Children's Non-Fiction
A young student receives a family tree assignment in school, but she can only trace back three generations. Grandma gathers the whole family, and the student learns that 400 years ago, in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders.
But before that, they had a home, a land, a language. She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived.
And the people planted dreams and hope,
willed themselves to keep
living, living. And the people learned new words
for love
for friend
for family for joy
for grow
for home. With powerful verse and striking illustrations by Nikkolas Smith, Born on the Water provides a pathway for readers of all ages to reflect on the origins of American identity.
Incredible animals await in Catherine Macorol's A Is for Axolotl--not the tame or the merely wild, but the strangest, most fascinating creatures of all!
Readers will join an alphabet adventure that spans the globe as they climb trees with the binturong (also known as the bearcat), glide through the rainforest canopy with the colugo, and deep dive with the Dumbo octopus. Get ready for close encounters with axolotls, binturongs, colugos, dumbo octopuses, echidnas, fossas, gerenuks, hyraxes, ibex, jerboas, kiwis, lorises, maned wolves, naked mole rats, okapis, pangolins, quokkas, red pandas, saigas, thorny dragons, uakaris, vaquitas, water bears, xenopus, yeti crabs, and zebra duikers.Save a lot of energy
and keep our world clean.
For every kind of living thing
let's try to be more green.
In The Big Book of Blooms, the next installment in the wildly successful Big Book series, Yuval Zommer's charming illustrations bring to life some of the most colorful, flamboyant, and unusual flowers from across the globe.
In the opening pages, readers will learn all about botany, including how to recognize different types of flowers. Subsequent pages illustrate the various habitats that are home to flora such as pitcher plants, the giant water lily, and the weirdly wonderful corpse flower. Readers will discover which flowers are endangered and why some blooms are fragrant or colorful, not to mention grisly details about carnivorous and poisonous flowers.
This title pairs picture-book charm and concise, informative text to create a beautiful book for children to return to. Zommer's quirky illustrations appeal to young readers, who will relish these fun and amazing facts about the world's most exciting plants.
Following the wild success of The Big Book of Bugs and The Big Book of Beasts, The Big Book of the Blue is the third installment in Yuval Zommer's beloved series. Alongside everything the young oceanographer needs to know, Zommer's charming illustrations bring to life some of the slipperiest, scaliest, strangest, and most monstrous underwater animals.
The book opens by explaining how different types of animals are able to breathe and survive underwater, and the different families to which they belong. Subsequent pages are dedicated to specific creatures, including sea turtles, whales, sharks, stingrays, and seahorses, and show varied life in specific habitats, such as a coral reef or deep sea bed. The Big Book of the Blue also explores the underwater world thematically, looking at animals in danger, learning how to spot creatures at the beach, and discovering how to do our part to save sea life. Beautiful and filled with fascinating facts, young, curious readers won't be able to tear their eyes away from the page.
A grand adventure? And it's free!
A green delicious fantasy?
Behold our magical garden. There's a lot more to gardens than meets the eye! In this collection of buoyant poems filled with fun facts, young nature enthusiasts and budding gardeners are called on to help solve a mystery by the compost bin, join a Wild West-style standoff between some good bugs and a few bad ones, interview the sun to find out what happens when it drinks a glass of water, and learn the fancy names of plants to spice up dinner conversation. They'll be spurred to grab their own gardening tools, drop in some seeds, encounter a few insects, gather fresh vegetables, and find a whole lot of magic. Allan Wolf's playful poems and Daniel Duncan's whimsically detailed, welcoming illustrations combine in a charming celebration of the many wonders and lessons to be learned from a school garden. For further inspiration, engaging notes on the poems and an author's note on jotting down observations can be found in the back matter.
Hop on the bike with Bessie Stringfield, the motorcycle queen of Miami, in this powerful picture book from Coretta Scott King medalist Charles R. Smith, Jr. and debut picture book illustrator Charlot Kristensen.
The folks they lined up to meet the Motorcycle Queen, seated sidesaddle on her motorbike machine.
In 1929, 18-year-old Bessie Stringfield hopped on her motorcycle and headed out on an adventure, an unusual choice for a young Black woman at the time. Paying her way by winning motorcycle races, she criss-crossed the country through small towns, big cities, and wide open spaces.
But not everyone was happy to see Bessie's brown face peeking out from underneath her helmet. And more than once, Bessie found herself making some quick exits on the back of her bike to escape Jim Crow. A trailblazer in the world of women's racing and motorcycling, Bessie Stringfield was a figure who will inspire all children to pursue their dreams.
From the first line, award-winning author Charles R. Smith Jr.'s poetry evokes emotion, excitement, fear, and wonder in equal measures. Charlot Kristensen portrays Bessie and the American landscape with vivid imagery that is sure to capture the attention of young readers.
A much-needed story about a Black woman who paved the way for future generations, for fans of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson and My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero and Zeke Peña.
In the first pages, children learn that bugs live nearly everywhere on the planet and gain tips on how to become a young bug spotter. As the book continues, the scenic compositions on each page are dedicated to key groups of bugs, including beetles, moths, butterflies, bees, snails, crickets, grasshoppers, worms, and spiders. Some spreads approach the world of bugs thematically, such as bugs that come out at night, baby bugs, and life cycles, how bugs hide and show off, and how some bugs love to live in your home. The conversational, funny text is also full of facts that will astonish children and adults, and accompanied by Yuval Zommer's colorful illustrations.
"[A] perceptive view of a major milestone in the environmental movement. . . . this story offers a template for the sort of internal sea change required to spark real concern for environmental - or any other - issues." -Kirkus Reviews Twenty million people across the country made their voices heard on the first Earth Day. Some came out to celebrate the environment, while others protested and demanded change. A movement was born. In 1969, Union Oil caused an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara that would change the world. Hazardous crude oil from the blowout flooded the Pacific Ocean, harming wildlife and devastating habitats. But from this ecological disaster sprang a new wave of environmental activism that continues to this day. Based on actual events, Black Beach: A Community, an Oil Spill, and the Origin of Earth Day follows Sam and her classmates as they fight back. Sam initially feels powerless watching her parents and neighbors try to clean up the oil spill. But as her awareness grows, she learns she's not alone in caring for the Earth. The impact of the spill seeps into living rooms and classrooms across the nation. People everywhere are motivated to act, and a movement to protect and celebrate the environment is born.
This beautifully illustrated biography of Edwin Hubble explores the curiosity that he possessed from a young age, and the many questions that he asked about our universe. This book invites children to ponder these questions as well: How many stars are in the sky? How did the universe begin? Where did it come from?
★ A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids of 2021
★ A Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) Loveliest Children's Book of 2021
★ A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of 2022, of Outstanding Merit
★ An Air & Space Magazine Best Children's Book of 2021
★ A EUREKA! Nonfiction Children's Book Honor Award Winner (California Reading Association)
★ Nominated for a 2023 Beehive Award for Children's Informational Books (Children's Literature Association of Utah)
This is the story of Edwin Hubble, a boy fascinated by the stars who surmounted many hurdles to follow his dreams of becoming an astronomer. Using the insights of great mathematicians and endlessly observing the sky, he succeeded in confirming two things that altered human life forever: that there are more galaxies than our own, and that the universe is always expanding. Hubble's message to us is to find peace in the vastness of the mystery surrounding us, and to be curious. "We do now know why we are born into the world," he said, "but we can try to find out what sort of world it is."
From a lowly mixture of stone, sand, water, and cement have sprung sidewalks, streets, and skyscrapers, sturdy lighthouses and magnificent palaces, long bridges and massive dams. In ancient building practices, in modern engineering, and in the architecture of the future, humble concrete plays a mighty role in the creation of the human-made world. Brimming with facts and spiced with clever running narrative in the form of repartee-filled speech bubbles, Concrete is as intimate and entertaining as it is informative and visually sweeping. Curious readers of all ages--from would-be engineers to science and history buffs to retro-design lovers--will delight in this bold, one-of-a-kind guide to the (literal) bedrock of civilization, amplified by a bibliography in the back matter.