Over the last few years there have been many changes in children’s non-fiction and how it is presented and used in the classroom. Today teachers use a more interactive model of non-fiction, which in my opinion makes learning more exciting and fun.

“The Internet changes the way we think about information. The fact that we do not know something that exists in the extant expansive commons of human knowledge can no longer intimidate us into reticence. If we do not know something, someone else does, and there are enough ways around the commons of the Internet that enable us to get to sources of the known.” Raqs Media Collective (Edge.org)

New technology has allowed multi-media texts to be used with moving images to enhance children’s learning. So, we can actually see a digestive system working or what the night sky would look like on a specific day at a specific time. The non-fiction information is often embedded into a story with diverse characters solving problems that keep the children engaged.

But, does this advancing technology mean parents are less likely to buy their children a non-fiction book, preferring them to do their research on the Internet? This is a worry for the children’s non-fiction writer and many new books have appeared on the market to make the non-fiction books more appealing.

Print books have started to become more spectacular themselves not only do they include links to downloads to compliment the printed text but the illustrations are active and visually stimulating bleeding to the edges of the page. There are puzzles and games in the books so children can discover new concepts and reinforce their learning such as in my Colour and Shape books.

There has been a rise in children’s biographical accounts told in a more creative and stimulating way than simple text and portrait picture and a move to more comic book style, such as Kate Pankhurst’s Fantastically Great Women series.

“Kate Pankhurst’s Fantastically Great Women series (Bloomsbury Children’s), including Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World and Fantastically Great Women Who Changed History, have sold a combined 92,634 copies since the start of 2018.” The Bookseller

But, what is the next step? What non-fiction books are going to survive the electronic age?