From the Classroom

From the Classroom: Don’t Forget about Nonfiction!

By on October 26, 2026   /   For Teachers, From the Classroom   /   Leave a comment

Kids love fiction and nonfiction books, and among younger readers, studies often show that they prefer nonfiction books! Elementary school teachers know that certain nonfiction series fly off the shelves in younger grades: Who Would Win? or the Who Was? series. But at all grades should share, promote, and encourage nonfiction reading.

Read Aloud Nonfiction

How often do you choose a nonfiction book for a read aloud in your classroom? There are nonfiction picture books and middle grade books about any topic you can imagine! Nonfiction books are great for linking to your science or social studies curriculum, and you can find a ton of books about artists and musicians too.

Book Talk Nonfiction

A collection of middle grade nonfiction booksIn my classroom, we participate in First Chapter Friday, where I share the beginning of a middle grade book with my fifth graders. In addition to middle grade chapter books, graphic novels, and novels in verse, I also make sure to feature nonfiction middle grade books as well. These are a few of the most-popular middle grade nonfiction books in my classroom library.

All Thirteen: the incredible cave rescue of the Thai boy’s soccer team by Christina Soontornvat is as gripping as any fiction book. I already knew the outcome from the news, but I could not put this book down!

Chinese Menu: the history, myths, and legends behind your favorite foods by Grace Lin is a mouth-watering, information-packed book about your favorite Chinese foods. While you won’t want to read it on an empty stomach, you will be hungry for more stories once you start!

Kid-ventors: 35 Real Kids and their Amazing Inventions written by Kailei Pew and illustrated by Shannon Wright is a collection of stories and biographies about real-world kids who invented something new. My students find this one really exciting and inspiring!

Book cover for Fire Escape by Jessica StremerWhere Are the Aliens? The Search for Life Beyond Earth written by Stacy McAnulty and illustrated by Nicole Miles is a super-engaging look at the evidence and the science behind the search for extraterrestrial life.

And one more (missing from the photo because it’s currently checked out): Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires written by Jessica Stremer and illustrated by Michael Garland is a fascinating (and reassuring) look at wildfires and how nature responds.

Write Nonfiction

Expository writing is an element of many classroom curricula, and narrative nonfiction addresses many of the same skills as narrative fiction. In my fifth grade classroom, we spend a month immersed in nonfiction picture books while my students are brainstorming, researching, and writing their own nonfiction picture books.

We begin in the school library, and our librarian introduces students to Melissa’s Stewarts Five Kinds of Nonfiction. Students read and discuss a wide range of picture books, slotting them into each category: active, browsable, expository, traditional, and narrative.

Later, we analyze published picture books as mentor texts, and students choose a specific book that matches the style or structure they want to emulate. By the end of the unit, students have developed their skills in research, note-taking, writing, synthesizing, drafting, revising, and even visual design.

Students often say that this is one of their favorite projects of the year–especially because they get to read their books aloud to their second grade buddies! Nothing beats an authentic audience.

What are your favorite ways to use nonfiction with students?

 

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‘Moneyball’ author Michael Lewis’s MasterClass hits home run with Middle Grade craft

By on September 16, 2026   /   Articles, books, For Writers, From the Classroom, Writing  

By Faran Fagen

I recently showed a MasterClass to my students from Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball and The Blind Side (both made into popular movies).

As the video rolled, I was reminded of how profound his writing advice is and realized a lot of his advice could apply to middle grade novels.

Here are some of the highlights of his master class and how they apply to our craft:

Lewis focuses on finding your voice, developing an idea, creating characters, structuring a narrative, hooking the audience, simplifying complexity, and crafting strong beginnings and endings. Sounds familiar?

Lewis’s central question is essentially: What is the story here?

He’s especially good at taking subjects that sound complicated or dull—finance, statistics, economics—and finding the surprising human story inside them. His MasterClass specifically teaches how to “make anything interesting.”

One of my favorite Middle Grade writers is Donna Gephart, and she’s an expert on making ordinary things interesting, such as toilet paper or a trivia contest. The same can be said of Nicole Melleby or Jason Reynolds, who bases one book on a thrilling elevator ride in Long Way Down.

Lewis emphasizes character and uses real people in his own books as the engines of his narratives. MasterClass’s description of the course specifically includes developing characters and building a story around them.

Some of the questions Lewis poses: Who wants something badly? Why can’t they have it? What are they afraid will happen? What terrible choice might they make? What will they learn about themselves?

Lewis teaches the importance of hooking an audience and controlling the story from beginning to end. A middle-grade reader doesn’t need constant explosions. They need questions people care about.

One of Lewis’s strengths is relating to the reader. That’s particularly useful for MG writers. You can have sophisticated ideas in a middle-grade novel—grief, inequality, family divorce, identity, friendship, injustice—but the storytelling needs to remain accessible.

Extending Lewis’s message, you want your middle grade reader to understand what the character wants, what stands in the way, and why it matters.

He also said don’t be afraid of the messy first draft. Draft first. Diagnose later. Don’t stop Chapter 7 because Chapter 3 isn’t perfect.

For MG (or any genre really), every chapter should create some version of: pacing, character motivation, missing scenes, exposition, chapter endings, voice during revision.

The Michael Lewis formula I’d give an MG writer:

My Child:
Who is the protagonist?

They want:
What does the protagonist desperately want?

But:
What’s stopping them?

Because:
Why does this matter so much?

Then:
What unexpected thing happens?

So:
What does the protagonist do about it?

Which makes:
How does that decision make things worse?

Until:
What’s the biggest crisis?

Finally:
What choice does the protagonist make?

And afterward:
How has the protagonist changed?

That gets very close to the practical heart of Lewis’s approach: find the compelling human story, build it around memorable characters, create momentum, simplify the complicated parts, and make the reader care what happens next. Happy writing!

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From the Classroom – Building and Organizing a Classroom Library

By on August 24, 2026   /   Book Lists, For Teachers, From the Classroom  

What better way to greet students as we head back to school than with an amazing classroom library! Whether you are building a classroom library or reorganizing one, here are a few ideas for you to consider.

Building a Classroom Library

A well-stocked, high-quality classroom library can generate interest and motivation, support differentiated reading instruction, and help develop expert readers in your classroom. But sometimes it’s overwhelming on knowing where to start. Below are some amazing resources if you are struggling to figure out where to find high quality books.

One rule of thumb is to have anywhere from 10-20 books per students in your classroom at a variety of text lengths, genres, grade levels, and so forth. The more diverse the better!

Organizing a Classroom Library

While there is no wrong way to set up a classroom library, the following questions should guide your thinking on how you organize your library and situate it in your classroom.

  • When you walk in your classroom, does the library jump out or is it invisible?
  • Does the library have display areas for “teacher recommended” and “student recommended” books?
  • Are there books related to students’ cultural backgrounds and communities?
  • Is there a clear system for organizing the books, a check-in and check-out system, and a way to monitor students’ selections?

Two of the best books I’ve seen that help organize your classroom library and answer all of the questions above and MUCH, MUCH MORE are below (click on each picture for the website link):

Commonsense Guide to classroom library cover with shelves full of books

 

cover of It's all about the books with books making the shape of a heart

 

Of course a well-stocked, well-organized library is only good if you get students excited to use it! Make sure you plan lots of book talks, help your students find books they will like to read, and keep new books coming in throughout the school year to keep the classroom library fresh and a place to be!

What are your plans for your classroom library this year? Share your ideas in the comments section below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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