Nonfiction

© Åsa Gilland

non·fic·tion - nänˈfikSHən/ noun 1. prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or history. -Dictionary.com 2013

Classes


The Children's Nonfiction Market: How to Break In How to Succeed Join Lionel Bender, author of more than 70 nonfiction children's books, in a webinar packed with guidelines, hints, and tips for breaking into this market and succeeding. It is based on Lionel Bender's successful 40-year career as an editor, author, and book packager of exclusively children’s illustrated nonfiction titles. Whether you’re new to children’s nonfiction or already active in this niche, this package will help you find work in this exciting, creative, and rewarding market. 

How to Sell Your Children's Nonfiction with a Brilliant Book Proposal is hands-on workshop by award-winning author Patricia Newman that will take you step-by-step through her nonfiction book proposal creation process - and show you how to start building your book from the proposal

Good Websites


The Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C. has a list of great non fiction books, check it out! 

The Nerdy Book Club. A home to share that love of reading with others as well as to organize voting and announcing winners of our First Annual Nerdies Book Awards.

The Nonfiction Detectives. A great website by two librarians who review nonfiction children's books.

Celebrate Science - resources for teaching science and writing nonfiction

Nonfiction Fest 2023 - a month-long crash course in writing nonfiction for children

Good Articles

Common Core State Standard, links- Kids Are Writers

Layer upon Layer: Building a Nonfiction Manuscript 

A Step by Step Guide to Conducting the Research Interview

Five Reasons Back Matter Matters in Nonfiction

Making Science Sing: Writing Creative Nonfiction about Science, for Kids

Four Tips on Finding Your Nonfiction Voice

Nonfiction Proposal Guidelines (for MG, YA)

Fiction to Nonfiction and the New Mashups in Between

Nonfiction of Olympic Proportions 

The Element of Surprise in Nonfiction Books

Celebrate Science: Behind the Books: The Nonfiction Family Tree

Annette Pimentel on Scaffolding the Past for Young Readers

Understanding and Teaching the Five Kinds of Nonfiction

7 Mistakes First-Time Nonfiction Authors Make

Behind the Books: What the Heck is Creative Nonfiction?

How to Write a Nonfiction Picture Book (with Laura Salas)

What is Literary Nonfiction?

Gamification: A Cool Way to Do Nonfiction Picture Books 

Soapbox: Children's Nonfiction Has an Image Problem

Nonfiction Tips

8 Tips for Creating Tantalizing Titles

How to Write a Successful Nonfiction Children's Book

3 Keys to Good Kid Nonfiction

Expository Nonfiction


Melissa Stewart and Diversity in Thinking

Celebrate Science: Wait, that's not Broccoli, It's chocolate Cake!

Melissa Stewart: A Look at Expository Nonfiction

Nonfiction v. Informational Fiction: A Former School Librarian's View by Kathy Halsey

Research

Organizing a Mountain of Research

How to Write a Nonfiction Picture Book: Step 3: Research 

5 Research Tips for Writing Historical Fiction

Image Research and Permissions: A Survival Guide

Picture Books

Nonfiction Picture Books: 7 Choices

Writing a Nonfiction Picture Book in Just One Week 

Nonfiction in Picture Books, A Panel Discussion

Children's Picture Books: Swinging Toward Nonfiction

Melissa Stewart's tips on writing nonfiction picture books

Do Nonfiction Picture Books Always Have a Story Arc?

NF PB Journey: Picture Book Rubric

Five Elements of Text Structures by Suzy Leopold

My Path to Nonfiction (AKA When What You Think You Want to Write and What You're Good at Writing is Not the Same Thing)

Choosing a Structure for Your Picture Book Biography

Proposals

Nonfiction Proposals: Marketing Plan

How to Write a Book Proposal + A Book Proposal Template

Mission Possible: Winning Nonfiction Proposals

STEM

Celebrate Science: SCBWI Handout: Writing STEM Picture Books

Biographies

Must I Contact Descendants for Biography?

Invented Dialogue and the Conundrum of the Picture Book Biography (Betsy Bird)

The Biography Pie

Mining for Heart: "Writing a Picture Book Biography? So What?"

10 Things to Consider When Writing a Picture Book Biography

Mentor Texts

21st Century Nonfiction Conference: The Nonfiction Triumvirate Handout

Query Letters

How to Write a Nonfiction Children's Book Query Letter

Nonfiction Proposals: Marketing Plan

Resources

William and Mary Quarterly - historical scholarly magazine founded in 1892 covering early American history and culture. Searchable online.

Referencing and Citation Style Guides: MLA. APA. CSE. Chicago

Historical Fiction

8 Rules of Writing Historical Fiction Research

Historical Novels--Your Research To Do List

Legal Issues

A Writer's Guide to Fair Use and Permissions + Sample Permissions Letter