Branching Out: Promoting Genre Diversity in Storytime

Abstract

How often do you consider genre when planning your storytimes? What percentage of the time do you think you’re sharing informational, or nonfiction books, with the families that attend your programs?

If you answered only a little or not much to these questions, you are not alone. A recent study found that across all storytime age groups, informational books were being shared at a much lower rate than any other genre, both in the number shared per storytime and the time spent interacting with them.