Smack Dab in the Classroom: From Fiction to Non-fiction, and Back Again, by Dia Calhoun

Books are always points of departure to worlds unknown. Reading fiction opens up not only new understanding of people and new ways of thinking about life, but also a thirst for new facts.

Reading Charlotte's Web, for example, can lead kids to wanting to learn more about spiders, or pigs, or rats. (What fun to write a compare and contrast of Templeton in Charlotte's Web and Chiaroscuro in The Tale of Despereaux.)

On the other hand, reading a non-fiction book about spiders can inspire a kid to write a story about spiders.  Or reading a book about mythology can inspire a kid to write her own personal mythology.

The important think is to catch whatever ignites a kid's interest and then pursue it down as many roads as possible. Go there and back again.