A Literature Collectionof

Non-Fictional:Informational Books

byAlyssa Nicassio & Tracie Anzara

Definition: Conceptual books, nature books, and historicalbooks are just three types of non-fictional books. InformationalBooks includes books children can read on their own or they canbe used by a teacher who may be teaching a lesson, for exampleabout volcanos or the French Revolution. These books canprovide a background for knowledge about concepts, history ornature in a more broad and creative way that can inform andentertain the minds of students. The information provided inthese types of books gives students ideas, questions, and factsabout real topics.

CategoriesConcept Books: These books help students become aware of their physical,natural or social surroundings. The information they gather comes from thetext and illustrations presented in the book. There are various books thathave the content of concepts; for example, books with feelings andemotions.

History: Historical books can enable students to learn about events, peopleand ideas of the past. Often times children are able to view history from adifferent point of view with the use of first person historical literature.

Nature: These types of books can lead student to another part of theworld that involves the natural world, animals and their habitat, geology,geography and the human body.

Other Categories

Understanding People in Culture: These books provide students theability to learn about different cultures and customs around the world. Athorough investigation about different cultures can teach students how toidentify similarities and differences between cultures.

The Arts: These books can include topics about music, art, drama , danceand other artistic themes. The creativity demonstrated in these books canattract students to explore their own artistic preferences.

Discovering How Things Work: Some themes included with these typesof books include activities such as crafts , “ do it yourself” projects, or howto books . These books can expose students to various hobbies which canlead to development of self identity.

Series Books: Such books have a related topic by the same author. Theyhave specific formats and are organized the same way. An example of thiswould be the Body Works series by Liza Fromer and Francine Gerstein MD.

Never Talk to Strangers

Author: Irma JoyceIllustrator: S.D. SchindlerGenre: Non-Fiction:Informational (conceptual)Grade Range: Primary

Plot Summary: This books starts out with a few main characters, youngchildren who meet various animals whom they have never met before. Theseanimals happen to be in realistic environments such as the store, a strangerthat may come to their door, or the bus stop. Although animals are used inthe story the plot is that if a child does not know the person and no matterwhat the unknown person says to them they should never speak to thembecause they are a stranger, but if one of their friends or family membersintroduced them to someone they may not know it is okay if they say “ hello”to them because, they are not necessarily a stranger .

Reader Response Activity:With this book I have a fantastic idea, I wouldhave some of my students the “strangers” and some of my student’s “thestranger that a friend/family member introduces you to” I would then pick afew students to be the one’s to decide who is the “stranger” and who is the“not really a stranger”.

Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies inthe Animal Kingdom

Author:Jose Aruego & Ariane DeweyIllustrator:Jose Aruego & ArianeDeweyGenre: Non-Fiction:Informational (conceptual)Grade Range: Primary-Intermediate

Plot Summary: This is an informational book discussing fourteen differentunusual friends found in the wild. The first set of characters are The ClownFish and The Sea Anemone. The author describes how The Clown Fish usesthe poisonous Sea Anemone as a home for protection from predators and inreturn the clownfish protects the Sea Anemone from the butterfly fish withtheir ferocious bite. With a constant theme of friendship throughout thestory these fourteen sets of animal friendship, bring the reader on anadventure to learn about the various settings in which these codependentanimals are found all around the world.

Reader Response Activity: One way to bring this home for students is tocontinue to think about how dependent we are on one another in nature.From eggs we use to make breakfast to the leather used in apparel, we havea constant need for animals in todays society. The concept of understandinghow we affect the world around us can be introduced at various age levels.For the students in a 4th grade classroom, have the students work in groupsof 4 and assign each group a friendship pair from the story. Each groupmember has their own task: 1 & 2 - Draw a picture of one animal, 2 the other.3 & 4 write how one needs the other, 4 how the other needs one. On theback of each of their sheets each member will have their own task to:1-write what humans are dependent on 2-write what they are dependent onto survive 3 & 4 - write two different ways we can make a change (ex.conserve water, do not litter, etc…).

Henry's Freedom Box: A True Storyfrom the Underground Railroad

Author: Ellen LevineIllustrator: Kadir NelsonGenre: Non-Fiction:Informational (historical)Grade Range: Primary

Plot Summary: Henry who is the main character in Henry’s Freedom Box is achild that was already born into slavery and at first lives with his mother and hissiblings. One day his master became ill and asked Henry to come to him because heneed to tell him something, Henry hoped that he would be able to be set free but, hewas wrong instead Henry is told that he was going to be sent his master’s son. Thismaster was not as nice as his old one. Before Henry left he saw a bird fly into thesky and he thought to himself how nice it would be to be as free as a bird. Later onHenry got married to another slave and they had children. They were very fortunateto live together. But the plot turns even more emotional when one day Henry’s wifeand children were sold. And again a little bird flew by and he thought about beingfree so he came up with an idea that he could mail himself to a place where there wasno slaves . So he gained the help of another character; a doctor by the name of Dr.Smith who thought slavery was wrong and he wrote on the box Philadelphia,Pennsylvania which is where Henry would be shipped to a friend’s house. Henry madea plan to injure himself so that his master would let him stay home and he could thenplan his escape. He rode on a steam boat for many days until he ended up at hisdestination with his friend and white men welcomed him to Philadelphia. Henry finallyhad a birthday: March 30. 1849, the day that he became a free man just like how thebird was.This story expresses the theme of putting a reader’s mind in someone else’spoint of view of a situation in history that actually happened with the different racesin America.

Reader Response Activity: Henry’s Freedom Box gives a great foundationand understanding of what was going on in the time period of slavery. I wouldread this book to my students before we begin the actual history lesson sothey have a basic introduction of what they will be reading and study about intheir History textbooks.

How the Meteorite Got to theMuseum

Author: Jessie HartlandIllustrator:Jessie HartlandGenre: Non-Fiction:Informational (historical)Grade Range: Primary-Intermediate

Plot Summary: This is a true story based on the journey of the PeekskillMeteorite which hit Earth in Peekskill, New York on October 9, 1992. Thisstory is told by the teacher of a classroom of students set in a field trip tothe local museum. The Peeskill Meteorite is introduced as its original form ofa meteor in orbit around planet Earth. As it enters the atmosphere on thenight of October 9, 1992, it flies through Virginia and is seen by thecustomers of a burger shack to continue this course through a PennsylvaniaHigh School football game, still touring Virginia. The journey to Earth endswith a crash into a red Chevy Malibu in Peeskill, New York. The plot comes toan end as the teacher explains the process of the meteorite being analyzedby scientists and eventually being sliced into pieces to be sold to variousoutlets with one piece going to the local Natural History Museum where thestudents are actually seeing this in front of them. This story hold themes inboth historical events and with scientific research and is great for multiplelesson objectives.

Reader Response Activity: This would be an excellent introduction forany space unit involving meteors and meteorites and can be used across thecurriculum. I would turn this into a historical research project. Depending onlevel of the student, I would have each student do research into the actualevent when the Peekskill Meteorite hit. I would create a poster collage ofthe students’ findings. For an added challenge I would maybe have thestudents look up other meteorite crash sites instead of facts supporting thisparticular event.

The Great Kapok Tree: A Taleof the Amazon Rain Forest

Author: Lynne CherryIllustrator: Lynne CherryGenre:Non-Fiction: Informational (Nature)Grade Range: Primary-Intermediate

Plot Summary:The setting is located in the Amazon rainforest when one ofthe characters whom is a man following the orders of his boss to go into therainforest and chop down one of nature’s most beneficial resources; a Kapoktree . As he begins whacking and chopping away, he then becomes tired anddecides to take a nap. While he is taking a nap the animals of the rainforestwho use the Kapok tree as their home come down from the tree and begin towhisper in his ear about how important that tree is to them and therainforest. The plot becomes quite obvious that the animals of the rainforestare trying to let this man know the horrible effects that could happen totheir natural habitat once man comes along and begins to tear down therainforest until there is nothing but the soil on the ground and nowhere forthe animals to go to. The theme in the story gives students awareness of theenvironment not only where they live in but also the natural resources thatare a necessity to not just them but the animals in their natural habitat.

Reader Response Activity: This book can be combined with Social Studieslessons as well as Science. I believe it would be a great idea for my futurestudents to write a few sentences that have to do with text -to –self in theirjournals about what would they need as a necessity in their life and thencompare and contrast it to the animals in the story.

Tornadoes!

Author: Gail GibbonsIllustrator: Gail GibbonsGenre: Non-Fiction:Informational (nature)Grade Range: Primary

Plot Summary:This informational story has a plot around the progress of atornado. The narrator first discusses the conditions needed for a tornado toform along with a description of key vocabulary involving tornadoterminology. The story continues to analyze how tornadoes are scaled usingthe Enhanced Fujita Tornado Scale ranging from EF-0 to EF-5 with each levelhaving a specific set of wind speeds determined by the destruction leftbehind. Characters involve the narrator which is never labeled as beingsomeone and simply put, anyone residing in the United States as the setting isany place where a tornado can form. Themes involve natural destruction andalso how to prepare for a tornado specific situation. Transitioning toprparation, the narrator explains how the public is made aware of such anatural disaster. The story then ends with a guide for what to do if youknow a tornado is coming through.

Reader Response Activity: There a few tornadoes reported in Arizonabut there are still occurrences reported. One of the main purposes ofteaching about such disastrous occurrences is to teach about the importanceof being prepared. In groups of 3-5 have the students create their ownposter outlining their plan of action following prompts randomly selected foreach group. The prompts can including being in a house with no basement,being in a house with a basement, being in a car on a road trip, and what do doafter the storm passes. Each group then has 20 minutes to create a poster topresent to the class.