ABSTRACT
Meat-eating plants, all kinds of bugs, crafts to make and do, the life of E.B. White, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, science experiments for all ages, colors, numbers, shapes, why people sneeze… This chapter concerns nonfiction texts for young readers. In the sections that follow, we begin by addressing some preliminaries: (a) should we even be talking about nonfiction for young readers? (b) what is nonfiction? (c) recognition of quality nonfiction, and (d) finding nonfiction texts for young readers. We then consider five types of nonfiction in more depth: informational text, concept books, biography, procedural text, and reference materials. For each, we discuss the purpose and some key features of this type of text, research on young readers’ interactions with this type of text, and some considerations in selecting these texts for use in the classroom. Throughout our discussion, we reference some outstanding nonfiction texts for young readers and suggest resources for finding more.
