STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING FOR YOUR NONFICTION: A FOCUS ON EXPOSITORY LITERATURE

by Laura Perdew        

In 2017, author Melissa Stewart created a classification system for children’s nonfiction: The Five Kinds of Nonfiction. Classifying books in this way allows teachers and librarians to help students understand and access nonfiction text. It is also a valuable tool for authors.

*NOTE: The information in this chart is adapted from Melissa Stewart’s nonfiction classification system.

 

You can also read Stewart’s 2021 NF Fest Post, “What Is Literary Nonfiction?” and her School Library Journal article from 2018, “Understanding – And Teaching – the Five Kinds of Nonfiction,” for more information.

What is Expository Literature?

Today I want to focus on just one of these categories of nonfiction, expository literature (you can learn more about the other kinds of nonfiction by clicking on the links above). I will admit that, before witnessing the evolution of children’s literature over the past ten or so years, I believed that the word “expository” translated into boring. Yet expository literature in today’s nonfiction kidlit is anything but!

Expository literature…

·       presents information in a creative way.

·       focuses on one aspect of a topic.

·       often reflects the author’s passion for that topic.

·       offers a unique voice & POV.

·       incorporates engaging language and literary devices to enrich the writing.

·       utilizes a carefully chosen text structure and innovative format.

·       may include layered text, sidebars, callouts, back matter, and more.

 

Here are a few picture book examples of expository literature that illustrate the innovative structures being used in children’s nonfiction today:

·       13 WAYS TO EAT A FLY by Sue Heavenrich

·       HOW TO BUILD AN INSECT by Roberta Gibson

·       ROUND by Jennifer Ward

·       BUGS DON’T HUG by Heather Montgomery

·       WHAT IS THIS TAIL SAYING? by Carolyn Combs

·       LEAFY LANDMARKS by Michelle Schaub

·       OVER AND UNDER THE POND by Kate Messner

·       ASTRONAUT/AQUANAUT by Jennifer Swanson

·       MOTH: An Evolution Story by Isabel Thomas

·       WE ARE GRATEFUL: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

 

Finding the Right Structure

For authors, the category of expository literature provides us with many text structures to choose from and play with! The trick is finding the text structure that best fits our manuscript’s topic and the big idea (the deeper meaning, heart, reader take-away…the manuscript’s connection to something bigger). And some manuscripts can utilize more than one text structure at a time!

Below is a chart that describes many expository literature text structure options. I also included the narrative structure here in the last box because the narrative structure can be combined with some of the expository literature structures.

Here’s the challenge for you: take your latest idea and consider which expository text structures might serve it best. Don’t limit yourself to just one. Pick three to five to experiment with and to try on for fit.

Next, spend some time free writing or brainstorming how you might craft your manuscript with each of these structures. Can you utilize more than one text structure at a time? Which one feels like the best fit? I also challenge you to write several different versions of the same manuscript using a different text structure, or combinations of text structures, for each.

As you play with different text structures, the goal is to help you see how to best engineer your manuscript. For more information, and mentor text examples of both expository literature and narrative mentor texts, click here.

 

About the Author

Laura is a writing coach, presenter, former middle school teacher, and the author of THE FORT (Page Street Kids, 2020), as well as dozens of nonfiction STEM books. Her most recent titles include KEYSTONE SPECIES: Meet the Animals Key to Ecosystem Health and Biodiversity for readers ages 9-12, and YOUR SUSTAINABLE WORLD: A Kid's Guide to Everyday Choices That Help the Planet! for readers ages 8-12. She lives in Boulder with her family. When she’s not writing, she spends as much time as possible outdoors, hiking, and watching the wildlife in her yard.

PUTTING QUESTIONS TO WORK

By Helen Taylor

Asking questions is fundamental to researching and writing books—especially nonfiction books. Our queries lead us to new sources, reveal juicy details, and so on. But here, I want to focus on a different set of questions—the ones that make it into finished books.

Every sentence has to work hard to earn its place on the page, and questions are no exception. Whether they just pop into your head while writing, or are added with intention, questions can serve a number of different roles in a nonfiction manuscript. For this post, I started by brainstorming a list of the roles I thought I’d see, but it wasn’t until I started reading with my antenna tuned into this idea that I realized just how many “jobs” questions can do. Here are some of my favorites:

Forecaster: The opening spread of VOLCANOES, written by Nell Cross Beckerman and
illustrated by Kalen Chok, states, “Plates shift. Land tilts. Gas seeps,” then asks, “What is
coming?” This question encourages the reader to make a prediction and builds tension for the
(spoiler alert!) volcanic eruption to come.

Dancer: Questions can help writers dance around an unknown while staying accurate. In NARWHAL: UNICORN OF THE ARCTIC, written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Deena So’Oteh, two narwhals cross tusks in one scene. The text reads “Are you playing? Fighting? Showing off for a female?” In the backmatter, we learn that scientists still aren’t sure about the purpose(s) narwhals’ tusks serve, but that “showing off” is the leading theory. 

Stunt Double: These questions stand in for a theory or thought process. In my own book,
CHASING GUANO: THE DISCOVERY OF A PENGUIN SUPERCOLONY, I use a series of
simple questions, “How big is this colony? How long has it been there? Is it shrinking too?” to
summarize the scientists’ growing interest in investigating the remote Danger Islands.

Tour Guide: Questions can also keep readers engaged, essentially saying, But wait... there’s
more! In THE GREAT LAKES: OUR FRESHWATER TREASURE, written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Jamey Christoph, there’s a spread in which readers imagine they’re a drop of water traveling through the lakes. Upon reaching Lake Erie, the question, “Is your trip over?” and its answer, “No!” keep us moving and tee up a big moment to come.

In ALMOST UNDERWEAR: HOW A PIECE OF CLOTH TRAVELED FROM KITTY HAWK TO THE MOON AND MARS, Jonathan Roth navigates big transitions with the page-turner questions, “Or was it?” (transitioning from Kitty Hawk to the Moon) and, “Now where?” (from the Moon to Mars).

Casting Director: The text of HOW TO EAT IN SPACE, written by me and illustrated by Stevie Lewis, addresses the reader as if they were an astronaut newly arrived at the space station. Early on, I introduce the menu this way: “Feel like oatmeal? A smoothie? Scrambled eggs? Help yourself. You have hundreds of items to choose from.” This approach gives a flavor (ha!) of the menu’s range, while also helping cast the reader in their role as astronaut.

Interviewer: GOOD EATING: THE SHORT LIFE OF KRILL, written by Matt Lilley and illustrated by Dan Tavis, reads like a casual conversation. The text directly addresses its
subject—krill—with a mix of statements and questions, beginning with, “Hey egg. What are you doing? Are you sinking?” Later questions, such as, “How are you doing all this growing without eating?” explore other stages of krill’s life cycle.

Gardener: In THOMAS JEFFERSON’S BATTLE FOR SCIENCE: BIAS, TRUTH, AND A
MIGHTY MOOSE!, written by Beth Anderson and illustrated by Jeremy Holmes, questions plant seeds in the reader’s mind when Anderson answers one question, “How did Buffon come up with his theory of an inferior America?” with three more: “Did he use faulty facts? Did he pick and choose evidence to fit his own beliefs? Did his love for Europe get in the way?” What a kid- friendly way to introduce the concept of bias!

This is in no way an official or complete list, but I hope it sparks some new thoughts about what you’re reading and writing. What other jobs do you see questions doing in nonfiction books? What title would you give to a question that conveys stakes, casts doubt, or reframes an issue? Do you have a “job opening” in your own story that a well-qualified question could fill? Are the questions in your WIP in the right role(s) or are they perhaps ready for a promotion?

Helen Taylor

Helen Taylor writes books that inspire kids to wonder about their world in new ways. Her nonfiction books HOW TO EAT IN SPACE and CHASING GUANO are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections. Her first fictional picture book, SLOTH & MOTH, is due out in spring 2026. When she’s not writing, she enjoys traveling, baking, and searching for banana slugs in the redwoods near her home in Santa Cruz, California.

GETTING TO THE HEART OF YOUR PHOTOS

by Patricia Newman

Photographs are a huge part of my middle-grade nonfiction STEM books for children. My books feature environmental science in the field, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a ready source of images from scientists excellent at documenting their work. Usually, my challenge is one of quantity! With that in mind and considering that other blogs in the NF Fest catalog focus on permissions and working with photographers, I’d like to address how I choose the best photos from the hundreds available to me.

For any nonfiction book, images must add clarity to the text just as the illustrations in picture books do. Photos are great for a step-by-step approach, to give readers a sense of place, and to drop them into the adventure. But if you’re only using your photos for clarity, you’re missing out on a fabulous opportunity to add heart to your project.

The right photographs can elicit emotions and ratchet up suspense. In each of my environmental books, my goal is to help readers understand that we are not separate from nature. We have a role to play. By establishing connections to nature, I can help readers care enough to act. And photos help me do that.

After collecting the photos, I create a digital folder for each chapter in my book project. These folders are ultimately shared with the editorial and design teams. I add images that best match the events and details described in each chapter. Then, I drop in images that make me react in physical ways. I’m lucky enough to have a design team at Millbrook Press who allow me to have input on the images we use. Often, we swap out photos during the design process. Here are a few examples of what we came up with:

On the last pages of Plastic, Ahoy!, I quote Miriam Goldstein the lead scientist on one of the first expeditions to study plastic in the North Pacific. She says, “People want to know that there are wildernesses out there somewhere. If even the open sea is no longer a wilderness, what is?”  This thought-provoking statement paired with Annie Crawley’s photo of a single water bottle floating in the vast sea still takes my breath away.

Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea focuses on an amazing conservation project in Peru that uses giant manta rays as a flagship species to inspire the community to protect the ocean. In a dramatic twist, the largest manta ray anyone had ever seen was inadvertently caught in a fisher’s net. The media called the manta a “monster” and vilified the fisher who brought it ashore. The suspended manta gives readers an idea of the size of these creatures, and its sad end shocks us into paying attention and urges us to find out more.

Planet Ocean: Why We All Need a Healthy Ocean is a book about our connection to the sea. Throughout, Annie Crawley and I use text, photos, and video QR codes to share the beauty of our ocean, but also to explain and explore the devastating effects climate change has on the sea. One of our favorite spreads includes two photos (see below, right side). In the first, two children play on a trash-strewn beach. It dawns on us that the kids probably have never seen a pristine beach. The second photo shows a submerged baby doll that Annie calls the “creepy baby” photo. The doll’s incongruous cheerful expression is at odds with her new underwater home eliciting conflicting emotions in the reader, too.

In my books about animals, photos illustrate a variety of cool behaviors to engage and surprise readers and (I admit) appeal to their sense of awww. In Zoo Scientists to the Rescue, Annie Crawley and I included a photo of an orangutan inspecting a piece of fruit. His human-like dexterity, his curiosity, and his sense of awareness draw us in.

In Eavesdropping on Elephants: How Listening Helps Conservation, the photo of two bulls fighting gets readers’ hearts pumping from the power and fierceness with which male elephants protect their territory.

And in Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem who can resist a raft of fuzzy-faced otters posing for the camera?

 

Reading photos is a learned skill that our young audience must practice, but perhaps it would benefit nonfiction authors to learn to get to the heart of their photos, too! Check out this LitLinks lesson that provides a framework for describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating photos.

I wish you much success in choosing the perfect photos to add heart to your project.

 

Patricia Newman

Sibert Honor author Patricia Newman uses social and environmental injustice to empower readers to seek connections to the real world and act on behalf of their communities. Patricia's nonfiction titles have received multiple starred reviews, ALA Notable Awards, two Orbis Pictus Awards (NCTE), two Green Earth Book Awards, and several Eureka! Awards (CRA). All her nonfiction titles are Junior Library Guild Selections, and most appear on the Bank Street College's Best Books of the Year lists. To learn more, visit her website at patriciamnewman.com or connect with her on BlueSky (@patricianewman.bsky.social), X (@PatriciaNewman), Instagram (@patricianewmanbooks), and Pinterest (@newmanbooks).

GOING BIG: Making the Leap From Picture Book to Long-Form Nonfiction

By Jessica Stremer 

October 2020, I wrote the first draft of a picture book about wildfires. It went through a few rounds of revisions, but still wasn’t quite working. There was just too much I wanted to say. I hadn’t tried writing long-form nonfiction before and didn’t really know where to start, so I set the project aside.

Two years later I drafted a list of picture book manuscripts to share with my editor for GREAT CARRIER REEF. I had begun researching the wildfire book again, but hadn’t yet created a proposal. On a whim I added to our pitch list, “I’m currently working on a middle grade nonfiction book about wildfires.” My editor liked a few of the picture book topics, but she was most interested in the wildfire book. It was the push I needed to finally get the proposal written.

If you find yourself at a crossroads, here are some things you can do to “go big” and make the leap from picture books to long-form nonfiction:

1. Research, research, research! But also, try to avoid going down a rabbit hole (believe me, it’s easy to do). Begin by collecting enough information to create a solid foundation about the topic. Jot down areas you’d like to investigate further and make a list of first-person interviews you’ll need to conduct. Organization is key here! There’s nothing like discovering a cool fact and not being able to find your way back to it again.

Tip: Start your bibliography early. You can always remove a source if you don’t end up using it.

2. Create a mock Table of Contents. This is my trick for staying organized throughout the entire process! Think about how many chapters your book will have. What will each chapter cover?

The great thing about long-form nonfiction books is that they vary in presentation and            content. Your table of contents will evolve as you continue your research, so don’t get           too caught up on getting it right the first time.

Tip: Under each chapter header, create a list of everything you’d like to include in that chapter. You can cross things off later if you choose not to include them, or incorporate them via fact boxes as I did in FIRE ESCAPE.

3. Compile a list of comparable titles. Finding comparable titles can be stressful for many authors, but there are also ways to make it fun. As you read comparable books, consider what those authors did that you like. You may also think of things you can do or include that will help your book stand out.

4. Identify gaps in the market. FIRE ESCAPE, was initially going to be a picture book, but I worried about market saturation, and realized what I really wanted to write about wouldn’t fit in 40 pages. When I looked for comparable titles, I had a really hard time finding anything like what I envisioned in my head. I realized there was a gap in the market, which helped fuel me to keep writing even when I felt like giving up. When writing your proposal, explaining how your book will fill a market gap is important.

Tip: Here’s one way you can mention a market gap in your proposal, “Many authors have successfully written about (topic), but none have (explain the gap and how your book fills it).”

5. Write a proposal. This point deserves its own post, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but a few key elements your proposal should include are: synopsis, author bio, comparable titles, and marketing plan. You’ll also need to include an introduction and three sample chapters of your book. Your table of contents can help keep you focused and can also be used to set small, obtainable goals.

Tip: Use your first three chapters to estimate how long your book will be. For example, each chapter is approximately 2k words x 10 chapters = 20k words total. Don’t stress over this detail, as your editor will most likely care more about the content than word count.

6. Take your time. Writing long-form nonfiction books is a process. Set small goals, take breaks, and have fun!

Jessica Stremer

Jessica Stremer is an award-winning children’s author who combines her love of science and writing to create books that inspire kids to explore and think critically about the world around them. Her titles include GREAT CARRIER REEF (a Cook Prize Silver Medalist and NY Public Library Best Book of the Year), LIGHTS OUT: A Movement to Help Migrating Birds (a SLJ climate change featured title), FIRE ESCAPE: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires (a JLG Gold Standard selection).

Her upcoming titles include PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN: How Science Saved a Species, TRAPPED IN THE TAR PIT: How Paleontologists Unearthed a City's Prehistoric Past, and WONDERFULLY WILD: Rewilding a School and Community. Jessica obtained a B.S. in Biology, with an emphasis in Ecology, from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She was a recipient of the 2023 Stephen Fraser Encouragement Award and 2023 finalist for the Russell Freedman award. When not writing you can find Jessica cheering from the sideline of her kids’ soccer games, spending time outdoors, and planning her next family adventure. 

 

WRITE A PROPOSAL—EVEN IF YOU DON’T NEED ONE

by Alison Pearce Stevens

You probably know you need to write a proposal for long-form nonfiction, but I recommend doing it even if you’re writing a picture book. Sure, it seems like unnecessary work, but it can help fine-tune your story before you spend time writing and help you home in on that gap in the market you had a hunch about but hadn’t fully identified. 

What goes into a proposal anyway? 

This varies. My early proposals were different from—and longer than—the ones I write now. But in general, you need to have a few main sections:

A hook/overview/premise. Why do we need this book? This is how you’ll start your proposal, and it doesn’t hurt to write it a bit like jacket flap copy. 

Age category and format. Will this be a picture book? Chapter book? Middle grade? Young adult? Important to know—and not always obvious when you first start a project.

The market. How will this book fit into the children’s book market, as a whole? What are the competing and comparable (comp) titles out there? What sets your book apart from the pack?

Research. This is a nonfiction book, so you should include some info about what research you’ve done and how you plan to tackle any that remains.

Sample pages. Gives a sense of how you plan to approach the book and the style of writing you plan to use.

About the author. Who are you and why are you the one to write this book?

Do you have to write an entire proposal if you won’t use it?

Nope! You can only work on the sections that help you focus your ideas. For me, that’s the market and the hook, both of which inform age category and format.

Why write a proposal—especially if you don’t have to?

I’ve sold most of my books on proposal, and I’ve found that writing a proposal really helps me figure out what I want my book to say and how to make it stand out from other books in the market. For middle grade or young adult, there’s the obvious benefit that you’re not investing months of time researching and writing before you know if the book will eventually be published (although you’ll need to do plenty of research to write a proposal).

I’ve also written proposals for picture books—and that’s where my advice differs from your basic how-to-write-a-proposal overview.

As a writer, the last thing I want to do is settle on an angle for my story only to find out after I’ve started writing that someone else just published something similar. Sure, all writing is good practice, but it doesn’t hurt to have a solid path forward before you even begin. Then your writing and rewriting will be more focused, getting you closer to where you want to be that much quicker.

That’s where the proposal comes in. Focus on the market first. Know what’s out there—identify every comp title you can. Read as many of them as you can get your hands on (this is, admittedly, a tricky step, but Amazon’s preview feature can give you a sense of style and content for many books). Take detailed notes and write down exactly how each book addresses the topic. Spreadsheets are handy here. 

When you’re done, look over the list and see if any of those titles or their approaches are in direct competition with what you want to write. Avoid those angles for your book. Now consider the titles as a whole—what’s missing? What angle or approach hasn’t been done? How can you focus your book to fill that hole? Part of answering this may lie in the age category. Would your book be better as a picture book or chapter book? Have any age groups been left out of books currently on the market? How can you fill that hole?

Now that you have your angle and age category, write your hook! This step always gets me enthused about writing my story, and that enthusiasm should shine through to grab potential readers as well. You’ll use this in your cover letter if you don’t need the full proposal.

And research: What will it take for you to get the information you need to write this book?  How feasible is it for you to connect with primary sources? If you were to write up the research plans section of the proposal, what would you include? This is worth thinking about, because some topics are easier to research than others. 

Happy proposal writing—even if you’ll never send it to an editor!

 

About the Author: 

Alison Pearce Stevens is a former scientist who writes award-winning nonfiction books for the world's most curious people to inspire them to protect the world outside their doorstep. She is the author of Junior Library Guild Gold Standard books Rhinos in Nebraska: The Amazing Discovery of the Ashfall Fossil Beds (which won the Nebraska Book Award in three categories), Animal Climate Heroes, and Detective Dogs (May 5, 2025). She co-authored National Geographic Kids Books’ 5,000 Awesome Facts 3 and three books in their Weird But True series and has published hundreds of STEM-based magazine and online articles for kids.

 

 

 

SPARK AND PASSION: NOT JUST FOR ROMANCE WRITERS

by Jonathan Roth

 

You know the feeling: a rising heartbeat, a quickening of breath, an urgent desire for passionate and obsessive embrace. I am, of course, talking about writing non-fiction. That visceral moment when you know you’ve fallen for an idea.

It usually happens in a flash. One minute I’m sipping my coffee with the morning paper. The next I read a strange, small fact near the end of an article, such as that a small helicopter on Mars is carrying a piece of Earth’s first airplane, and fireworks go off in my head. In this case, I turned it into a book: Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars, which begins with two brothers buying a bolt of muslin in a Dayton department store in 1903, and then follows that cloth on the most unlikely of adventures.

The vast majority of my sparks don’t turn into published books, but that’s okay. As I’m sure you know, writing is 99% butt-in-chair, long hours of honing your craft. And that’s okay too. But because the perspiration part is so often emphasized and the inspiration part seems uncontrollable, the Muse-like moments don’t get talked about much. After all, what can you do?

I think there’s a lot you can do. And I suspect you’re already doing it.

Like me, you probably geek out for a number of things. I’m obsessed with space stuff. With you, maybe it’s plants or dolphins or the history of trains. Whatever it is, I know you often read about it, think about it, delight in the minutiae. This is a prime space where you’re going to find your sparks, those little nuggets or small facts (“a piece of the Wright Flyer on Mars!”) that make you pause, make you jolt, and want to dig deeper.

And deep you can go! Everything is connected. When I pulled at the thread of that small piece of cloth on Mars, I found connections from everything from Neil Armstrong to ladies’ undergarments. It led me to big themes like technological innovation and commemoration, and to equally small, cool details.

Of course, your writing ideas won’t just come from other writing. Non-fiction covers everything under the sun (and the sun too!). Ideas can come from anywhere. Gaze at the stars, ride some trains, swim with the dolphins. Your job is to be open, to be curious, and to be ready to pounce when inspiration strikes. Carry a notebook!

Editors can smell the lack of passion. So really, if you’re chasing some idea just because you think it sounds good, or might sell, just like with fiction you’re probably barking up the wrong tree. As they say, no passion (about some interesting non-fiction subject) for the writer, no passion (about some interesting non-fiction subject) for the reader.

So give yourself permission to follow strange threads. Trust in your gut. Follow your instincts and let yourself fall in love. Your interests matter, and by sharing them with us you widen our lives.

 

About the Author:

Jonathan Roth is an Earth-bound but space loving author-illustrator of fun, STEAM-themed books for kids including the chapter book series Beep and Bob (Aladdin/S&S), the graphic novel series Rover and Speck (Kids Can Press) and the surprising true story Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars (Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), which is a Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2024. He also teaches art to elementary students in Maryland. Learn more at www.jonathan-roth.com.

 

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

by Stephanie Bearce

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.