YA Lit Textbook ch 12 review

Ch 12 Nonfiction

The quote and description from Dr. Small that Dr. Lesesne used is a wonderful one, Dr. Small said “nonfiction is the only kind of book defined by what it is not.” Nonfiction is an umbrella for many other types of books. Variety of books, topics, approaches, and formats is what encompasses nonfiction.  Dr. Perry and Dr. Lesesne create a video explaining the things on this chapter. They explain and give excellent examples of how to evaluate Nonfiction books for children using the criteria developed by Carter & Abrahamson.  

The criteria is :

1. What are the qualifications of the author?
• Knowing the author's qualifications will also help know how accurate the information may be. While some authors may be known for their nf books, there are new authors coming up. Using the author bio on the book jacket or using the author’s website for information would be helpful.  Relying on book reviews may not be a good thing, as the reviewers may not be experts in that field either. Using guides for subjects may be helpful, if a math guide supports an author/book, that author/book is bound to have information that is accurate.  
2. Are the facts accurate? 
• Again using guides for the subjects would be the best idea to use for when encountering a book by an author that is relatively new or unknown. Having students help with this part is a way to show students how not many people truly are experts. Having students look at several books by the same topic and have them find things are similar and different in regards to facts/content.   
3. What is the purpose and scope of the book?
• Knowing the purpose and scope of the book best helps a media specialist/librarian know when to suggest a book. It helps the reader know if the book is the right book for what they are trying to do.  FInding and using a book with a scope that is too broad when doing research may be a waste of time. The same book may be just right if the reader is doing a pleasure read.  
4. How does the organization of the book assist readers in locating information?
• Authors can do so many things to aid the reader when writing books. A good book should have a combination of any of the following-glossary, photographs, call-out boxes, index, index of illustrations, resources (many include web links now too), author research notes, & a table of contents. 
5. What role do visuals play?
• The visuals should be engaging for students.  Authors should also reference their sources when including illustrations. Illustrations are a great way for students to make sense of information being taught in the book.  

Dr Perry & Dr. Lesesne also include a list of questions created by Carter & Abrahamson that librarians, media specialists, and teachers should use when working with nonfiction books and students. 

Take Aways

I really liked the definition Dr. Small gave of nonfiction, I am certain I’ll be using that with my classes from now on. Remembering that nonfiction is an umbrella is a great way to explain this to students, I have a good amount of students that like nonfiction books, but they tend to think that nonfiction is animals books or facts. The umbrella reference will be a great visual for my students.  

In regards to the criteria for evaluating nonfiction books and the questions to use, i really liked having that, this is a great tool to have when considering buying more books for the library.  Students should be allowed to have books that are written by qualified authors and have accurate facts. The purpose and scope of a book are things that I had not thought too much about in the past, the way that Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry used the 3 books really made sense to me and allowed me to think about the books in my library a bit more differently.  The organization of the books and the things an author can include are a great list. Students should be taught about the different ways that books are organized and the other things things included, as many times they will be able to see if the book is something they can use when working on research. The notes section that authors are including are especially good when teaching students the research method and showing them that authors too must research when writing.  I also like that the criteria includes the visuals having a role in the book. So many of our students are visual learners or are learners that get deeper meaning when they have visuals, a nonfiction book that only includes facts or includes visuals that are not appealing to the target age range that it is written for is doing a disservice the the information being shared.  

The questions to ask students are great, as we as librarians and media specialists need to be taking our patrons ideas and requests for books, having this list is going to allow me to best support my learners.  It will also allow the students to analyze books in a better way than just looking at it. I like the questions that ask them to really think about what they would change, add to the book, and ask them to think about the author. I am thinking of creating these questions on cards and putting them on a ring to help me make sure to use them when reading with students and even have students ask for me after they read their books.