Read With Conina

Panel included:
Marc Aronson, Professor at Rutgers
Giorgia Grilli, Professor at U of Bologna
Tina Bilban, Author; Research Assistant, Institute Nova Revija
Mingzhou Zhang, VP China Children’s Literature Research Society
Moderator: Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, editor at Bookbird

This session was focused on the importance of non-fiction books for children, as well as on reframing nonfiction and reducing the stigma that ‘nonfiction is boring.’ Marc spoke about how children have always read nonfiction; the early days of children’s lit started with the Orbis Pictus, after all. Marc said that “A work of art is when it involves the reader in co-construction.” When a child reads a nonfiction book, perhaps about their favorite dinosaurs, animals, or heroes, they read with a sense of curiosity. Once they learn something, they become a sort of expert on the topic, which propels their curiosity even further. Though a child can learn a lot from fiction, as well, when they read nonfiction, they leave being bigger, fuller – their mind holds knowledge that they now have to decipher their thoughts and opinions on.

Tina also spoke about using curiosity as a measure for a good book. A nonfiction book’s author found the topic interesting enough to write about, so therefore the reader should be curious about the subject; if not, it may not be a good book for them.

Marc went even further with the topic of curiosity. He said that ‘nonfiction’ is an insane name, because why should we define something by what it isn’t? We would not call fiction ‘unreal stories.’ He proposed the name be changed to ‘curiosity books.’

Overall, this panel, more than teaching me about nonfiction, gave me a new perspective on how to think about nonfiction. I don’t personally read much nonfiction, but I have known many children who could not put them down. Many children have special interests such as dinosaurs, presidents, sharks, space, or nature. Nonfiction enables children to connect deeper with their interest. Once they learn about the subject, they will be able to learn deeper in the next book they read due to the subject knowledge they already possess. I hope to learn more about nonfiction and possibly do some personal research on the benefits of nonfiction in children’s education.