Do you know any kids who love dinosaurs? How would they feel if they found real dinosaur bones right in their own backyard!? Well, that’s what happened to Ruth Mason, only she didn’t know what they were at first!
This is an incredible true story that took place in South Dakota in 1905. I love the beautiful illustrations by Alexandra Bye and that the story is about a girl! Girls can love dinosaurs and paleontology, just as much as boys!
This is a great book to give as a gift or pickup for your own collection.
In honor of Halloween, here is a true story for you and/or your older teens that will give you all the chills! 👻
Candace Fleming is an incredibly talented author and she has taken mountains of primary source material and crafted it into a true crime tale that feels like a thriller.
Back in the 1920s in Chicago, two teenagers decided to brutally murder an innocent child in order to collect ransom money. More than the money though, their main motivation was to prove they could pull off the perfect crime and never get caught.
And they might have gotten away with it, but for one little mistake–a dropped pair of prescription glasses. 👓
The first part of this book is about the actual crime and capture, and then moves on to the boys’ confessions and the ensuing courtroom battle.
The part I found most compelling was the courtroom arguments regarding mental health. This was a landmark case because there wasn’t a lot of precedent at this time for pleading insanity or for trying teenagers for murder.
This book isn’t for the weak of heart! That being said, Fleming keeps the violence matter-of-fact and the focus of the book is really on the psychology of the boys and the legal system of the time. She addresses relevant contributing factors like police corruption, anti-semitism, the boys’ homosexual relationship, nature vs. nurture, and wealth & privilege with exquisite care, which makes for great discussion starters for you and your teens.
If you’re feeling brave, go ahead and give this thought-provoking book a try.
I posted earlier about reading the Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution with my boys. What I didn’t anticipate was how it opened up their desire to learn more about the war. I love seeing it, and I was quick to take advantage with Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales graphic novels.
While these books have a fictional storytelling framework, most of the information is nonfiction. These two are about the Revolution, and my boys swallowed them whole, as well as some of his others. They’re funny and silly, all while teaching about real events.
I pulled out my copy of 1776 by David McCullough, and they loved all the handwritten letter, map and newspaper reproductions. It was interesting to see the difference between the maps the Americans had, with the poorly drawn ones in the hands of the British.
If you haven’t read this book yet, you simply must pick it up! The literary STEM prose of Henry Herz and the gorgeous, ethereal illustrations of Mercè López are the perfect combination.
Growing up, we learn how dangerous smoke is, but this book also shows how it has been used for good over time. I love the fun twist of the smoke itself narrating the story. It speaks in riddles with a poetic rhythm that gives it an alluring timelessness that is just so, so perfect!
Herz and López also teamed up for a follow up book that released this spring called I AM GRAVITY.
Both of these books are great for reading out loud and discussing, plus they have excellent backmatter for the truly curious!
This true crime thriller is the perfect book to hook kids on nonfiction. Did you know that in 1865 over 50% of America’s paper money was counterfeit? It was a HUGE problem for the country, and so it became the one and only task of the nation’s new Secret Service organization to put a stop to it.
Steve Sheinkin is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this book was my first introduction to his work. It’s a real page-turner, filled with daring escapes and unbelievable plots, and the best part is that it all really happened! Sheinkin pulls actual dialogue and fantastic details from the audio transcripts and reports that are available because one secret service officer was able to infiltrate the counterfeiting gang that was trying steal Abraham Lincoln’s dead body!
My boys loved this book as much as I did, and I’m sure you will, too!
Lots of giggles with this fun counting down picture book! You start the book with 13 flies, and each then gets caught and eaten in a different way–whether they’re wrapped up like a burrito by a garden spider or stuffed in a hole to feed the larvae of a wasp.
The animal world is weird and wonderful, and there is plenty of gross factor here to go along with it! David Clark’s illustrations, with the delightful animal expressions, are the perfect complement to Sue Heavenrich’s prose.
Check out the hilarious nutritional facts for eating a serving of flies at the end!
As a mother and a writer, I find great satisfaction from what I call “sneaky teaching.” When I can read something to my kids that gets them laughing out loud while teaching them about our world, it is just so rewarding! They don’t even know they’re learning!
The “Thrifty Traveler” series of books are perfect examples of sneaky teaching. They have a cleverly-designed fictional framework, in that they are set up as guidebooks that are produced by a fictional time travel company. It is a fantastic hook for all the fascinating and fun nonfiction material about what it was really like during these times in history.
Every morning before school, when my youngest boys were about 8 and 10 years old, they begged me to read them these while they ate breakfast. The first one we devoured was American Revolution where we learned how to fire a musket, what to do under cannon fire, and all about the Sons of Liberty, Henry Knox and his cannons, Bunker Hill, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and much more!
How do you get in “sneaky teaching” with your kids?
This little picture book is the perfect example of how much fun nonfiction books for kids are nowadays. The talented Gene Barretta, who used to animate for Sesame Street, is the author and illustrator of Now & Ben. Barretta uses a compare & contrast structure to highlight Ben Franklin’s original inventions and how those inventions are still used today, and it is absolutely delightful!
It’s history and science, and it gives little ones the perfect way to see how one person can change the world.
I am a huge fan of Jason Chin! He is a such a talented author/illustrator, and I saved his Grand Canyon picture book to give to my boys when we could actually go there. When the day finally came, it did not disappoint! I hadn’t been to the Grand Canyon since I was a child, and I was awestruck—the scale and beauty just cannot be captured in photos.
Jason Chin’s illustrations come close though! My boys poured over this book on the way there, and then dazzled us all with their knowledge of how the canyon was formed, what creatures lived there long ago, and what the various layers of rock signified. It made the experience all the richer!
A clever technique Chin uses in this book to make it fun for kids is the unspoken narrative he tells in the illustrations of a father and daughter who are hiking and camping in the canyon. Whenever her father’s back is turned, she finds a clue to the Grand Canyon’s past, like a fossil. The book uses cutouts for these, and when you turn the page, you see what the canyon might of looked like when that fossil was formed. It’s a lot of fun and really brings home the history and geology of such an incredible place.
Books for Curious Kids 