By Susan Wroble, February 2022
Valentine’s Day was the official launch of a project near to my heart — the #KidsLoveNonfiction Campaign. Mary Ann Cappiello, Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University, and Xenia Hadjioannou, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg Campus of Penn State University, released a letter to the New York Times requesting that the paper add lists of bestselling children’s nonfiction.
All too often, the adult book-buying public is trapped by their own childhood experiences. Their belief can be summed in the title of an article in December 2020 by Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews: “Will my grandkids still love me if I buy them nonfiction?”
For most kids, the answer to that question is “Yes.”
Kindergarten teacher Marlene Correia realized that most of the books she read to her class were nonfiction. Then she started paying attention to the books they checked out of the school library. For nineteen weeks, she tracked the data. She discovered that for 14 of those weeks (74% of the time!), her students checked out a greater number of nonfiction and informational fiction books over fiction. (Informational fiction has facts, but also made-up parts — a great example is Adam Rex’s picture book Pluto Gets the Call, where the planet does the talking!)
Another study followed 4-7 years olds—and again found that this age group, despite being the ago of make-believe, had a strong preference for stories that were true. Author Melissa Stewart, who writes the incredible Celebrate Science blog, notes that 40% of elementary children prefer nonfiction, which another 30% prefer nonfiction and fiction equally.
So for The New York Times, it’s time. Time to support the books that kids love. Time to let the grown-ups know that kids love them. Time to align your children’s bestseller lists with the adult lists, highlighting both fiction and nonfiction and put a spotlight on the incredible nonfiction available to kids today.
And for everyone else, if you are interested in adding your support, you can sign your name to the letter (your email address will remain private). The kids will thank you!