If you want to
teach young readers about the Irish potato famine, the
rain forest, or even math, tell them a story. Tell an interesting tale
about interesting people doing interesting things and readers come back
for more, sometimes not even realizing they are reading about
something that really happened. This is creative nonfiction.
Creative nonfiction
remains a nebulous term. Although the genre has
been around the adult market for some time, only in recent years has it
made inroads into children's publishing: Nonfiction has widened to use
story-telling techniques usually associated with fiction to enliven,
but remain true to, facts.
Carolyn Yoder,
Senior Editor, History and World Cultures at Highlights
for Children and their new imprint, Calkins Creek Books, explains: "The
difference between straight nonfiction and creative nonfiction has to
do with structure. Straight nonfiction relies solely on the parts—the
facts for the most part—and not on the whole. Creative nonfiction is
all about the whole—how the parts make it up. Creative non-fiction,
like fiction, is all about story or theme. Creative nonfiction tends
to have strong characters, strong sense of place, rich details,
obvious themes, conflicts, arcs—everything."
Engaged Readers
"Storytelling is
storytelling," says Reka Simonsen, Editor at Henry
Holt and Company. In nonfiction, the story happens to be true rather
than invented, but the same rules apply: There should still he a strong
story arc; there still has to be a problem that needs resolution; the
characters have to be fully developed; there must be moments of
dramatic tension and emotion of whatever kind appropriate to the
events. Kids have to read quite a lot of books that are good for
them—that is one of the main ways we educate our children in this
society. At its best, creative nonfiction imparts this necessary
information in a way that captivates young readers, excites their
imaginations, and sparks an interest in learning more."
To get kids to
read, writers need to grab their interest right away and
keep them turning pages.
"Good creative
nonfiction helps kids learn to think by engaging their
curiosity," says Shannon Barefield, Senior Editor at Lerner
Publishing Group. "It makes readers ask, `Then what happened? Why?'
and so on. An engaged reader retains information and often goes on to
seek more. Creative nonfiction is of great use with reluctant and
challenged readers, who may find their interest piqued, making the work
of reading more rewarding than usual. Finally, storytelling techniques
can bring to life a subject's significance in a way that just-the-facts
writing can't always do. It's crucial for kids to learn the
nuts-and-bolts facts of the Holocaust, for example, but to learn the
human side of those events is critically important as well. Creative
nonfiction evokes the humanity within our history."
Literature of Fact
"I prefer to focus
on the literature of fact," says Judy O'Malley,
former Editorial Director of Houghton Mifflin Books, "books that tell
the shaped story of what is known about lives and times, and that
include the documentation of those facts that model for young readers
how exciting authentic research can be. That leads them to read further
and deeper, starting with the author's trail and following wherever
their passion for the subject leads them. But, in essence, creative
nonfiction is a good true story told well."
"Nonfiction is
creative when it presents concepts or information in an
entertaining manner," says Jean Reynolds, Publisher of The Millbrook
Press, which is now looking for a new corporate buyer. Reynolds
continues, "To use a cliched example, a good story about a kid running
a lemonade stand can get across far more information about supply and
demand and free enterprise and competition than a straight explanation
of economic concepts ever could." On meeting the needs of today's
readers, Reynolds says, "What reader wouldn't prefer to be entertained
while learning the facts about something. Tests have shown that
information is retained far better when presented in narrative form."
With story, even
disagreeable historic characters come to life in a
compelling fashion that makes us want to know more, as in the Robert F.
Sibert Award-winner The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, by James Cross
Giblin, author of many creative nonfiction books. Giblin says,
"Creative nonfiction is nonfiction that makes use of the following
fiction techniques: (a) a dramatic opening, whether the piece is a
magazine article or a chapter in a book; (b) an abundant use of
involving scenes, not invented but shaped from the factual material
that research has turned up; (c) an equally abundant use of dialogue
drawn from letters, speeches, autobiographies, and other sources (but
never made up!); and (d) a strong finish, if it's an article, and an
ending with a hook that will draw readers onward if it's a chapter in a
book. The aim in all this is to make the material as attractive and
involving as possible for young readers while always hewing to the
truth."
A Short History of
Nonfiction
Simonsen explains
the evolution of the category: "Nonfiction used to be
a very dry genre. The books were thought of as instructional and were
intended to be used in schools. The emphasis was on facts and
scholarship, but not necessarily on making the books appealing to a
child reader. Then Dorling Kindersley started their extremely popular
Eyewitness series, and the world of nonfiction changed. The Eyewitness
books are big, glossy books with eye-catching photos and lots of
interesting facts imparted in small tidbits rather than long chapters.
Suddenly, nonfiction was very popular (especially with boys), and it
had a presence in book-stores, not just schools and libraries."
Simonsen continues,
"Those illustrated nonfiction books were very
popular for a long time, and many of the best of them still are, but at
a certain point people began to get a little tired of the format. Maybe
there were too many books like that, and people wanted something new.
In any case, the genre began to change again. Some authors, artists,
and publishers decided to try to make nonfiction books with the same
approach that made their best fictional books so appealing to kids:
interesting writing with a lyrical or narrative style to hold the story
together; gorgeous, artistic illustrations that did not necessarily
have to be photorealistic; fascinating, but perhaps lesser-known or
more unique topics. These creative nonfiction books have generally been
very well received by kids, educators, and bookstore buyers alike."
Barefield says, "It
used to be acceptable and even expected for
children's nonfiction books to contain fabricated material to make them
more palatable. Some of those old fictionalized tales became accepted
as fact, such as Parson Weems's famous story of George Washington and
the cherry tree. Since then, standards have shifted. We want nonfiction
to be entirely factual—but we want the information presented in a way
that brings it vividly to life. Flat, just-the-facts writing isn't
good enough in many cases."
All Shapes &
Sizes
O'Malley says,
"Authors and publishers are continuing to experiment
with new formats and approaches." She describes some of the more
successful:
* picture book
biographies that focus on a particular incident in a
subject's life or a short period of years and offer a window into the
later life and accomplishments of that individual;
* poetry
linked to factual prose on a topic to give a blending of
intuitive and informative ways of knowing about something;
* the use of
primary documents—letters, maps, journal entries, public
records—on the page to tell the story directly, much as it was
experienced;
* books
that are open-ended, asking as many questions as
they attempt to answer, demonstrating that we are constantly
expanding, re-assessing, and gaining new understanding of who we are
and what we know, as our ways of collecting and accessing information
become more advanced.
Many writers have
embraced the idea of flexing their storytelling
muscles with creative nonfiction.
"The ability to
bring characters and events convincingly to life is as
necessary for, say, historical nonfiction as it is in a novel;' says
Karen Wojtyla, Senior Editor of Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint
of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. She cites the opening
of Jim Murphy's Inside the Alamo:
The
town of San
Antonio de Bexar lay silent and still. Most of its twenty-five hundred
residents had already fled to the safety of ranches in the surrounding
countryside... Suddenly, the grave stillness was shattered by the
clanging warning hell, its harsh sound filling the air and racing along
every twisting street, every narrow alley.
Now, that is good
storytelling put to the aid of nonfiction," says
Wojtyla.
Science and nature
books are no longer the dry books many adults
remember in their own childhoods. The enormous selection of creative
nonfiction on these topics include such books as Laurence Pringle's An
Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly.
"I could have
written a straightforward nonfiction book about monarch
butterflies," says Pringle, "what the caterpillars eat, the autumn
migration, etc. Instead, I wrote about one caterpillar who became one
female adult trying to get to Mexico, survive, then mate and reproduce
in the spring. Many readers tell me they feel sad at the end of the
book—at the end of the monarch's life. Some people cry—an unusual
response to a nonfiction book, I believe.” The butterfly is not like
Charlotte of Charlotte's Web: she does only what monarch butterflies
do, or could do. The book is well-researched nonfiction, but has a
character whose life a reader follows, and cares about."
When Too Creative Fails
Writers are warned
to not be too creative with weaving their stories,
however. If you add characters, dialogue, invent scenes and alter
facts, you moved to the realm of historical fiction, a noble genre but
still, fiction.
Reynolds cautions
writers to be wary of being too creative. "The author
who does not treat the genre with respect can easily convey erroneous
impressions. Creative nonfiction requires even more careful research
than straight exposition, as so much more information is being
conveyed. It is the small details that the creative writer adds that
bring texture and drama to an event, but it is not come by easily."
"If characters are
added, scenes are imagined, dialogue is invented,
this is now a fictional story based on real events, and as a reader, I
want to know what actually happened and what may have happened," says
O'Malley. "For me the cardinal rule is, 'Never lie: If you made up some
of the elements, bring your reader into that process: Use an author's
note to explain clearly what, why, and where,"
According to Yoder,
“The problems that writers run into is when style
overcomes everything else—and the story or theme suffers. You've
painted a beautiful picture, but there's no real substance. This is
especially true with history writing. Context and background suffer and
the reader has no firm grounding,"
"One of the hardest
things for many writers to do," says Simonsen,
"seems to be getting the emotional aspects of a nonfiction topic across
successfully. I've noticed that many authors try to carry the emotion
with anthropomorphism or an abundance of exclamation points, rather
than building the story in such a way that the natural drama of it
comes through. Sometimes, the descriptive language is not as strong as
it could be. I've found that nonfiction authors are more likely to use
a simple, somewhat familiar description rather than searching for a
more evocative, unique way of saying the same thing."
Yoder adds,
"Creative nonfiction lets the author come out. I want to
see the author. I want to follow where the author is leading mc. So
many times with history writing, the author feels that he or she has to
be quiet, has to rely on the facts. The great history writer analyzes
the facts, picks the rich anecdotes and details, and paints a picture.
That's why I always ask authors to rely on the best resources, whether
primary or secondary. Rich research can only lead to rich writing.
It's as simple as that."
O'Malley sums it
all up: “Though it's stimulating to share our thoughts
about innovative formats as a community devoted to children's
literature, I think there is some danger in worrying more about
terminology than about whether the style and form effectively
communicate the ideas, spirit, and nature of the material, be it
fiction or nonfiction. I would hope that every writer is always
striving to make that modifier—creative—fully apply to his or her work,
whether it's poetry, fiction, nonfiction, humor or any other style of
writing. Anything less is just not good enough for the young readers we
serve."
Please contact me for
information about reprinting this article.
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