We recently spent a day with some Kindergarteners who were trying to make sense of this conundrum. What makes a story FICTION or NON-FICTION? What do those words mean? Real or not real. But shouldn’t NOT real be connected with NON-Fiction? What makes a story real or not real? Say, a story is about Biscuit the dog getting into trouble. Dogs are real. Biscuit looks real. The kids in the story are doing real things. Isn’t it a real story? What does imagination mean? Such big riddles!
We read two books that day.
Mad About Chicks Lambs and other Farm Animals
NON-FICTION
It was created by Sarah Creese and Believe Ideas Ltd. in 2009.
This book has lots of fun FACTS about various farm animals. Did you know that a bunch of geese is called a GAGGLE? Did you know that sheep can smell things through their feet? And that in Australia there are more sheep than people?! Did you know that cows can chew on their food for up to 8 hours a day?! I think that’s a whole day!! I can’t make my food last more than a minute! Did you know that pigs can be trained like dogs?! I have a hard time believing that one. I’d like to see a pig doing weave poles!! HA!!
This was a fun book with bright colored photos of real animals and big bold text to read. Much of it was more than those kindergarteners could grasp though. We still managed to have a lively discussion about the differences between farm animals and other animals. And they learned new words like male and female and gaggle.
After all the fun with the NON-FICTION book with REAL facts, we tried a FICTION book –
Moosetache
by Margie Palatini
illustrated by Henry Cole
published by Scholastic in 1997
The kids thought that this was going to be a NON-FICTION REAL book because moose are REAL animals. They knew that they were not farm animals, but they ARE REAL. But REAL moose don’t have mustaches!!! OH!!! They liked this book much better than the farm animal book. It is a hilarious book!!
Moose had a BIG problem! “A horrible, hairy, prickly problem.” Right below his nose. A MOOSTACHE! This moostache is extremely long and flowing and gets in the way of everything that Moose tries to do! And he can not tame it! This was a fun read-aloud. Lots of alliteration and rhyme. And crazy illustrations. In the end, Moose meets a FEMALE moose with a bodacious bouffant who knows how to deal with long flowing hair. She fixes his moostache with lots of glue, they fall in love and get married. The kids thought that was all pretty silly.
And now I have found a REAL video of a pig doing weave poles!!! I don’t know if this is FICTION or NON-FICTION. I see it with my eyes, but my brain is having a hard time believing it!
I hope that you know FICTION from NON-FICTION! And I wish you a REALLY JOYous week!!!
Your friend who occasionally does weave poles,
Rhythm
Reading With Rhythm 
thinking I need to read Moosetache! what fun.
It is a FUN one indeed!
Me too! 🙂
Like that used two animal books to help kids understand the difference about what is fiction and nonfiction. Lovely choices.
It’s a hard thing for those little ones to understand. But they liked both of the books!
You had me at a female moose with a bodacious bouffant! Sounds a lot of fun sharing the differences between fiction and nonfiction.
The whole book is like that! Great vocabulary builder! I don’t think the kids caught all of the fabulous words but they sure got the “feel” of the book and laughed a lot at the pictures and the sounds of the words! We sure had a fun day for sure!
Gah! That piggy video is a riot! That pig is running wild! I wish I could play with him!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Would you believe that a pig could do such things?! He looked like he had his own mind about it all though! And he was having a good time for sure!
That’s a tricky concept for such little kids. I didn’t know that there were more sheep here than fleshlings…Of course that’s true for New Zealand…in fact, it forms the basis of most Oz to Kiwi teasing…
That Moostache looks hilarious – perhaps I can steal it for my “wordplay” Safari submission!
Oz to Kiwi! It took me a minute to catch that one! That’s a tricky concept! I bequeath Moostache to you for your Safari. I have another “wordplay” one picked out to do.
That piggie is pawesome! Wonder if his real name is Babe??
That Babe was sure one smart pig!!
OMP (oh my pig!) That piggy video is killing me – too hilarious. But I must hide that video now my new friend. If mommy sees it, shivers – she’ll be making me start a new profession – snorts. XOXO – Bacon
haha! I don’t know much about you Bacon, although I have seen your name around, but that new profession might be a good one for you. Thanks for stopping by!
What a video! I can’t believe it (pigs can move that fast???)! Great books – MOOSETACHE is a great book – we have it! 😀
Pigs seem to be rather fascinating creatures.
So are dogs! 🙂
😀