What is nonfiction?
Biographies
A biography is the story of a life of an individual written by a different person. Authentic biographies are well-researched and well-documented. Biographies must not arrange facts so as not to create or perpetuate stereotypes. Sometimes a true inspiring person or anyone of importance will be written about in several different books and may be portrayed differently in each.
Autobiographies and memoirs are written by the subject and are more intimate with the subject's feelings about their life as opposed to a biography.
Informational Books
A good informational book has a table of contents, a glossary, and an index. They are beutifully designed and carefully researched. They include actual photographs, reprints of actual documents, and sometimes smoothly textured, brightly colored paintings.
Informational books can be about hobbies, experiments, the ways in which things work, the characteristics of plants and animals, and many other phenomena.
Activities For Teachers:
Ceate a Vaudeville Poster- Inspired by Houdini’s posters, ask students to create a vaudville show. They can design the posters to appeal to a wide audience, using colorful illustrations to encourage people to attend. Finally, they can display their posters in the hallways or on classroom boards to create a museum of authentic vaudeville advertisements. See here for more...
Title:
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini
Author:
Sid Fleischman
Sub-Genre:
Biography
A little bit about the book:
Who was this man who could walk through brick walls and, with a snap of his fingers, vanish elephants? In these pages you will meet the astonishing Houdini—magician, ghost chaser, daredevil, pioneer aviator, and king of escape artists. No jail cell or straitjacket could hold him! He shucked off handcuffs as easily as gloves. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- It seems obvious that Fleischman, Newbery author of numerous novels involving magic, would write a biography about master magician Houdini, but it took decades before he was able to transport his personal connection and admiration into a book. Fleischman separates fiction from fact, discrepancies and contradictions of Houdini’s life as skillfully as sawing a woman in half. What sets this biography apart from and above others is the author’s personal involvement with his subject; it’s a mesmerizing configuration of both lives. When Fleischman found a forgotten box of photos of the magician that Houdini’s wife had personally given him, they ignited his curiosity—could he unveil the illusions of the great man? Cunning chapter titles, spacious format and the black-and-white photos that profile the man’s unique mystique are tied together like a string of silk scarves spilling from a sleeve that fascinate, intrigue and amaze. What do you get when you put two prestidigitators, one a spellbinding escape artist, the other a magician with words, into a black hat and wave the wand? Abracadabra—a feat that’s pure magic. (May 20, 2010)
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sid-fleischman/escape/
Escape! Book Trailer
Activities For Teachers:
Make a map- Imagine going to a new place and having no maps or signposts or Google or GPS to guide you. Think of a journey you make often (to school, to your friend’s house, to visit your grandparents) and map out the course someone would have to follow to get there. See here for more...
Title:
The Remarkable Voyages of Captain Cook
Author:
Rhoda Blumberg
Sub-Genre:
Biography
A little bit about the book:
An account of the historic adventures and achievements of the great British explorer and discoverer of Australia, Hawaii, and other Pacific Ocean lands and peoples. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- The author of several notable works of nonfiction (Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, Newbery Honor, 1985) introduces a famous explorer, detailing his three voyages, placing his discoveries in their 18th-century setting, and noting their significance. Blumberg's concluding summation of Cook's achievements includes an assessment of their future positive and negative effects. In a book distinguished for its balance and attention to detail, Blumberg is especially conscientious in respecting the customs and point of view of the Pacific peoples, using telling specifics to enliven her story. While her meticulous use of sources and refusal to speculate result in a certain lack of animation in Captain Cook himself, the sheer excitement of the adventures compensates for the elusive nature of their hero. To include 70 b&w prints (not seen); chapter notes; index. (Nonfiction. 10+)
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rhoda-blumberg/the-remarkable-voyages-of-captain-cook/
Captain Cook, The Man Behind the Legend
Activities For Teachers:
Design a subway station map- Have students create a map underneath their city and show where it would be convenient for the subway entrances to run.
Title:
Beneath the Streets of Boston
Author:
Joe McKendry
Sub-Genre:
Informational
A little bit about the book:
Beckoning readers to explore the territory beneath Boston’s streets, Joe McKendry explores a century-old world when Beantown designed and created the country’s first subway. In stunning artwork and through a fascinating and historically accurate narrative of Boston’s first “Big Dig,” you will enter the subterranean realm of workers who dug miles of tunnels by hand. Using pick and shovels to create new routes, you’ll discover how these workers burrowed deep below Boston Harbor, under Beacon Hill and the Old State House, and built the Longfellow Bridge to carry the trains over the Charles River to the center of Cambridge. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- A stunning examination of the development of Boston’s subway system—the first in the country—takes readers from 1895 to 1916 and explores the four distinct technological challenges met by the planners of the system as it spread from the city center to the suburbs, and under the harbor. Newspaper and magazine illustrator McKendry uses a variety of means to place readers in the time and to depict the progress of Boston’s first big dig. Maps, details, cross sections and diagrams all combine to illustrate the different challenges met; endpapers decorated with period signs and, most spectacularly, sepia-wash paintings so realistic as to make readers look for photo credits ground the narrative visually. Rather more problematically, faux newspaper pages present complementary articles, flanked by other news of the day, to further contextualize the narrative. That these recreations look real enough to fool readers is no small testament to their craft; however, they are not facsimiles but fabrications for the most part, and without any backmatter whatsoever to parse source from artistic license, they betray readers who seek—and deserve—unambiguously non-fictional accounts. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joe-mckendry/beneath-the-streets-of-boston/
First Subway in America
Title:
The Great Fire
Author:
Jim Murphy
Sub-Genre:
Informational
A little bit about the book:
The Great Fire of 1871 was one of the most colossal disasters in American history. Overnight, the flourishing city of Chicago was transformed into a smoldering wasteland. The damage was so profound that few people believed the city could ever rise again. It all began one Sunday evening when a small fire broke out inside the O'Learys' barn. The panic was slow to build at first. Read more...
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly- For more than a century, poor Mrs. O'Leary and her cow have shouldered the blame for Chicago's infamous Great Fire of 1871. Now Murphy (The Boys' War; Across America on an Emigrant Train) lays bare the facts concerning one of the biggest disasters in American history, in the process exculpating the maligned bovine and her owner. Murphy demonstrates that the fire could have been contained: he unfolds a tale of botched communication, class discrimination (the fire began in a working-class section of the city and only later spread to the wealthier areas) and plain old bad luck. Strategically quoting the written accounts of witnesses-who include a 12-year-old girl and a newspaper editor-Murphy both charts the 31-hour spread of the fire and conveys the atmosphere in the streets. This volume, beautifully printed in sepia tones, contains historic photos, engravings and newspaper clippings on nearly every page. Especially helpful are maps placed at intervals throughout the book that represent the progress of the fire. Engrossing. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-590-47267-8
Activities For Teachers:
Firefighter- Ask your local fire department if one day a firefighter can come by the class rooms or set a demonstration in a gym or common area. Teach kids about the fire hazards and saftey and what to do in case of a fire.
A young boy's take on "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
The Story of Mankind movie, based on van Loon's book
Activities For Teachers:
Compare and Contrast- Have students compare the dated information about how mankind came to be to what we know in today's age. What is similar? What is different?- How is it different, why would they have thought that's what happened back then?
Title:
The Great Wall of China
Author:
Hendrik Willem van Loon
Sub-Genre:
Informational
A little bit about the book:
The Story of Mankind was written and illustrated by Dutch-American journalist, professor, and author Hendrik Willem van Loon and published in 1921. In 1922, it was the first book to be awarded the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children's literature. Written for his children (Hansje and Willem), The Story of Mankind tells in brief chapters the history of western civilizationbeginning with primitive man, covering the development of writing, art, and architecture, the rise of major religions, and the formation of the modern nation-state. Van Loon explains in the book how he selected what and what not to include by subjecting all materials to the question: Did the person or event in question perform an act without which the entire history of civilization would have been different? Read more...
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews- Further cementing its status as a living classic, the first Newbery winner (1922) returns sporting an eighth update.Following the practice of van Loon himself and subsequent co-authors over the years, Sullivan leaves the original text, with its often puckish line drawings, virtually untouched and seamlessly appends topical chapters (12 in all) written in the same conversational style. The previous update having appeared in 1999, Sullivan covers major events from the Y2K panic and 9/11 to Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012. He also glances at China (in a chapter characteristically titled “China Is Back / Not that it ever went away”) and offers overviews of the Arab Spring and the late worldwide economic “Downturn.” On more thematic notes, he also comments in a cautionary way on the rise of new social media and more approvingly on how the notion that governments owe official apologies for historical atrocities committed against minority or other groups has recently taken hold. Readers of the 77 chapters that precede the new content will find that though some of the language (“Wherever food was plentiful, thither man has travelled”) and, surprisingly rarely, attitudes are dated, the vivid storytelling and steady focus on the human element exert an appeal that hasn’t aged a bit.Still valid in broad outline if not detail and, as ever, a grand and thought-provoking read. Those early Newbery voters knew value when they saw it. (timeline) (Nonfiction. 11-14)
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/hendrik-willem-van-loon/the-story-of-mankind/
Activities For Teachers:
Storyboard- Have students create a storyboard showing the different conflicts talked about in the book. For example: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Self, and Man vs. Society. See here for more details...
Title:
Diary of a Young Girl
Author:
Anne Frank
Sub-Genre:
Autobiography
A little bit about the book:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank details approximately two years of the life a Jewish teenager during World War II. During much of the time period covered by her journal, Anne and her family are in hiding in an attempt to escape Hitler’s anti-Jewish laws and genocidal desires. Anne’s diary ends abruptly in August, 1944. On that day, she and her family are taken into custody by the Germans and transported to concentration camps. Read more...
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly- This startling new edition of Dutch Jewish teenager Anne Frank's classic diary--written in an Amsterdam warehouse, where for two years she hid from the Nazis with her family and friends--contains approximately 30% more material than the original 1947 edition. It completely revises our understanding of one of the most moving and eloquent documents of the Holocaust. The Anne we meet here is much more sarcastic, rebellious and vulnerable than the sensitive diarist beloved by millions. She rages at her mother, Edith, smolders with jealous resentment toward her sister, Margot, and unleashes acid comments at her roommates. Expanded entries provide a fuller picture of the tensions and quarrels among the eight people in hiding. Anne, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, three months before her 16th birthday, candidly discusses her awakening sexuality in entries that were omitted from the 1947 edition by her father, Otto, the only one of the eight to survive the death camps. He died in 1980. This crisp, stunning translation provides an unvarnished picture of life in the ``secret annex.'' In the end, Anne's teen angst pales beside her profound insights, her self-discovery and her unbroken faith in good triumphing over evil.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-47378-1
The Diary of a Young Girl Book Trailer
Activities For Teachers:
Storyboard- Have students create a storyboard showing the different conflicts talked about in the book. For example: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Self, and Man vs. Society. See here for more details...
Title:
To Be a Slave
Author:
Julius Lester
Sub-Genre:
Autobiography
A little bit about the book:
To Be a Slave fills a void in the documentation of American history by providing a concrete illustration of the culture and history of blacks in the Americas, particularly in the United States. The book focuses on the plight of blacks: their brutal capture in Africa, their confined passage to America in slave ships, and their subsequent servitude. Rather than offering a dry summary of these events, Lester brings history to life, presenting the testimony of former slaves who describe their experiences in visceral detail. Read more...
Reviews:
Recorded Books- To Be a Slave stands apart from other historical accounts of slavery in one extraordinary way: it is told by the slaves themselves. Their stories will tell you what it felt like to be a slave in the United States--to wear shackles on your ankles, to feel whips lashing your back, and to work under the cruelest conditions. From African villages to Georgian auction blocks, from plantation fields to abolitionist hideaways, To Be a Slave brings one of the most painful chapters in American history to life for today s young people. Julius Lester skillfully weaves together the testimonies of slaves with his own clear-eyed commentary to create a powerfully moving, unflinchingly honest view of black life in the old South. A Newbery Honor Book, a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, To Be a Slave is an extraordinary lesson in history and humanity that no young person will forget. n.d., Recorded Books, Unabridged CD - Library Edition; C1215, $46.75. Ages 10 to 14.
http://www.clcd.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/#/bookdetail/1/0/oiprLKnPMrHOLnnm/bdrtop
To Be a Slave Book Presentation
Title:
Night
Author:
Julius Lester
Sub-Genre:
Memoir; Autobiography
A little bit about the book:
In 1944, in the village of Sighet, Romania, twelve-year-old Elie Wiesel spends much time and emotion on the Talmud and on Jewish mysticism. His instructor, Moshe the Beadle, returns from a near-death experience and warns that Nazi aggressors will soon threaten the serenity of their lives. However, even when anti-Semitic measures force the Sighet Jews into supervised ghettos, Elie's family remains calm and compliant. In spring, authorities begin shipping trainloads of Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex. Elie's family is part of the final convoy. In a cattle car, eighty villagers can scarcely move and have to survive on minimal food and water. One of the deportees, Madame Schächter, becomes hysterical with visions of flames and furnaces. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance. (Jan. 15, 2006)
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elie-wiesel/night-5/
Activities For Teachers:
REVIEW: FILM Moving Pictures.- Watch a documentary or film based on the Holocaust. Write a review of the film that incorporates your impression of the production, and that relates the film to Night. Recommended films include The Long Way Home (NR), Schindler’s List(R), Life Is Beautiful (PG-13), The Lost Children of Berlin (NR). These films contain strong material. Consult with your teacher and parent before viewing. See here for more details...
Night by Elie Wiesel Book Trailer and Intro to the Holocaust
Activities For Teachers:
Going on a Journey?- Have students think about what they would have tried to take with them on that long journey, how would they have retrieved those things if locked up in a camp?
Title:
The Long Walk
Author:
Slavomir Rawicz
Sub-Genre:
Autobiography
A little bit about the book:
The trek from Moscow to the upper India border lasted over eighteen months. Slav and his fellow escapees went through torturous degrees of human degradation. Through help and friendship, the men come together and make it out of the Russian prison camp to freedom. Over three thousand miles and harsh conditions made the going very tough. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- A Polish youth, arrested on trumped-up charges of spying against Russia, is tortured to the extreme edge of physical and mental endurance, and in a mock trial doomed to hard labor in Siberia for 25 years. With six fellow convicts, and later a girl found in the forests, and aided by the Commandant's wife, an amazing escape is effected. And after the horror of prison, they go on to the harrowing crossing of desert and mountain across the endless Siberian wasteland. And there are the resonant echoes too of all small, frightened people seeking freedom, refuge, dignity. The snow and hunger are formidable opponents- as is their own weakness; they skirt Lake Boikel, cut across the Trans-Siberian railway, pass through the Gobi Desert, enter Tibet, and in a final ascent of the Himalayas achieve their goal in India. They learn to subsist on snake meat and subdue their thirst with mud; they face the famous ""abominable snowmen"" of other high altitude adventurers; four die.... It is a quite fantastic narrative, its intensity never lessens, and it belongs in the annals of ordeal and survival with David Howarth's We Die Alone, etc. That will be the market to try.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/saul-k-ed-padover-3/the-long-walk-3/
The Way Back Movie Trailer, Based on the book "The Long Walk"