I had the pleasure of being on a panel for on April 25, 2013 as part of the Massachusetts Library Association annual conference at the Hyatt in Cambridge Massachusetts. For anyone interested, these are my written comments for THE COMMON CORE AND NONFICTION: HOW DOES IT ALL FIT TOGETHER. The blurb:
The Common Core and Nonfiction: How Does It All Fit Together?
The Common Core is here, but what does it mean for library
collections? Join the MLA Youth Services Section for an overview of the
curriculum changes as well as some highlights of the future of
nonfiction publishing. Presented by the MLA Youth Services Section.
Speakers: Kristine Carlson Asselin, Author; Deborah Kops, Author; Rebecca J. Morris, MLIS, PhD, Assistant Professor, School Library Teacher Program, Simmons College; Lou Pingatore, Pingi Bookstore.
The Common Core and Non-Fiction:
How Does It All Fit Together?
I
first have to give a shout out to the staff of the Reuben Hoar Library in
Littleton! They are awesome—I use the library and the interlibrary loan program
for almost all of my research.
I have published exclusively with educational
publishers (Capstone Press and Abdo Publishing) on a work-for-hire basis. So
basically, I work on assignment. I get a call or an email from a publisher or
an editor and they ask if I’m interested in taking on a given project. My first
project was assigned in the fall of 2008 (WHO REALLY DISCOVERED AMERICA), with the first book being published
in January 2010 (THE EARTH SIGNS).
As
a freelance writer, my strength is my ability to research, not any particular
field of study.
According
to Karen Springen in an article from the July 18, 2012 issue of Publisher’s
Weekly titled What Common Core Means for Publishers, “Core
authors want students to think more critically about what they’re reading,
rather than just summarizing text; to compare multiple sources in different
formats; and to give more sourced evidence, and less personal opinion, in their
writing.”
What
that tells me is that educators are going to be looking for more material on a
lot of topics. And that librarians are going to feel the trickle down effect as kids come looking for nonfiction. I’m not an expert on the Common Core, but I’m excited about the
opportunities that seem to be available for us as writers with the new
standards. It seems like there will
be an increased demand for nonfiction material, across a variety of topics, in
different reading levels, and with different source material. So that’s good
for writers; more demand means more work for us.
When
I get an assignment from a publisher, they usually give me a sense of the
length, style, timeframe, and the salary—and then I decide if I can do it or
not. Some projects are easier than others, as you can imagine; it often depends
on the topic, but sometimes I have to make decisions based on the deadline or
the pay.
For
the most part, I attack the project like an intense term project—it all starts
with good research, much like what we are training our kids to do through the
new Common Core standards.
Research
is always easier said than done. One question I’m often asked is about the
standards for writing non-fiction. I can only speak to Abdo and Capstone, but
the standards for those two publishers are very high. Every things is footnoted. My two most recent biographies for Abdo were on Martin Luther King,
Jr. (due out in August 2013) and Jennifer Lopez (published in January 2013), for the essential lives
and contemporary lives series respectively. They are both written for a
6th grade and up level, 14,000 words, and both have almost 300
footnotes. However, those source notes are VERY different. JLO sources were
live interviews from the web that I transcribed, podcasts, pop culture sources (like magazines and websites). MLK sources were more academic,
newspapers, and books. Those notes don’t appear in the final text, but the
publisher fact checks the entire document after I submit. Capstone Press books
are shorter—closer to 4,000 words, but
the word to footnote ratio is about the same (about 90 footnotes or one footnote per every 45 words).
Both
publishers demand that the text be accurate, but it also needs to be
interesting. High Interest. As an author, this is a no-brainer. For me, most of
the time, the voice/narrative comes second, but it’s no less important to make
the work come alive for the reader. Ultimately, as a writer, that’s the
passion—that a child read my book and the subject matter comes alive.
So…when
I read that the common core requires “well-researched informational text,
well-crafted narrative text, and readings that engage critical analysis and
reward rereading,” (from a PW article on 4/10/2013 called WHAT IS COMMON CORE),
I’m left wondering what are we going to
be doing that’s that much different from what we’re already doing: Writing cool
things about interesting topics that make kids think and want to read it again.
For this panel, I looked at my body of work in
a statistical sense. Since my first assignment in 2008, I’ve written fourteen nonfiction
books for the school library market with educational publishers. Three are
biographies, five are history (US, and/or ancient history), three are science,
two are “how to research”, and one is pop culture (astrology). I think that
these stats say more about my editors needs than any specific trend, but it is
interesting that the variety of subjects has been so wide.
Capstone
Press has a comprehensive mission statement around the Common Core, which they
sent me when I asked about what they were doing. It includes the creation of
instructional pieces that support classroom teachers, as well as the creation
of new publications aligned with the new standards. Of creating new material to
specific tenants of the common core, 4 out of 6 action items relate to
nonfiction. (from Capstone text about Common Core).
I
think we’re going to see a big influx of nonfiction being written; both in the
trade publishers and educational publishers. It’s not all going to be great,
but some of it will be amazing. My advice to librarians is to make decisions about nonfiction purchases the same way you
make decisions about fiction; recommendations, reviews, and reputation. Trust
that the publishers are still working out what common core means just like we
are; but the good ones are going to try to align their products with what kids
and teachers and librarians need to be successful.
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