A Little Fiction Can Still Teach Big Facts

By Susan Holt

When people hear "Nonfiction Ninjas," they naturally assume we only write nonfiction. While many of us do, our love of facts often sneaks into our fiction as well.

As a former school librarian, I was always drawn to books that told a delightful story while quietly teaching readers something new. Those books invited children to laugh, imagine, and then say, "Really? I didn't know that!"

That's exactly what I hoped to do in my newest picture book, There Once Was a Cowgirl. Although it's a playful, fictional romp inspired by the Texas State Fair, I couldn't resist adding a little extra learning. The endpapers are filled with fun Texas State Fair facts, including:

• The number of people attending the Texas State Fair - more than 2 million!
• Corny Dog facts - Every year, Fletchers sell more than 500,000 corny dogs, along with about 1,500 gallons of mustard!
• In 1969, Wanda "Fernie" Winter brought the first funnel cakes to the Texas State Fair.

Those little nuggets of information transform a fictional story into informational fiction—a story children can enjoy again and again while discovering fascinating facts or planting seeds for a research project.

Many of my fellow Ninjas do this beautifully.

Lisa Amstutz's Our Christmas Tree Farm is a heartwarming family story with backmatter facts about everything from grafting a new tree from a twig to eco-friendly way to recycle a Christmas tree.

Nancy Churnin's We Thank Our Trees! (coming January 5) celebrates the many ways trees enrich our lives with backmatter about Tu B’Shevat and how you can connect with trees.

The back matter in Peggy Thomas's The Soil in Jackie's Garden includes information on the soil cycle and how to make a compost pile.

And Christine Liu Perkins's The Quest for a Tangram Dragon includes tangram shapes for readers to cut out, so they can play with their very own tangram puzzle!

Whether we're writing nonfiction, informational fiction, or fiction sprinkled with facts, our goal remains the same: to spark curiosity. Sometimes all it takes is one surprising fact tucked inside a story to inspire a child to keep asking questions—and that's where learning truly begins.

 

 

FINDING THE RIGHT “CONTAINER” FOR YOUR WRITING

By Jolene Gutiérrez

In addition to writing for kids, I’ve worked as a teacher librarian at a school for neurodivergent learners for nearly 30 years. Many of my students are reluctant readers, so I’ve become adept at matching readers with certain styles of writing that feel more comfortable to them. In print format, this includes verse novels, Choose Your Own Adventure books, short stories, and graphic novels. Features like more white space on a page, visual support, and shorter text lengths all make for books that feel less intimidating to many readers.

So when I start a writing project, I tend to think about my story and who my intended audience might be. I love picture books—both teaching them and writing them—so I often start there. Whittling certain concepts down to 500ish words can be difficult, though, and while I love using picture books with students of all ages (including my high school students) the picture book “container” has limitations on depth and quantity of content.

When I wrote the first draft of my nonfiction book BIONIC BEASTS: SAVING ANIMAL LIVES WITH ARTIFICIAL FLIPPERS, LEGS, AND BEAKS, it was a ~1000-word picture book. My editor Carol Hinz saw that picture book format and realized it might not be the best way to deliver some of the high-level science concepts, so she suggested trying the manuscript as a ~10,000-word middle grade book with five chapters, each about a different animal. This was the perfect fit for our content: I had space to share information about each animal, their limb differences, and the scientific interventions that helped them. I didn’t shy away from higher-level content, but by including things like photographs and hands-on activities and by breaking the content up into 5 short stories, this book appeals to a wide range of students.

My recent picture book TOO MUCH! AN OVERWHELMING DAY started as a 50-word board book, but that short story didn’t show enough of the child’s day to give a full understanding of sensory overwhelm, so after edits, I ended up with a ~250-word picture book with extensive back matter that walked us through everything that overwhelmed our main character, Birdy, and gave her a chance to practice mindfulness and find peace and calm as well. I went from a small, focused container to a space where I could spread out and tell the story of Birdy’s day. Readers were better able to understand each of the things that overwhelmed Birdy, and caregivers were given content they could use and share with child readers as needed.

My upcoming picture book UNBREAKABLE: A JAPANESE AMERICAN FAMILY IN AN AMERICAN INCARCERATION CAMP, coauthored with Min Tonai, was an exploration in containers. I started working on what became Unbreakable in 2016, and at that time, I wrote it as a middle grade nonfiction book that explored Colorado’s governor Ralph Carr and the Amache incarceration camp in Colorado. A friend who was incarcerated at Rohwer Incarceration Camp in Arkansas connected me to Min because he knew Min’s story would add to my manuscript. After interviewing Min and learning about his experiences in the Amache incarceration camp, we decided to work together and write his family’s story. We tried it as a middle grade novel, but layering Min’s story with information about Governor Carr and other history interrupted and weakened the story. We wrote it as a graphic novel manuscript, but the graphic novel format didn’t emphasize the quiet power of the story (although that could’ve been the fact that it was the first graphic novel manuscript we’d ever written). When we tried it as a picture book, though, we finally found the right container. A picture book manuscript was the perfect format to strip the story down to its heart. This ~1,000-word picture book will have 1,400+ words of backmatter and hopefully will appeal to readers of all ages.

I’m also working on a couple of other informational fiction or nonfiction projects. One is a novel in verse and the other is a graphic novel manuscript, and I believe these formats fit the topic and their intended audience. Time will tell, but after my experiences with finding the right container for my stories, I’m not afraid to try other formats with these projects as well. I encourage you to take a look at your current project(s) and think about the story you’re trying to share, who you envision reading it, and how you might best reach that audience. Testing the fit of different stories in various containers keeps me on my toes as a writer, but it’s also the perfect way to help your story reach its readers.

 

About the Author: Jolene grew up on a farm and now lives with her family and a variety of animals in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. A teacher librarian since 1995, Jolene spends her days sharing children’s books and her nights writing them. She’s the author of UNBREAKABLE: A JAPANESE AMERICAN FAMILY IN AN AMERICAN INCARCERATION CAMP (2025), MAMIACHI AND ME (2024), THE OFRENDA THAT WE BUILT (2024), TOO MUCH! AN OVERWHELMING DAY, The Stars of Latin Pop series, BIONIC BEASTS: SAVING ANIMAL LIVES WITH ARTIFICIAL FLIPPERS, LEGS, AND BEAKS, and MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE INVADER. Find her online: www.jolenegutierrez.com.

  

WRITING A NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK: LEARNING THE RULES

By Rebecca E. Hirsch 

Writing a nonfiction picture book is fun, but tricky. It's tricky because picture books follow
peculiar rules.

 
Many beginning writers don't understand these rules. They think that because picture books are easy to read, they must be easy to write.
 
Wrong.
 
In truth, knowing the rules is necessary for writing any kind of nonfiction book. But it's particularly important for picture books.
 
There are rules for writing an opening line, creating a narrative arc, and crafting a satisfying ending. There are rules for how to let an illustrator tell half the story.
 
It was only after I began to not only read, but seriously study, picture books that I began to understand these rules.
 
Eventually, with plenty of study—and plenty of writing practice—I could put these rules into practice. And then my ability to write nonfiction picture books took off.
 
For more than a decade now, I have undertaken a yearly intensive study of picture books. This regular study is vital if I want to keep writing picture books. Here's how I do it.
 
Step one: Keep track
 
Every year, I set a goal to study 100 picture books. I buy a 3-ring binder and fill it with blank lined paper. This becomes Command Central for my picture book study.
 
You might prefer to use a blank notebook, or a spreadsheet, or a Microsoft Word document, or a Scrivener file. Whatever works.
 
Step two: Collect books
 
I head to the library. Sometimes I browse the shelves for nonfiction picture books that look interesting. Other times I bring along a list of picture books that have won a particular award. (Whenever I come across a list of recommended books that I'd like to check out, I print the list and add it to my binder.)
 
I mostly choose expository science and nature nonfiction, because that's what I write. And mostly I choose books published in the last five years.
 
But I do include older books, some of which are gems. Reading older books deepens my understanding of what makes a book stand the test of time.
 
Sometimes I include a fiction book with a nature theme. Or maybe a historical nonfiction book that's been winning a lot of awards.
 
Sometimes I'm studying a particular author, so I'll pull every book of theirs I can find.
 
Step three: Read
 
At home, I pour myself a cup of coffee or tea. I settle into a comfy chair, select a book from my stack, and read. Slowly. Out loud. (My dog is a good listener.)
 
When I finish the book, I open my binder and write the date. Then I write the title, author, publisher, and publication year of the book I just read. This becomes a running list of the year's books.
 
Step four: Analyze
 
Next, I dig into the book critically. Sometimes I simply write a one-paragraph summary of the book, noting strengths and weaknesses and why I think an editor bought this book.
 
But I find worksheets to be even more helpful. A worksheet helps me focus on specific areas of writing craft, like how to write a compelling first page. Here is a worksheet I like. 

PB WORKSHEET

 
Step four: Copy
 
When I come across a book that I utterly adore, I type it word for word, in manuscript form.
 
Typing the book helps me see how the manuscript looked when an acquiring editor saw it for the first time. I notice things like:
 
• How many words are on each page? Does this change throughout the book?
• How does the author use line breaks?
• How does the author use page turns?
• Does the author repeat lines? If so, where and how often do those repeated lines appear?
• How much of the story did the author tell versus the illustrator?
 
I print out the typed manuscript and add it to my binder. As those typed manuscripts pile up, I can see the kinds of stories, and the styles of writing, I'm drawn to.
 
Those typed manuscripts, along with my running book list, become sources of future mentor texts. They become models I can turn to when I'm struggling to write my own stories.
 
Analyzing books this way is slow. It might take me a month to work through my stack of books.
 
Step five: Repeat
 
When I've gotten to the bottom of my stack, I grab my binder and return to the library to check out another stack of books.
 
Give it a try. Decide how you will keep track of what you're reading. Go to the library, pick out books, read them, study them.
 
Once you've analyzed a few books, pull out one of your works–in–progress. Can you identify ways to revise it using some of the rules you are learning?
 
 

About the Author:
 
Rebecca E. Hirsch writes science and nature books for children of all ages. Her books have received numerous starred reviews and Junior Library Guild designations. Her picture books include PLANTS CAN'T SIT STILL  and RISE TO THE SKY, both illustrated by Mia Posada; and NIGHT CREATURES, illustrated by Sonia Possentini. She has more picture books on the way, including WONDER WINGS: GUESS WHO'S FLYING, illustrated by Sally Soweol Han, forthcoming in 2025. She offers resources for children's writers at https://rebeccahirsch.com/writers.
 

Tips for the NF PB Contest

 

Writing a Rhyming Nonfiction Picture Book: A Game of Jenga™

WELCOME TO NF FEST 2023! Learn the art of writing nonfiction for children one blog post at a time. To start the month off, we have an excellent post from Debra Kempf Shumaker about writing in rhyme. 

By Debra Kempf Shumaker

Writing rhyme is fun, but challenging. Writing a nonfiction rhyming picture book adds another layer to the challenge, since not only do the rhyme and meter need to work, it has to be accurate as well!

Two of my books—FREAKY, FUNKY FISH and PECULIAR PRIMATES—are rhyming nonfiction. They start with common features for fish or primates, then progress to strange ways they look and act.

For me, writing a nonfiction rhyming book is a lot like playing a solo game of Jenga™—trying to keep my story from falling apart as I shift, slide, and add text.

First step: Taking Notes—Preparing My “Blocks”

I prepare my “blocks” by taking pages and pages of notes from websites, books, and articles. Any feature/behavior that seems unique is listed.

After I have a lot of facts, I jot down words/phrases connected to those facts that can be stated briefly. In this phase, I’m trying to find the base for rhymes.

For instance, for PECULIAR PRIMATES, I noted that proboscis monkeys had really large noses and that they could swim, which is rare for primates. So I wrote:

Droopy nose.

One has a nose
that hangs far down.

One can swim.

I frequently write the same feature in different ways, never knowing which word I’ll find a rhyme for. If any potential rhymes pop in my head, I write them down. My paper gets very messy. These lines and partial lines become my “blocks.”

Second Step: Writing a First Draft—Building My Tower

To write my first draft, I skim all of my lines and partial lines, looking for potential pairs to write a rhyming stanza. At this point, I don’t focus on meter. I just want to be sure I can find features/behaviors that rhyme. My rhyming dictionary and thesaurus get a work-out here.

I “stack” the pairs of rhyme into a rough draft.

While my final goal is 12 - 14 stanzas for a finished manuscript, I start by writing at least twenty. At this point, the same animal may be in the story twice or more, but I use them anyway, knowing that when I’m revising, I’ll fix that.

For instance, in my first draft of PECULIAR PRIMATES, I had the proboscis monkey twice:

One kind has
a droopy nose. <proboscis monkey>

One has teeth
that always grows. <aye-aye>

One kind likes
to sit and soak. <Japanese macaque>

One has learned
the doggy stroke! <proboscis monkey>

Third Step: Revision—Moving Blocks

Once I have a draft of twenty or more stanzas built, it’s time to revise and focus on meter. If the meter is off, can I change any word that will provide the right syllables to get the meter to work? My thesaurus becomes crucial. If I can’t get the meter to work, I remove that “block” and slide in another. Thankfully I have “blocks” to spare.

I also might find new facts and write more stanzas. About halfway through my revision process, my document has an “Other Possibilities” section, sort of like a second Jenga™ tower. It comes in very handy in my next stage.

Fourth Step: Polishing—Ensuring the Balance

After I have enough polished stanzas, I step back and look at the overall “tower” to ensure a balance of several things:

• Are my facts unique and “fun” enough?

• Is there a balance between animal appearance and animal behaviors?

• Have I used the same animal too often?

• Do I have at least two legitimate sources to support each fun fact?

In my earlier example, I had the proboscis monkey twice. I decided the big nose was much more fun than the fact that it swims. But I loved the visual of Japanese macaques soaking in hot springs and wanted to keep that animal if I could. I needed to find another animal feature to pair it with.

So I looked at my notes and saw that chimpanzees can learn basic math. Hmmm. . . I could rhyme “bath” and “math”. So I changed “soak” to “bath” and came up with:

One can learn
some basic math. <chimpanzee>

One kind even
likes a bath! <Japanese macaque>

But, I wanted the primates to be in their natural habitat. If the chimpanzee is learning math, it’s with humans. I slid out chimpanzee. Using word associations for bath, I wondered if I could rhyme “splash.” Aha! Reading my notes, I found a primate with a mustache.

One primate wears
a cute mustache. <Emperor tamarin>

Another likes to
soak and splash. <Japanese macaque>

Every time I fixed one stanza, I had to see if it impacted any others. Frequently it did. If the same animal was in the book twice, or I couldn’t verify a fact with two sources, or a feature wasn’t unique enough, I moved stanzas out and slid in new ones from my “Other Possibilities” section. Then repeated the process.

At times I worried my manuscript was wobbly and would completely fall apart. Could I get it to work? But after eight or nine revisions, I finally had a solid “tower” with perfect meter and a balance of interesting and fun facts.

Phew!

Finally, it was time to focus on the back matter. But that’s a blog post for another day. :-)

Meet the Author:

Debra Kempf Shumaker loves weird and fascinating facts. When she isn’t reading or writing, she enjoys hiking, gardening, and watching Jeopardy. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, three sons, and two cats. She is the author of FREAKY, FUNKY FISH (2021), TELL SOMEONE (2021), and PECULIAR PRIMATES (2022). Visit her online at www.debrashumaker.com, on Twitter at @ShumakerDebra, and on Instagram at @debrakshumaker.

You NEED a Picture Book Dummy!

By Lisa Amstutz 

Does your picture book lack that spark that pulls the reader from page to page? Do people keep saying it feels like an article? If so, I have three words of advice: MAKE A DUMMY. I critique hundreds of picture book manuscripts every year, and often advise making a dummy because IT WORKS!

Here’s why:
 
1. It forces you to think visually. There’s an interplay of art and text in picture books that isn’t present in any other book format. As you create your dummy, make sure each spread is a separate scene, and that there is enough variety of scenes in the book to make it visually interesting.
 
2. It tightens your prose. Look at your text again, and take out anything that will be shown in the art. When you finish, read it aloud to yourself or a child. Does it read like a picture book? Make sure the language is sparse but strong.
 
3. It forces you to think through page turns. Add transitions or suspenseful language so the reader MUST find out what happens next. Study current picture books and note how the author entices you to turn the page. This doesn’t happen by accident!
 
4. It helps with your story’s pacing. Look at how many words are on each spread. Have you devoted a lot of text to one scene and very little to the next? Also keep in mind the age and reading level of your audience. How much text can they handle without getting overwhelmed?
 
A picture book dummy is easy to make. Simply fold eight sheets of blank paper in half and staple them in place. Leave the first and last spreads blank to leave room for the title page, author’s note, etc. That should leave you with 13 spreads. Cut out and paste your text onto the dummy or write it out by hand. Sketch out scenes to go along with it. Stick figures are fine.
 
If you don’t want to staple pages, use an online template. At the very least, paginate your manuscript.
 
Sure, it takes time. But it’s worth a try. It may just take your story from drab to dramatic!

 

Lisa is an author, literary agent, and ecologist. You can learn more about Lisa and her projects at www.lisaamstutz.com.