Bringing Feels to Children’s Nonfiction

By Dr. Mira Reisberg

When people hear the phrase: children’s nonfiction, they often imagine cool, distant, or purely informational books. Dates. Diagrams. Definitions. But good contemporary nonfiction books do something else. They make readers feel… Because surprise, sadness, excitement, fear, anger, curiosity, or levity, make stories memorable. 

So, how do we amplify emotion in nonfiction for young readers without crossing into fiction, manipulation, or preaching? Read on with some examples from Dr. Mira’s fabulous award-winning former student’s books.

Enhancing Accuracy with Emotion

Emotion is about choosing where to place the camera.

A glacier melting is a fact.

A scientist (or a polar bear) watching a glacier shrink year after year is also a fact.

One informs while the other invites empathy.

When writers allow readers to experience information through a human or animal with sensory details and meaningful stakes, nonfiction becomes something children don’t just read, but something they remember.

Start with an Anchor

Even in broad-topic nonfiction, readers need someone or something to hold onto. That anchor might be a real person, a child experiencing an event, an animal whose survival is documented, a community facing change, or even a single object that travels through time. Anchors help readers ask not just What happened? But– Why does this matter?

Before drafting, it helps to ask: Who or what is the emotional doorway into this information?

With a beginning illustration of our protagonist staring directly at us with a defiant look, Sue Ganz-Schmitt anchors Skybound! Starring Mary Myers as Carlotta--Daredevil, Aeronaut, and Scientist in a time and place beginning with…

“Mary Breed Hawley had lofty ideas! But when she soared into the world in 1850, girls were told not to do brave and dangerous things. Proper young ladies like Mary were simply expected to land a husband, have children, and stay tethered to their homes.” Of course, we know that Mary Breed Hawley is definitely not going to be a proper young lady – leading to the mystery of just what is she going to do.

Let Curiosity and Care Drive the Structure

The best examples of emotion in nonfiction begin with wonder, curiosity, humor or drama with an implied or explicit question. In Vivian Kirkfield's middle grade collection of lively short stories about inventions and the visionaries who invented them, From Here to There: Inventions That Changed the Way the World Moved, it’s all heart and caring as inventor after inventor seeks to make a better world.

Zoom In Before You Zoom Out

Emotion becomes more accessible when writers start with a specific event and then move to surrounding events.

Zoom in on a single day, a decision, discovery, or an obstacle. Gradually widen the lens to show how that moment fits into a larger story. 

A great example of this is in Nancy Churnin’s award-winning book, Manjhi Moves a Mountain. Over 20 years, Dashrath Manjhi single-handedly carved a path through a mountain using only a hammer and chisel to help his community. Nancy invites curiosity by describing the mountain and how it created hardship for his side of it, making us care for and emphasize with Manjhi and his community in this seemingly impossible undertaking.

Use Language That Breathes

Strong nonfiction language for children is clear, concrete, active, and sensory when appropriate. Shorter sentences can heighten tension or importance. Carefully chosen verbs can do emotional work without editorializing.

Instead of telling readers how to feel, let the language create space for feeling. Shannon Stocker does exactly this in the beginning of Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion. “From the moment Evelyn heard the first note, music held her heart. Evelyn played piano songs by ear at 8 years old. Tink! Tink! Tink! Woo-woo-da-woo! Clarinet notes slipped through her lips when she was 10. But soon her ears began to hurt.” See how many poetic techniques you can count in this.

End with Resonance
A resonant ending might echo an image from the beginning, show change over time, return to the human or animal anchor, solve a problem, or leave space for awe, concern, or hope. Emotion lingers when readers are invited to think and feel. Jolene Guitérez brings so much heart into Bionic Beasts: Saving Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, and Beaks, ending by revisiting all the animals we’ve come to care for during the book and highlighting how the science of prosthetics is constantly evolving. It’s truly heartwarming.

The Takeaway 

Children are deeply emotional beings. As they grow, socialization often teaches them to manage, mute, or suppress many of their feelings. Yet kids remain empathetic, thoughtful, and emotionally responsive. When nonfiction respects that capacity, it becomes transformative.

 

About the Author: Dr. Mira Reisberg is an award-winning author/illustrator, educator, and creative coach who helps PB-YA writers and illustrators craft emotionally resonant stories and art. With a PhD in child development and kidlit craft, she specializes in helping others make and publish award- books. Mira is the founder of the Children’s Book Academy, where she blends her skills and kidlit love with real-world publishing opportunities in a supportive, human-centered community. Her talented, hard-working students have published well-over 2,000 books so far. Click here  to receive a free reusable workbook on using emotions in your own work for PB, CB, MG, and YA writers.