Extra! Extra! Read All About It by Linda Skeers

            You’ve done your research, written your nonfiction manuscript but you still have lots of little tidbits of information left over. What can you do with it?

            An Author’s Note lets you tell “the rest of the story”, fill in gaps, and provide extra information that just didn’t fit into the main text.

            But you don’t have to stop there! Here are twelve more ways to use your extra research:

• Think about including a Timeline that shows significant moments in a person’s life or events happening at the same time – it helps give a historical context to your text.
• Create a graph, chart or map to help readers visually understand your text on a deeper level.
• Have a list of Fascinating Facts. Include all those fun things you discovered in your research that you want to share with readers.
• Add a glossary to explain terms that may be unfamiliar to readers. Also, a pronunciation guide can be extremely helpful – for kids, teachers and parents.
• Does your subject lend itself to a craft, activity, recipe or experiment? This can provide parents, teachers, scout leaders and librarians a reason to use YOUR book with kids in a fun, unexpected way.
• Does your subject have a funny side? Think about adding jokes, riddles or puns to make kids giggle while they learn.
• Provide discussion questions for readers to think about afterwards.
• Quizzes and puzzles can help reinforce the information you’ve presented in a fun way.
• Add resources to make it easy for readers to find more information on your subject. Mention books for further reading, make a list of museums, organizations, websites – anywhere that will help them on their own research adventure.
• Photos, documents, letters, and personal items can add a feeling of intimacy – especially on the endpapers.
• Include a bibliography to show where you got your information.
• Is there an interesting story about how you came to write this book? Or why this subject touched your heart? Share it with your readers!

            Don’t let those quirky, fascinating little bits of information go to waste. Find a unique way to include them – somewhere, somehow!