Informational Books
Books that are writen for the purose to provide information
Non-Fiction
Accuracy
Accuracy is very important with this book. When we are talking about the reproductive system it is important to be accurate. The authors have turned to experts for the facts. There is a long list of sources in the bibliography. The authors have also just stated the facts. They did use anthropomorphism by having a bird and a bee dressed and talking. There are also other things that talk. I think the authors used this because this subject sometimes is hard to talk to children about and they wanted to make it easier on parents and teachers.
Harris, R., & Emberley, M. (1999). It's so amazing!: A book about eggs, sperm, birth, babies, and families. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.
Hitler Youth is an amazing book. This book has amazing actual pictures and horrifying stories of Hitler and his reign in Germany. When we are talking about accuracy it is another good example of a book that needs to be accurate. Not only do they have pictures from the time they are talking about, but they also have stories and decimations. They have gotten information from the experts on the subject. They have pages in the bibliography from where they have complied their information from. Bartoletti has done extensive research for this book and it shows in the accuracy. I have a couple of boys in my class that I cannot wait to share this book with. They are going to enjoy it.
Bartoletti, S. (2005). Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's shadow. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction.
Organization
How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg is such an interesting book. I wish I had it with I taught middle school. It is so well organized; you can look in the table of content and find exactly who you want to read about and go straight there. Bragg has also sighted all of her sources that she used to write the book and she gave the reader a “Further Reading and Surfing” section in the book. This is a place where she has given the reader a list of books or websites to go get more information. It is a great book to have on hand when you are teaching history and want some fun facts to go along with it. It is laid out so you can quickly reference the people you want.
Bragg, G., & Malley, K. (2011). How they croaked: The awful ends of the awfully famous. New York: Walker &.
We Are The Ship is a book about the Negro baseball league. They book is organized into nine “Innings” and an “Extra Inning” What a neat way to title the chapters. There is no table of contents for the information in the “Innings”, however each “Inning” has a subtitle so you know what that chapter is about. In the back of the book is a lot of useful information. There is a list of the players who made it to the Major Leagues and a list of the players that are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. There is also an index, endnotes and sources, in the back. The book is also laid out very interesting. On one side of the book is a full page picture and on the other is the text. While I was reading this book I was thinking of all the books you could pair this book with. This book will be used in my classroom.
Nelson, K. (2008). We are the ship: The story of Negro League baseball. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children.
Desigine
Balloons Over Broadway is a super, cute book that is full of charming pictures and an interesting story. The illustrations in the book will catch a child’s eye and they will want to read more about this topic. The design of the book does not look like a traditional non-fiction. The different size pictures and text fit along with the book. The book is about the history of one of the greatest events we wait for each year, The Macy’s Day Parade. Children will want to read this book with the bright colors and fun illustrations.
Sweet, M., & Newborn, R. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
Graphic Novels! What kid does not like a graphic Novel? Primates by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks is written as a graphic novel. Every child who likes graphic novels will want to read this book. The illustrations are appropriate for the story, however the text is a little small or my eyes. But I am sure it is fine for kids with young eyes. Like Rosa, this book does not look or read like an informational book, but is packed full of information about Jane Goodall.
Ottaviani, J., & Wicks, M. (n.d.). Primates: The fearless science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas.
Roas by Nikki Giovanni is a beautifully written and a wonderful example of design. The way it is written invites children to read it. It reads like a story and does not look like the traditional information text. The illustrations are so unique the way they look like patch work quilts put together. The text is a good size to read it is not too small or too big. Also the text goes along with the pictures. It is such a great story and a great book to help students learn about the Civil Right Movement.
Giovanni, N., & Collier, B. (2005). Rosa. New York: Henry Holt.
Style
Nic Bishop’s books are good examples of an author’s style. He picks one topic and gives a lot of good information about that one subject. It is not just a book of boring facts; it has really cool pictures and fun facts about the animal that he is talking about. For example “The skin of some dart frogs contains enough poison to kill ten people.” The book that I read is called Frogs. It is beautiful pictures of frogs. The colors are breath taking. I love how he talks about training the frogs to eat crickets in front of the camera. It truly shows his passion for photographing animal doing their thing.
Bishop, N. (2008). Frogs. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction.
When I read Me…Jane all I could think about is what a great book to pair with Primates. I can see children reading this book and wanting to learn more about Jane Goodall. I a great book to introduce young children to non-fiction. The style of this book is aimed at young children to get them thinking and want to know more about Jane Goodall. This is a story of Jane Goodall's live with great illustrations. This book is a good example of non-fiction being literature.
McDonnell, P. (2011). Me-- Jane. New York: Little, Brown.