Start with a Book

What does your child love to explore and learn about? Explore dinosaurs, bugs, birds, planes, music, sports, superheroes, inventors, art, the night sky, the ocean, and more — 24 themes in all. For each theme, you'll find hundreds of recommended books, hands-on activities, educational websites, interactive apps and more. Visit Start with a Book

Tip sheets for parents

Written especially for parents, our Growing Readers newsletter (available in English and Spanish) provides monthly tips for raising strong readers and writers. Subscribe to Growing Readers.

Getting the Most Out of Nonfiction Reading Time

Nonfiction books give kids a chance to learn new concepts and vocabulary, as well as broaden their view of the world. Learn how to take a "book walk" with a new nonfiction book and how to model active reading.

How to Read Nonfiction Text

Many kids love to read about science and nature as well as real people, places, and events. Nonfiction books present information in engaging and interesting ways. Find out how you can help your child learn to navigate all the parts of a nonfiction book — from the table of contents to the diagrams, captions, glossary, and index.

Developing Research and Information Literacy

Explore two ways you can help your child begin to develop information literacy: learning to tell the difference between fact and opinion, and figuring out if a source of information is reliable.

The Night Before the Museum

Day trips, vacations and special outings create special memories and great learning opportunities for families. The time leading up to your trip can be filled with excitement and adventure too! Whether you're going to the zoo, the museum, or a state park, below are a few "stops" to make before your visit to help your child get the most out of a family or school educational experience.

A Fresh Look at Your Home Library

Having interesting things to read at home is a great way to keep kids motivated. Below are a few questions to ask yourself about your home library. Some simple changes on your part can help you create an amazing home library, and help your child develop an early love of reading!

The Importance of Reading Widely

Sharing lots of different kinds, or genres, of books with your child exposes him to different words, different kinds of images, and whole new worlds. This tip sheet suggests some genres to try with your young reader that complement 'traditional' fiction. Some are suggestions for read alouds, while others may be ones your child can read on his own.

How Parents Can Support the Common Core Reading Standards

Is your school using the new Common Core standards? This is a big change for students — and their parents. Get to know what the four main areas of the Common Core reading standards mean and simple things you can do at home to help your child build skills in these areas.

Preparing 21st Century Learners

Our interconnected and digital world demands a lot of our learners. Here are five simple ways to help build your child's critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Finding great nonfiction

Public and school librarians are the best resource for helping identify high-quality nonfiction books, for any interest or reading level. There are also many excellent online resources. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Start with a Book
• Book Finder
• The Nonfiction Minute
• Teach with Picture Books
• Open Wide, Look Inside
• NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
• NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12

Nonfiction in the classroom

A Quick Guide to Selecting Great Informational Books for Young Children

Exposing children to a variety of informational text will stimulate development of background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. In this article, take an imaginary trip to a children's museum and learn how to choose quality, high-interest informational books for young readers.

What Teachers Need to Know About the "New" Nonfiction

Children's nonfiction picture books is a genre that is exploding in both quality and quantity. Recent nonfiction books reveal an emphasis on the visual, an emphasis on accuracy, and an engaging writing style. Suggestions are included for choosing and using nonfiction picture books in the classroom.

Five Kinds of STEM-themed Nonfiction Books for Kids

It’s a great time for children’s nonfiction! In recent years, these books have evolved into five distinct categories. Learn more about the characteristics of traditional nonfiction, browse-able nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, expository literature, and active nonfiction.

Teaching Nonfiction: Articles for Educators

From Melissa Stewart, a children’s writer and enthusiastic advocate for encouraging kids to read more nonfiction and supporting educators in teaching with nonfiction books. 

Building World Knowledge: Motivating Children to Read and Enjoy Informational Text

Exposing young children to informational text early on can help them to handle the literacy demands of fourth grade and beyond. Practical instructional techniques can be used to promote understanding and enjoyment of informational texts. The three techniques described here — Text Impression, Guiding Questions, and the Retelling Pyramid — can help children become familiar with the language and structure of non-fiction books.

How to Teach Expository Text Structure to Facilitate Reading Comprehension

Expository text offers particular challenges to the reader because of the abstract and unfamiliar concepts that it presents. Students should be taught the hierarchical structure of the expository text and the interrelationships among ideas — what experts refer to as text structure. Reading researchers have argued that knowledge of text organization, or structure, is an important factor for text comprehension. This article reviews techniques and procedures in teaching expository text structure.

Guiding Students Through Expository Text with Text Feature Walks

The text feature walk guides students in the reading of text features in order to access prior knowledge, make connections, and set a purpose for reading expository text. Results from a pilot study illustrate the benefits of using the strategy, and practical suggestions for implementation are offered.

Compare, Contrast, Comprehend: Using Compare-Contrast Text Structures with ELLs in K-3 Classrooms

This article explains (a) how to teach students to identify the compare-contrast text structure, and to use this structure to support their comprehension, (b) how to use compare-contrast texts to activate and extend students' background knowledge, and (c) how to use compare-contrast texts to help students expand and enrich their vocabulary. Although these strategies can benefit all young learners, the compare-contrast text structure is particularly helpful to ELL students.

Increasing ELL Student Reading Comprehension with Non-fiction Text

One of the most important skills students learn as they transition into middle and high school is how to get information from a non-fiction text. This skill can be especially challenging for ELLs, who may not have had much experience working independently with expository texts. This Bright Ideas article offers ways that teachers can help ELLs work effectively with non-fiction texts and includes strategies for introducing components, structure, and purpose of expository texts.

Introducing Science Concepts to Primary Students Through Read-Alouds: Interactions and Multiple Texts Make the Difference

This study of first and second graders looked at teacher-led read-alouds as a way to introduce science concepts. Results suggest that multiple exposures to a related concept across different stories gave students more time to build a mental representation of important ideas. This evidence suggests that moving beyond a single text as a source for building students' understanding is an important instructional approach.

A Primary Grade Science Unit Using the Language Arts/Literacy Common Core State Standards

With the Common Core, literacy is intentionally taught within content areas. See what a CCSS mini-thematic unit in science might look like for children in the primary grades.