Non-Fiction

Award lists are always a good place to start when building collections, but it isn't always as simple as typing the Award name in and going.

Note to self: in library, add a searchable line for award winners and nominees. This tag will help teachers, parents, and students find quality books for reading pleasure - or at least quality books!

One of the best awards for non-fiction is  the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Orbis Pictus award. It follows most of the same rules as the other ALA awards do (published in the last year, demonstrates excellence, american author, etc), but focuses on Non-fiction works - primarily narratives. Narratives are great because they teach elements of storytelling in addition to facts and timelines and chains of event - they can be treated in a very similar way to fiction, which we analyze a lot more frequently. It also means that these are going to be quality texts for English Teachers working on close readings of informational texts or non-fiction, as part of CCSS.

Some suggestions from the past winners and nominees of the Orbis Pictus Award are here: http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/About/Awards/OP2000-2010.pdf  and here:
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/About/Awards/OP2010-Present.pdf
It's a good starting place.
I'm currently trying some books from this list - Almost Astronauts by Tanya Stone caught my eye and was available at my local library, and I was very interested in The House That Jane Built , also by Tanya Stone, but my library didn't have that one. Jane Addams is a fascinating woman. We'll see if I can find it in a store so Santa can bring it to me or to the nieces - I like giving them biographies about strong and awesome women.

Another award list is from the ALA (American Library Association)/ ALSC (Association of Library Services for Children) and is called the Sibert Award. It is also for informational texts, published in the last year in English.This award also suggests some great NF texts, including one I've recommended to a teacher friend for her civil rights unit for ELA 7th grade, Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Lowery - a story about the youngest marcher in the Bloody Sunday/ March from Selma to Montgomery, and her experiences demonstrating for civil rights.

Something else to consider is the movement towards primary sources in schools - Primary sources can bring history to life for students, IF properly applied. Students have to understand the mood of the country and the individuals involved to truly understand how a piece of history can teach them about what life was truly like. The Library of Congress has a lot of great lesson plans aligned to CCSS that make use of Primary Sources and exhibits/collections they've put together. They are worth checking out. Additionally, they have partnered with various states to develop lesson plans specific to the state standards -

The Digital Public Library of America also is home to some great primary source materials, and is easy to use. I highly recommend it to teachers. It is probably the most intuitive of the different sites.