Chapter 9: Non-fiction

Non-fiction is a great learning and teaching genre, so are all of the other genres but this one has to deal with specifically the facts and known truths. With non-fiction students receive nothing but the facts about animals, plants, people, places and more. They are great teaching tools as well because they make subjects that students might not be otherwise interested in more reader friendly and interesting. The illustrations and format of these books play a large role in the interaction that reader have with them, as well as their interest level. Non-fiction books are also really great supplements to a boring textbook. These non-fiction books are also not subjected to state guidelines and tend to give a more comprehensive version of history than most textbooks do.

These books are great for all ages and when students read them or even adults they continue to learn about the world around them and the people that inhabit it. Non-fiction books can break barriers by giving people an understanding of a place, culture or animal that they might know nothing about. These books because they give you facts tend to be unbiased and just present the information and not the author’s opinion. This is great because it allows the reader to form their own interpretation based on the information given to them and they are not swayed by the biases of the author. But this is only in some cases. There are books that tell you things in order to sway your perception of the person, place or time on which the author is writing. It is very important that if this is a book that you choose you discuss the biases of the author or look for books that are unbiased especially if you are talking about specific people in history.

These authors also become semi-experts just without the degrees in the field that they are writing their non-fiction book about. Though there are some with degrees in the field in which they write their non-fiction books but they still do more extensive research for their books. These authors must do this in order to convey correct information and it is a painstaking process. Most good authors have their drafts and finished product looked over by the experts in the field to make sure that their information is clear and correct. Without correct information this moves the book from non-fiction to faction. Faction is a cross between fiction and non-fiction. While the people, places and time are factual the scenes that help move the story along might not necessarily be factual. It is up to teachers to differentiate these faction books from true non-fiction books.

When creating your library as a teacher you have to make sure that all of the books that you purchase or borrow from the library are the most up to date books that are available with the most up to date information possible. By choosing these up to date books you make sure that your students remember the correct information and not the incorrect information. Unfortunately it is easy to remember the wrong information because there is a bigger deal made about it than the correct information sometimes. When purchasing books you have to be very discriminating and also when accepting them from parents or the community. You can keep some of the older ones but also have a companion of more updated information and do a comparison of the information in the older and newer books to show the advancements and discoveries of certain information on different people and things. Also when creating your library it goes without saying that you balance your books with curriculum supplements as well as things that interest the students so that they continue to read or begin reading because they are truly interested in the information provided in the book.