Top Ten Reasons Nonfiction is Perfect for Reluctant Readers!

10. Give ‘em what they want! Years of research on children’s reading preferences show that students like nonfiction as much or more than fiction.

9. Keep ‘em reading! Research also suggests that the structures of nonfiction are easier for reluctant readers to comprehend than narrative. Prior knowledge of high-interest topics can support struggling readers.

8. Students often lose interest in reading during the middle school years. Nonfiction can motivate students to read through connections to their lives and interests (ex. sports, hobbies, celebrity bios).

7. Graphics and text layouts of nonfiction appeal to students used to a visual, hypertextual world. Nonfiction book designs do a great job with eye appeal.

6. Most of what we read in life after school is nonfiction. Reading nonfiction will help students develop functional literacy skills for life after school.

5. High-interest nonfiction can be used as a hook to help students learn about research and writing. Talk about how writers investigated their subjects.

4. Use high-interest nonfiction to model reading skills during read-alouds.

3. Nonfiction is more than just facts. There’s always a story. James Cross Giblin said the writer’s job is to find the story in the facts. Kids love to “own” these hidden stories so they can say, “Did you know…?”

2. “Some kids prefer the real.”

1. Nonfiction is fun! Topics such as weird science, the mysterious and unusual, animals, celebrities, and disasters appeal to curious readers.

Learn more about Nonfiction Book Blast HERE!