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Grigore T. Popa (sometimes Anglicized to Gregor T. Popa; May 1, 1892 – July 18, 1948) was a Romanian physician and public intellectual. Of lowly peasant origin, he managed to obtain a university education and become a professor at two of his country's leading universities. An anatomist by specialty, Popa worked on popularizing modern science, reforming the medical and higher education systems, and, in war hospitals, as a decorated and publicly acclaimed practitioner. His work in endocrinology and neuromorphology was valued abroad, while at home he helped train a generation of leading doctors.

Ill-treated by successive fascist dictatorships, Popa adhered to moderate left-wing ideals and publicized them by means of his review, Însemnări Ieșene. He criticized Marxism as much as scientific racism, but condemned Romania's participation in the war against the Soviets, and, in 1944, joined a protest movement of high-profile academics. During his final years, his anticommunism and his Christian democratic stances brought him into conflict with the authorities. The Communist Romanian regime drove him out of his teaching position and harassed him until his death in middle age. Upon the restoration of democracy, his alma mater and the school where he taught for much of his career was named in his honor.

Biography

Origins and early career
Born in Șurănești, Vaslui County, his parents Maria and Toader were poor răzeși, peasants who owned their own plot of land. The family was related to Emil Condurachi, future historian and archeologist. Grigore, the couple's eleventh child, was intellectually precocious. His mother noticed his aptitude early on, and despite great material difficulties, including selling off their land so he could finish high school, his parents managed to provide him with an education. As argued by historian Lucian Boia, Popa's lowly origin and his successful career stand as evidence of an "upward social mobility" in the pre-1944 Kingdom of Romania.

Raised a Romanian Orthodox, Popa blended his belief in core Christian principles with an interest in science. At the age of fifteen, he translated Ernst Haeckel's General Morphology into Romanian and obtained the author's written permission to publish. He would later translate Gray's Anatomy as well. Popa graduated from the National College in Iași and entered the Natural Sciences faculty of the local university. However, as his parents had no more money for his schooling and there were no scholarships left, he switched to the Medical faculty, where there was one scholarship, even though the field did not attract him.

Upon seeing cadavers being dissected for the first time, he fainted and had to be revived with cold water by an assistant. However, he persevered in his studies and was helped in particular by two professors, Nicolae Hortolomei and Francisc Rainer, becoming the latter's assistant after graduation. As later noted by surgeon Ilie Th. Riga, who was his colleague on Rainer's team, "we lived for years in the most select atmosphere that education may breed": "It is to [Rainer] that we owe our character, the awakening of our scientific interest". During World War I, Popa cared for the wounded and sick at Iași's Sfântul Spiridon Hospital, earning him a knighthood in the Order of the Crown. In May 1918, following Romania's withdrawal from war, Popa applied to rejoin Rainer's team in Bucharest, where Rainer was performing experimental surgery on wounded soldiers. Late in 1918, Popa also joined A. C. Cuza's regionalist group for Moldavian intellectuals—the Brotherhood of Unified Moldavia. Leading the Brotherhood's student center, he spoke in public about the United Principalities' 60th anniversary, expressing his sadness that this had not been celebrated as a national holiday in Iași.

In July 1918, he had married Florica Cernătescu, a university classmate. A native of Huși, her maternal grandfather was the chemist Petru Poni. Also trained by Rainer and herself a decorated wartime physician, she went on to become associate professor of Histology and his closest scientific collaborator over the years. The couple had two sons and two daughters. Popa eventually followed Rainer to the University of Bucharest's medical faculty in 1920, and was appointed assistant professor. With Rainer as his doctoral advisor, Popa completed his docent degree, describing the functional structure of the dura mater. Over the course of his career, his students included some twenty-two university professors and Romanian Academy members, among them George Emil Palade and Constantin Bălăceanu-Stolnici.

Rise to prominence
By January 1924, when Rainer's alleged Jewish extraction made him a target of antisemitic agitation among the students, Popa became Rainer's voice in professional disputes. As such, he accused a Iași anatomist, Victor Papilian, of plagiarism, and published his take on the matter in the Bucharest daily Adevărul. Papilian retorted with accusations of sectarianism against Popa, Rainer, and the whole "Bucharest school": "a sterile and envious school", "a grand society of mutual admirers, wherein master and students have declared each other geniuses". Popa identified Iași with extreme nationalism, and, in a 1925 article for the student review Viața Universitară, accused the far-right National-Christian Defense League of hypocrisy. As he noted, its "hatred and brutality" were not just aimed at Jews, but also at Romanians coming in from Bessarabia, since the latter were ostensibly socialists.

With Rainer's help, Popa received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship in 1925. He had a direct experience of America, and of what he liked to call its "guided democracy", which was rare among Romanians of his generation, and which he recorded in detail in diaries he intended for publishing. He spent the first year in Chicago, the second at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and finishing by studying Anatomy and Embryology in 1927–1928 at University College Hospital Medical School, under Grafton Elliot Smith. His scientific activity, after his work on the dura mater, focused on three areas: the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, the reform of medical education at the university level, and the physiology of spontaneous movement (motility) in spermatozoa. Regarding the first area, he worked in London alongside the Australian Una Fielding; together they discovered the vascular link between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, publishing their findings on the hypophyseal portal system in medical journals between 1930 and 1935, presenting them before the Royal Medical Society in 1935. Working alongside his Romanian colleague, Eugen Lucinescu, Popa also returned to anatomy with a study on the "mechanostructure" of the pericardium.

In 1928, Popa became professor of anatomy at Iași, the city associated with his rivals. For many years he taught Histology, Anatomical Pathology and Legal Medicine, as required, and was also curator of Sfântul Spiridon Hospital, as well as head of the Physicians and Naturalists' Society. His confrontation with the city's antisemitic far-right became direct. In late 1929, he presided over a commission tasked with investigating the race riot at Iași medical faculty. He found that the Jewish and Romanian students were racially segregated during teaching hours, which contributed to the tensions, but could not identify students directly responsible for the incident.

With time, Popa became a noted public speaker in support of modernization, and a popularizer of Western science. In 1931, he gave a public lecture on "The Former and Current Situation of Iași", which recognized that the city had greatly decayed, materially and culturally, since 1866. He attributed this decline to psychological factors (a city with "depressed", "disinterested" and "filthy" inhabitants), but also to clientelism and the excessive powers of the central government. On Washington's Birthday, 1932, he discussed "The Scientific Spirit in America and in Europe" at the Friends of America society in Bucharest. An admirer of the British educational model, he was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge for four to six months a year in 1927–1930, 1932 and 1935–1938. He was also Romania's sole representative to the University of London Centennial, in 1936.

A corresponding member of the Romanian Academy from 1936, Grigore T. Popa was Dean of the Iași medical faculty for two years, from 1938 to 1940. At around that time, he drifted apart from his mentor Rainer, and relations between them became "tense". According to a popular account that Popa repeatedly challenged, Rainer had claimed the discovery of the hypophyseal portal system some years before Popa and Fielding.

Antifascism
In January 1936, together with writers Mihail Sadoveanu, George Topîrceanu and Mihai Codreanu, Popa founded Însemnări Ieșene ("Recordings from Iași"), a magazine of commentary. With his intercession, the original group grew to include other intellectuals, including philosopher Ion Petrovici and physician-novelist I. I. Mironescu. He also used the magazine to popularize the anthropological work of his former teacher, Elliott Smith. Însemnări Ieșene ran for four years, coinciding with the peak of political turmoil. It borrowed inspiration from Viaţa Românească, Romania's classical tribune of social criticism, with Popa joining in the trend. As argued in 2012 by author Constantin Coroiu, Popa expanded the magazine's focus beyond cultural matters: "He takes up issues, analyses and criticizes mindsets, mores, inertia, cowardice, grave failures of character, and, what's more, the scourges of Romanian, and even European, society in his own day and ever since."

At Însemnări Ieșene, which, under Topîrceanu's guidance, made efforts to preserve its political independence, Popa took a firm stand against the violently fascist Iron Guard, and denounced scientific racism. As noted by Boia, Popa took "moderately left-wing positions and [was] persistent in his defense of democracy." According to his student Bălăceanu-Stolnici, he had "a left-wing orientation of the British Labourite kind". Citing the need for intellectual freedom, he publicly defended Sadoveanu, who was being attacked by his far-right colleagues, with pieces in the left-leaning newspaper Dimineața. Although active in such civil society causes, he was never a member of a political party, and also administered criticism to the establishment National Peasants' Party. In his articles for Însemnări Ieșene, he accuses the National Peasantists of corruption and politicking.

Popa criticized the breakdown of Romanian democracy and the creation of a National Renaissance Front (FRN) dictatorship in 1938, describing it as "unprecedented lunacy or the actual perversion of leadership". He decried the new authoritarian Constitution as an act of capitulation to "political militancy and cultural inferiority", even as his colleagues in the literary world had come to endorse it. That year, in an obituary piece for the socialist physician Ioan Cantacuzino, Popa outlined his own humanist vision of science as a "sacred fire". In his view, material civilization had evolved faster than culture, unwittingly instigating a sort of "pseudo-culture" that opposed progress. He combined Herbert Spencer's take on sociocultural evolution with a measure of genetic determinism, and, against psychological nativism, suggested that all concept of morality was produced by and through evolution; he also held that primitive society, and "semi-civilized" fascism, were regulated by the brainstem, whereas civilization was a realm of the cerebral cortex. When, in 1940, Popa contributed to the FRN regime's magazine, Muncă și Voe Bună, it was to highlight its contribution to working class welfare.

In October 1939—shortly after the Invasion of Poland and the start of World War II—, Însemnări Ieșene published his article deploring man's return to his "beastly" nature and expressing fears that modern life had made soldiers indifferent about transcendentals. Popa witnessed subsequent developments from the side. The National Renaissance Front fell from power after agreeing to territorial losses in favor of Hungary and the Soviet Union. He was part of the Grand Caucus of the University, which issued a reserved protest against the cession of Northern Transylvania. With a special issue and articles in Însemnări Ieșene, Popa also mourned the loss of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Harassed by the Iron Guard, which blacklisted him for assassination, Popa managed to survive its "National Legionary State" regime, proclaimed in September 1940. However, Însemnări Ieșene was banned, with some of its staff members moved to the fascist-inspired Cetatea Moldovei review. A Iași medical faculty purging commission, headed by Iron Guard men, proposed Popa's transfer "to another scientific institution", citing Popa's "left-wing ideas" as a rationale.

The Iron Guard was ultimately toppled in the civil war of January 1941, producing the more lenient fascist dictatorship of Ion Antonescu. In June of that year, Popa was co-opted by the authorities to participate in reeducating Guardist sympathizers. With Gala Galaction, Cicerone Theodorescu and Iuliu Scriban, he lectured students at the Iași Costachi Seminary about the excesses of Guardist dogma. He continued to speak his mind, in particular objecting to Romania's participation in World War II alongside Nazi Germany. He was, as Boia notes, "an intransigent antifascist, [who] would naturally fit into any sort of plot against the regime". In 1942, following Rainer's retirement, he was transferred to Bucharest, where he worked as a professor for four years. After Rainer's death in 1944, he also took over the Anthropological Institute and reattached it to the medical school. While there, Popa wrote a study showing the lack of any scientific basis for Aryanism and asserting that there was no reason to oppress Jews. Traian Săvulescu, afraid to offend Antonescu, refused to publish it; Popa nevertheless read the work before the Academy in late 1943. The listeners, few of whom were pro-German, reacted positively. However, a January 1944 address was seen as a veiled attack on the dictator, to whom the members were largely sympathetic, and as a result drew a chillier reaction. One of his conferences at the Academy, Reforma Spiritului. Știința ca bază de primenire a omului ("Spiritual Reform. Science as a Basis for Bettering Mankind") objected to Romania's economic dependency, claiming that Romanians were at risk of falling back among "agricultural peoples", those "destined to perpetual ignorance". By that time, the security service, Siguranța Statului, was keeping Popa under constant surveillance.

In April 1944, together with other prominent intellectuals, Popa signed a petition asking Antonescu to seek peace with the Allies and end the war immediately. As noted by Boia, this "academics' memorandum" was belated, and did not expose its signers to any special persecution, since the Red Army was already poised to invade Romania. Its paternity was for long disputed between the semi-active National Peasants' Party, who relied on Popa's friendliness, and the repressed Romanian Communist Party. According to the National Peasantist version of the events, the text had been drafted as early as 1943 by Popa and Ioan Hudiță, and only presented to the communists for signing. Nevertheless, both versions agree that Popa had a fundamental role in the secret negotiations between centrists and communists.

Anticommunism

Popa gave a cautious welcome to the August 1944 Coup which toppled Antonescu, describing it as Romania's "return to normality." Reputedly, he was appointed Minister of Education in one of the cabinet variants shuffled after the coup, but deposed within 15 minutes of his appointment by Soviet representatives. From 1944 to 1946, he was Dean of the Bucharest medical faculty, having been handpicked for the position by Ștefan Voitec, the Social Democrat Education Minister. With the onset of the Soviet occupation and the installation of a Communist Party-led government, he continued to stand up for his principles. In front of communist-run purging committees, he defended on professional grounds those colleagues accused of having sided with fascism, and called for the reinstatement of academic freedom. In January 1945, Democrația, a liberal democratic daily, published Ion Biberi's interview with Popa, where the latter voices the opinion that a truly democratic regime "cannot be tolerant of any form of extremism".

His uncompromising stance stunned members of the Petru Groza cabinet, in particular Voitec. At a conference in 1945, he praised the British and American university systems, drawing a vehement letter of rebuke from Constantin Ion Parhon, who considered the Soviet model as optimal. As noted in 2009 by historian Bogdan Cristian Iacob, Popa's stance showed "a glaring lack of sense for the times", "an incapacity to grasp that the Academy and University were not, at least initially, attacked on the basis of the scholarship produced, but from political positions." According to Iacob, Popa was callous in not showing a willingness to indict those of his medical school colleagues who had careers in the Iron Guard.

Following his clash with Parhon, Popa took the even more drastic step of resigning from the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union. Also in 1945, he began aiding Constant Tonegaru's "Mihai Eminescu Society", a secret opposition group that distributed appeals for help to the West. He used his dean's cabinet as storage room for such anticommunist propaganda. During this period, he was attacked and robbed by a group of three Soviet soldiers, which he interpreted as a warning.

Popa signed his name to a public protest decrying vote-rigging during the November 1946 election; there were ten other signatories, including aviatrix Smaranda Brăescu and Army General Aurel Aldea. It reached the Allied Commission, and, after being examined by Soviet representatives, served as incriminating evidence for the protesters' repression. Popa's final public appearance took the form of a speech before the Academy in April 1947. From an unassuming title, which implied a lecture about "nervous tension and the century's disease", it turned abruptly to political critique, likening the abuses of Nazism to those of communism. Popa's concept of "nervous tension", theorized by Popa from texts by Guglielmo Ferrero, was in fact the collective fear imposed by totalitarianism, which leads man to "hide the reservations imposed by his consciousness." Terror was inevitable, but ultimately inefficient: dictators [...] shall always be powerlessly arrested on the edge of our meditative nervous network, which they cannot control and cannot deform. There, in his own cortex, man still endures free [...]. But if, in order to make sure that they have expunged it, dictators should crucify [their victims], then the spirit, with its invisible vibrations, shall make its way from the crucified to the still-chained, and the miracle of a new resurrection will become possible, the resurrection of freedom, without which humanity would become extinct.

Popa returned to his ideas on "semi-civilization", describing revolution as an enemy of natural selection, in either its Darwinian or Lamarckism (Popa favored neither of the latter theories, viewing them as compatible). With "racism", "historical materialism" was "a dangerous simplification" of human endeavor. He warned that communism, like Nazism, was going to "exterminate, propagating hatred and violence toward any belief but its own." His was also an appeal against immoral but "exact" science, describing ideologues as "disciples of the Antichrist": "In this grave situation, the time has come for any conscience that is still pure to ask themselves: 'Where to?' And the answer will not be hard to find: 'Back to Christian morality!'". According to political scientist Ioan Stanomir, this sample of "Christian democracy" managed to reconcile the political expression of Romanian Orthodoxy, previously monopolized by the far-right, with "political freedom, understood as a set of guarantees against ideological and administrative arbitrariness."

Communist persecution and death
According to Popa's own recollection, the audience sat stone-faced through the delivery of Popa's speech, and rushed for the exits once it was over. More optimistically, Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, a fellow anticommunist academician, wrote that those making an "ostentatious" exit were friends of the Soviet regime, such as Sadoveanu and Parhon. The core public cheered, as if "the Academy were infused with revolt and [...] no one takes for granted the existence of Russian democracy—that blend of dictatorship and gangsterism." As argued by Stanomir, Popa "spoke out inadmissible truths and gave value appraisals to a regime that was just getting ready to impose Stalinist orthodoxy upon the intellectuals. [...] The coming world had discovered a witness that would not hesitate to diagnose it." Within days, Popa was asked to attend a meeting with the Communist Interior Minister, Teohari Georgescu, but he casually refused. When the Gendarmes were dispatched to arrest him at his residence on the university campus, hundreds of students formed a chain and blocked their entrance.

His oppositional stance led to his removal from the Academy with the enthusiastic approval of fellow scientists Săvulescu and Parhon, from the deanship and, in 1946, from teaching. This was accomplished with a novel procedure, which formally eliminated ("compressed") the teaching position, but also singled out the person in charge for further inquiry. One individual who fought to force Popa out of teaching was Simion Oeriu, a communist without scientific training who was nonetheless appointed professor against Popa's objections. Another means used to target him was a proposal to admit hundreds of students who had been victims of Nazi oppression in Northern Transylvania, some of whom spoke no Romanian, and award them doctorates in two or three years. When Popa refused, he was called a "reactionary" and even an Iron Guard sympathizer. A first attempt to fire him met with resistance from the medical students, who were very fond of their teacher. When he was ultimately dismissed, he remained unemployed; his lifelong friend Sadoveanu did not intervene.

Although seriously ill with essential hypertension and renal sclerosis, he was unable to enter a hospital. Abandoned by his colleagues and under pressure from the authorities, he withdrew into semi-clandestinity. He and his elder son fled in peasant clothes to Șurănești, then to the home of friends in Baia Mare. By constantly changing addresses and not venturing out into the street, Popa managed to evade arrest and was finally brought home, moribund, at the beginning of July 1948. The authorities were aware of his presence but no longer bothered to detain him. His death soon afterwards came several months after a Communist regime was fully established; the Bucharest university leadership refused to have his coffin publicly displayed. The new dean, Nicolae Gh. Lupu, ordered his family to leave campus.

Over the course of the communist period, there was a concerted effort to banish Popa's memory, even though his 1944 petition to Antonescu was still being officially cited as evidence of a communist-backed resistance movement to fascism. In 1991, following the Romanian Revolution, the Iași medical institute, which had meanwhile been separated from the main university, was renamed the Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy. The primary school in his native village was also renamed in his honor in 2011. Popa's writings on science, culture and ideology were published by his descendants as Reforma Spiritului ("Spiritual Reform") in 2002. Other essays were collected by physician Richard Constantinescu in a 2008 volume of works by and about Ion Petrovici. This is one of several monographs and anthologies edited by Constantinescu, detailing such topics as Popa's Christian faith and his correspondence with poet-physician Vintilă Ciocâlteu, and including his American diary (published 2014).

Popa's widow was obligated to live in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Bucharest; she died in 1986, in her mid-90s. One of the couple's sons, Grigore Gr., himself became a doctor, while the other, Tudorel, was an actor. As youngsters, Tudorel Popa and his sister Marilena were both involved with their father in aiding the anticommunist underground. Tudorel Popa's son, Vlad Tudor Popa, is a chemist, head of the Romanian Academy's Institute of Physical Chemistry. Grigore Gr. died in 2006; his son is the novelist and critic Dumitru Radu Popa.

Notes

References
 Constantin Bălăceanu-Stolnici, "Ștefan Milcu, un model", in Andrei Kozma, Cristiana Glavce, Constantin Bălăceanu-Stolnici (eds.), Antropologie și interdisciplinaritate. Editura Niculescu, Bucharest, 2014,
 Lucian Boia, Capcanele istoriei. Elita intelectuală românească între 1930 și 1950. Humanitas, Bucharest, 2012,
  Richard Constantinescu, "Grigore T. Popa și Victor Papilian între 'juriu de onoare' și polemică", Revista Medicală Română, Nr. 1/2011, pp. 37–40
  Mihai Drăgănescu, "Grigore T. Popa: O gândire despre cunoaștere, moralitate și societate", Noema, Nr. 1/2002, pp. 2–9
 Bogdan Cristian Iacob, "Avatars of the Romanian Academy and the Historical Front: 1948 versus 1955", in Vladimir Tismăneanu (ed.), Stalinism Revisited: The Establishment of Communist Regimes in East-Central Europe. CEU Press, Budapest, 2009,
 Lucian Nastasă, "Suveranii" universităților românești. Mecanisme de selecție și promovare a elitei intelectuale, Vol. I. Editura Limes, Cluj-Napoca, 2007,
 Arcadiu Petrescu, "Profesor Dr. Grigore T. Popa", in Vasile Igna (ed.), Subteranele memoriei. Editura Universal Dalsi, Bucharest, 2001,
 I. Petrovanu, "Grigore T. Popa", in Eugen Târcoveanu, Constantin Romanescu, Mihai Lițu (eds.), 125 de ani de învăţământ medical superior la Iași. Ed. Gr. T. Popa, Iași, 2004,
 Grigore T. Popa, "Note. Asupra descoperirii sistemului portal hipofizar", Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Nr. 1/1945, pp. 229–231
 Dan Riga, Sorin Riga, Ilie Th. Riga, Gheorghe Călin, Anatomie și antropologie. Eseuri și sinteze. Cartea Universitară, Bucharest, 2008,
 Ioan Stanomir, "Facerea lumii", in Paul Cernat, Ion Manolescu, Angelo Mitchievici, Ioan Stanomir, Explorări în comunismul românesc. Polirom, Iași, 2004,

1892 births
1948 deaths
Romanian anatomists
Romanian endocrinologists
20th-century Romanian educators
Romanian educational theorists
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni
Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
Academic staff of the University of Bucharest
Deans (academic)
Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy
Critics of Marxism
Knights of the Order of the Crown (Romania)
Romanian academic administrators
Romanian hospital administrators
Romanian diarists
20th-century essayists
Romanian essayists
Romanian translators
20th-century translators
English–Romanian translators
German–Romanian translators
Romanian magazine founders
Romanian medical writers
Romanian science writers
Romanian travel writers
Adevărul writers
Romanian people of World War I
Romanian people of World War II
Romanian Christian socialists
Theistic evolutionists
Anti-fascists
Romanian anti-communists
People from Vaslui County
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox socialists
20th-century diarists


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On Thursday, June 6, 2013, Partners in Project Green held its Annual General Meeting launching the successes made by businesses in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone for 2012 and the new direction of Partners in Project Green since the completion of the Strategy Update.
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ReFoReMo Day 2: Marcie Flinchum Atkins Reveals Back Matter as a Matter of Fact - Carrie On...Together!
Feeling a bit more motivated now!
Before reading this post I never gave this much thought to how back matter can be written in such fresh and creative ways. Thank you for this helpful post, Marcie!!
As someone who is trying to write NF PBs, this was very helpful. Thanks, Marcie!
many different styles of back matter there are until your post. Thanks.
I know! I didn't realize it either until I started really taking a look at some books with stellar back matter!
I don't write NF so back matter has generally not played a bit part in my story crafting. However, I love it when I see it and appreciate the opportunity to learn more about it. Thank you Marcie!
I don't generally write NF so back matter isn't something that plays largely in my story crafting. However, I love it when I see it and I really appreciate the opportunity to learn more about it. Thank you Marcie!
Several of these books are new to me. I can't wait to check them out!
Thanks for these examples, Marcie! I think nonfiction picture books keep getting better and better.
They definitely do! :) Happy reading!
Fabulous examples and ideas to make back matter improve word count while keeping in the fun-to-know facts. Can't wait to read these.
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Marcie, I love your perspective on backmatter adding another layer to the story. You've made me re-think a current project. Thanks!
Oh yay! :) Best of luck with your writing.
I really love how the back matter in Water is Water interprets, spread by spread, the poetic beauty of the text. While reading it to students, we did stop at each page to discuss which form of water was represented, but they definitely learned much by reading the back matter. I think the style depends on the topic and most significantly, on the text presentation.
Absolutely, I love that too!
Yay this is just the post I need! I am looking to write a historical picture book that is of personal significance to me. Mentor text with back matter including author notes explaining personal significance, as well as brief explanation of certain supporting characters is just what I need. Thank you!
Awesome! I'm glad it was helpful!
I had never thought of back matter as an art of its own. The mentor texts are wonderful examples!
I am always torn between back note and wanting sidebars for interesting "more than the basics" information in nonfiction.
Yes, and I'm sure some of that is decided by the publisher. I know for the Work for Hire NF project I did, the publisher decided that.
Thank you for giving me a new perspective on back matter! Even though I've sometimes tried to include it, I haven't studied it in mentor texts. Great suggestion!
As a kid I never read the sidebars or back matter I was so interested in the story but when I started writing nonfiction for young readers I learned sidebars and back matter are an author's friend. After doing so much research and limit to maybe 24 words or less on a page learning to use these tools can layer and enhance your project and the readers' and listeners' experience. Thank you for the great post. .
I'm a writer of NF PBs and a HUGE fan of both NF & backmatter!!! I love reading additional interesting facts, when books are STEM-related, or about the background/history behind the story as well as authors' notes.
I've read all of the books here except In the Canyon, which I just suggested that our library purchase, and Weeds Find a Way, which is en route.
Thanks for the tips, Marcie!
This was great, Marcie! Back matter adds so much to the story, but is something I often forget about. Thanks for the reminder!
Marcie, you have complied a really great list of science NF w/fab back matter. I now read back matter first - I am addicted.
What a wonderful job, and such an environment to get so many great ideas. Thank you for pinpointing some wonderful little ways we can add to our books!
Thank you Marcie. I can see in your comments and in reading some of the listed books how back matter can enhance a work and make it more fun and also more marketable. I will sign on to your site to keep receiving your great tips!
Thanks, Rosie! I'm glad you're joining my mailing list. :) There's also a lot of mentor text stuff in the archives too. On my website, click on FOR WRITERS, then click on MENTOR TEXTS FOR WRITERS. There are several pages with lots of links to posts and articles I've written. :) Hope they help!
Thank you for the fresh look at back matter, I have seen it there but have not studied it in this way.
Yes! It's like looking at it with a new lens. Happy reading!
Hmmmm, I have never studied back matter before. What a great idea!
Thanks, Marcie! My animal stories have back matter.
Awesome! I love back matter!
Love, love, love back matter! And what a great tip to check out publishers and if they have a common thread on style of back matter. I have not read all of these books, but the ones I have, I have loved. Trying to get hold of the rest!
Hi Deb! Fellow NF PB lover! And the publisher thing sort of stuck out after I'd looked at several. I realized I loved the way certain publishers were giving the authors room for such great back matter.
I'm working on a MS in this genre right now and there are some in here I don't know -- so thank you Marcie!
Love the trend toward kid-friendly back matter.
Thanks for highlighting these wonderful titles Marcie.
Me too!!! And visually pleasing back matter is so refreshing!
This was incredibly eye-opening and helpful. Some of these are SO creative! Thanks for introducing them to me/us!
Of course! :) I'm happy to!
Back matter can add so much to a book!! I wonder, though, is the back matter considered in the total word count? I suppose as long as it's noted when subbing, it wouldn't look alarmingly long to a publisher.
I don't count it in the total word count. I indicate the MSS word count and the back matter word count.
Great timing for me! I'm writing a sports story with back matter needs. Thanks!
I personally love reading and writing back matter. Thanks for the great reminder of how important it is!
Me too! :) Happy reading!
I loved the idea of two books-- the picture book and the back matter book--- in the same volume. As a teacher of gifted and talented students, the back matter allows students to get an introduction to a topic in an artistic way, then to satisfy their curiosity about the subject and go deeper into the subject matter.
Thank you Marcie! Many of my books, even if fiction, have science or nature in them, and I love back matter. I especially love sidebars, but those are less common these days.
Very interesting post! Terrific mentor texts! Thank you!
I write NF PB so this post was especially helpful. Thank you!
Awesome! I'm glad it was helpful, Angela!
Amy, best of luck with your writing! So sorry they are a bit hard to find. They are all brand new (only 1 or 2 years old), so maybe the libraries will have them eventually. Maybe you can ask them to order the books (if your library allows you to make requests).
This was so useful! Thank you! I hope to write NF PB and need all the info I can get! Thanks again.
I'm still relatively new to PB writing and have not yet attempted non fiction, but it is interesting to see the ways in which it can be done successfully. I actually learned a few things myself reading the back matter in some of these mentor texts. Thank you for sharing.
I heard Alyssa Mito Pusey, an editor at Charlesbridge, suggest using back matter to help with revision: if some detail isn't working in your main text, cut it and paste it into a back matter document. Then when you start shaping the back matter you will have your rich research ready at hand. It blunts the pain of killing your darlings, too.
Thanks for passing on this idea, Annette! It's a good one.
Definitely agree! I have been doing this with my WIP.
Laura, I'm a great admirer of your work. Do you have any suggestions on the word count for back matter? Thanks!
Laura, Thank you so much!!! :) I'm a huge fan of your work! Can't wait to read your forthcoming work too!
Thank you for the list of books and for telling us how you use mentor texts. I need to read these for two PBs I'm working on right now, to see how they handled the back matter.
I have a few NF ideas in my PiBoIdMo notebook. I'm excited to get started on them. Thank you for this helpful post, Marcie!
You are welcome, AJ! Happy writing!
First time reading these non-fiction selections. I love that they tie in with the science core since schools are now focused on reading, math and testing, we don't get a lot of colorful poetry and non-fiction except through free reading and anthologies. Thanks will definitely buy one of these colorful lyrical texts.
Yes, please do! My teachers have loved these books! They find all kinds of ways to use them. The great part of these is that these teach some of the concepts the kids need to know--in a very interesting way!
Very useful information! I'm astonished at all of Marcie's accomplishments and working as a librarian as well. That's a truly dedicated writer/teacher!
From this article, I will be more aware of back matter in my work. I also loved how the theme of science/biology/nature are thread through your interests and writing. I think we all need to find that "Passion" in writing. Thanks again!
Thank you for sharing and giving us a new take on back matter. I never seriously considered using back matter in my picture books, even though I do use it in a few of my chapter books and have considered using it in my middle grade, as it is set in 17th Century Scotland.
Awesome, Sharon! Sounds like a good plan!
Thank you, Marcie! I LOVE NF and have several projects in various stages and I go back and forth about back matter--what to include, how much, and should it even be back matter (as opposed to woven into the main text,) etc. Your post is so so helpful! I've read through it several times already! Thanks again!
Great post, Marcie! I love, love, LOVE back matter - even in fiction books. As a homeschooling parent back in the last century, I wished more books had back matter ... it extends the book and opens further avenues of discovery for kids and their parents. I especially like back matter in historical fiction.
Thanks for highlighting back matter, Marcie. It sounds like it can be a wide-ranging and varied as the main text! Good to remember.
It does seem that way. And it seems that publishers are branching out and making their back matter better and better.
Thank you for sharing why back matter is important. How it is beneficial to teachers and librarians.
It definitely is! And it's beneficial to kids, especially when it looks like it's kid-friendly.
Thank you, Marcie! I have ideas for back matter in a couple of books, but formatting them in an interesting way eludes me. Great inspiration texts that I look forward to studying closely!
I am loving the quality of non fiction books coming out these days. So much design goes into the layout/back matter.
I agree! Publishers are doing a great job with layout, design and kid-appeal!
Hi Marcie, thanks for this great post. I'm currently finishing up a historical bio that has back matter. I originally wrote it to be conversational, but after this post, I'll pull some mentor texts to see how others have done it. Great info, thanks again!
That's awesome! Best of luck with your writing!
Back matter takes the front lead when it comes to non-fiction. I love learning beyond the actual material and back matter helps explore further and dig deeper. Thanks for the interesting post.
Former teacher. Back matter lover. Check out the back matter in Action Jackson, about Jackson Pollock.
Yes, I have that book too! For this post, Carrie encouraged us to use books that were very new. Action Jackson is pretty traditional with it's back matter (not that that's a bad thing), but it's very interesting back matter.
Thanks to your post, I'm now putting thought into some potential back matter for a work-in-progress. Thanks!
Yes! I think back matter also helps teachers realize many ways they can tie books into the curriculum too!
Marcie, thanks for the great post! I'm currently working on a nonfiction biography picture book and need to get started on the back matter. I've been putting it off because I don't know what I want. I really hadn't thought about using mentor texts for that also. So thanks for the idea!
Great post! Backmatter matters! During the research & writing process, it's also helpful to flag items that can go into Backmatter, especially when you're trying to keep a low word count (ReFoReMo Day 1), and keep your story on track. You simply can't get everything into the main story. You can flesh it out in the Backmatter. Great mentor texts. Thank you!
I agree. I often copy and paste things into my "working back matter" when I realize it doesn't fit in the main story.
Back matter extends the primary text for all readers.
Thanks, Marcie. I've been afraid to tackle NF. I might now give it a try.
Thank you for this great post. I'm reworking a non-fiction submitted pb to a different POV. My back matter will take on a different look now. Thanks again.
Yes, I'm sure that does happen some, especially with work-for-hire NF. I know Miranda Paul mentioned that often back matter is written by the author after the main text is acquired by the publisher.
I've always loved back matter. It's as if you're getting two books in one--the main story, and the wealth of info in the back matter. I especially loved the back matter in Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt. I can definitely see a child (or anyone!) losing themselves in the descriptions of all the critters.
Marcie, thank you so.much for the post and the list of NF texts, I have two NF that I am now at the point of creating the back matter. This is so helpful! Thank you.
You are welcome! Glad it's helpful, Maria! :) Happy writing.
Marcie, I loved reading about back matter. I have been needing that bit of information without even knowing it. Thank you so much! I was pleased to see a few of the books you included are some of my favorites. I was sad to find that my library does not have all of these wonderful books! That might turn into my side task on this March project: make a list of books they don't have and ask that they add them to the library system. Thank you!
Yes, definitely research for the type of book you are doing! It's loads of fun doing this type of research.
I have a NF (or maybe creative NF?) idea and I'm not sure yet how to approach it, but the info in this post will come in handy when it comes to back matter. Thanks for the useful tidbits and list of mentor texts to look at.
This post has two things I love-- back matter and the book Water is Water. I haven't read the others books listed but am going to do so this week.
Great information! I don't read nearly enough non-fiction picture books. Thanks for the motivation and great insight!
I, too, have been very interested in research back matter. Thank you for jump starting my research!
Marcie, I love your Useletter! Thanks for the process insight into how to go about structuring a mentor text search for a particular WIP. Especially value the reminder that noting publishers during mentor text research is a good strategy!
Thanks so much! Yes, I try to make note of the publisher since it helps me see what kinds of books they publish.
When I was writing my creative nonfiction chapter book on the Titanic I read not only other Titanic books to see how I could make my story unique, but to also study what the authors included in their back matter or if they even chose to include back matter at all. Instead of regurgitating historical facts most people would know about the Titanic already, my back matter speaks about the real people I included in my story as well as a list of kid and classroom friendly links to provide a more "hands-on" experience for the reader.
Yes! That's a great point! :) And kids at my school can't get enough Titanic books.
Stellar backmatter! I now have a new editing goal for my NF manuscript. Thanks, Marcie!
Back matter adds so much more. It brings more detail and dimension to the subject without bogging down the book text and the flow of the story. Love these examples!
Thank you for this, Marcie! Writing nonfiction is intimidating for me, particularly, the back matter. I have been afraid to approach it, but this post is so helpful for highlighting texts that do nonfiction right. Especially, the juicy factual bits!
This is just the information I needed, Marcie. Thank you! I'm excited to tackle my in-progress NF manuscript now.
Thank you, Marcie. As a former teacher, I love back matter. It can help all students to make a connection to the world around them, but IMO is really important to students with disabilities. Sometimes students don't have a frame of reference - the story is just words put together. Activities in back matter can help them connect to the text of the story in a meaningful way.
I think writers are finding more interesting ways of presenting that back matter. If a young book lover enjoys the main story, the rest has to be appealing in some way so the learning continues.
I especially loved Tree of Wonder and all the back matter for it.
I totally agree! TREE OF WONDER has some really unique back matter.
As a former teacher beginning to write non-fiction picture books, I found this post extremely helpful. Thanks, Marcie!
Thanks for sharing your mentor texts and insights, Marcie! I read You Nest Here with Me to my daughter, and she had almost as many questions on the back matter as the story itself.
Marcie, these are wonderful mentor texts and your post was very helpful. Thank you very much.
You are so welcome, Brenda!
Great post! I've been starting to write some NF, but now I'm working on developing it so it has more of a unique voice, rather than a stack of facts.
Yes, that's always something I have to work on too.
This is just what I need for my NF ms I'm working on. Thanks, Marcie. I'll get studying.
I never knew back matter could have layers. I thought it was basically citing where you get the information.
Thank you for sharing this reading list. I have been trying to learn more about NF PBs, as I would like to try one myself. I liked the way the back matter was structured in Raindrops Roll - using the book text to section the scientific material provided a nice cohesiveness.
Yes! I love that too. RAINDROPS ROLL is one of my favorites. I keep writing about it in different blog posts.
Very interesting post! I hadn't given much thought to back matter before reading this. Right now, I'm only writing fiction, but I do have a few nonfiction ideas, so thanks for the wonderfully informative post. I need to get my hands on some of the books you mentioned.
I have a picture book published with Arbordale Publishing. It's a counting book about 10 species of Penguins. I researched the different species and had 3 pages of info for back matter. The publisher used this info and added more to the back 4 pages of the book.
That's awesome, Carol! :) I'm glad they thought it was really important.
Great post, Marcie! I've been collecting back matter for my historical fiction PBs, but am still working out how to present them in a creative way. I will be examining these books in detail. Thanks!
Marcie - what a great list of mentor texts! I love it when non-fiction science picture books also manage to be so lyrical. In my house, we are huge fans of WATER IS WATER, and I agree that the back matter is wonderful too.
Thank your for this great list Marcie! I'm formatting back matter for a couple of fiction books right now, and I found these books to wonderful resources.
Great! I'm glad it's helpful, Jess!
Marcie, thanks for the great info.
Great question. I've heard the term ficinformational and fiction with an educational tie-in. It's still technically fiction. For example: Diary of a Worm has lots of facts about worms, but it's written in worm's diary, so it's fiction. Hope that helps!
Yes, if the back matter is done well, it makes it very appealing.
Nothing but the best from Marcie. Sharing matter in a book is like having two picture books in one.
Oops! Insert the word *back* -- back matter.
I am so interested in back matter. Thanks for the info.
I love the way these authors describe science in such lyrical ways. Favorite has to be "Raindrops highlight what is real" from Raindrops Roll. Thanks Marcie!
I KNOW! I just want to melt into that book. It's gorgeous!
As a freelance writer, everything I write is non-fiction. So I always felt that to depart from that I needed to write fiction picture books. No, I am starting to look at that differently! Thank you for giving me a new creative path Marcie!
Marcie, thank you for focusing on the back matter and how mentor texts can help with that! Thank you for highlighting the author's note as a place the writer can explain her/his personal connection to the story. I'll be paying attention to how different publishers do back matter as well.
Yes! Sounds like a great plan! :) Thanks, Lori!
I'm going to have to check these out. I've written a couple of rhyming non-fiction manuscripts. I added additional info as a sidebar, plus back matter on one of them.
I love finding books with back matter. Good books often leave me wondering. So convenient to find the answers are right there. I will keep this in mind when I tackle nonfiction. Thanks!
I love books with back matter! It lets you dive deeper when you're curious, but doesn't detract from the storyline or lyricism of the book. Off to read some of the selections you've recommended!
I love books with back matter for the exact reason you've pinpointed: the added layer to the story. It allows the reader to get more information, or direction where to find it. My own book has back matter (though different than how I originally presented it).
I like that--direction. It's true. My kids love to look up other books or websites mentioned in the back matter. It leads them to explore the topic deeper.
Marcie, I love this post! I can't wait to read or re-read your book recommendations. And maybe, this will give me the push I need to attempt non-fiction!
You can do it, Kirsti! :) I hope you will!
interesting details / facts. Thanks for writing such a great post.
Thanks, Marcie. The back matter is actually the research the writer does before writing the story. I like how "water Is Water" shows the cycle of things and how nothing stays what it is for a long time. I also liked to think of what the teachers have in their curriculum and how my stories could fit in. I'm sure there are niche subjects.
Miranda Paul actually wrote the back matter for Water is Water after the story was published (she mentioned this today on Facebook). But I do think some of the research does end up there sometimes too. Often so much of the research never makes it into the book, but it always informs the book.
I prepared for your presentation today by having all these books ready to read. I can't wait to read in a more informed manner now that you've pointed out important components of back matter and nonfiction.
Excellent selection of back matter to compare and a great topic! I'm working on an ms right now and have back matter in it. Looking forward to exploring these texts more closely to help guide my own writing!
I have tackled back matter, Marcie. Sweet Dreams, Sarah has extensive back matter...with an author's note, timeline of black female inventors, and extensive bibliography. But at this point, I don't know what will be edited out or changed before the book goes to press. What I do know is that your post today is going to be mega helpful as I go forward with other nonfiction stories...these are great mentor texts for examining successful back matter. THANK YOU!!!
Great mentor texts! I am just now dipping my toes into NF, although I don't know why I've waited so long. Thanks!
I'm always amazed about what information authors choose to put in the main body of the text and what is shared in the front and/or back matter. I'm sure target age has a lot to do with what and how much information to give.
Yes, and I'm sure that it often changes, depending on the topic and the style of writing too.
Great post, Marcie! I spent a lot of time researching and writing the back matter for my science-themed PB, and I'm so glad that I did. Putting the "complicated" information in the back matter enabled me to keep the main text spare and the word count low. I used many of the fantastic nonfiction books referenced in this post as mentor texts, and each of them helped me figure out the best way to make back matter work for my story.
That is a great point, Rita! I love books that do that!
I had read half of this list but not the other half until I read your post Marcie. You gave great examples of books both poem form and free form that have wonderful back matter. I have a polished NF book right now that I am working on my back matter for so I rechecked out some of these titles to study them further. Thank you!
Really good selection of different types of back matter. All really do extend learning for kids and adults.
That's so true! I love back matter as much (maybe more) than the kids!
Thank you, Marcie, for sharing the importance of back matter. You've given us some fine examples to explore for our own nonfiction work.
These are fun examples! I'm so glad they are out in the world!
Very interesting....new to the idea of back matter. I adored this line in Raindrops Roll - " Raindrop Spanges mark angles."
Yes! That book is delicious! The language is so rich! One of my absolutely favorites.
Great post, Marcie! This is something I need to take a look at to help refine the back matter I've accumulated for several stories. very helpful! Thanks!
I love non fiction and the back matter has always been hidden somewhere. It's great to see the exposure or the "rest of the story!" Thank you.
Yes, I like that back matter is starting to be a key component.
I write non-fiction and though I'd noticed the shift in back matter audience as I've been reading lately, I hadn't really processed it. Thanks for making the shift to kid-centered back matter so overt. And thanks for introducing me to some new books and helping me some old favorites in new light.
Thanks, Marcie! I also take notes and examine back matter of NF mentor texts to help determine the layers for my work! Very helpful post on back matter!!
I've just recently begun to write NF bio's so I had not given backmatter a thought until recently. Thank you so much for tackling this topic - it is fascinating how differently the back matter is handled. I really liked adding additional reading - if the readers are like me, I like to read a lot of books on the same topic so I think it is very generous of the authors to give book lists. Thank you!!!
I agree! Book lists are awesome to add to back matter.
Thanks so much! These are a great resource for me. Working on a science themed book with back matter and it is helpful to see how others have handled this!
Best of luck with your book, Sue! Enjoy diving into some mentor texts with great back matter!
They say to write what you know and enjoy. I truly enjoy animals and I love picture books that have a little twist that makes me laugh. I also am a firm believer that there is opportunity to learn something new in every book. Being completely new at writing, I was unfamiliar with the term "back matter." Now I think I will try to add back matter to 2 of my stories in process ... Animal characters with a plot twist that makes you laugh, along with some interesting back matter fast facts. Thank you for your post Marcie!
You are welcome, Joan! Best of luck with your writing.
Thank you, Marcie for not only broadening my knowledge of how to tackle back matter, but also broadening my knowledge of new nonfiction picture books.
Yes, I love finding new books! It's so fun!
I was only able to get my hands on 4 of these, but examining the back matter was so helpful. I'm hoping to eventually write a NF historical PB, and I will definitely come back to these texts. Thank you!
I attended the 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference held this past June in New York City. The over riding theme from the presenters this year was that "Back Matter Matters." I had never considered it before. Thank you for sharing this book selection that sheds more information on the topic.
Thank you, Marcie! I love reading author's notes that explain the author's personal connection to the story. I appreciate and plan to use your tips on back matter!
What surprised me the most from your post is how many really well-done nonfiction picture books there are! Thanks for the eye-opener.
Yes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg! I was only allowed 10, so I had to keep it really focused. :) There are sooooo many good ones out there.
Thanks for this post Marcie. I recently finished a picture book biography. I really enjoyed writing the back matter. You are right, it adds another wonderful layer to the story. By the way I love your website, so informative.
Interesting post! I'm excited to read today's list! I still read a picture book to my son every night. Since he's 12, we often gravitate to non-fiction and picture book biographies and often have further discussions when we read the back matter. Unfortunately my library didn't have all the books on your list but I'll keep my eye out for those in the future!
Yes, so many of them are new (really new), so libraries may not have them yet. I hope they will soon though. I love that you and your son read picture books together every night! There are so many awesome picture books out there. We are never too old for PBs!
Thanks for sharing the books that you found helpful. They give a nice variety of different ways that back matter can be incorporated into science-themed book. The information is very useful and I know I will be referring to your list again and again.
Thanks for your post. I just returned from the library with several of the NF mentor texts you referenced.
Oh I'm so glad they had some of these. I couldn't live without my public library and my school library.
Thanks for the post about back matter. It was interesting.
Thanks for the shedding the light on back matter, Marcie! Great info!
Thanks, Marcie. You've given us lots to think about here!
Awesome, Bethany! Glad it was helpful!
Great post Marcie. So many wonderful books to read and study. Back matter can be a challenge - to get i right and in the appropriate language. I liked the different ways these authors approached it.
It can definitely be a challenge. These authors did an amazing job!
Do not be embarrassed at all. I learn something new everyday! It's how we grow! :) Happy reading.
I love how back matter and sidebars stretch the age range for a book -skip reading it for the youngest and delve into it for the older ones!
I completely agree! It makes it accessible to more kids, for sure!
You chose one of my favorites, Water is Water, but introduced me to many wonderful new books. I have recently enjoyed Drum Dream Girl and Gordon Parks and appreciate more fully the back matter as you have drawn us to focus on it.
Absolutely! Those books are awesome too!
I am an elementary librarian and I enjoy reading the back matter in nonfiction books. Thanks for sharing this informative post.
Yeah! Another librarian! :) I love reading back matter too!
Thanks for the lesson on back matter.
Thanks for the great collection of books with interesting back matter! I've been working on a natural history story and have written back matter for it thinking it would go at the end. Now I'm thinking of revising the back matter and interspersing as side bars right in with the relating text pages. Am looking forward to playing around with it more now that I have some great mentor texts!
Yes! I love that you are thinking about the possibilities! That's so exciting!
Handy guide to writing non fiction books. They even mention 2 publishers that publish a lot of non fiction books.
Yes, these publishers are some of my favorites. They are putting out amazing books!
I agree! That would be helpful!
I think sometimes it does get lost. The nice thing is the examples I gave have such great back matter, I feel like kids will tune in.
Yes, I always learn so much from the back matter.
Thanks for your post on back matter. I never knew what back matter was, so I never understood its importance. I so appreciate your post!
Marcie what a great idea. Using your research material to deepen your subject matter and help to determine how your back matter will be used. Wonderful post. Also noticing which publishers set up things more in line with your thinking. Excellent information.
Yes, I think it's important to note the publishers because these publishers recognize the importance of back matter so much so that they are making it a priority to make it look good and contain good information.
Thanks Marcie for showing me what back matter is and how important it is. I will definitely use your list of mentor texts when I'm writing NF.
Thanks for bringing so many amazing titles to my attention. As a writer/ teacher I am always looking for books such as these to add to my collection and my curriculum.
Can't wait to dig into these mentor texts and study back matter. This is new information for me! Thanks, for such a useful topic.
That was very helpful, Maricie, especially since I'm diving more into nonfiction now.
I just wrote a manuscript that I want to include back matter for. These texts were so helpful in brainstorming content. Thanks for all of the help!
Oh good! I always look to reading for inspiration! Hope these helped!
Thank you so much for a wonderful post. I have a few NF book ideas floating around in my brain, both biographical or science based so this post will help me immensely! I am also going to take a session at the New England conference in April on this particular subject with Jane Yolen, Heidi Stemple, Susannah Richards, Sarah Albee and Julie Bliven. I can't wait!!!
That will be an AMAZING session! You are so lucky! Enjoy!
I will, thank you!! Now I can't wait! And once again thank you for such a wonderful list of titles. now that I have read them all, so many have made it as new favorites and want to purchase!! They are reminders that non-fiction does not have to be all facts or dry or boring! They can be beautiful and lyrical!
This was totally new to me. I've never realized that there was a back matter in certain non-fiction books. To be able to check this out in the mentor texts was extremely helpful since I'm very interested in writing non-fiction and this seems just right and something that can enrich the information already given in a more creative approach. Thank you so much Marcie. Great choice of mentor texts!
Thanks so much! Yes, not every book contains back matter and some books contain back matter that is just okay. These contain AMAZING back matter!
I love back matter in the picture book biographies I read but I had never thought about it for my picture book. I will now, though! Thanks for a great post!
Sounds great! I love PB biography back matter too!
I'm in the middle of a personal war with my fictional rhyming manuscript, but this will be SO very helpful to remember when I write the book about the special needs cheerleaders I work with. I will have to tread carefully with difficult subject matter such as Autism, and Downs Syndrome, but back matter will be very important to the goal of acceptance and understanding. Thank you!
Every book is different and each subject matter has its own unique set of circumstances. I wish you the best of luck in pursuing how best to handle this!
Very helpful post, Marcie. I find it especially helpful that you noted the publishers that came up a few times in your list of books with back matter. Something I'll be looking for as I read the mentor texts this month. Thank you!
Yes! I started doing this when I found books that I LOVED that "supposedly" people weren't publishing. They WERE being published, so I started keeping track of who was publishing them.
Thank you for the informative post Marcie!
Thanks, Dierdre! Yes, I reread these all the time! And I keep discovering new things!
Marcie, I hope you haven't answered this already in the hundreds of posts ahead of mine, but in your process, do you write the back matter first or the poetic narrative? Also... when you are thinking of your target audience, do you writer the back matter with a suggested word list? (I know many NF authors who write for Capstone etc who work with recommended word lists.) Thanks for the inspiring post!
Great questions, Juli! I always write the main text first. As I'm writing, if I find things that *might* fit into the back matter, I save them. Miranda Paul just mentioned on Facebook yesterday that the back matter for Water is Water was fashioned after the book was acquired by the publisher. So, just know that often it will change or even emerge later. I do not work with a suggested word list for trade publishing. Picture books are meant to be read aloud, so it doesn't have to have a controlled vocabulary like I Can Read books do. Capstone is an educational publisher, instead of a trade publisher, and so they would aim for a certain reading level and books in a series would have similar looks, etc. Capstone mostly does work-for-hire too. That means you'd be given all of the parameters before writing. Whereas in trade publishing (what all of my examples are), the author has more flexibility with word choice, etc. Hope that makes sense.
Marcie - Thanks for this additional, useful information.
Thank you so much for the awesome insights Marcie!
I've read and heard about some of these books, but so glad to see they constitute a sub-genre. Thanks, Marcie.
Well, they are a sub-genre in my mind mostly because of style. :) I had a HUGE stack of books and I grouped them according to what I needed to look at, at the time.
I was finally able to pick up a huge stack of books from the library today and got a chance to read Bridget's Beret. I was so excited!!! It has Bridget's take on a Van Gogh. I teach a Van Gogh/art unit each year to lower grades and am always on the lookout for new picture books I can use with that unit. Other paintings were also included AND it had back matter about art! SCORE!!
I love Water is Water and You Nest Here With Me. Some of the others I hadn't heard of...will be glad to dive in. I'm a big fan of PB biographies, which usually include some back matter to round out the subject's life story. Thanks Marcie for your suggestions.
Yes, I love PB bios too! They were in my original gigantic stack of mentor texts for back matter. I adore THE IRIDESCENCE OF BIRDS and SWAN. Both delightfully lyrical PB Bios.
Feeling like the newbie I am today, I have never heard the term "back matter" before though I've seen it in picture books. Can't wait to read some of these books now that I've read your post. (Most are on hold at the library currently). Thank you for teaching me something new today!
I don't really know. I just picked the lyrical/poetic language examples because that's what I love and that's what I write. There are lots of NF books that don't have lyrical language and are still amazing books. There are many with far longer texts or with lots of humor. I just selected these because they matched what I was trying to do with my own WIP.
I, too have written this type of manuscript. Thanks for the great examples of mentor texts for back matter.
That's great, Trine! I hope this helps!
Turning to mentor texts is what we writers need to do more of. We can learn SO MUCH from each other! Another GREAT resource: I have truly been enjoying the comments from other writers/readers/researchers on this page. I appreciate all of your insights! Thank you for sharing them!
Yes, this is an amazing community! Bravo to Carrie and Kirsti and Janie for keeping it going!
Yes, I love backmatter, and I have to curb my enthusiasm when it comes to writing it.
What a wonderfully informative post. I have NEVER considered writing back matter in the way you suggest. But as I read, I thought, doink, of course you would. Why in the world, wouldn't you? Recently I began sharing the back matter with my students. I was so amazed and pleased to see them turning to the back matter to read the information. And sharing it. So yes, it should be lyrical, poetic, just as intriguing and as engaging as the story. Thank you so much for this post.
I love books that are fun to read while teaching you something. Thanks for the great examples of books with back matter.
Thanks for a great list of mentor texts! I've been enjoying them. They and you are sparking my interest in writing NF PBs.
What a great list, and the illustrations are amazing!!! Took a workshop with Cindy Jenson-Elliott last weekend and discussed lyrical nonfiction. I am so excited to experiment with this genre! Thanks Marcie!
That is so awesome! I would have loved to have been there!!!
A great post, Marcie, I am going to pay much more attention to back matter after reading this.
That's great! Back matter can be so fun!
Great information! I haven't thought about how the back matter would be different in biography vs non-fiction.
I think every book and subject matter is different. I looked at a number of PB Bios too (just didn't add them to this post). Each book is different. It's a fun study.
Great post! This makes me want to tackle a NF MS I've been mulling over!
Oh good, Mischa! Best of luck in your writing!
Thanks for a great post. I found most of these, and a few others I loved from some of the same authors- but now I want to buy more books!
Oh, THANK YOU Marcie!!! I have to admit, I had no idea what back matter was until today. I feel that this was a personal lesson for me. I am a science teacher and many of my stories are lyrical poems about different science topics. I was always curious how I would add other important information to the story. Thank you so much!
Not that you aren't using your expertise for good use now. Teaching is a most important profession. I just mean that you could put your expertise to FURTHER use by writing. :) I taught science for 12 years and I got so much inspiration from my science curriculum and what the kids were interested in.
I think my new favorite book is Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt!!!
Thanks for this great list. As I venture into trying my own hand at NF, this is especially helpful information. I loved science, but remember hating the dull NF books of my youth. Now it is a genre I can't get enough of.
So true! There were a lot of dull NF books. Today, there is so much great NF out there!
So many options for things to include in back matter!
Yes! I love the variety of back matter in these books!
Great selection of books, Marcie! Back matter gives writers a lot of room to enrich their stories. Thank you!
Yes, so true! :) You are welcome!
The back matter of my book has more words than the actual text. I have had to cut ruthlessly to get to the point where it will all fit on one page. On the cover page, do I list the back matter as a separate word count or include it in the overall count? I am keen to indicate the low word count of the text so would prefer the former. Information appreciated.
I don't know if there is a rule to this. Several of the books in my examples have longer back matter than actual story. I think the key is that the actual story must be amazing! And keep in mind the back matter might have quite a bit of tweaking/feedback from the publisher.
This blog was enlightening. I have been writing about where we live because ,as a teacher, i could not find books about places and events of interest. my first picture book was about a local Harrow fair. later i did one about a tropical greenhouse and about the local Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary. They are well accepted and i often have to write about "why I wrote the books- back matter. I believe in celebrating where we live and feel that children have responed to these books. But your list opens up so much more to me that i feel like an amateur! i have now read some of these REFOREMO research texts and I'm delighted to read about your work and your obvious knowledge of recent beautiful books for children.I love Molly Idle's artistic books and I've read Henry' Freedom Box and the Big Hole. i am trying to order some you mention. I think children today are fortunate to have books like those above and alibrarians who know what to chose.
I think writing about where you live gives a LOT of choices. I live in Virginia and there are so many things kids are required to know for the curriculum and there are NO books about those people/places/events. It's a source of endless inspiration. I hope the list will inspire pursue great back matter. :) I know it helped me.
I LOVE Lyrical NF PBs! Thanks Marcie for a great post!
Me too! I can't get enough of them!
Thanks for the back matter insight...this will be helpful for me!
Oh good! I"m so glad!
I love the lyrical language and beautiful illustrations in these books. It was interesting to see the different ways back matter was presented in the books listed. This gives me ideas about how to revise my manuscript.
Thank you for this great post and list of good back matter texts. I LOVE back matter and how much it can add to the story and discussion once they story is over. I think Raindrops Roll is very effective, and there are many great PB biographies with good texts too -- I particularly loved Jimi: Sounds like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix by Gary Golio and Mind Your Manners Alice Roosevelt (Leslie Kimmelman).
Yes, there are lots of PB Bios that have great back matter! I had to narrow my list down to just 10 faves, but YES, there are so many great PB Bios that do equally amazing jobs on back matter.
Thank you, Marcie. The recommendations are great examples of how backmatter can be written, and I'll save and use your four criteria.
Just remembered your criteria were for the main text, but they are also good to keep in mind for backmatter. It's so true that backmatter is more interesting now than in the past.
Excellent information on back matter. Thank you.
Thanks for the great list. I'm trying to get a handle on back matter. This is really helpful.
Great! Read as many books as you can. That will definitely help you!
I like the thought of back matter being another 'layer' to a book.
No worries. Not every books needs back matter. But some back matter, like the above examples, made an amazing book even more amazing.
Reminds me of Mrs. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus. So much back matter.
Yes, different style of writing, but those books still were aiming at helping tie the book to the curriculum and further interests.
Such a fabulous post! Thank you!
As a child, I was never been interested in back matter in children's book; therefore I didn't give it much thought. After reading your email t I realized I probably wasn't interested because it was never interesting. Now I'm interested in checking out your recommendations.
I think that's true for me too. Though sometimes if you look at older NF books, some of them have NOTHING in the back. No sources, no extra information at all. I love that publishers and authors are putting more information in there for kids.
Thank you Marcie for such a great selection of mentor texts. I have not really thought about writing a non-fiction picture book, but you have motivated me to consider moving that direction.
Many thanks for the post. Writing the back matter when trying to fix some glitches in the story sounds like a very helpful tip. Going to try this.
Sometimes you find interesting information that can't go in the main text. It might find a home in the back matter.
I learned something new today! I'm new to PB and had no idea what Back Matter was. Now I know and see that it can be just as interesting and fun as the book itself. Thanks, Marcie!
This is a wonderful help, Marcie. Thank you!
Thank you for the post. All of these books are so engaging, and the back matter is wonderful. Do you have recommendations for works of fiction with great back matter?
You know, Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt is shelved in fiction in my library. The main text incorporates so many facts, so I included it here. Also, Over and Under the Snow is also a good one to look at. Candace Fleming has several PBs that might be worth looking at. One example is Papa's Mechanical Fish.
Though I don't have it in front of me, I think President Taft is Stuck in the Bath by Mac Barnett also has back matter.
I hadn't really given much thought to the different options available for back matter and how it is as important and creative as the main text. Your post is going to be very helpful for my WIP revisions which also happens to be my first pb project with back matter. Perfect timing!
What a wonderful list, Marcie. Thank you! I'm working on a text right now which is narrative but also part concept book in that it explores the contrast between the slowness of a sloth and the quickness of monkeys. I wonder if a few pages of back matter about sloths might work even though the book isn't technically non-fiction. I will look at your recommendations to see if I might be able to make it work as a sort of "hybrid."
It might. Not every single book that has a NF tie-in has back matter. It might be something that you and the publisher discuss and decide what should go in. Take a look at the examples and hopefully they will help you decide if you should add it for your book.
That's totally okay. :) Maybe one day you will. And if not, it's fun to know what's out there.
I'll be looking at back matter in a whole new way, thanks to your post. You've also inspired me to read more nonfiction picture books in general, and consider ones I might like to write Thank you!
I highly recommend reading NF PBs. There are some really, really good ones out there.
Oh wow, I just realized back matter / side bar is the way to tell the whole other side of the story I'm working on. Who knows how long it would have taken me to get there without this post. Thank you for sharing your process and the great list of mentor texts to launch my research.
It is clear from the volume of comments and the many references to new approaches to back matter that this is a topic important to many of us. The list of books you gave us enlarges my perspective. I'm also interested in books like those by Peter Sis which incorporate layers of facts within or at the edges of his story, as for instance in his picture books "The Wall" and in "Starry Messenger" about. Galileo.Thanks so much for your wonderful post.
Yes, I used Starry Messenger every year with my 4th graders. Peter definitely has his own style. I liked the way he incorporated primary resources in those bits and pieces throughout the story.
Your post is a terrific encouragement and inspiration. I shelved a factual fiction picture book manuscript(or is it creative nonfiction?) because I wasn't sure how to keep it interesting, informative, but not heavy on the facts. I didn't want it to be like the dry factual books of my past. Back matter is my answer. I'm sooo excited. I have a date with a stack of books. Thank you!
Creative nonfiction is still nonfiction--it just uses literary techniques to bring the NF to life. Maybe it's ficinformational? The terms get a little crazy. :) But yes, keep it interesting. That's always a good rule of thumb for kids.
Thanks Marcie for sharing your journey to finding a fun, informative way to include back matter in pbs. I am thinking of writing a pb about a woman who became an accomplished aviator.
Awesome! We always need good strong women PBs. Best of luck!
Thanks for your great post. I love these books! So beautiful in both language and illustrations and informative in an accessible way. The back matter is so interesting and well written, too. I want to write a book like this!
Marcie!! This post is so fabulous and so up my alley, I feel like I'm cheating by reading it. Great research!
Thanks! I'm glad it was helpful!
Thank you for the list of mentor texts. I'm trying to put together back matter for a NF picture book and your post is helping me to figure out what to include.
Great! These examples are great!
I never would have thought to look at the publishers of the back matter! (Boy, I still have a lot to learn.) That is such an astute observation and exactly what can really flesh out the research as well as guide the submission process. So helpful!
We are all learning every day! :) I'm always learning something new.
Thank you! I've been studying nonfiction and back matter on my own for a while now. It's nice to know that someone else is doing it too.
When it's done well, it's fascinating!
Thank you, Marcie, for sharing your research into types of back matter! I'm looking forward to reading all the suggested titles on your list! I love nonfiction books that are written in lyrical language too.
I'm a huge fan of lyrical PBs, especially lyrical NF.
It's good to know back matter isn't restricted to NF.I've been skirting around the idea of including back matter for a manuscript I'm working on. This have provided some great examples I might not have come across otherwise!
Yes, you will often see historical fiction books include back matter.
Hi Marcie, This is a great post! Looking forward to reading through your suggested titles. Your ebook looks amazing too!
You are a treasure trove of information. Thanks for sharing! I am always learning from you.
I'm just starting to delve into nonfiction and this exploration of back matter has been very helpful and enlightening. I'll be on the lookout for it in other books. Thanks!
This is a great resource. Thanks! I'm a former teacher and can appreciate how well-done back matter adds to the value for a teacher.
Yes! I've been teaching almost 20 years and I've seen the change in back matter from nonexistent to boring to downright amazing. That is a good change!
Thanks for the great examples of back matter. Very timely for my February draft, which could possibly include back matter.
Thank you, Marcie for sharing your thoughts on Back Matter. I have several WIPs, both fiction and nonfiction that include Back Matter. I appreciate the list of mentor texts.
Love the title suggestions. I'm going to check some out and see if it might be something I could try writing.
Wow! This is an area of PB writing that I have never really explored much but I love it. It has so much potential and it was great fun to see how effectively it can be used in story telling. Thank you!
Thank you for the post on back matter. I've always found the back matter to help me as the reader in reading and discussing the story, even if the children couldn't sit through a reading of it. I know I will be using your suggestions and mentor texts to improve the layering of my F and NF writing. It sounds feasible to me.
Yes, I agree. Sometimes the back matter is only helpful to the teacher. These are ones that have great kid-appeal. :) That's a huge bonus and, for me, something to aim for.
I have been reading so much that I am trying to do something different with a mythological tale, well established in my homeland wales. I wouldn't put 'back matter' in a fictiona; story but this is rooted in historical circumstances, It is about wales' Dragon which is red, After waking him up, he fouf=ght with the white dragon ( who happened to have sneaked in by him and they had a fight. The welsh red dragon won and the white one went south. This is part of the legend that, because the red dragon one Wales would get rid of the saxon hoard and be restored to rightful ownership! Now this red dragon has been on the welsh fladg for centuries.
I'm not sure if it needs back matter or not. I think the idea that it's on the flag is pretty important. If it's not in the tale itself, it needs to be mentioned in the back matter. I'd look at some recently published (last 3 years) fairy tales and folk tales and see how they are handled. I know I just read PANCHO RABBIT AND THE COYOTE by Duncan Tonatiuh and it does have back matter. Might be one to look at.
Thank you for that good advice. I have made a note of the book you mention and will go to the library for it. The teacher in me makes me want to explain more. Although the story is a myth , it is an important reason why our Welsh dragon still stays on the flag. Young children don't know that story today.. Marcie, thanks for taking the time to reply. Bless you.
i wrote above in haste and made several faux-pas. Forgive me for that .I was called to deliver something and hit send without checking. The red dragon "one' for example should be "won for Wales." The Saxons left and the red dragon is on our flag (before a Sp mistake!) i apologize Carrie and Marcie.
I love books with back matter and have included them in a few of my works. Now I'll be taking a closer look at them in the books you mentioned. Thank you!
I'm a little behind, but wanted to thank you for your insights on back matter, plus the list of mentor texts for this topic. Very helpful!
I'm happy to do it! Hope you enjoy the list.
Thanks so much for this amazing post! Several of my PB manuscripts are holiday themed. I will now start thinking of how to add this extra layer. Thanks!!!
Sounds fun! I'd take a look at some recently published (last 3 years) holiday themed books and see if they include back matter and, if so, what kind of back matter they include.
Thanks...I had the chance to see Weeds Find A Way in Escondido at the Picture Book exhibit...it's wonderful to think about including so many facts in such an enticing way!
I just received Raindrops Roll from the library; it is a joy to look at. I will have to look for Weed Finda way. I know they are great copy cats!
Thank you for sharing your insight. Back matter is very new to me. I feel as if I can apply some of it to my own writing.
Thank you Marcie. I had a friend review a manuscript for me and his take on made me see back matter from a parent (and male)'s point of view. I was attempting to add details about an animal, such as where it lives, what it eats, etc., but perhaps I didn't go about it in the best way. My reader was left with more questions that answers or interest. (Bummer!) I did explain that my hope was that a brilliant illustrator would have the privilege of adding some visual details; much like Jane Yolen's "You Nest Here with Me" did. Anyway, I was a bit discouraged as some of the feedback was something like, "Would a 4-7 year old know what a ___ was?". I think some of the comments were legitimate and spoken with love and only the best intensions. But, I couldn't help but feel like a flop. Do you think some of the back matter can be very dependent on illustrations to fill in the gaps of understanding? Thank you again. Loved this!
I am struggling with this. Wondering how much to provide. Wondering if I just note that it is optional/available and see if editor wants it. I have heard different opinions on letting the story stand alone. Perhaps depends on the house.
I am a big fan of Marcie's Mentor Texts! Thanks again!
Thanks for this post! I have a nonfiction PB that I'm struggling to get right.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This hub features genuine questions asked by potential tourists going to visit Australia, and the hilarious answers they received from the Australian Tourism website, where the officials obviously have a great sense of humour.
I take no credit for this work, as it is already available on the Internet, but for those of you who haven't read these before it is worth duplicating for the laughter content.
Apparently these were first published in 'Toxic Custard' so credit goes to them.
Q: I was in Australia in 1969 on R+R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while was staying in Kings Cross. Can you help? (USA).
Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden).
Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA).
A: Face South and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send you the rest of the directions.
Q: Will I be able to see Kangaroos in the street? (USA).
Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden).
Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK).
Q: Do you have perfume in Australia? (France).
Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France).
Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA).
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA).
Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy).
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA).
Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA.
Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK).
Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget it's name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA).
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA).
People Who Take Themselves Too Seriously Freak Me Out: A List of People Types That Make The World a Worse Place.
LOVE. I'm Australian and these made me giggle. It reminded me of this story I heard on the radio. This man was walking around Circular Quay and overheard two Americans talking about people climbing the Harbour Bridge. One told the other - in all seriousness - that these people are convicts, being made to paint the bridge as punishment. LOL. Also 'mos def not a kangaroo', I think you mean 'quite' not 'quiet'.
LOL, I just loved your answer "No my first language is Saturnese, and my kangaroo is in jail for beating up an American hillbilly."
*Raises hand* I was born in Australia, but raised in the US. In college I was still getting asked if English was my first language, and do I have a kangaroo as a pet? My answer was usually "No my first language is Saturnese, and my kangaroo is in jail for beating up an American hillbilly."
"Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA).
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not... oh forget it. sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked."
I once had an old lady ask me do girls marry snakes in India?
Mighty Mom, It's not just the Americans though, many of the UK ones were just as bad.
10 years ago from Australia , or China, or South Korea.
I love them. As an Aussie I get a real kick out of the sense of humour in the answers. For those that do not know - the drop bears feature in a television advertisement in Oz and it is pretty hilarious.
Don't worry, in South Africa, we are still asked if there are lions and TIGERS? walking around in the streets. By the way, the drop bear is way to hysterical, I have tears in my eyes.
Is it true that water goes down the drain backward in Australia? LOL. Fun, light and I'm with starkissed. Ashamed to be an Amur-i-cun.
Australia (or is it Austria?) is so misunderstood-- and obviously they don't need anymore bewildered tourists.