Children are curious about everything, and excellent nonfiction books provide an important avenue to learning, answering questions, and generating new questions and answers that hadn’t been thought of before.
Interested minds need to be nourished, and when they are, interesting people emerge. A steady diet of nonfiction provides a rich and ever-expanding base of knowledge.
Check out the reviewed books below and ask your local librarian to point you in the direction of others. It’s up to the adult to make it happen for a child.
Books to borrow
The following book is available at many public libraries.
“Home at Last — A Song of Migration” by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Alix Berenzy, Henry Holt, 36 pages
Read aloud: ages 4 to 5 and older.
Read yourself: age 8 and older.
Sayre and Berenzy have created a most unusual, beautiful book that celebrates the courage, determination and instinctual drive of migratory animals in their pursuit to reach their home. For some, the journey may only be a few miles. For others, it may be hundreds of miles or even halfway around the earth.
In spare text and soft, almost dream-like illustrations, readers learn about the sea turtles, arctic terns, wood frogs, warblers, salmon, monarch butterflies, gray whales, caribou and lobsters.
There is something very reassuring about this book as it gently demonstrates that “home” is a special place for all creatures.
Librarian’s choice
Library: Edmonds Library, 650 Main St., Edmonds
Director: Lesly Kaplan
Children’s librarian: Edith Farrar
Choices this week: “Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World” by Jennifer Armstrong; “Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini” by Sid Fleischman; “Owen &Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship” by Isabella Hatkoff
Books to buy
“Dinomummy: The Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek” by Dr. Phillip Lars Manning, foreword by Tyler Lyson, 64 pages
Read aloud: age 9 and older.
Read yourself: age 10 and older.
In the age of the dinosaurs, a hadrosaur emerges from the ferns and lush plants that line the river in what we now call South Dakota. The animal thinks only of surviving another day in Hell Creek, but that day would be his last.
More than 65 million years later, 16-year-old Tyler Lyson discovers the body of that dinosaur and names it Dakota. What is particularly exciting about his find is that the body is so well preserved it may change the way experts think about dinosaurs. Why? Dakota is a dinomummy, one of the best preserved dinosaurs ever found.
Read what life was like for Dakota on the floodplains of North America. How did Dakota die? How did the body remain so well preserved for millions of years? How did paleontologists excavate Dakota and what have they learned?
Fascinating from start to finish, this incredible offering far surpasses any children’s dinosaur book I’ve ever read. For any serious dinosaur enthusiast, this book is a must-read.
“Knights &Castles” by Philip Dixon, photographs and illustrations from various sources, 64 pages
Read aloud: age 8 and older.
Read yourself: age 9 and older.
Knights and castles are brought to life in this extraordinary offering. Each double-page spread addresses a specific topic in brief, engaging text with additional breakout information that further explains the dramatic state-of-the-art 3-D illustrations.
Everything a young mind wants to know about knights and castles is included here, and much, much more.
Nationally syndicated, Kendal Rautzhan writes and lectures on children’s literature. She can be reached via e-mail: kendal@sunlink.net.
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