Text Sets: Fiction and Non Fiction

What would be a great topic to pair together two different genres- to read about and enjoy?

Snow! Yes, we have had our bit of snow in the Northeast this year. But kids love snow. We love to play in it and we love learn about it. What an interesting phenomenon that happens in some parts of the world!

Lester Laminack has a fun, fiction book about snow called, Snow Day.

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino is a wonderful non fiction book that helps engage the reader in the explanation and exploration of snow.

Pick a topic to explore- gather up your fiction and non fiction texts to explore, enjoy and engage the readers in your life in the mysteries and wonderment about the world! Kids have different entry points into reading and feeling connected to topics. Sometimes they find it through fiction and sometimes non fiction. Why not help them make the connection and read both!

Enjoy!

I Love Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson is, hands down, my favorite children book illustrator. In fact, the illustrations alone persuade me to open a text and read the print inside! I love the way he captures the details of people, truly bringing out their distinct beauty. My nephew has Please Baby Please and Please Puppy Please! Two wonderful picture books by Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee for babies and toddlers. Please Baby Please was Auntie ME’s niece’s first book that she could ‘read’ on her own. The kids in those books are so captivating.

I bought, He's Got the Whole World In His Hands for my god son on his first communion! When I was younger it was one of my favorite songs to sing! That little boy in the book I swear is the spitting image of my god son. We all had so much fun singing and reading and admiring the pictures in that book together!

AB and I over the years enjoyed: Thunder Rose, Hewitt Anderson’s Great Big Life, Dancing in the Wings and Brothers of the Knight! All wonderful picture books with great authors like Jerdine Nolen and Debbie Allen. Yes, Debbie Allen from the original movie and tv show, Fame.

He also illustrates for biographies such as, Mama Miti (another biography about Wangari Maathai), Testing the Ice (The story of Jackie Robinson), and Coretta Scott (Ntozake Shange's poem of civil rights leader).

His work is vast and filled with variety. His images help to tell the story and enjoy the content that we are learning. If you don’t own or haven’t read and fallen in love with one of his picture books- go immediately to your local bookstore, library or search online! His art is absolutely to die for and inspires us to enjoy the details of life!

Give a Poem and Say, "I Love You"

I love reading poetry! I love sharing poems with kids- all year long. I love giving the gift a poem. Yes just one, wrapped with a beautiful ribbon. One year I gave AB a poem that I had written for her birthday. She hanged it on her bulletin board above her desk. Just imagine snuggling up with your little person and reading, Honey I Love, By Eloise Greenfield. What a delicious moment to share! For my brother's wedding a read a poem, by Maya Angelou. I gave him and his wife that poem, in a frame. Mentor Mommy S and her family send cards once a year in December or January. They always include an inspirational quote instead of a holiday greeting. It feels so poetic- celebrating important words! Baby C's Nanas send a card with a poem. I remember one year they sent a Mary Oliver poem to everyone. What a gift!

I also love to read an anthology. Some many wonderful books with beautiful themes for kids. Maybe you want a theme about the Earth. I just got for my little fellow, The Tree That Built Time. It comes with CD so he can both read the book and listen to the poetry. It is truly a beautiful collection. You may want to just read an anthology by one author like Georgia Heard's amazing book, Creatures of Earth, Sea and Sky. What a love and reverence for nature these poems hold. Her poems will fill you with love! You may want an anthology that includes poems, songs, raps, and celebrates the spoken word- Hip Hop Speaks To Children is a beautiful one to share with those you love (it also includes a CD inside)

Make this a poetic year! Give a gift to your love ones and make it a poem. Celebrate the written word. Celebrate the spoken word. Celebrate poetry all year long!

Other great poets and poems for kids of different ages:
Angela Johnson: The Other Side
Janet Wong: A Suitcase of Seaweed, Night Garden
Naomi Shihab Nye: Honeybee, Salting the Ocean, 19 Varieties of A Gazelle, And an edited volume from poets from around the globe: This Same Sky
Nikki Giovanni: Spin a Soft Black Song, The Sun is So Quiet
Georgia Heard: This Place I know: Poems of Comfort, Songs of Myself
Eloise Greenfield:Nathaniel Talking, In the Land of Words, Friendly Four

Have You Picked Up a Magazine Recently?

When I travel, I like to load up my 'carry on' with a few magazines! I also subscribe (online now) to magazines and blogs. I enjoy reading short essays, stories, and even doing a puzzle now and then. My sister and Nana are big puzzle people as well. I remember growing up with many magazines coming to the house that I loved to browse and skim and read.

My nephew is growing up to be quite the traveler. He is almost three and has been to 3 continents and 7 countries including: Poland, Oman, and England. As he travels, he brings his "penguin roll-ley backpack" that my sister has filled with his slippers, a snack, a couple books etc. I suggested getting him a couple of magazines at the airport to read and let him look through- it's lighter!

Well this year, in honor of the new year, Nana and Papa got my nephew a year's subscription to National Geographic. What a great idea! It really is a gift that keeps giving! National Geographic, like National Wildlife Federation, has a couple of different magazine subscriptions- depending on the age of the child. Imagine, you could get a subscription for the toddler, the 4th grader, and for yourselves! That sounds like a family reading together! You could do the same with Sports Illustrated For Kids. I remember that my high school English teacher always said that the best writing is in SI!

Ask and Muse are both examples of companies with multi- leveled texts. Both content rich (science and social studies) oriented! These would be a nice companion to your Smithsonian subscription. Even online websites, like Time For Kids, have content and texts that are designed for different ages of kids!

These are heavy on the genre of non-fiction informational texts. In many of them though there are poems and cartoons, and some stories that highlight the theme of the magazine. Of course there are literary magazines as well that do the same thing!

Magazines online, delivered to your home, picked up at a newsstand or an airport, make a wonderful addition to the library at home!

Reading Alongside Our Kids

I have been in many book clubs. Book clubs have always been a place for me to discover new authors and content, bond with friends, and push me as a reader. One afternoon as AB and I were browsing in a book shop we came across Wicked. AB said to me, "Oh, I really want to see that Broadway Show!" I told her that I did as well! I suggested to AB that we get two copies of it- one for her and one for me- and that we should read it, talk about it and then go see the show together. She was game! And so began our book club.

When M and A invited me to the beach last spring, I had to bring something. I didn't want to show up empty handed. For the the adults I brought wine. For the kids I brought books for us to read and share together. I brought the picture book- Listen to The Wind for M. Listen to the Wind is the story of how Greg Mortensen was rescued in the mountains of Pakistan and nursed to health. He returned to the village that saved him, to help build a school! M is the kind of person who loves books about saving the world and helping others. For her birthday this year she asked everyone to bring food rather than presents. She was then able to take all the food her friends and family collected to her local food bank. So, I knew that this book choice would grab her attention. I had read Three Cups of Tea first. How wonderful that there is a version for younger kids to read and talk about a topic and issue in the world together!

I did the same with Wangri Maathai. When she won the Peace Prize I decided I wanted to get to know her better as well as her lifelong work in Kenya. I read Through The Greenbelt Movement and Unbowed: A memoir. Planting the Trees of Kenya and Wangari's Trees of Peace are two beautiful books published for kids. What a great dialog that this can create about reading and the world!

For my god son's 8th birthday I gave him: From Akira to Zoltan. I wanted to introduce him to the world of biographies and people who have made a difference in the world! What a great way to continue building the idea of strong male role models! This set off an inquiry about people and history! He continued to look for other biographies- He got inspired to read a couple of biographies about Gandhi and Barack Obama! I followed along! I found for myself The Essential Guide to Gandhi. I also had read Obama's first autobiography Dreams From My Father, but still needed to read, The Audacity of Hope. So the two of us read biographies- side by side!

Create a book club with the kids in your life and find ways to connect your reading life to theirs! You will find that not only will you peak their interest in a topic- but they will inspire you to read more deeply as well!