiosity,critical thinking and preparing
the next generation to beinformed thinkers ready to
tackle the complex issues of ourworld.
If you have a story aboutwhat's working in your schools
that you'd like to share, youcan email me at lisa at
(27:14):
drlisahasslercom or visit mywebsite at wwwdrlisahasslercom.
Thank you.
In the show notes, it is themission of this podcast to shine
light on the good in educationso that it spreads, affecting
positive change.
So let's keep working togetherto find solutions that focus on
our children's success.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.