The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 2 | Page 11

Table 1. The Five A’s for Evaluating Nonfiction Trade Books The Five A's for Evaluating Nonfiction Trade Books Criteria Authority Questions to Ask Does the author identify and credit experts consulted during the research process? Accuracy Is text content accurate? Are maps, graphs, charts, and other visual aids presented clearly? Does the author distinguish between facts and theories? Appropriateness Is information presented in ways appropriate to the intended audience? Does the author show respect for the reader? Is information effectively organized? Literary artistry Does the book have literary artistry? Does the author use literary devices to make information come alive? Is the author's style engaging? Attractiveness Is the appearance and layout of the book likely to entice readers? Source: B. Moss. (2003). Exploring the literature of fact: Children's nonfiction trade books in the elementary classroom. New York: Guilford Press. Once a text has been chosen, instructing on the structure of nonfiction will put the students at an advantage in showing them how to approach nonfiction (Akhondi, Malayeri, & Samad 2011). The structure of nonfiction texts is considerably different than the text structure found in narrative texts. In narrative books there is a beginning, middle, and end with characters, setting, and most often a problem and a solution. Nonfiction texts can be arranged several different ways, utilizing a variety of text structures such as headings, photographs, text organizers (e.g. table of contents or glossary), various font styles, and diagrams (Saul & Dieckman, 2005). Another difference to be noted is that nonfiction texts do not always lend themselves to reading front to back, left to right, as the narrative counterpart. “Nonfiction can be picked up anywhere and makes sense” (Camp, 2006, p. 12). Students who are instructed on these differences through modeling and scaffolding will be successful in reading and their comprehension will be strengthened (Akhondi et al., 2011). Reading aloud Using nonfiction texts in early elementary classroom read alouds provides the balance necessary ©The Missouri Reader, 36 (2) p. 10