The crucial role of non-fiction in getting children reading

Published on: 04 November 2024

Author Mike Rampton argues that non-fiction is equally as engaging to children as fiction.

We romanticise fiction much more than non-fiction, both in terms of reading and writing.

We talk about characters and stories that linger with us for the rest of our lives, and think of novels pouring forth from their authors in unstoppable flows of creativity. Writing a non-fiction book, conversely, is seen as that bit more clinical and joyless – it's like writing a story is this magical, passionate process, while a non-fiction book is prepared like a quarterly shareholders' report.

But kids' non-fiction books without narratives – i.e. not memoirs, biographies or travel books, and often with Ronseal-type titles like Trains, Pyramids or How Trees Grow – are incredibly important, and contribute massively to children's (and adults') understanding of, well, everything. They just do it in less defined a way than a narrative.

It's a lot easier to pinpoint moments in stories that made you cry than to figure out which of 50 non-fiction books it was that helped you really get an idea of life in ancient Rome.

There are endless facts and snippets of information loitering in the backs of every one of our minds that came from non-fiction we read as kids. It's just that, while a story remains the author's, information simply becomes yours.

The first book most people read is non-fiction. A page with a picture of a ball on it and the word 'ball', then a page with a picture of a car on it and the word... yep, 'car'. There might be a twist, like an unexpected cow or something, but it's all likely fairly straightforward. You won't remember it when you're older, and wistfully reminisce about when you learned about the word 'ball', but it's there and it's important. You can't read those wonderful formative stories if you can't read!

The idea that non-fiction is straight and dispassionate compared to fiction simply isn't true. Back in the mists of time, junior non-fiction might have felt like homework, but the beautiful, fascinating, hilarious books we have now do nothing of the kind. At its best, children's non-fiction achieves a near-miracle: making learning feel like you're getting away with something.

How non-fiction can help to get children reading

There's an autonomy in non-fiction, particularly in non-linear books – you can open them wherever you like and find something. There's an in-built element of rule-breaking to a book with no set reading order, which every reader experiences in an order unique to them. (Paradoxically, reading a book like that cover-to-cover might be the most rebellious reading method of all.)

The dip-in, dip-out nature of something like a great big book of facts or a question-and-answer collection (like There's No Such Thing As A Silly Question: 213 Weird Questions, Expertly Answered, which I wrote and which Guilherme Karsten brilliantly illustrated) means everyone's attention span is catered for.

You can sit down for hours and devour the whole thing, or dip in briefly once a day. (Our book contains enough questions and answers to do one every school day for a year – if any teachers are inclined to do that, please let me know how it goes.)

Everyone's interested in something – a kid who has absolutely zero interest in stories might be really into trucks, space, dinosaurs, football or how the body works. Give the Guinness Book of Records to the most reluctant reader in the world and they'll leave the room knowing something awesome.

We might not hold non-fiction in the same regard as the miracle of storytelling, but getting a non-reader reading? That's pretty magical.

There's No Such Thing As A Silly Question: 213 Weird Questions, Expertly Answered! by Mike Rampton, illustrated by Guilherme Karsten, is out now.