Nonfiction for the February (spilling into March) Book-of-the-Month
Have your book to bring to class before or by February 19. You may begin reading it before then.
You will create at least one type of external text feature for your book.
See this article in the School Library Journal about some award winning nonfiction books.
Your nonfiction book will be an informational book about a single subject (
not a how-to or self-help book) and
not a collection such as Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley's Believe It Or Not).
Find a topic you really would be interested in learning more about, and look for a book about that topic.
Qualities of some types of nonfiction:
Report of Information
It focuses on a specific subject, or controlling idea.
It supports the controlling idea with plenty of facts.
It organizes facts in a way that helps the audience learn about the subject.
It uses examples, explanations, and descriptions to clarify ideas that may be new to the audience.
Autobiography
The main character is the writer of the book.
It recounts key incidents in the writer's life.
It describes major influences (people, events, places) on the writer.
It describes interactions between the writer and significant people in his or her life.
It reveals the writer's feelings, reactions, values, and goals.
Biography
It tells about a real person.
It shows that the writer knows a lot about this person.
It describes the person's environment.
It provides anecdotes or details that show the person in action.
It shows how the person affects other people.
It states or implies how the writer feels about the person.
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Some Possible Titles:
Chew on This by Charles Wilson and Eric Schlosser (YA version of Fast Food Nation)
Knots in My Yo-Yo String -- autobiography of Jerry Spinelli (great fun!)
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Hoose, Phillip M. 133 pages.
With Their Eyes: September 11th--The View from a High School at Ground Zero by Annie Thomas (editor)
Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 by Susan Campbell Baroletti
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Newbery Honor Book) by Jim Murphy
Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880 - 1824 by Deborah Hopkinson
Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War by Jim Murphy
Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom by Walter Dean Myers
Guinea Pig Scientists by Dendy and Boring
