Why doesn't Sparx Reader have much non-fiction?

As it stands, the only non-fiction texts that we have on Sparx Reader are narrative non-fiction books, such as the Football ‘Rising Stars’ series. Overwhelmingly, our library comprises a broad range of Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction titles. Please see our article on Mature themes in Sparx Reader for more explanation as to why we think that young adult fiction - and the themes that these books handle - are vitally important. However, we understand the appeal of non-fiction texts for many of your struggling and reluctant readers, we know that engaging with non-fiction texts is vital across the curriculum, and we know that pupils often gravitate towards these types of books when given the opportunity to choose in your school library, for example. 

There are several reasons for our deliberate decision to limit the amount of non-fiction, although as Sparx Reader grows there is potential to expand our book offering. 

Firstly, as people read fiction they create episodic memories - or impressions - of the book’s events. They do not necessarily form semantic memories of the content they read and indeed, that is not the point of this type of independent reading: in this context, reading is not a ‘learning event’.

The questions on Sparx Reader are designed to feel like an extension of the story for a student who has read the text carefully, with answers that are easy and quick to recall because they focus on central, salient themes, characters and ideas. Our content writers work hard to ensure that the questions do not draw attention to highly specific, arbitrary, trivial or easily-missed facts. Instead, the questions focus on ensuring readers have understood the general premise and core ideas of what they’ve just read: an overall ‘impression’. 

The inclusion of non-fiction texts would become problematic in this sense, as the questions would necessarily have to draw on hard facts that would require memorisation during reading, which could make reading a stressful, overwhelming and unnatural experience for students. Further, non-fiction questions are much easier to cheat, as the factually-correct answers can be rapidly researched. For more detail on how we design our questions, please see this article: How are the questions designed?

For example, in a traditional non-fiction book about wildlife, questions on big cats might look like this: 

• There are five ‘big cats’. What are they?
• Cats are among the sleepiest animals in the world. How many hours do they spend asleep each day?

The information required to answer these questions correctly necessarily relies on semantic memories. Because there is no narrative, it is much harder for the facts (or events) to ‘hang together’ coherently for a reader. Trying to retain a host of disconnected facts as they read would place great strain on students’ memories and place unfair demands on the reader. 

Secondly, the chance for pupils to build a sustained relationship with a book, and to stretch their attention spans by becoming immersed in the world of a story over the course of many weeks and months, is something we place a very high value on. We structure the process for pupils so that they are able to stay engaged with a number of narrative threads and feel a regular sense of success as they persevere with an entire work of fiction. As such, on Sparx Reader we want to avoid mimicking a ‘textbook experience’, where pupils read a series of facts before answering specific questions. Further, the act of non-fiction reading can be quite fragmentary in nature; a young reader tends to jump around to various points on the page, drawn by visuals or headings that contain information of interest to the individual. To an extent, non-fiction reading can also encourage skimming and scanning, which is not the type of reading that Sparx Reader promotes. (You can find more information on how we promote and support careful and attentive reading here: Why does the text disappear when students are answering questions?) This kind of disjointed reading process is counter to the vision that Sparx Reader has of creating careful, deliberate and sustained reading habits in our young learners. Of course the non-fiction umbrella extends beyond fact books, to articles, autobiographies and more; while we do have a range of narrative non-fiction in our Sparx Reader library, we do not have articles or other short-form non-fiction texts. These types of text are often used during form time discussions, where a class might interrogate the content as a group, and where the teacher can explain the context and any associated knowledge required for understanding.

Our stance on non-fiction in no way devalues its importance as reading matter for young people; in fact we know that it is an indispensable category of text, familiarity with which forms the basis for much of the learning and assessment at secondary level. We do not contest the centrality of non-fiction in supporting pupils to form their own opinions, and to challenge and develop their understanding of how the world works. Reader opens up access to a huge range of fiction texts, allowing pupils to build a sustained relationship with a narrative over time and - in doing so - give them insights into the lived experiences of characters and cultures a world away from their own.