Non-fiction | Page 5 of 10

Ballots for Belva, read-aloud politics that will interest kids

This book will not interest me because the main character’s name is Belva. At one point that name was probably super popular, but then it became something that’s more associated with crackers. Ballots for Belva seems like that, but it is very fascinating, educational, and eventually, entertaining. It’s especially so for know-it-all people, elementary school kids or those who are otherwise looking for the exception to every rule. It’s a non-fiction, illustrated book highlighting the first woman to complete a presidential election cycle and receive votes. That’s a complex way to describe it and exposes the issues of being a book about ‘the first (insert blank here) to…..’, but Ballots for Belva addresses those weaknesses, and moves on from them to deliver a concrete story that we can all hopefully put behind us.

Ballots for Belva is a surprisingly readable and conversational look at the first woman to run for President of the United States, and receive votes.

A very good book about a very common sense subject

Wildlife Crossings-nature born STEM gets kids thinking without realizing it

The extent to which children think about animals crossing the road stopped when they answered the question about the chicken. And even then that query, and its many derisions, are tiresome, repetitive, and work for the five-year-old audience one time only. Wildlife Crossings: Protecting Animal Pathways Around the World is an illustrated book that will fascinate elementary ages and get them to think, yes actually think about something that they’ve never thought about before.

Wildlife Crossing, an illustrated book that wears its STEM on its sleeve, but allows readers to think for themselves.

But what if the chicken couldn’t cross the road?

The Mine Wars is non-fiction on a little-known conflict for mglt audiences

Coal is something whose byproduct we know, yet the process of getting it from the ground is draped in mystery. We know the lights can be powered by coal, our rechargeable batteries too, but most Americans haven’t thought of the history of coal in the United States. Citizens of the United States might know that West Virginia is often synonymous with coal and is dangerous work. Yet the history of coal, involves low wages, brutal treatment of workers, a repressive means of payment, and unscrupulous owners. The Mine Wars: The Bloody Fight for Worker’s Rights in the West Virginia Coalfields tells this story that’s worthy of a mini-series.

The Mine Wars is non-fiction, mglit that shines a light on a little-known subject in American history, the Battle of Blair Mountain, worker’s rights and the coal business.

Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires is for the curious

Children’s books can be for the curious, or the mandated. Unfortunately, elementary and middle school ages often engage in books because of the former. However, it’s those curious kids, the ones who have a basic interest in a subject and want to learn more about it, that are laying the seeds for future success at a higher level. That’s a challenging lesson to impart to younger readers for sure. Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires is a chapter book aimed at middle school readers who are smart enough to realize that fire does not always equal total devastation and that life finds a way.

Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires is middle-school, non-fiction whose engaging text keeps the facts coming for the curious.

Now dig this baby

As The Seas Rise, soft eco message mixed with too much faux can do

Adults who visit an elementary school library will experience various thoughts. Look at how skinny these books are. Look at how many books are in this library. How can all of these books get the attention that they deserve? As The Seas Rise is an illustrated book with noble intentions but is five eras too late. The rise of sea level and climate change is science, it’s happening, but I would argue that some books do more to damage the greater cause than the good that it intends. For example, if this book were more informational about sunny day flooding then it would have more of a punch and immediacy. As it stands, the book melds one strong issue, a soft character portrait, and an environmental issue that’s tough for kids to comprehend into a listless illustrated story adrift in a crowded library of better books.

As The Seas Rise has noble intentions, but its soft images and mixed story leaves young readers unenthused and bored.

An eco book too far, save paper. Don’t buy it.

Big Book of Vehicles, a tactile picture book with great illustrations

What if Eric Carle illustrated one of Richard Scarry’s books with a more narrative vibe? First off, let’s remind you that Eric Carle is the illustrator behind Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Richard Scarry is the author and illustrator of over 300 books that show young children the myriad of things that happen or exist in their town. Big Book of Vehicles is a picture book that is all about the things that move. Some of them go in the air, on the water, underground, have people, cargo or move in the mountains, but they all go and kids will be able to turn to any page in this book and lose themselves in the best of all possible book ways.

Big Book of Vehicles is a picture book whose creative illustrations will bring in more people than the average book of moving things.

Little Explorers, Big facts, big fun for ages 3 and up

The Day the River Caught Fire, stranger than fiction kid lit for elementary

Which came first the chicken or the egg? That question is one that older readers might ponder after reading The Day the River Caught Fire. It’s the non-fiction story of how the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire and led to the creation of Earth Day. We just got back from Hollywood Studios in Orlando where the water catching on fire was one of the standout elements in a nighttime show. It’s a simple effect that does a great job at making audiences impressed due to the issue that one can easily defeat the other. However, water, due to its nature, should not catch on fire, should it?

The Day the River Caught Fire is the story of how the explosion of the Cuyahoga River in 1969 was a key moment in people’s awareness of the environment.

the people near The mistake on the lake bred something combustible

The Museum on the Moon, sneaky STEM poetry with dreamy art

I know there’s a golf ball on the moon. I also know that there’s an American flag on the moon. What The Museum on the Moon taught me, among other things, is that the flag was mounted on a metal frame to make it appear that the wind was blowing on the moon, thus providing the illusion that it was flying. The book’s subtitle, The Curious Objects on the Lunar Surface, lets you in on the fact that these tidbits exist, and it does so in the most surprising of ways, via poetry.

The Museum on the Moon is STEM based poetry that won’t put kids to sleep. It will make their minds think and eyes wonder about the possibilities.

Fear not a poem that isn’t The raven