The Best in Children's Nonfiction: Reading, Writing, and Teaching Orbis Pictus Award Books

by Myra Zarnowski

Description

This book offers readers both a glimpse into the world of children's nonfiction and practical tips on teaching these texts in the classroom. The book looks at the first 10 years of the National Council of Teachers of English's award for excellence in children's nonfiction. In the first section of the book, Orbis Pictus Awards Committee members discuss the issues they consider as they select each year's winner, honor books, and recommended titles. Articles in this section are: (1) "The show more Quality of Prose in Orbis Pictus Award Books" (J. M. Jensen); (2) "Intermingling Fact and Fiction" (M. Zarnowski); (3) "Nonfiction Book Design in a Digital Age" (R. M. Kerper); (4) "Acknowledging, Citing, Going Beyond: Issues of Documentation in Nonfiction Literature" (K. P. Smith); and (5)"Significance of Topics of Orbis Pictus Award-Winning Books" (E. M. Aoki). In the middle section, writers--and Orbis winners or honorees--reflect on their work during the 1990s. These articles are: (6) "A Wish for a New Century" (D. Swanson); (7) "Lessons Learned from a Butterfly" (L. Pringle); (8) "Presidents, Plagues, and a Pilot: My Writing Life in the 1990s" (J. C. Giblin); (9) "Outside the Box" (P. Lauber); (10) "Writing in the '90s" (R. Blumberg); (11) "A World of Difference" (J. O. Dewey); (12) "One World, Many Religions" (M. P. Osborne); (13) "Nonfiction, 1999" (J. Fritz); and (14) "Serendipity, Detective Work, and Worry: One Nonfiction Writer's Journey through the '90s" (J. Murphy). The book concludes with an annotated list of Orbis Pictus winners and honor books from 1989 to 2000, including teaching suggestions for classroom use. (NKA) show less