Spotlight on Nonfiction with Tom Bober

Happy New Year, everyone! As we step into 2023, one of my resolutions is to expand my library's focus on nonfiction. I am a fiend for fiction, and this has been my primary focus as I've been rebuilding my library's collection. But we can't build our libraries based on our personal tastes alone; we have to make sure we serve the interests of all our patrons, both students and staff.

As I turn my eye toward improving my library's nonfiction offerings, I'm grateful to chat with this month's One Lesson at a Time guest, Missouri primary school librarian Tom Bober, who has shared his knowledge and interest in nonfiction, particularly primary sources, with school librarians nationwide. The lesson he shares here focuses on five types of nonfiction, as laid out by author Melissa Stewart.

Tom's lesson is a short introduction that he uses across multiple grade levels with slight modifications. One of the most powerful elements of this lesson is the vocabulary it provides—being able to speak with colleagues about the types of nonfiction students are encountering in different subject areas can help form a shared foundation for discussing literacy in new and important ways.

During our conversation, I realized that this lesson is built on a foundational information literacy skill, which seems to be a theme across many of the lessons we've covered so far this season. Although it can stand on its own as an introduction to the genres of nonfiction, the lesson would also slot in nicely as part of a unit on information literacy by providing a framework for students to analyze the information that comes their way.

Here is a breakdown of our conversation:

Revisit our guests from One Lesson at a Time: Season One and our current season here!