This post would have been done last Thursday, but the school’s homecoming weekend spirit celebrations shortened every class period last Friday, which meant that Ms. Donohue rescheduled classes for tomorrow. It was the right thing to do because talking nonfiction needs the whole 43 minutes. And even that is pushing it.

Here we are, the eve of my favorite booktalk of the school year. I’m really not exaggerating. I can get behind every booktalk done throughout the year, but there are ones that are special, such as this one. AP Language 11th graders do a project using a nonfiction text of their own choosing. No students in all of the classes can repeat the same book. It needs to be robust enough for the requirements of the project, engagingly narrative enough to hold their attention, pertinent to their interests. This means I hustle for my money presenting them with these such books through a whole-class booktalk before giving them time to browse, search, select, and check out. This last third of the class is for one on one readers advisory too. The challenge to find a book for a kid who wasn’t bowled over by anything I had to say in the first two thirds of class is one I’m willing to accept. And nonfiction is my jam.

Who are some of my favorite authors to recommend? I’m glad you asked! Mary Roach, Jon Krakauer, Erik Larson, James L. Swanson, and Candace Fleming.

What are some of my favorite titles to recommend this year? I’m glad you asked! In no particular order (and because my battery is running low): A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein, You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe, Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran, Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell, and Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge.

I’ll get a good night’s rest tonight because tomorrow you’ll find me fangirling nonfiction in the library.