Nonfiction: Biographies and Informational Books

Of the many genres of text available to read, "informational books" may sound like a boring category, at least to me it does.
In fact there are many myths surrounding the genre: 

• that they are a dry recitation of facts. 

• they are not as good as a method for informing as a text book.

• boys and girls would rather read fiction.

However informational books and biographies offer an extremely broad range of individuals and topics to acquire knowledge about while reading. Nonfiction literature is based on facts that are based on the social and scientific world. The main thing to remember is that they are all based on the truth. Nonfiction books, while having the main purpose of informing, should and can also be a pleasure to read.
As a future teacher, including a variety of biographies and informational books for children to read will provide they type of variety that is needed to satisfy the readers of a diverse classroom. It would be beneficial to know and understand your students interests and passions when picking nonfiction literature to expose them to. For example, many young boys enjoy cars, trucks, boats, machines, and things of that nature. Including books that are about those topics can help inspire those students to read and enjoy literature.
Informational books can also offer a multicultural experience for students. In fact nonfictional books can be read alongside fictional books on the same topic to offer a broader understanding of a particular culture. For example, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a fictional novel about the Nazi invasion of Denmark during World War II, it can be read alongside the book Darkness over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews by Ellen Levine, which tells of the lives of 21 Danish people she interviewed who experienced this event in history personally.

Biographies offer a peek into history, whether ancient or recent, by presenting information based on one individual who experienced life during the part of history being discussed. As a future teacher I will consider including many biographies in my classroom library that will be of interest to the students. I will do this by including biographies of children and of people who were influential in a topic that the students find interesting. I personally think that autobiographies are very interesting to read and offer a very personal and detailed recount of what happened in history.

In my future classroom I will choose informational and biographical books wisely and will research my students interests and passions before selecting appropriate books for them to choose from. I hope to instill a love of all types of literature by helping to break the myths and stereotypes surrounding certain genres, such as nonfiction, by only recommending books from this category that the students will hopefully fall in love with.