Ask students what some of their favorite books are (or even put a book list, nonfiction or fiction, in front of them and ask them to point to a favorite), and for many, what comes to mind and their mouths is “I don’t like to read.” (Someone should write a book with that as a title; it’d be a best-seller as part of book recommendations for non readers!) For others, they might share a Llama Llama book their parents read them when they were young or a Percy Jackson book they encountered in their formative years.
What we likely won’t hear, though, in that favorite book list, are the names of nonfiction texts or informational texts. Indeed, students would have difficulty coming up with one nonfiction text let alone multiple texts to fill a book list nonfiction, for fiction texts often dominate what students encounter in their English and Language Arts classes.
Of course, fiction is important, for fiction cultivates empathy, critical thinking, reflection, and growth–but nonfiction texts and informational texts can do the same (and more) as readers employ reading strategies and engage with argument and analysis.
So, then, how can we help students digest more nonfiction texts without just throwing a nonfiction book list in their laps and commanding them to read?
The Case for a Book List: Nonfiction Texts and Informational Texts
In a recent article, Professor Lester Laminack of West Carolina University contends, “Nonfiction develops and extends vocabulary, builds a repertoire of background information, and helps the child make connections to the natural world.”
Those are important points, so let’s break them down:
What does vocabulary unlock for students?
Well, when reading and understanding, knowing the words used by the writer and speaker helps students understand their points and perspectives.
When writing and communicating, students can more clearly articulate their own points and perspectives.
(For example, if a student wants to discuss the tone of speeches–nonfiction texts–the students could note the tone is “negative,” but what does that really mean? “Negative” is so broad, so nonspecific. With a better vocabulary, the students could, instead, note the tone as “caustic” and “shrewd,” communicating more clearly and specifically their understanding.)
Why are background information and connections important?
As people and educators, we know from our experiences and our training that what’s learned today is built on what was learned yesterday. (If I can jumpstart a car, it’s because I’ve learned how a car operates, where the battery is, what tools I need, the dangers of electricity, etc.)
The world is a complex machine, its gears constantly turning, powered by billions of people with trillions of different experiences.
The more students know, the more they have access to the inner-workings of this machine.
For instance, if my students read nonfiction texts like Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, the knowledge they gain about inequities and racial bias in the criminal justice system, can help them understand the perspectives, plights, and politics of others they will encounter in school, in jobs, in life.
By connecting what they know to who they know or what they do, students are taking reading and learning from the page to the people, from the classroom to the culture.
Book List Nonfiction (or Some Prospective Nonfiction Book Club Recommendations)
With the benefits of nonfiction texts and informational texts in mind, let’s consider how we can get students (especially non readers) engaged with more nonfiction texts and informational texts.
Check out the book (and story) list nonfiction below for some thoughts on shorter pieces and longer pieces.
As a strategy, you can start with shorter pieces of texts to help students understand things like the rhetorical situation and rhetorical appeals, leading then to longer pieces.
Shorter Texts/Pieces for One-Sitting:
“Big Boy” by David Sedaris
This is an entertaining piece of nonfiction with Sedaris telling the story of a “long and coiled specimen, as thick as a burrito” he happens upon in a toilet. This is a great piece to use to discuss tone and voice as readers can’t help but chuckle as Sedaris battles the beast, seeing how Sedaris’ tone creates humor.
“This is Water” by David Foster Wallace
This commencement speech is a powerhouse of rhetorical moves, giving its audience much to consider about life after big events (like graduation) but also life right now.
Using speeches as nonfiction texts can help students clearly articulate the rhetorical situation:
- What’s the exigence?
- What’s the audience like?
- What’s the relationship between the speaker and audience?
- What’s the occasion?
- What subjects are discussed?
- What’s the purpose?
The real world and clear connection between a speaker, audience, and message in a speech can help students articulate answers to the questions above.
“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner
This essay will challenge the students to think differently about a community and will give students an opportunity to dissect rhetorical appeals as Eighner persuades his audience to see the science and philosophy behind dumpster diving.
How does Eighner appeal to pathos? To logos? To ethos? By having their perspectives challenged, students will appreciate the varied ways Eighner achieves his purpose. (This essay is a great-pairing with the TikTok trend videos of people dumpster diving themselves, finding treasures among the trash.)
Longer Texts/Pieces for Multiple-Sittings
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
This could be part of a list of book recommendations for non readers as it’s hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measures as Noah, a comedian well-known for his time as the host of The Daily Show, shares stories from his youth in South Africa living under the oppression of apartheid. The audiobook version, too, is worth a listen as it’s narrated by Noah himself, which really brings his voice to life on the page.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
This is a personal favorite, but the high school students who’ve come across it and read it have given it high-marks for its poignant story of a young man and an old man coming together before the older man–a professor and a student of life–leaves this life behind.
It’s not a difficult read–but it’s a thoughtful and philosophical one, so it might be a good thematic pairing with other fiction or nonfiction texts. (For example, I could pair Tuesday with Morrie’s chapter about money with a chapter in The Great Gatsby to contrast two different perspectives on money and material things and the effects they have on mental, social, and physical wellbeing.)
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by, you guessed it, Frederick Douglass.
This one’s on many colleges’ book lists of nonfiction, for it’s powerful in its portrayal of its subject matter as Douglass captures the horrors of slavery. His prose is full of rhetorical appeals ripe for analysis and close inspection.
In addition, with it being a first-hand account, students will see it as more than an informational text; they will see it as an important document and narrative that all citizens of the United States should experience.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
This memoir is beautifully-written, exploring the author’s tumultuous childhood. The book starts out with the author driving in a limousine and seeing her parents dumpster diving. She then jumps back to her childhood that was full of “adventures” – her father Rex, an alcoholic, and her mother Rose Mary, an artist, moved their children around frequently (doing the “skedaddle”). This is a coming of age story about seeing people, flaws and all, and of hope, the kind of hope that sees beauty in difficult situations.
The Color of Water by James McBride
Written by a son trying to piece together an understanding of his mother, this book is about race and resilience, about exploring perspectives and stories different than your own. This would fit very well with a Humans of New York interview project or a piece of writing, in the spirit of James McBride, that tells someone else’s story.
Nonfiction & Memoir Novel Study Projects for Students
We’re not done yet… 😉 If you’re looking for an awesome nonfiction text with an end-of-book project ready to go, check out my hexagonal thinking projects for the following titles.
- 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
- Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
- Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- The Color of Water by James McBride
- The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
At the end of the day, we want our students to read, independently applying reading strategies and engaging with a variety of texts, be they fiction or nonfiction texts. In a world where students are staring at screens, it’s harder and harder to get them to read between the lines, but with the right text at the right time, we can remind them they are readers, even if they don’t want to admit it!