I saw Marc Aronson on a panel at a School Library Journal Day of Dialog a few years ago, and I was intrigued by his ideas about juvenile nonfiction. So, of course, I was thrilled when I learned that he would be featured at a kid lit salon. Aronson has a Ph.D. in American History, and he has been working with children's books for the last 15 years. He teaches library science courses at Rutgers' University, including a course on nonfiction. He currently has three books in the works, in various stages of production.

The program was hosted at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building by Betsy Bird, Youth Materials Specialist at NYPL.

Why Read Nonfiction?

Aronson began the afternoon with a Power Point presentation. He wondered why we call fiction "unreal books," and why we define nonfiction by what it is not. Another term for nonfiction is equally unappealing: "informational text" sounds very bland. A work of nonfiction, The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon, won the very first Newbery Award in 1922. Nonfiction books won Newberys until 1988; the winner that year was Lincoln: a Photobiography by Russell Freedman. Since then, fiction has ruled the roost. This is unfortunate, since there are some intriguing nonfiction narratives out there that are written from varying points of view.

With the advent of the Common Core in 2010, teachers are in the process of not teaching answers because the answers are changing. We are teaching young people how to think dynamically in motion. Students insist on Googling their paper topics and click on the first result, but only because that is the fastest and easiest method of information retrieval. This is not necessarily the highest quality information; there is a plethora of information sources from which they could choose, had they the inclination. It is important to choose accurate nonfiction sources since some nonfiction has factual errors. Experts in the field authored many of these books, and students can benefit from that. According to Aronson, MFA programs should work harder to teach writing nonfiction as a craft, not as a dry exercise. Narrative books are more interesting to kids than textbooks. However, if the authors do not conduct their research properly, their nonfiction books can contain factual errors.

Currently, teachers allow students to debate whether Pluto exists when it is taught in school. The kids are asked to consider the evidence. This teaches kids about the process of critical thinking. Sometimes, people ask Aronson the following questions about books: Is it good for reports? and What age is it taught at? Students sometimes simply search for the "correct" answer, but in doing so, they deprive themselves of more generative intellectual activity. Aronson strives to enable students to discuss topics of interest, not simply pigeonhole books for specific school tasks. He also thinks it is helpful to explain to students that adults are not experts on every subject. Sometimes people simply do not know the answer to a question, and it is best to refer young people to other, more knowledgeable sources.

At this point, the audience began asking questions.

Fiction vs. Nonfiction

The first audience member was a teacher, and she pointed out that kids read fiction at a higher level than nonfiction. She opined that kids are not taught how to synthesize the info in nonfiction texts, yet they are asked to recount the plots of fiction books.

Aronson replied that American society equates reading with fiction. However, nonfiction has certain elements that make a more definable structure. For example, there are indices, tables of contents and captions in nonfiction works, which makes them easier to decode, in a sense. Also, works of nonfiction by a single author are more difficult to find. Fiction is shelved by author's last name, while nonfiction is classified by subject area. This is probably because fiction readers are specifically looking for similar works by authors that they enjoy, not researching a single subject area in depth.

A high school English teacher asked if Aronson has a solution to the dearth of nonfiction texts in the classroom.

Aronson answered that interdisciplinary instruction is useful and valuable to kids.

(I was a student in the honors program at my undergraduate college. I loved it because all of the classes were team taught by two professors in different fields in the humanities... e.g. sociology and religion. The class had the same people for four years, and the program culminated in a undergraduate senior thesis.)

Bird commented that Aronson mentioned how people teach nonfiction to kids. She dislikes fake dialog that is interspersed in some works of nonfiction, and also when books lack source notes.

Aronson agrees that dialog does not belong in nonfiction books, though it works in historical fiction.

Bird mentioned the plethora of new nonfiction books about what famous people were like as kids.

Nonfiction From the Experts

Aronson declared that sometimes adults think that kids will not like nonfiction. The result can be somewhat patronizing. It is important to come up with fresh and new ideas in order to intrigue kids about life. Kids need to learn about the world and the collective knowledge that our society has created. Nonfiction authors should assume that kids have other sources of information that emanate from different voices and points of view. No one book can possibly say everything that there is to know about any subject area. Every author is a distinct individual with a unique viewpoint and life experiences. Teachers and writers should see young people as detectives and creators of knowledge.

Aronson thinks that sidebars are overused, and they can be detrimental to nonfiction. They are sometimes poorly designed and can be used as a crutch for poor writing. Some publishers are entranced with the Internet. They try to make books look like the Internet, despite the fact that print and digital books have different elements. There has been much speculation about a possible future "Gutenberg moment" in which print books will be discarded in favor of digital texts. However, this has not happened yet, and it will probably not happen.

An audience member mentioned that hyperlinks in texts can distract kids from the content. There was a study done in which kids read digital text with hyperlinks and text without hyperlinks. The kids retained the info without the hyperlinks better.

Aronson mentioned that everyone reads differently. Adults need to explain to kids that we do not know everything and point them to the experts in the relevant field of knowledge. We should not dispense vague and incomplete ideas that masquerade as proper information. It is good to admit to people that we do not know everything. This will cause kids to make great discoveries!

An audience member pointed out that librarians and teachers view fiction and nonfiction differently. As a teacher, he sees 75% fiction and 25% nonfiction in the classroom. He surmises that it should be more equal. Librarians tell him that they cannot get kids to read nonfiction. (This is not my personal experience. I see kids reading fiction and nonfiction.) He does not have a problem promoting nonfiction books.

Aronson pointed out that kids vary and textbooks are teaching tools with particular points of view that are written by different people.

Upcoming Children's Literary Salon
Native Fiction and the Editorial Process
Saturday, October 4 at 2 p. m.
South Court, Schwarzman Building

• Marc Aronson's books
• Marc Aronson's web site
• Consider the Source (School Library Journal Column)
• Mental Floss
• The Uncommon Corps