Aliens by Joalda Morancy

Neon Squid is a new imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books, born in the midst of the pandemic, which ‘creates beautiful non-fiction for inquisitive kids (and kids at heart), and believes that ‘the most amazing stories are the real ones’. In today’s blog, author and scientist Joalda Morancy explores a topic that has captured the imagination […]

Every Word Tells a Story by Tom Read Wilson

As well as being a TV presenter, actor and singer, Tom Read Wilson is a devout logophile who hosts a regular podcast Tom Read Wilson has words with … and has been posting his Word of the Day videos since 2016. Here he introduces his book Every Word Tells a Story, a fascinating and entertaining exploration of the origins of […]

Human Kindness by John Francis

As November 13th is World Kindness Day, we are delighted that John ‘The Planetwalker’ Francis has agreed to answer some questions for us about his experience of remaining silent for 17 years, and his new book for children which is packed full of inspiring stories about kindness, optimism , respect and resilience. How did 17 […]

Read more

The Reflecting Realities Report is an important report that many educators, researchers and many involved with children’s publishing will be reading today and over the weekend.  Ambitious and vital, this certainly provides food for thought. Today the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) released 5 years of data in their annual Reflecting Realities Survey of […]

The Case for Non-Fiction by Dan Nunn

In today’s guest blog, education publisher and author Dan Nunn makes a strong case for the role and continuing importance of non-fiction books in school for young readers. Dan is the Senior Content Strategist, International for Raintree Publishing, whose latest book, Exploring Canals (Raintree, 2020) was inspired by his own son’s interest in the subject. […]

Secrets of the Dead by Matt Ralphs

This November marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. In a fascinating new book published in collaboration with the British Museum, author Matt Ralphs explores how the living communicate with their dead, and how present and future generations can learn about past civilisations from the remains they leave behind. Here Matt shares […]

Luminous by Julia Kuo

Julia Kuo is a Taiwanese-American author-illustrator, who has worked with the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and Science Friday. She has written and illustrated Let’s Do Everything and Nothing, and illustrated I Dream of Popo, I Am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story, and The Sound of Silence, among others. Her […]

Reading Non-Fiction Aloud by Ben Harris

Ben is the English lead and a Year 6 teacher at an Essex primary school. In today’s piece, he describes the excitement and engagement that can result from reading non-fiction aloud in the classroom and suggests some great ‘read-aloud’ books to look out for. For more recommendations follow him on Twitter @one_to_read or visit https://afewtoread.blogspot.com Reading […]

An Interview with… Andy Seed

We are delighted that the author of a whole host of fantastic factual books is opening our programme of guest blogs for National Non-Fiction November with this top notch interview! Since I am best known for my interview books, I thought it would be appropriate to interview myself for this blog post! Let’s see how […]

Welcome to National Non-Fiction November

  We are looking forward to a month of celebrating all things factual – even though non-fiction isn’t just for November! But although information books are being published, read and enjoyed throughout the year, NNFN provides an opportunity to shine a spotlight on some of the best books around, while celebrating the positive impact that […]