North Attleborough
High School 
Media Center

Spotlight:  Nonfiction

Recreational Nonfiction???

Every hardworking student knows that nonfiction books are the ones used to collect information for assignments that get turned in for a grade.  Even the most dedicated student could hardly call working on these papers and projects recreation.  So how can nonfiction be described as  “recreational?”  In fact, a new type of nonfiction book is increasingly being published with the specific purpose of creating pleasure and enjoyment while using true information. This trend had its beginning in the 1960’s with journalists such as Hunter Thompson and Tom Wolfe. According to an article in Reference & User Services Quarterly, these journalists had a style that “ used literary technique to endow journalistic reporting with drama and emotional impact.”  Sometimes called “narrative fiction”, these books today are often described as a “good reads”. The author creates a story line using facts but presents them in a way that is fun and makes you want to read more.

Recreational fiction comes in many forms.  Its subject could be adventure and survival such as in Jon Krakauer’s popular Into Thin Air that was published in the 1990’s after his disaster filled accent of Mount Everest.  On the display is a newer book with a similar theme.  Aron Ralston wrote Between a Rock and a Hard Place after he survived a harrowing experience rock climbing in which he had to amputate his own arm.  A more practical approach to the subject of survival is on the display and is called The Complete Wilderness Training Book by Hugh McManners.  If you are planning some outdoor adventures this book might be helpful.

Are you the sort of person who is interested in the thoughts and feelings of other people?  Three books on the display feature interviews or essays from very different segments of our society.  Crews is a collection of interviews with young street kids by NPR reporter Maria Hinojosa.  She wanted to know what makes kids to turn to violence.  She learned that there were no simple answers.  The Congressional Medal of Honor, our country’s highest military award, is awarded for “risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.  The recipients of this award fill the pages of Beyond the Medal with their thoughts and memories.  Finally, for this selection of personal reflections is the book Hear these Voices: Youth at the Edge of the Millennium.  This collection highlights the stories of fifteen young people from the United States, South Africa, Thailand, Ireland, and the Ukraine who are at risk.

Spiders in the Hairdo: Modern Urban Legends, Highs, Body Bizarre, Body Beautiful, The Real High School Handbook, and The Dream Book are great recreational nonfiction that entertains and informs. Goofy drawings, excellent photos or funny side quotes like “ People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with the news.” can be found in them to make reading more enjoyable.

There are scientific books on the display.  What do jewelry design and the space shuttle have to do with each other?  Read Inventions from Outer Space: Everyday Uses for NASA Technology.  Did you know that “people with red hair seem to hate marrying each other”?  Find out why and other fascinating facts about the human family in The Secret Family: 24 Hours Inside the Mysterious World of Our Minds and Bodies.  If you’re still interested in the human body, read To the Limit that explores what happens during different forms of exercise.  Did you know that “an adult corpse buried six feet deep without a coffin will usually take five to ten years to turn into a skeleton?”  This fact and others can be found in Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts : a History of Burial.  This compilation of research, personal accounts, and interviews with people who work in the funeral industry sheds light on a little discussed topic while introducing humor and intriguing facts.  Another serious topic, the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 is explored in detail in An American Plague: the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.

Check out the display at the end of the Media Center and better yet, 
check out one of these fascinating, fun books.  

   Updated on February 02, 2007