First annual National Non-Fiction Day to take place on Thursday 4th November 2010
The Federation of Children’s Book Groups is delighted to announce the launch of an annual National Non-Fiction Day, a day dedicated to the celebration of the best information and narrative nonfiction books for children. The scheme has been launched in association with Scholastic, the home of many renowned non-fiction series, including the best-selling Horrible Histories.
The aim of National Non-Fiction Day is to dispel the myth that non-fiction belongs solely to the confines of the classroom. Non-fiction can inspire as well as educate, deliver humour along with hard facts, and some of the tales it can tell rivals the best fiction for excitement and intrigue. National Non-Fiction Day is an opportunity to inspire teachers and librarians, children and parents, to have fun whilst learning about the world we live in.
A website dedicated to National Non-Fiction Day has been launched, which includes an online back of resources to be used in the classroom as well as at home. For more information, visit www.nnfd.org.uk.
Adam Lancaster, FCBG Chair 2010:
“Non fiction has been constantly overlooked as a genre, despite its importance at home as well as in the classroom. National Non-Fiction Day aims to raise awareness of the genre and celebrate all that is brilliant about non fiction and show that it’s not just fiction that can be read and enjoyed for pleasure. Scholastic are the perfect partnership for this scheme, as the market-leaders in creating accessible non fiction which can be enjoyed by all.”
Lisa Edwards, Publishing & Commercial Director, Scholastic Children’s Books:
“No one should underestimate the role of non fiction in children’s reading development. For every child who loves fiction, there is another who loves fact. I’ve been lucky enough to work with authors whose real talents lie in delivering information in a hugely entertaining way, and this has created a legion of ‘horrible’ readers the world over.”
Kjartan Poskitt, author of the Murderous Maths series:
“The best books are the ones you read for fun, and then find you’ve accidentally learnt something. I meet thousands of children each year who learn by stealth through real enjoyment – that’s the power of non fiction.”
For further information about National Non-Fiction Day, please contact Adam Lancaster, FCBG Chair 2010.
About the Federation of Children’s Book Groups:
www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk
Established for over 40 years, the Federation is an umbrella organisation for local Children’s Book Groups around the U.K. The Groups organise book-related activities for children in their localities, often with their local schools and libraries, bringing authors and illustrators to meetings and storytelling sessions. We produce a regular Newsletter and specialist booklists. We organise National Share-a-Story Month, an Annual Conference, and we own and coordinate the Red House Children’s Book Award.
Email: aln@monkswalk.herts.sch.uk
About Scholastic:
Scholastic UK (www.scholastic.co.uk) is part of Scholastic Inc, the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books in the world and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic UK has four divisions: Scholastic Children’s Books, Scholastic Education, Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs.
Scholastic Children’s Books publishes a wide range of books for all ages, including best-sellers and awardwinners such as the Horrible Histories series and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, the Baby Einstein books and Klutz’s innovative book and craft packs. Scholastic Education is the UK’s market-leading publisher of print and electronic resources for teachers. It offers professional and classroom support that meets teachers’ needs and provides them with inspiration for their lessons through its website; through its range of popular teacher magazines and through its teachers’ resource books including such best-selling titles as the 100s series.
As a distributor of children’s books through Scholastic Book Clubs and Fairs, Scholastic is the biggest children’s specialize bookseller in the UK and Ireland. It has unparalleled reach to children through schools, increasing opportunities for reading and book ownership for children in the UK and Ireland and donating two million books to schools last year.
