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Aesthetic reading  reading for pleasure and insight.
Anthropomorphism  in poetry and fiction, the assignment of human feelings and behavior to animals, plants, or inanimate objects is called personification--an accepted literary device that can be used with great effect. In science, however, this device is unacceptable and is known as anthropomorphism.
Archival sources  documents, records, and other materials from the past are sometimes stored in collections called archives.
Authenticity  genuineness, accuracy.
Caption  a written description or explanation of a photograph or an illustration.
Concept book  books that explore the characteristics of a class of objects or an abstract idea.
Critical thinking  the act of making skillful judgments about an issue.
Cross reference  a reference in one section of the book that refers to another section of the book; for example, an index.
Direct address  nonfiction authors sometimes use direct address--sentences that speak to the reader as "you."
Distorted by omission  though the material presented in a book might be current and technically correct, the book cannot be totally accurate if it leaves out significant facts.
Efferent reading  reading with the purpose of carrying away factual material.
Faction  a term that might be used to refer to a work of informational fiction.
Hand-tinted photographs  black-and-white photographs that have been colored by hand.
Identification book  in its simplest form, a naming book, which may well be the first sort of book that a very young child sees.
Informational fiction  books that are fiction yet contain a good deal of factual information.
Life-cycle book  books that cover all or some part of the cycle of life: the birth of one animal to the birth of its progeny, the events of one year in the animal's life, or the development of one animal throughout its lifetime, for example.
Nonfiction  literature that is based in the actual rather than the imagined.
Nonfiction picture books  nonfiction books presented in a picture book format.
Oral history  historical information that is gained through interviews with people.
Orbis Pictus award  in 1990 the National Council of Teachers of English established the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. Its name commemorates what is thought to be the first book of facts produced for children, dating back to the seventeenth century.
Paper engineering  creating interactive illustrations for the book through unique use of paper structures.
Photographic essay  a collection of photographs that relies on the camera in different ways: to particularize general information, to document emotion, to assure the reader of truth in an essentially journalistic fashion.
Picture glossary  a glossary that uses illustrations to aid younger readers.
Process of inquiry  the way in which a person attempts to answer a question; because we are concerned about how as well as what children learn, it is important to note what kind of thinking a book encourages, as well as the body of facts it presents. Nonfiction books should illustrate the process of inquiry, the excitement of discovery.
Question-and-answer approach  in this approach, the content of the book is presented in the form of questions and the answers to those questions.
Specialized books  specialized books are designed to give specific information about a relatively limited topic. These books satisfy particular interests; they are more likely to be used intensively than extensively, on a onetime basis rather than as a frequent reference.
Subheading  a method of organizing text, the subheading falls under a main heading that describes a section of the book and provides a further breakdown of the information under the main heading.
Survey books  the purpose of a survey book is to give an overall view of a substantial topic and to furnish a representative sampling of facts, principles, or issues. Such a book emphasizes balance and breadth of coverage, rather than depth.
Teleological explanation  teleology attempts to account for natural phenomena by assigning a purpose to the plants, animals, or forces involved.
Theory  a proposed, but not certain, explanation for a phenomenon.







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