Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 31

Faith Building Fridays: Promise

Think carefully. I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig tress, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will bless you.

-Haggai 2:18b-19, NLT

Can you trust Him? He has promised! God has promised that from this day onward, He will bless you. Even if you’ve never yet had anything published, this promise is yours today!

Dear God, Your promises are sure. Your promises are certain. Thank You for encouraging me with this wonderful and precious promise as Your scribe. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Scribes: Devotions for Christian Writers is available at Amazon.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays, Inspiration, Uncategorized

NF PB Journey

Mosquito Bite

by Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel

Photographs by Dennis Kunkel

Published by Charlesbridge in 2005

What a great book this is! It’s great for kids. It’s great for parents, teachers, librarians, and educators. And it’s a great mentor text for children’s authors who are serious about science and teaching science to kids.

If you want to write nonfiction for Charlesbridge or nonfiction picture books in general, hop on over to Amazon and take a peek inside the book. The text is engaging and very well done. The fresh unique approach to include microphotographs is brilliant. I just can’t say enough great things about this book.

Per our discussion in my last post, I evaluated it using my INFORMATIONAL TEXT PICTURE BOOK RUBRIC. Why? Because even though it teaches the life-cycle of the mosquito, it includes a make-believe story arc about children playing hide-and-seek when one boy gets bit by the mosquito.

I’m not saying this is wrong. Not at all. It’s just that I belong to various online nonfiction writing groups and have been involved with various groups that discuss fiction/nonfiction and this book definitely is not pure nonfiction even though it’s categorized in my local library under nonfiction.

In Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature (tenth edition) by Barbara Z. Kiefer, Mosquito Bite is even used as an example of nonfiction on page 505 in the author’s Chapter 11: Nonfiction Books. It is included under a subheading called “STYLE.”

I just want to point this out because as a nonfiction children’s writer, I couldn’t classify this book and others like it as nonfiction. I prefer using the term informational text, which as Kiefer points out, has been a standard and accepted term in the children’s publishing industry for years.

And as some of you have commented, our awareness of this as writers can actually help us understand more clearly just how the lines between fiction and nonfiction are drawn in today’s publishing world. And knowing this can help us become better writers and improve our own nonfiction manuscripts.

Here’s my rubric for you to see:

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized

The Debate Continues: Nonfiction or Fiction?

Lately I’ve been reading Chapter 11: Nonfiction Books of Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature (tenth edition) by Barbara Z. Kiefer.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this book, it is the standard in the industry of children’s publishing. What does this mean? It means that this is a college textbook that has been widely studied by editors, agents, and literature majors in their college years. So it’s important for us as writers to read through this book to gain a better understanding of the point of view coming back to us from editors and agents and other professionals in the world of children’s publishing.

Recently, as those of you know who have been following along here on my blog, I have been evaluating nonfiction and fiction picture books in an attempt to help me write better books of my own. I am particularly evaluating nonfiction picture books published by Charlesbridge Publishers as I’m trying to familiarize myself with their product line and understand better why these manuscripts made it into print with this publisher. I’m also looking for more nonfiction picture books to use as mentor texts in my own writing.

Up to this point, I’ve been using just two rubrics to track my evaluations. One for fiction and one for nonfiction.

But now I’ve added a third rubric to my line-up. It’s for “informational text.”

Why did I feel the need to add this third rubric?

Because I’ve been reading books that are classified in the nonfiction section in libraries and bookstores. However, even though there is a solid amount of facts included, these books add ingredients of fiction. I just can’t call them nonfiction, especially after reading the section in Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature of Chapter 11 called “Criteria for Evaluating Nonfiction Books.”

For years, as this textbook explains, the accepted term among children’s literature scholars has been “Informational Text” for nonfiction books in general. However, as more and more truly nonfiction books are being published these days in response to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, the term “Nonfiction” is being used to identify these books filled with facts and facts alone even if they’re among the increasing number that uses engaging text and fiction techniques to convey these facts to kids.

An excellent example of the difference between a nonfiction picture book and picture book I’m choosing to identify as informational text is the title by Charlesbridge, Mosquito Bite.

Mosquito Bite can be found in the nonfiction section section of my public library. It is classified as nonfiction. And it should be. It’s filled with microphotographs of mosquitos as it describes the life cycle of mosquitos.

However, the story arc of the book is written along the fictional story of children playing hide-and-seek. And this is where the book moves out of the nonfiction category for us as writers.

Yes, it’s classified as nonfiction in the library and in the bookstores and in the catalogs.

But yes, it includes fiction…a lot of it!…to convey the fascinating facts.

And there are lots and lots of children’s books that do this.

That is why I have decided to classify these books for my own personal investigation by borrowing the term that has already been in our industry for years. I’m choosing to identify these titles with a rubric called “Informational Text.”

For years, I’ve watched the debate among children’s writers about whether the words we write are truly nonfiction or cross over into the genre of fiction.

Here’s a short example of what I mean:

Nonfiction that uses fiction techniques:

If writing about George Washington, you can say he felt the cold wind on his face as he rode his horse among the men in the freezing winter at Valley Forge.

Nonfiction that should be labeled as informational text because it includes some fictional elements (note that this is not Historical Fiction, a different genre altogether):

This would occur when we give the horse of George Washington feelings as the faithful steed who carries the future president through the Revolutionary War.

So now I’m joining the debate.

I really think that for us as writers, we need to divide our work into 3 categories, not just 2.

Fiction.

Nonfiction.

Informational Text that is mostly nonfiction but strays into the genre of fiction by including fictional text while still being classified as nonfiction in libraries, bookstores, and other places.

Read Mosquito Bite by Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel to see what I mean. And read Chapter 11 of Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature (tenth edition).

In my next post I’ll be posting the rubric I made of Mosquito Bite, an excellent book, I must say!

As you evaluate picture books on your own,  you can find all 3 rubrics that I created by visiting one of my sites at Writing According to Humphrey and Friends. Scroll all the way down to the section RUBRICS TO HELP EVALUATE MANUSCRIPTS OR PUBLISHED BOOKS. Click on the links for the Fiction Picture Book Rubric, Nonfiction Picture Book Rubric, and Informational Text Picture Book Rubric.

When you download these three free rubrics, you’ll see that the nonfiction one and the informational text one are exactly the same. That’s because the evaluation is the same, it’s just that I feel the need to classify them differently as we’ve discussed.

 

 

Filed under: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Mightier

But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,

mightier than the breakers on the shore–

the Lord above is mightier than these!

-Psalm 93:4

God is mightier! He is mightier than rejections! He is mightier than legal mix-ups with contracts. He is mightier than the biggest publishing house, the most demanding editor, and the most famous agent. The Lord above is mightier than these!

Dear God, thank You! You are mighty! I trust in Your power to rescue me and keep my foot firm. Alleluia! Amen.

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Scribes: Devotions for Christian Writers is available at Amazon.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays, Inspiration, Uncategorized

NF PB Journey

The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred

by Samantha R. Vamos

Art by Rafael Lopez

Published by Charlesbridge in 2011

This is one of the cleverest books! The way it weaves Spanish words into English text is simply brilliant.

Using the format of a cumulative text (Think “This is the house that Jack built”) it introduces key words in English and then refers to them in Spanish each time they are used after that.

The art is bold, lively, and engaging to make this book definitely one of my favorites to use as a mentor text for this type of format.

Just a note: This is NOT a nonfiction picture book. But I included it here because it has so much potential as a mentor text. Plus it is one of Charlesbridge’s finest, I think.

Here’s my rubric of it!

 

Filed under: Picture Books, Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Seek

But as for me, I would seek God,

And to God I would commit my cause–

Who does great things, and unsearchable,

Marvelous things without number.

-Job 5:8-9, NKJV

Let’s seek God each and every day. Let’s listen to His heart. Let’s commit our writing to Him and take time to meet each day with Him. Let’s read the Bible, spend time singing and dancing our praises, and talk with Him about the things He wants us to write. Let’s dedicate our writing to Him and He will do marvelous things without number!

Dear God, draw me to You. Help me establish a time each day when I sit in Your presence, seek Your face, and get renewed, revived, and refreshed so that I am able to write for Your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays, Inspiration, Uncategorized

NF PB Journey

Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle

by Cheryl Bardoe

Art by Alan Marks

Published by Charlesbridge in 2014

I guess maybe because I’m from a dairy farm where I grew up scooping up the cowpiles, I was totally fascinated by this clever insect whose world consists of animal dung. But beyond that, I must say that the outstanding feature of this book is the author’s excellent use of word choice.

This text is engaging. The cool facts are fascinating. The artwork is appealing. By the end of this book, I was agreeing. Yes! The dung beetle is truly a beautiful insect.

I’m particularly interested in this book by Charlesbridge because I am interested in writing nonfiction about stuff like bugs and animals and nature. This is definitely one of my new mentor texts.

And guess what? I typed it out, word for word. As an exercise. I like to do that for so many reasons. One thing I discovered is that it clocked in at a whopping 1059 words! So for all of you nonfiction authors who get told by your fellow fiction picture book writers that your manuscript needs to be 300 words or less, stress no more.

There are two levels of text in this picture book and most of the information is told in the subtext. Plus, there’s hefty back matter which I didn’t even count. So between the main text, the subtext, and the back matter, there is plenty of room here to get your point across to young readers. Check it out!!!!

Here’s my rubric for it.

Filed under: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Words

For I have not concealed

the words of the Holy One.

-Job 6:10b

Has God called you to write a specific manuscript? Then write it! Don’t conceal the words that are burning on your heart. Do whatever it takes to rearrange your schedule so that you have time to write His words. If you write one page each day, five days a week, in one year you’ll have an entire book. Start writing today!

Dear God, thank You for calling me to write. Help me arrange my days and make writing a priority. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Fruit

You didn’t choose me.

I chose you.

I appointed you to [write] and

produce fruit that will last.

-John 15:16, NLT

God has chosen you and me to write. He has appointed us to produce fruit that will last. What a glorious adventure is ours! He sees and knows and understands, even if nobody else does. Let’s write, dear scribe. We’re in the business of growing fruit!

Dear God, thank You for choosing me. Thank You for appointing me to a task that brings glory to Your name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays, Inspiration, Uncategorized

New Audio Workshops for Children’s Writers

Sometimes being a writer is like being an archaeologist. We sift and dig through our research and spend countless hours finding and organizing treasures to share with the world.

It can be a lonely journey at times. That’s one of the reasons I like to create audio workshops and teleclasses to pull alongside you, become part of your writing community, and share treasures I’ve discovered that have helped me build my writing career of 100+ published books with publishers big and small. I want and pray for your own writing journey to produce fruit as well!

So I’d like to share 2 new audio workshops that I’ve prepared this last month just for you!

SPECIALIZE

The first is a teleclass about specializing. Why specialize? To put it simply, because I specialize in several different subjects as a writer, now publishers call me and offer me book contracts for thousands of dollars because, I quote, “We need someone with your expertise.” I started out small and took my baby steps to make this happen and I’m confident you can too. To get more information about purchasing this 1-hour teleclass based on a Q/A session I did with writing coach Suzanne Lieurance, CLICK HERE for SPECIALIZE: NOW IS THE TIME.

HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN’S NONFICTION BOOK IN A MONTH

Okay. This is a biggie. I’ve been working for MONTHS to create this 4-session audio workshop tailored specifically for all you precious friends and fellow writers who follow along here on my blog. I know so many of you have a heart for writing nonfiction for kids.

Now here it is! Four hours of instructions and 30+ handouts to learn all the tricks of the trade and techniques that I use, actually use, to write nonfiction for kids. I’m hoping that you’ll be able to find solid instruction and acquire successful strategies to take your nonfiction to the top.

If you write full time and want to tackle a nonfiction book in just one month, this audio workshop is a compass to guide your journey. But even if you want to just take your time and learn all these techniques at a leisurely pace, they’re all here, step-by-step, to lead you along the way.

CLICK HERE to get more information about this workshop HOW TO WRITE A NONFICTION BOOK IN A MONTH.

And finally, please share the link to this post and even repost it on your own blog if you’d like! Thanks for helping to spread the word around our writing community to all our writing buddies and friends.

-Photograph of archaeologist at the top by By Hanay, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8078565

Filed under: Nonfiction, Uncategorized, Writer Workshops