2. Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman: This CCSS informational text exemplar for grades 2-3 describes the life of President Lincoln. Through a mixture of photographs and text, it describes Lincoln’s fight to abolish slavery, his famous Gettysburg address, and his courage to fight for equality. Before introducing young students to an informational text with such historically significant events, reading Courage by Bernard Waber introduces students to the idea of one’s courage. This short story describes the various ways children can show courage such as jumping off the high dive, being the first one to apologize after an argument, or having to say goodbye to someone. The story notes, “courage is courage – whatever kind.” Discussing the various acts of courage described in the story as well as students’ own acts of courage can help set the tone for learning about the courageous acts of President Lincoln as described in the non-fiction text.
3. We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson: This CCSS informational text exemplar for grades 4-5 tells the story of Negro League baseball. In addition to the sport of baseball, the text describes the topics of segregation and discrimination. To introduce students to the culture of baseball at the time of the Negro League, the story Play Ball, Jackie! by Stephen Krensky can be paired with Nelson’s text. Students can read Krensky’s fictional account of a boy watching Jackie Robinson play baseball against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. In this story, the boy discusses racism and discrimination with his father and other boys at the game. This fictional account of the baseball game can introduce students to the historical climate of the time and spark discussion regarding discrimination. Introducing students to this particular aspect of American history with the fictional story will help students more easily grasp the non-fiction concepts presented in Nelson’s informational text.
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Pairing non-fiction texts with fiction literature provides students with a familiar type of text to help them navigate through the less familiar non-fiction text.