Non-fiction | Daddy Mojo

The Nature of our National Parks, a go-to guide for kids to planning a trip

An attorney friend of mine is visiting as many United States national parks as possible. There are 63 of them, and I think his family has visited about 50 of them. The Nature of our National Parks is a children’s illustrated reference book that inspires the wanderlust in any age. The book isn’t automatically intended for children, it’s just that we group illustrated books with children. In this book’s case that’s not entirely accurate because The Nature of our National Parks also includes a handful of photographs from the places in question. Whichever way you approach the book, you’ll develop a case of the arm-chair traveler. Another effect is that you’ll start scheming a manner in which you can write a book exploring these 63 parks so that you can write them off as a work expense too, which could be what my attorney friend is doing.

The Nature of our National Parks includes every U.S. national park, some of its flora and fauna and corner-to-corner illustrations to motivate your visit.

Oh the places you’ll want to go

Lonely Planet Kids Let’s Go Rock Collecting: fun, go-to edutainment

The rabbit hole is a metaphor that I use in class a lot. It’s really fun explaining that to a group of elementary school students. The older students more readily understand it, but are less likely to enjoy the thrill of following it. Lonely Planet Kids Let’s Go Rock Collecting is the best kind of rabbit hole for mid-elementary through mid-middle school ages. The content, as well as, the enjoyment in Rock Collecting can demo much higher, but that’s if audiences are able to look past its young-skewing illustrations.

Let’s Go: Rock Collecting is a field resource guide that demands to be used and experienced by ages eight through middle school.

Rock on young STEM people

Lionel Messi’s World Cup Triumph, a graphic novel that scores

Show me a book that makes someone care about something that they don’t care about, or know much about, and you’ll show me a great book. Lionel Messi’s World Cup Triumph: History’s Greatest Games #1 takes that challenge and enthusiastically says “Goaaaaaal”, with as much enthusiasm and energy as fans would expect from the game. Yes, but the surprising part about Lionel Messi’s World Cup Triumph is that it takes one game from his career, the 2022 World Cup Finale, and infuses that, as well as his life, and the evolution of football itself into a graphic novel that entertains and makes you care.

Lionel Messi’s World Cup Triumph is a graphic novel that allows ‘readers’ and ‘sports kids’ to agree that this book is awesome.

Football reading awesomeness in a graphic novel

Louisa Learns to Write, illustrated book works for kids aged seven and up.

Louisa Learns to Write is an illustrated book that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before. It tells a story, but not in a manner that elementary school audiences are used to. It operates on two levels without audiences realizing it until the end of the book. As the titular character is growing up, she’s learning deeper life lessons that translate to anyone, regardless of age. Louisa Learns to Write: Louisa May Alcott Creates Little Women isn’t so much about the creation of the seminal piece of literature, as it is about the things that shaped Alcott’s life.

Louisa Learns to Write is not the illustrated book you think it is. Little Women author, Louisa May Alcott’s macro look at the characteristics that made her successful.

Louisa May Alcott, yes, but more

Actual Factual Files: Ancient Egypt, gets young ages to read non-fiction

When I was in elementary and middle school I was knee-deep in curiosity about ancient Egypt. I also wasn’t a reader at that age. The internet didn’t exist and if I wanted to browse information on a topic I had to look through an encyclopedia. Yes, my family had a set of them, which weren’t used nearly as often as my parents would’ve wished. I remember my sister searching in vain for information on the cold war and having to ask my father instead. RIP, the physical monolith of Encyclopedia Britannica. Actual Factual Files: Ancient Egypt is the time-traveling book I needed when I was seven years old.

Actual Factual Files: Ancient Egypt is the most approachable, non-intimidating and informative text aimed at elementary school readers on the area we’ve seen.

Lock, meet key

Wild About Capybaras! packs a lot of fun in its early-elementary package.

Wild About Capybaras! What the heck is a capybara? Do capybaras, sloths and quokkas belong to a slow-moving club that secretly meets south of the Equator? Is it really possible to Giggle and Learn? Giggle and Learn Series are Toon Books by Kevin McCloskey that are smarter than they look and more fun than they seem. Wild About Capybaras! is a fun book to read, which raises the question, can early-elementary ages really have fun reading? So many questions, let’s unpack them. However, in case you’ve got to split, the answer is “yes”.

Wild About Capybaras! is a Giggle and Learn book for early-elementary ages. It educates without issue and entertains effortlessly.

No, they can’t be a pet

Double Crossed, the kind of can’t-miss, non-fiction that kids want to read

Double agent: an agent who pretends to be a spy for one country or organization while in fact acting on behalf of an enemy. The concept of a double agent makes my head spin. I understand who a spy is and what they do. A double agent gets a little tricky when it comes to fully comprehending who or what they’re spying on. They have to report to their handler in their home country, as well as their contact in the country they’re spying on. Additionally, they have liaisons in both countries and need to keep their cover identity intact. Failure to do so is almost certainly torture and death, plus all manner of pain their families and loved ones would be subject to. Longest prologue ever. Double Crossed: The WWII Spies Who Saved D-Day is the amazing, non-fiction account of D-Day and the duplicity that was needed in order for it to succeed.

Double Crossed aptly tells the story of Operation Fortitude and how D-Day’s success hinged on four double agents.

Operation Fortitude: for mglit, and it works

Earth Clock, an illustrated book on the history of the planet

“It’s criminal how cheap this is”, I said when I was checking out. I was a Mojo Vinyl (no relation) looking through some albums when I found the debut, eponymous album from The Producers. I couldn’t believe it was only $5, not that I wanted to pay more. However, it’s always worth talking to the record store employees so that they know what you’re looking for. Speaking of criminal behavior, I can’t believe that Earth Clock: The History of Our Planet in 24 Hours is only $8.23 on Amazon. Also, it says that it was released in 2022? What book vortex was I engulfed in to miss this one?

Earth Clock is the engaging STEM book that counts down a timeline of our planet that you didn’t know your library needed.

You know what time it is