Choosing and Using Fiction and Non-Fiction 3-11: A Comprehensive Guide for Teachers and Student Teachers »

After teaching in primary schools, Margaret Mallett worked on BA (Ed.) and MA in Language and Literature courses at Goldsmiths College. She is now an Emeritus Fellow of the English Association and a member of the English 4-11 editorial board.

Choosing and Using Fiction and Non-Fiction 3-11 is a guide to the many kinds of text we want children to encounter, use and enjoy during their nursery and primary school years. So children’s non-fiction literature — including autobiography, biography, information and reference texts — is given equal status with fiction — nursery rhymes, picturebooks, novels, traditional tales, playscripts and poetry. The author addresses important issues and allows the voices of teachers, reviewers and children to be heard. The book supports teachers as they help children on their journey to becoming insightful and critical readers of non-fiction and sensitive and reflective readers of fiction. It also contains suggestions for practice which are in the spirit of the more flexible and creative approach to learning towards which primary schools are moving.

It includes:

• help on using criteria to select quality texts of all kinds


• annotated booklists for each kind of text for different age groups


• suggestions for keeping a balance between print and screen-based texts


• case studies showing teachers and children using texts in interesting and imaginative ways to support learning in English lessons and across the curriculum


• advice on developing children’s visual and multimodal literacy


• guidance on using the school library and embedding study skills in children’s wider purposes and learning


• critiques of key theoretical perspectives and research projects.

Although the main readership will be primary and student teachers, it is hoped that the book will be of interest and use to anyone concerned with the role of texts in children’s learning.

List of figures

List of boxes

List of case studies

Acknowledgements

Preface

PART I FICTION 1

1 Introduction to Part I 3

2 Children's literature: some key strands 7

The critical study of children's literature 7

Links between children's literature and children's development as readers 8

Reviewing children's fiction 10

Summary 11

3 Fiction in the classroom: resources, organization of teaching and learning, some issues and assessment and record keeping 12

Introduction 12

Resources 12

The reading and literacy area 13

The school library 13

The organization of teaching and learning 14

Some issues and questions 16

Making progress as a reader of fiction: assessment and record keeping 21

Summary 22

4 Picturebooks 23

Introduction 23

Features of picturebooks 23

Criteria for choosing 25

Choosing picturebooks for different age groups 26

Wordless picturebooks, classic picturebooks and picturebooks by new illustrators 33

Using picturebooks 34

Assessing and recording progress 41

Summary 43

5 Traditional tales: folk and fairy tales; myths, creation stories and legends; parables and fables 44

Introduction 44

Criteria for choosing 44

Folk and fairy tales 47

Choosing fairy tales 49

Myths, creation stories and legends 51

Parables and fables 59

Using traditional tales 62

Assessing and recording progress 68

Summary 69

6 Genre fiction, 'popular culture' texts and formats and media 70

Introduction 70

Choosing genre fiction texts at different ages and stages 70

Formats and media 82

Using genre fiction in the classroom 90

Assessing and recording progress 93

The Cambridge/Homerton Research and Teaching Centre for Children's Literature 97

Summary 98

7 Longer stories and children's novels: an introduction 99

The importance of longer stories and novels 99

Genre features of longer stories and children's novels 99

Choosing longer stories and children's novels 100

8 Animal stories: animal autobiographies, talking animals and stories based on close observation of living creatures 102

Introduction 102

Animal autobiographies 102

Talking animals 103

Stories based on close observation of living creatures 105

9 Realism: domestic, adventure and school stories 108

Introduction 108

Domestic or family stories 108

Books about children living in other cultures and traditions 111

Adventure stories 111

School stories 115

10 Historical fiction: historical novels, time-slips and war stories 118

Introduction 118

Historical novels 118

Time-slips 119

War stories 121

11 Fantasy stories and novels 124

Introduction 124

Choosing fantasy stories and novels around age seven or eight 124

Choosing fantasy books around about age nine and above 126

12 Building reading stamina for children of differing abilities and attitudes to reading 133

Introduction 133

Choosing texts for the classroom and school collections: some things to consider 133

Summary of Chapters 7 to 12 on selecting longer stories and children's novels 137

13 Using longer stories and novels 138

Introduction 138

Reading aloud 139

Talk as a way of expressing and developing response 141

Improvisation, drama and moving image texts 142

Art and craft 142

Writing alongside and after reading longer stories and children's novels 143

Assessing and recording progress 149

Summary 151

14 Playscripts 152

Introduction 152

Features of playscripts 152

Choosing playscripts 153

Using playscripts 159

Children writing their own playscripts 163

Using Shakespeare's plays 165

Using film versions of children's stories and novels 168

Writing scripts for films 168

Assessing and recording progress 169

Summary 170

15 Poetry: an introduction 171

Why is poetry important? 171

The oral tradition 171

Types of poetry: the organization of the poetry chapters 172

Features of poetry and teachers' knowledge 172

Choosing poetry for English lessons 173

Choosing poetry across the curriculum 173

Illustrations in poetry books 174

Creating a poetry friendly classroom 175

How do we best help extend children's response to and enjoyment of poetry? 175

Performance and presentation 175

Inspiring young poetry writers 175

Assessing and recording progress 177

16 Poems playing with language: nursery rhymes and action rhymes, nonsense verse and limericks, riddles and proverbs and rhyming stories 179

Introduction 179

Features of poems playing with language 180

Criteria for choosing nursery rhymes and action rhymes, nonsense verses and limericks, riddles and proverbs, and rhyming stories 181

Using poems playing with language 187

Summary 189

17 Poems with distinctive forms, rhythms and/or rhyming patterns: rhyming poems, haiku, cinquain, kenning, tanka, shape poems, thin poems and acrostics 190

Introduction 190

Features of poems with distinctive patterns and forms 190

Choosing distinctively patterned poems for different age groups 192

Using poems with distinctive forms 193

Summary 195

18 Story or narrative poems, classic poems and poems from other cultures and traditions 196

Introduction 196

Features of story or narrative poems and ballads 196

Choosing story poems 197

Using story poems 197

Features of classic poems 200

Choosing classic poems 200

Using classic poems 202

Choosing poems from other cultures and traditions 203

Using poems from other cultures and traditions 205

Summary 206

19 Poems with freer, less traditional forms and patterns: free verse, conversation poems, blank verse and rap 207

Introduction 207

Features of poems with freer forms and patterns 207

Choosing poems with freer forms and patterns 208

Using poems with freer forms and patterns 211

Summary 215

PART II CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION LITERATURE 217

20 Introduction to Part II 219

21 Children's non-fiction literature in the twenty-first century 222

Introduction 222

Print books and resources 222

Electronic resources 223

Moving image media: DVD, film and television 225

3D virtual worlds 226

22 Models of non-fiction kinds of learning and some guiding principles 228

Introduction 228

Models of non-fiction kinds of learning 228

Some guiding principles 231

Summary 233

23 Non-fiction and classroom organization, gender issues and assessment 234

Introduction 234

Classroom organization and non-fiction 234

Non-fiction in lessons across the curriculum 237

Gender and non-fiction reading (and writing) 238

Assessing and recording progress 239

Summary 243

24 Classifying non-fiction text types and thoughts towards a critical approach 244

Introduction 244

Classifying non-fiction 244

Evaluating non-fiction: towards critical attention and the increasing status of children's non-fiction 246

Specialist reviewers and children as reviewers 247

Summary 249

25 Introducing chronological text types: recount and instruction 251

26 Recounts: young researchers read and write chronologically ordered accounts 254

Introduction 254

Features of non-fiction recounts 254

Some criteria for choosing 256

Choosing recounts for different age groups 258

Using recount texts 272

Making progress 278

Summary 278

27 Instruction texts 279

Introduction 279

Features of instruction texts 279

Some criteria for choosing 279

Where do children find instruction text? 280

Choosing instruction texts for different age groups 282

Using instruction texts 287

Summary 290

28 Introducing non-narrative non-fiction texts: report, explanation, discussion and persuasion and reference 292

29 Report texts: choosing texts and resources 297

Introduction 297

Features of report texts 297

Some criteria for choosing 298

Choosing report texts for different age groups 300

Summary 312

30 Explanation texts: choosing texts and resources 313

Introduction 313

Features of explanation texts 313

Choosing explanation texts for different age groups 313

Summary 320

31 Using report and explanation texts 321

Introduction 321

Ways of enthusing young researchers 321

Some issues 325

Assessing and recording progress 327

Evaluation of resources 328

Summary 328

32 Argument: discussion and persuasion texts 329

Introduction 329

Features of discussion and persuasion texts 329

Choosing texts which include or promote argument for different ages 331

Fiction can throw up exciting themes for argument 338

Using texts to think about issues and to argue a case 338

Making progress 343

Assessing and recording progress 343

Summary 344

33 Reference texts: choosing texts and resources 345

Introduction 345

Features of reference texts 345

Some criteria for choosing 347

Dictionaries 347

Thesauri 353

Activities to support and encourage the use of dictionaries and thesauri 355

Atlases and map books 355

Encyclopedias 360

Study guides 363

The importance of 'wondering' 363

Non-book print 365

Summary 366

34 Using the school and classroom libraries 367

Introduction 367

Using the classroom and school library 367

Study and research skills 368

Summary 373

35 Conclusion to Part II 374

Bibliography 375

Useful information and websites 385

Index 388