Reading non-fiction or informational books may not be your first thought when deciding what to grab for your kids’ bedtime read (or you may think that it will send them to sleep faster), but reading a good non-fiction book can be just as entertaining as a story.
On one of our recent library trips, I was super excited that we got Jess Keating’s What Makes a Monster? I had read Pink is for Blobfish by Keating and really enjoyed it, so I was pretty confident this would be a hit. It was, and so here are a couple of the advantages of reading a non-fiction book:
—It’s easy to break it up. When we sat down to read it, I explained to both kids that we weren’t going to be able to finish it in one night. They were fine with that and it was easy for me to figure out where to stop, because there was no story line. Each time we turned the page, there was a new animal to look at, so I didn’t have to worry about figuring out where would be a good stopping place. And, they were super excited the next night to continue the book.
—There are cool things to look at. As long as its not a chapter book, most informational books have great photos and illustrations. And if its been written in the last 5 years or so, oh my, the choices for great informational books are endless! My kids loved gazing at the different animals that could be considered monsters!
–Your kids may learn something new! This not to say that there aren’t things to learn from a good novel or picture book. However, non-fiction books are usually pretty straight forward in what they are teaching. For example, who knew that prairie dogs were monsters?! Not me or my babies! 
So, don’t resist the next time your child pulls a non-fiction book off the shelf, you may both enjoy the book!
#RaisingReaders
Raising Readers... 