Expository Literature Nonfiction Hotlist

Expository literature is a form of nonfiction that uses a strong voice and rich, engaging language to creatively share information about a focused topic. It usually demonstrates carefully chosen text and an innovative presentation. Here’s an overview of expository literature, and a look at some of our best-selling expository literature titles!

On the final stop of this year’s 5 Kinds of Nonfiction tour, we visit Karen Latchana Kenney and her latest YA title Folding Tech: Using Origami and Nature to Revolutionize Technology. Researchers use folding technologies to create everything from nanobots to telescope lenses that unfold to the size of a soccer field. The engineers behind these inventions take inspiration from an unusual source—origami! This book examines how the ancient art intersects with STEM. Keep reading to learn more about Karen’s writing process, Expository Literature, and the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction.

A guest post by Melissa Stewart

Many teachers and students seem to think that writing nonfiction requires nothing more than doing some research and cobbling together a bunch of facts, but nothing could be further from the truth. To dispel this alarming myth, fifty of today’s most celebrated authors for children have come together to share a critical part of the nonfiction writing process that often goes unseen. The result is the illuminating anthology Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Children’s Book Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing

To craft high-quality prose, nonfiction writers have to dig deep. They have to get in touch with their passions and their vulnerabilities and use them to fuel their work. Each book has a piece of the author at its heart, and that personal connection is what drives writers to keep working, despite the inevitable obstacles and setbacks.

Last week, Melissa Stewart hosted an absolutely awesome webinar with SLJ – Rethinking Your Book Collection. If you missed it, you can watch it on demand through the end of the year. The presentation and discussion were so great that we couldn’t get to all the questions, so Melissa graciously answered them for our blog.

A guest post by Melissa Stewart

Back in 2017, I proposed a five-category system for classifying children’s nonfiction on my blog, and the response was incredible. Teachers loved it. So did librarians and children’s book authors and editors. People praised the clarity it brought to the range of children’s nonfiction available today.