"Look at this nest!" the beauty and power of using informational books with young children

Several research studies document the beneficial effects of reading to children. Until recently, the books of choice for reading aloud, either in the home, child care or school setting, have been titles falling under the fiction genre. Seldom have nonfiction books been used for the sheer pleasure and information they can provide as recreational reading material. However, some teachers and researchers have recently begun to focus attention on the aesthetic qualities and inherent values of nonfiction books (Doiron, 1994; Pappas, 1991). They argued for the inclusion of nonfiction and informational storybooks in read-aloud activities in the home and school settings. This article will: (1) examine why, based on beliefs about children's cognitive abilities, fiction has been the genre of choice; (2) present a review of research that challenges the notion that fiction is the only suitable genre; (3) discuss the benefits of nonfiction (which includes concept books, biographies, alphabet books and so forth) in the literary experience of young children, and (4) discuss several books and how they may be used to provide an aesthetic experience comparable to that obtained with fiction, and increase knowledge.