Saturday, February 1, 2025

GROSS AND GRIPPING: The Power of Strange Stories in NF Kidlit

Welcome to NF Fest 2025! The Nonfiction Ninjas are excited to host another February (plus a few extra days) of celebrating the creating of nonfiction for children. Our guest bloggers will be generously sharing insights and strategies they’ve learned that helped them succeed. We hope you find these encouraging and beneficial wherever you are on your nonfiction journey.
 
Check here daily to read each new post. (Feel free also to check our NF Fest blog archives consisting of five years of February posts. Check the right-hand column.) Share your thoughts in the comments section and on our NF Fest Facebook page. Thank you for celebrating nonfiction with us!

Like all good nonfiction, NF Fest 2025 opens with a BANG! with a post from our very own Stephanie Bearce with...


GROSS AND GRIPPING: 

The Power of Strange Stories in NF Kidlit



What do leeches, lice, mold, and poop have in common? They’re all gross, no doubt, but they’re also fantastic introductions to science experiments and surprising facts! As a nonfiction author writing for kids, I’ve found that the weirder or grosser the hook, the faster I can pull in readers—especially the ones who don’t usually pick up a book. Strange facts capture their curiosity and lead them to dive deeper into history and science without even realizing they’re learning.

Take leeches, for instance. These little bloodsuckers have been used in medicine for centuries, and they still are today! In modern surgery, they help promote blood flow, but tell kids that George Washington’s doctors accidentally bled him to death using leeches, and their eyes widen in shock. Suddenly, they’re not only fascinated by the history of medicine but eager to understand how medical practices have evolved over time.

And what about brain surgery? Yes, ancient cultures practiced it—successfully! Imagine performing surgery on someone’s skull without modern tools or anesthesia, and the patient lives to tell the tale. That’s the power of trepanation, the ancient practice of drilling into the skull to relieve pressure. It’s a gruesome but gripping entry point to explore ancient medicine, and once kids are hooked, they’re ready to dive deeper into how we’ve built on these early practices.

But let’s not forget how the world’s messiest lab accident led to one of the greatest medical discoveries of all time. In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming returned to his cluttered, moldy lab after vacation to find mold growing on his petri dishes. Instead of cleaning up, he investigated—and realized that the mold was killing harmful bacteria. That mold became penicillin, a breakthrough that revolutionized medicine. This kind of unexpected, quirky discovery shows kids that science isn’t just about perfect experiments; sometimes, it’s about making unexpected connections that lead to something amazing.

And it's not just gross or quirky medical facts that hook readers. Some of my favorite strange stories come from history, like the tale of Frances Glessner Lee, a millionaire heiress who spent her time building murder dioramas. Yes, you heard that right—miniature, dollhouse-sized crime scenes! Lee’s Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death were used to train detectives in crime scene investigation. This eerie but fascinating story pulls kids into the world of forensic science, where they can learn how detectives piece together clues to solve real-life mysteries.

Weird facts aren’t just fun for kids—they’re gold for authors too! If you want to grab young readers’ attention, think about how you can use the strange, the gross, or the bizarre to pull them into your story. What weird fact have you stumbled upon lately? Keep a file of strange tidbits that spark your curiosity, whether it’s an unusual historical event, a quirky science discovery, or a bizarre cultural practice. These nuggets could be the seeds for your next great nonfiction book or even a fun twist in a fictional tale.

There are countless places to find these quirky facts. Podcasts about history, science, and mysteries are rich sources of weird and wonderful stories. News articles often feature strange discoveries or oddities that are ripe for exploration. Documentaries, museum exhibits, and even social media can offer up fascinating details that most people overlook. When something odd catches your attention, don’t dismiss it—investigate! Ask yourself how you can turn that fact into a story idea that will captivate young readers.

By using the unusual to liven up your writing, you’re not just adding entertainment value—you’re creating books that kids will want to read. And the weirder the fact, the more likely it is to hook them into learning something new. So, the next time you’re brainstorming a story or lesson, don’t be afraid to go for the strange. The grossest, quirkiest details might just be the key to selling books that keep kids coming back for more.

 

About the Author: 
Stephanie Bearce is an award-winning author of over 40 traditionally published books, including The Secret of Moonrise Manor (2025) and its sequel, The Curse of the Lost Cave (2026). She is the author of several nonfiction series, including The Top-Secret Files of History, Twisted True Tales from Science, and Awesome Disgusting History. Her books have been honored with the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award and featured on the National Science Teachers Notable Book List.
As a certified life and author coach, Stephanie co-hosts the Way-Word Writers podcast, where she shares insights on writing, publishing, and personal growth. She is also a member of the Nonfiction Ninjas and founder of NF Fest, bringing her expertise and enthusiasm to the nonfiction writing community.



24 comments:

  1. What fascinating stories Stephanie! You definitely have intrigued me and made me want to start digging for bizarre, strange or gross!

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  2. Robin Brett WechslerFebruary 1, 2025 at 11:59 AM

    Cool info, Stephanie! Thank you for the suggestions and inspiration. Congrats on all your books.

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  3. Stephanie is always full of fun gross facts. Her new book, The Secret of Moonrise Manor, comes out on 2/4 and is full of mystery and strange, interesting facts.Thank you for sharing!

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  4. Awesome and gross post! Haha. What a great hook to get kids reading. Thank you for the post.

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  5. You had me at "leeches" - I love the examples you give and how they worked into your books. Now you've given me an idea for what to do with this old index card filebox: turn it into a place to store gross, disgusting, and quirky tidbits.

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  6. I've started my list of the "strange, gross, and unusual." Great idea! Thank you.

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  7. Really cool and what a great fun book for kids to read out loud and say all those words, laughing all the way!

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  8. STEPHANIE: I think we can all agree that history and science classes would be SO MUCH MORE engaging if they were livened-up with fun, strange, weird, unusual facts---creating eager learners, instead of kids being BORED-OUT-OF-THEIR-MINDS! You have to find ways to make history and science come ALIVE so kids will embrace it and want to keep learning---without even realizing they are, because they're having SO MUCH FUN! THANK YOU for sharing your INSPIRING ideas to help us start thinking like our audience. What wouldn't bore us? What do we wish we had learned about history and science when we were kids?

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  9. Terrific post Stephanie! I read MICOBE HUNTERS as a teenager. I couldn't put the book down. Thank you for sharing and giving my old brain a jump start.

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  10. I used to have nightmares about leeches! 🤣 But I agree, kids live wild, weird and wacky! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  11. Thanks so much for this inspirational and fun post full of helpful advice! Your works sound fascinating, and I can't wait to start my file of strange facts and check out your podcast!

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    1. Whoopsie, I noticed it was set to anonymous too late as I was already hitting to publish my comment. I'll remember to keep my eye on that posting option the rest of this month on posts. I'm so happy NFFest is back, thanks again for such an exciting 1st post for this month! -Heather Skinner

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  12. So much fun to learn about and then share gross, strange and amazing things in our world! Thanks for sharing this, Stephanie!

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  13. Thank you, Stephanie, for beginning Nonfiction Fest with a bang!

    Weird + Unusual = An interesting hook

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  14. I find quirky irresistible. It invites you to see something common a bit differently and gets you asking questions. Wonderful post!

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  15. Stephanie, Thanks for a bloody start to NFFest! Leaches and blood and scalp drills, Oh Yuck! Kids will love all of it of course

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    1. Sorry, my first post is anonymous but that's really me! I'll try better next time.

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  16. Kids love gross and weird stories!

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  17. Wonderful yuk! Still engaging and fascinating children no matter how clean we keep their environment.

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  18. Would you believe I was a PitchMe finalist last year with a story on Frances Glessner Lee? I can't believe you mentioned her! I really hope to get her story out in the world.

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  19. I just ordered Twisted True Tales from Science from my library. Can't wait to read it!

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  20. What a great post, Stephanie! The more obscure, weird, mysterious or gross the topic is, the more fascinating it is to read about-and not just for kids! Those books hook kids as a reader, may spark their curiosity to research further (read more!) and perhaps even inspire them to write!

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  21. I am trying my hand at some lyrical nonfiction. Would love to somehow put some gross in there as well. LOL! Thanks for the inspiration.

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