Today I’m once again happy to be hosting the Nonfiction Monday roundup. Every Monday bloggers across the kidlitosphere celebrate the best of nonfiction books for kids by writing about this sometimes overlooked category of books. If you’ve a recent post about a nonfiction book for children please leave a link to it in the comments and as the day progresses I’ll update this post to include all your reviews, comments and insights 🙂
My contribution this week is an interview with nonfiction author, Victoria Griffith. I reviewed her book, The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos Dumont, last week.
As it happens, the start of November saw the 2nd annual National Non-Fiction Day here in the UK and as part of the celebrations Natasha Worswick at Children’s Books for Grown Ups wrote a great piece titled “Why non-fiction?” to remind us why we celebrate nonfiction, whether it’s every Monday or on National Non-Fiction Day.
Jeanne Harvey Walker at True Tales and a Cherry on Top gives us a taste of a review of the autobiographical story Drawing From Memory written and illustrated by the Caldecott Medalist Allen Say
At NC Teacher Stuff Jeff has a review of Time to Eat written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page.
Over at Suburban Sonnet there is a review of Dorling Kindersley’s Children’s Encyclopaedia of Animals.
Myra from Gathering Books contributes to today’s Nonfiction Monday with a review of the Caldecott Honor book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond poems by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange
Rachel at Joyfully Weary shares a Dr Seuss biography perfect for preschools, plus lots of Seuss inspired activities.
Ms. Yingling has been reading Big Wig: A Little History of Hair by Kathleen Krull.
Amy at Delightful Children’s Books contributes 9 Children’s Books About Fish, a mixture of fiction and nonfiction.
The Nonfiction Detectives have a review of Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness by Donn Fendler with Lynn Plourde.
Louise at A Strong Belief in Wicker recently enjoyed reading a Dorling Kindersley Reader, Joan of Arc.
Ana, at her NonFiction Blog, has a review of How to Beat Pneumonia: a Life-saving Coloring Book created by students at John Hopkins University.
Jennifer, at the Jean Little Library, has a warning for us all about Build your own fort, igloo, and other hangouts by Tammy Enz!
In her contribution to Nonfiction Monday, Peggy Thomas celebrates 40 years of collaboration with her mother, nonfiction children’s writer Margery Facklam.
Laurie Thompson brings us a review of Only the Mountains Do Not Move: A Maasai Story of Culture and Conservation by Jan Reynolds
Roberta from Wrapped in Foil joins us today with a review of the Cybils nominee Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson.
Heidi reviews Amazing Eggs by Fran Hodgkins at Wild About Nature blog
At Simply Science Shirley has a review of Jason Chin’s new book, Coral Reefs.
Today at Bookends, Cindy and Lynn are featuring Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal.
At Apples with Many Seeds Tammy is focusing on the book Dan Eldon: Life as a Safari by Jennifer New.
Heidi at Geo Librarian has a review of two wilderness survival books that might go well with reading The Nonfiction Detectives contribution to this week’s round up.
Over at All About the Books with Janet Squires there’s a review of When Marian sang by Pam Munoz Ryan with illustrations by Brian Selznick.
Jen at Teach Mentor Texts has a review of Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building.
27 Responses
Jeanne Walker Harvey
Thanks for hosting Nonfiction Monday! As another nonfiction picture book biography author, I so enjoyed your interview of Victoria Griffith. I can’t wait to read her book (and I plan to review it on my blog). And, I think that’s terrific that the UK has a National Nonfiction Day!
At True Tales & A Cherry On Top, I’ve written about the autobiographical story, DRAWING FROM MEMORY, written and illustrated by the Caldecott Medalist Allen Say:
http://jeannewalkerharvey.blogspot.com/2011/11/drawing-from-memory.html
Jeff
Thank you for hosting today! I’m excited to see your interview. I can’t wait to get my hands on The Fabulous Flying Machines. At NC Teacher Stuff I have a review of Time to Eat:
http://ncteacherstuff.blogspot.com/2011/11/nonfiction-monday-time-to-eat.html
ANB
I did a not-so-recent (May 2011)review of the DK Children’s Encyclopaedia of Animals: http://suburbansonnet.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-of-week-dk-childrens-encylopedia.html
Myra from GatheringBooks
Hi Zoe, our nonfiction Monday contribution over at GatheringBooks is the Caldecott Honor book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond poems by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange. Thanks for hosting this week!
http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/nonfiction-monday-song-of-the-water-boatman/
Rachel
We just finished a Dr. Seuss unit & checked out a wonderful children’s biography from our local library. My 4 and 2 year old asked me to reread it several times, I highlighted it in this post,
http://joyfullyweary.blogspot.com/2011/11/preschool-syllabus-dr-seuss.html
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Ms. Yingling
Thanks for hosting! I have Krull’s Big Wig posted over at my blog.
Amy Broadmoore
Hi, Zoe. I’ll contribute 9 Children’s Books About Fish to this roundup. This booklist includes several fantastic nonfiction books about fish.
http://delightfulchildrensbooks.com/2011/11/08/fish/
The Nonfiction Detectives
The Nonfiction Detectives have a review of Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness on the blog today.
http://nonfictiondetectives.blogspot.com/2011/11/lost-trail-nine-days-alone-in.html
Louise
Hi, I’ve just recently found Nonfiction Monday-thanks for hosting. I think it’s a great idea. I do the occasional post on Junior Nonfiction, and last week I read Joan of Arc. A fascinating read.
http://astrongbeliefinwicker.blogspot.com/2011/11/joan-of-arc.html
Ana Maria Rodriguez
Thank you for hosting today! My conribution is my post “How to Beat Pneumonia: a Life-saving Coloring Book” at Ana’s NonFiction Blog here: http://anasnonfictionblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-you-can-beat-pneumonia-life-saving_14.html#links
Thank you!
Jennifer Wharton
My “review” is more of a warning…http://jeanlittlelibrary.blogspot.com/2011/11/nonfiction-monday-build-your-own-fort.html I looked at Build your own fort, igloo and other hangouts and was frankly disappointed.
Peggy Thomas
I celebrate 40 years of collaboration with my mother, nonfiction children’s writer Margery Facklam. http://anatomyofnonfiction.blogspot.com
http://www.Peggythomaswrites.com
Anatomy of Nonfiction: Writing True Stories for Children
Laurie Thompson
I review Only the Mountains Do Not Move at http://lauriethompson.com/2011/11/14/review-mountains-move/. Thanks for hosting!
Roberta
Hello,
I am in with a review of the Cybils nominee Trapped by Marc Aronson, http://blog.wrappedinfoil.com/2011/11/trapped-how-the-world-rescued-33-miners/
Hope things are going well for you.
Kim
This week, Heidi reviews Amazing Eggs by Fran Hodgkins at Wild About Nature blog.
http://wildaboutnaturewriters.blogspot.com/2011/11/nonfiction-monday-amazing-eggs.html
Thank you for hosting!
Shirley
Zoe, thank you for hosting today. I have Jason Chin’s new book, Coral Reefs.
http://simplyscience.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/coral-reefs/
Anastasia Suen
Thanks for hosting today, Zoe! I’m in with Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World’s Greatest Escape Artist by Janice Weaver (Author) and Chris Lane (Illustrator) http://wp.me/p1fHyF-dV
Lynn Rutan
Today at Bookends, Cindy and I are featuring Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal.
Thanks for hosting!
Lynn
Tammy Flanders
Thanks for looking after today’s event, Zoe.
At Apples with Many Seeds I’m focusing on the book Dan Eldon: Life as a Safari by Jennifer New. Fascinating.
Tammy
http://applewithmanyseedsdoucette.blogspot.com/2011/11/if-you-choose-to-accept-this-mission.html
Heidi Grange
Thanks for hosting. I have a review of two wilderness survival books at Geo Librarian.
http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/11/nonfiction-monday-wilderness-survival.html
Janet Squires
Thanks for hosting.
My selection is “When Marian sang: the true recital of Marian Anderson the voice of a century” by Pam Munoz Ryan with illustrations by Brian Selznick.
Jen
I just reviewed Sky Boys last week. I love the poetic writing and the story of when the Empire State Building was built. 🙂 Thanks for collecting all these nonfiction posts! i’ve been trying to read more nonfiction this year in general. 🙂
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2011/11/sky-boys-how-they-built-empire-state.html
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Pamela Miles
The Homeschool Magazine just did a nice review of Soccer World: Spain published by Nomad Press. http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/5014.php
Pamela Miles
Great review of Explore Winter published by Nomad Press from Random Walk Down Mommy Street. http://randomwalkdownmommystreet.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-vacation-days-approching.html
Pamela Miles
Ordinary Life Magic gave a fantastic review of Amazing Math Projects You Can Build Yourself published by Nomad Press. http://www.ordinarylifemagic.com/2011/11/review-and-give-away.html