By now, you probably know that the Common Core State Standards place a big emphasis on kids reading informational text. In fact, the requirements are clear: According to the standards’ key design considerations, by 2014, 50 percent of what fourth graders read—and 70 percent of high school seniors’ reading material—should be high-quality nonfiction.
What’s not so clear for many teachers is how to rebalance curriculums and classroom libraries that once favored stories, poems and drama to include nonfiction books that kids want to read, regardless of the new requirements. We’ve seen kids fall in love with Because of Winn-Dixie, Holes and To Kill a Mockingbird—what are their nonfiction counterparts?