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Fiction still a dominant force in the movement to strengthen childhood reading
Jay Mathews, The Washington Post
Dec. 12, 2020
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Children s books stacked in a home in Washington D.C.photo for The Washington Post by Amanda Andrade-Rhoades.
I like fiction. I even know some talented people who make money composing it. But as a nonfiction writer, when I go into schools I am sad that the books students choose to read are almost always fiction.
A child thinks: Nonfiction? You mean textbooks. Ugh.
That s supposed to be changing. The Common Core State Standards, which have had a marked effect on teaching lately, say nonfiction is essential. Children need a steady diet of it to accumulate the background knowledge that will allow them to recognize more words as they learn to read.