Children's Books for Parents and Teachers
Nonfiction

What do menus, road signs, Web sites, and books about sports, hobbies, history, science, and math have in common? They are all nonfiction! Bring the following cross-curricular collection of colorful and engaging books into your classroom to get your students excited about “reading to learn.”

A Pair of Wings - Book Cover

Fairies and other storybook characters that fly make wings seem magical. So does Marilyn Singer, even though this book is pure nonfiction. Facts about wings are just truly remarkable. Dragonflies can zoom up to 60 miles per hour. Ordinary houseflies can take off backwards or sideways. And did you know that not all wings are used for flying? Kid-friendly illustrations, interspersed with scientific drawings, bring the winged world to life!


Building Big - Book Cover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 2000

Future designers, engineers, and architects will find hours of discovery in Macauley’s newest book about what can be accomplished with common sense, imagination, and technology. It focuses on the design challenges and solutions that go into the building of everyday structures — bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams. It also contains detailed drawings and a glossary.


Cats - Book Cover

Cats is part of a series of nonfiction readers about animals that have kid-friendly illustrations with helpful labels. It’s a great introduction to the behavior and characteristics of felines and includes information on the history of their domestication, descriptions of different breeds, and a primer on cat body language. Additional pages provide a list of famous sayings about felines, as well as tips on caring for your pet.


Crashed, Smashed, and Mashed: A Trip to Junkyard Heaven - Book Cover

Twelve million cars are recycled in the United States and Canada every year. This book shows the recycling process from the moment the car is hauled to the junkyard until its crushed chassis is delivered to a recycling shredding center. A glossary of terms and recycling facts are included.


Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books - Book Cover

Paulsen writes about the real events that influenced Brian Robeson’s story in Hatchet. Paulsen’s stint as a volunteer emergency worker, experiences racing dogs in Alaska, and other hair-raising exploits give a glimpse into the real-life adventures that inspire his characters.


Hatshepsut: His Majesty, Herself - Book Cover

Hatshepsut’s male siblings died, leaving her young nephew pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Although second-in-command, Hatshepsut gradually took more and more control and had herself crowned. There was no word in her language for a female ruler, so she called herself pharaoh, or king, a male title. She began to wear men’s clothing and a gold beard in public. After Hatshepsut died, her nephew destroyed symbols and statues of her in an attempt to erase all signs of her reign. In spite of this, archaeologists have pieced together the remarkable story …


Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale - Book Cover
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children

Using a combination of muted black-and-white photographs and expressive illustrations, this stunning book tells a brilliantly true-to-life tale about what happens when Daddy’s in charge and things go terribly, hilariously wrong.


Mighty Mississippi: The Life and Times of America’s Greatest River - Book Cover

The winding, epic history of one of America’s greatest natural wonders.

The mighty Mississippi River has wound its way through our country’s heartland—and the course of history—for thousands of years. Formed when the last glaciers of the Ice Age melted, the river became a 2,550-mile-long drainage basin for almost half of the United States. Before Europeans arrived in the New World, it was a means of exploration and trade for Native Americans. It later witnessed some of the most pivotal events in American history, from the Revolutionary War to the …


Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden - Book Cover
Publisher: Tricycle Press, 1999

Seeds sprout. Flowers bloom. Bees buzz. Pumpkins grow. Pumpkins decay and return to the earth. Spare lyrical text accompanies vivid close-up photographs showing the life cycle of pumpkins. You’ll also find information about growing your own pumpkins.


Rice Is Life - Book Cover

Fact-filled poetry and prose, accompanied by exquisite watercolor illustrations, communicate the importance of nasi (rice) to the people of Bali. As children turn the pages they will join the Balinese in the sawahs, or rice fields, as they grow this life-sustaining grain.


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