It's a fact – children's non-fiction is worth discovering

For some young readers, real-world stuff – science, history, nature and more – is far more appealing than made-up stories. Please share your finds

Whenever literacy, the joys of reading, and the need to inspire children with a lifelong love of books are discussed, story and character are frequently found centre-stage. I have no beef with this – I am still thrilled, scared and moved by the stories I was first read and that I first read for myself, and in love with (or secretly pretending to be) a lot of my favourite characters. But this focus on fiction risks leaving out a large part of the story. Non-fiction and reference books deserve considerably more acclaim and recognition for the work they do in making children into readers.

Although I’m not a fan of generalising by gender, many boys, especially at the emergent reader stage, are keener to pick up science and non-fiction books offering satisfying chunks of fact than to immerse themselves in longer-form stories. Girls, too, like a break from relentless princess-and-pony narratives; and all of them enjoy stunning adults with memorised trivia. Whether it’s the usual suspects – dinosaurs, space, food – or something a bit more esoteric, such reading is a grand alternative to the stories which leave some new readers cold. There are good early readers from Dorling Kindersley and Orion, and Egmont is getting in on the action, too – Dr Mike Smith’s The Hot Book and The Cold Book, aimed at older readers, are full of science, history and wildlife knowledge, focused on fascinating extremes of temperature.

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