Presenter: Name: Catherine Andronik

Title: Presenter
Organization/School: Bureau of Education and Research

Program Description
Picture book nonfiction isn't just for elementary grades. For grades 6 through 12, it can be used effectively for adding interest and pleasure to research and classroom instruction. Picture book nonfiction titles can take the place of textbook sidebars, which try (with questionable success) to add a "Wow! Did you know . . . ?" element to subject matter. In a study of World War I, for instance, imagine using titles like "Dazzle Ships," about a theory that psychedelically-painted warships would sail nearly undetected through enemy waters; or "Grace Banker and the Hello Girls Answer the Call," about the contribution of female telephone operators to the war effort. There are comparable titles for nearly every subject covered in the grade 6-12 curriculum. Picture book nonfiction also offers older students intriguing ideas for research projects. I once worked with a teacher who recommended that students comb their textbook for research paper topics; the students either complained that nothing sounded interesting, or chose the same few topics year after year. Displaying a selection of picture book nonfiction books could provide students with topics that are lesser known and interesting enough to capture the fancy of a hard-to-please second grader, could provide suggestions for research material in the rich back matter found in today's picture book nonfiction, and could model good narrative nonfiction storytelling techniques.
This presentation would give the rationale for using picture book nonfiction with grades 6 through 12, and examples of titles for all curricular subjects, from science and mathematics, to social studies and literature, to art and music, to sports.
Participants would come away with collection development ideas, justification for including picture books in a secondary school library, and workable ideas to share with teachers.

Learning Objectives
Participants will:
1) be able to justify including picture book nonfiction in a secondary school library's collection;
2) recommend titles and activities to classroom teachers across the curriculum;
3). name at least 25 picture book nonfiction titles that would work well in the curriculum they support.

Program Outline
Using Picture Book Nonfiction in the Middle and High School Library
I. What is picture book nonfiction?
A. A brief history
B. Quality of recent titles
II. Picture book nonfiction for struggling or ESL learners
III. Picture book nonfiction as "sidebar"
IV. Picture book nonfiction as a research springboard
V. Picture book nonfiction as a model for narrative writing
Picture Book Nonfiction: The Sidebars You Wish Were in Your Secondary Grade Textbooks!

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12

Session Strand: Teaching & Learning

Description: Picture book nonfiction . . . in a middle or high school library? Discover ways to incorporate this growing, and increasingly respected, genre into your collection and the instruction and resources you provide for classroom teachers. There will be suggestions for all areas of the curriculum, from mathematics and science, to history and literature, to art and music, to sports.