Petition to Add Children's Nonfiction Lists to the NYT Bestseller Lists
February 28, 2022

We received a response from The New York Times indicating that they do not currently plan to add separate nonfiction lists to their body of best seller lists for young people’s literature. We thank them for their consideration.

If you would still like to sign the letter, we welcome your signature and your support.

We believe that children deserve the opportunity to grow up reading developmentally appropriate nonfiction, in and out of school. We remain committed to this vision and will continue to develop initiatives under the #KidsLoveNonfiction umbrella to amplify nonfiction in multifaceted ways.  

Xenia and Mary Ann


February 14, 2022

As part of the #KidsLoveNonfiction campaign, Mary Ann Cappiello, Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University and Xenia Hadjioannou, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg campus of Penn State University, sent a letter to The New York Times requesting that the paper add three children’s nonfiction bestseller lists to parallel the existing picture book, middle grade, and young adult lists, which focus on fiction. The letter was also shared on more than 20 blogs that serve the literacy and children's literature communities.

This change will align the children’s lists with the adult bestseller lists, which separate nonfiction and fiction. It will also acknowledge the incredible vibrancy of children’s nonfiction available today and support the substantial body of research showing that many children prefer nonfiction and still others enjoy fiction and nonfiction equally.

The submitted letter included the signatures of more than 500 educators and librarians as well as the institutional signatures of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Children’s Literature Assembly of NCTE. Thank you ALL for your support!

We now welcome everyone–parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, caregivers, authors, illustrators, agents, book publishers, and book sellers–to sign the letter.

REVIEW AND SIGN
Please review the letter sent to the NYT through the link below. The information of all who have signed the letter so far is appended at the end of the document.
 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12b96pppHox-MexqN8chY4RLOwz2ScjOFSYwBsfntjyI/edit?usp=sharing

If you support this request, please add your information below and submit the form. Your email address will not be made public.

Feel free to pass this on to other individuals who you think would also be interested in signing. Please share widely on social media using the #KidsLoveNonfiction hashtag.

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