In addition to the interactive video conferences that I enjoy doing with schools and community organizations, I’m a contributor to a website called The Nonfiction Minute. I participate in this project as a member of iNK Think Tank, a by-invitation group of award winning children’s nonfiction book authors.
Each school day, we publish a 400-word Nonfiction Minute written by one of us. We’re all over the map with topics, and in addition to reading the Minute, you can hear the author read it. Yes, we include a recording of our minutes. We know how helpful this can be to anyone struggling to learn or to better understand English. Each Minute also includes images that illustrate our topic, and also helpful links.
The Minute is a service from us to you for your reading enjoyment and also for use in the classroom. Amazing, right? We have thousands of teachers throughout the world who use the Nonfiction Minute as part of their daily curriculum. Fascinating topics, excellent writing, short enough to read in a few minutes, and an audio version to boot. A great learning tool! I hope you’ll check it out.
AND NOW THE BOOKS
An excellent publishing house was so taken with what we were doing that it is collecting our Minutes into books. The first one came out last fall: 30 People Who Changed the World. I wrote four of the thirty entries. We are all delighted that it has been honored as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for the Social Studies—a very prestigious award!
Now our second book is out, titled 30 Animals That Share Our World. And a third, which addresses topics related to science, math, engineering and technology, is in the works. I hope you’ll check out these books. And if you go to the Nonfiction Minute site listed above and put in my name, you’ll see a list of all the minutes I’ve contributed. My topics have included everything from “How to Interview a Historic Building,” to “Snakes on the Dinner Table!” and “Victoria and Albert: The Royals Who Married for Love.”
Happy reading!