Nonfiction

History books kids will want to read

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game by Kadir Nelson (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 112 pages, grades 4-8). This history of basketball starts with a chapter called Pregame that describes the invention of basketball on a rainy winter’s day in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts. In four quarters, Kadir Nelson takes readers through the history of the game from that point, focusing especially on Black contributions. There’s a chapter on the development of the NBA, another called The Revolutionaries that profiles some of the greats of the sport, and one that looks at winning teams over the years. The section labeled Halftime tells about the American Basketball Association (ABA) that only lasted a decade but had an outsized influence on the NBA. A final chapter called Overtime gives a brief history of women’s basketball. Includes an author’s note, timeline, glossary, index, and lists of notes and sources.

This book will fly off the shelves at my school. The cover is eye-catching, and Kadir Nelson’s illustrations capture the speed, motion, and excitement of basketball with plenty of portraits of players many readers idolize. The text is written in an easy conversational tone, perfect for the subject, but there’s a lot of it, and I’m guessing many kids will focus on the illustrations. I’d love to see the final chapter, which felt a little tacked-on, expanded into an entire book about women’s basketball.

My Bicentennial Summer: True Adventures from the Most Epic Family Road Trip of All Time by G. Neri, illustrated by Corban Wilkin (Candlewick, 96 pages, grades 2-6). The summer G. Neri was eight years old, two things happened: America threw itself an epic 200th birthday party and his family decided to take a road trip to from southern California to Washington, D.C. and back again to be part of the celebration. In a 1967 wood-paneled station wagon (10 miles per gallon) and a pop-up tent trailer, Neri and his parents and two older brothers set off. The story is told in a scrapbook style, with illustrations of the family and cartoon bubbles drawn atop photos of the sights they saw. Taking the southern route to head east, they arrived in D.C. in time for a parade on July 3rd, then scrambled to Philadelphia for another one on the Fourth. They somehow got lost and wound up watching the People’s Bicentennial, which was a alternative protest parade, but that proved to be an interesting lesson as well. After catching the fireworks in Philly, they headed back west via the northern route, finishing up with a luxurious stay in Las Vegas before arriving home after seven weeks away. Neri ended up with plenty of material for “What I did over my summer vacation,” as well inspiration to live a life of travel and adventure. Includes an author’s note, facts about the United States, a list of big questions (with partial answers) about American history, additional information about traveling, and a list of recommended reading.

As a veteran of both the Bicentennial (as a child) and some fairly epic family road trips (as an adult), I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book, and it surpassed my expectations. I thought it might be an exercise in nostalgia that wouldn’t be of much interest to 21st-century kids, but it captures the excitement, boredom, mishaps, and ultimately rewards of a long road trip in any era. As a biracial family traveling in the 1970’s, the Neris got into a few sketchy situations, and the author doesn’t shy away from noticing inequalities in the country. Ultimately, though, he celebrates America, the Founding Fathers, and the ideas of democracy, while emphasizing the need to protect and build on those ideals.

Magic in the air

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Houdini’s Library: How Books Created the World’s Greatest Magician by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mar Delmar (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 48 pages, grades 2-5). As the son of a rabbi, Erik Weisz loved poring over his father’s collection of books. After the family moved from Hungary to the U.S., they fell on hard times, and Erik’s dad had to sell off his library. Young Erik (or Ehrie, as he was known in America) used the money he made working in a factory to buy his own books. A ten-cent book by Jean Robert-Houdin, Father of Modern Magic, changed his life, and he started collecting books that taught him how to do magic. The rest is early-twentieth-century-magic history, as Ehrie Weisz became Harry Houdini, master magician and escape artist. He used the money he made from that career to build a vast library of books and other memorabilia related to magic and was a voracious reader all his life. Includes an author’s note with additional information and photos of Houdini and an illustrator’s note about how she made the cut-paper illustrations.

Harry Houdini’s life and career are always fascinating to read about, and this biography really humanizes him, focusing on his early struggles and the way books launched his career and helped lift him out of poverty. The illustrations are truly amazing works of art, magically capturing both Houdini’s amazing stunts and his vast collection of books.

Marie’s Magic Eggs: How Marie Procai Kept the Ukrainian Art of Pysanky Alive by Sandra Neil Wallace, illustrated by Evan Turk (Calkins Creek, 48 pages, grades 2-5). As a child growing up in a Ukrainian village, Marie Procai loved making pysanky eggs with her grandmother every Easter. But when war and famine came to Ukraine, Marie followed her older brothers to North America. She settled in Minneapolis, where she married, raised a family, and learned how to continue the pysanky egg tradition in her Ukrainian community. When her son was killed in World War II, Marie channeled her grief into helping Ukrainian refugees and continuing her art. She and her family went on to open the Ukrainian Gift Shop, first in her living room and later in a Minneapolis store, where she sold pysanky eggs, supplies, and her own books about how to make the eggs. Her art reflects the legend that as long as pysanky are decorated, there will be good in the world. Includes an author’s note about her own connection to pysanky eggs through her Ukrainian heritage, plus additional information about Marie and pysanky, with photos, a pronunciation guide, a playlist, a list of museums and festivals that feature pysanky, and a bibliography.

Just in time for springtime and Easter, this fascinating biography shows how Marie Procai brought her art and love for all things Ukrainian to her adopted homeland, using it to build a community and help other immigrants. Evan Turk’s illustrations bring the eggs in all their colorful glory to rich, vibrant life.

Safety in numbers

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The Big Book of Pi: The Famous Number You Can Never Know by Anita Lehmann and Jean-Baptiste Aubin, illustrated by Joonas Sildre (Helvetiq, 88 pages, grades 4 and up). Divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter, and the answer will always be the same: an irrational number beginning with the digits 3.14. Medieval mathematicians called this number “the quantity which when the diameter is multiplied by it, yields the circumference” (only in Latin), but thankfully, an 18th century Welsh mathematician named William Jones changed the name to pi or π, as we like to say in Greek. But enough history, how about some cool pi tricks? Did you know that you can find your six-digit birthdate somewhere in pi’s digits (mine starts at the 172,406th decimal place. Don’t worry, I googled it.). Oh, and there are jokes: what do you get when a bunch of sheep stand in a circle? Shepherd’s pi. The final pages explains how little we still know about pi, despite advances in computer calculations, and reminds readers to stay curious and open-minded about learning about pi and other phenomena. Includes a glossary and a QR code for an educator’s guide.

Well, this was fun! I never expected a book about pi to be even a fraction this entertaining, but the chatty text, comic-style illustrations, and cool activities drew me in from the first page. Some of the math activities required a little too much brain power for me to pursue, but this only proves the wide range of readers that will find something to love about this book. Math teachers from grades 4 through high school (and beyond, really) will want to get their hands on this to add some engaging history and activities to classes.

Twelve Daring Grays: A Whale Migration Adventure by Nora Nickum, illustrated by Elly McKay (Candlewick, 32 pages, grades 1-4). As a pod of 20,000 gray whales migrate from Baja California to the Arctic, a dozen of them make a detour to the Salish Sea off the coast of Washington. There they risk getting stranded in the shallow waters to feast on the ghost shrimp that live in the mud along the bottom of the sea. Since the whales eat almost nothing during their migration, this stop allows them to gain strength. A few weeks later, they rejoin the rest of their pod whose final destination is the Arctic. They spend the summer there before heading back south where their calves will be born. Includes an author’s note about these gray whales known as the Sounders that has grown from a pair that was first spotted in 1990 to larger group in this book.

The whales in this beautiful book look like they are about to pop off the page in the three-dimensional illustrations that portray them swimming and eating in gorgeous blue and gray waters. Readers will be filled with wonder about this small group of whales and the risky but rewarding side trip they take from their migration.

A couple of how-to guides

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How to Have a Thought: A Walk With Charles Darwin by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Hadley Hooper (Neal Porter Books, 32 pages, grades 2-5). Start with some rocks, a stick, and a loop to walk. That’s all Charles Darwin needed for his walks. He would walk the loop and pile up the rocks to keep track of how many times he had gone around. And the whole time he walked, he was thinking. Thinking about what he had seen during his years traveling around the world on the Beagle: the fossil of a giant sloth, a flightless bird called a rhea (which he actually ate by accident), and the finches with subtly different beaks. As he walked and thought, Darwin slowly developed his ideas about natural selection. There have been many great walkers–William Wordsworth, Albert Einstein, Virginia Woolf, to name a few–and you can be one of them too, with your stick, your rocks, and your ideas. Includes a four-page author’s note with additional information about Charles Darwin and walking, and a bibliography.

I’ve loved Nicholas Day’s longer works that combined science, art, and history using a tone that invites readers to share in his discoveries. He’s done it again, this time with a picture book that focuses on Charles Darwin’s walking, then weaves in all kinds of interesting information about his work on natural selection and evolution and ends by including readers with those who can walk and have great ideas.

How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction by Katy Doughty (MITeen Press, March 31, 2026, 256 pages, grades 9-12). How will humanity end? Pandemic, nuclear winter, climate change? Katy Doughty takes a look at the history and possibility of each catastrophe in a way that is serious, yet optimistic enough to conjure up the will to keep going. Each chapter includes an “Ask an Expert” section in which a scholar of that particular topic weighs in. The final chapter, “The End?” is a brief but inspiring meditation on the courage required to face the possibilities of humanity ending and to look for your own role in possibly changing some of those outcomes. Includes a list for further reading, source notes, and a bibliography.

When this book arrived in the mail for a preview, I felt some existential dread at opening the front cover, but I forced myself to read the first chapter (Plagues and Pandemics), and was pleasantly surprised by how interesting and thought-provoking it was, with the illustrations making it a pretty quick and engaging read. The end of humanity may lurk at the back (or front) of all our minds, and teenagers experiencing this angst for the first time will find some interesting and hopefully inspiring reading here.

Courageous Journeys

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Seven Million Steps: The True Story of Dick Gregory’s Run for the Hungry by Derrick Barnes and Christian Gregory, illustrated by Frank Morrison (Amistad Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, grades 1-5). “What would you do if you knew someone who goes to bed every night without having supper?” This opening question is answered by an account of Dick Gregory’s 1976 run from Los Angeles to New York City: you would travel thousands of miles with very little food, subsisting mostly on juice, vitamins, and water to bring attention to those who are hungry across the country. You would cover 50 miles a day across twelve states, talking to anyone who would listen about what you’re doing and why. You would overcome pain and hunger to cross the George Washington Bridge into NYC on the Fourth of July, the 200th anniversary of the United States. Includes additional information about Dick Gregory’s run and hunger vs. food insecurity, as well as notes from the authors (one of whom is Gregory’s son) and illustrator, and three photos from the run.

I finished this book with more questions than answers and ended up spending some time learning about Dick Gregory and this run. His story is inspiring and is told here in a way to get kids to think about actions they can take to make the world a better place. I loved Frank Morrison’s illustrations showing different vistas of America and capturing the highs and lows of the run. I did find the story a bit confusing, particularly the second-person narration, which draws the reader in, but doesn’t give a straightforward account of the events. If you’re reading this to kids, be prepared to answer some questions.

The Gift of Freedom: How Harriet Tubman Rescued Her Brothers by Glennette Tilley Turner, illustrated by Laura Freeman (Harry N. Abrams, 40 pages, grades 2-5). Starting with Harriet Tubman’s own escape in 1852, this book focuses on how Tubman helped others in her family find their way to freedom, specifically her three brothers. Her plan was to travel to Maryland at Christmas in 1854, when they were given permission to gather for a family Christmas dinner. The siblings met in secret at their parents’ home, where they were helped by their father, who averted his eyes or blindfolded himself so that he could honestly tell anyone who asked that he had not seen them. Following the familiar routes and safe houses that she had learned about, Harriet led her brothers to Philadelphia, where they were given new identities and put on a train to Canada. Includes a selected bibliography, a letter to readers, and an author’s note, which emphasizes how Harriet Tubman always learned as much as she could and befriended people with skills she lacked to allow her to be as successful as possible.

This compelling story with its striking illustrations offers plenty of drama and shows Harriet Tubman’s courage and skill that allowed her to help so many people escape slavery. The author’s note lists her other accomplishments helping to fight in the Civil War and working for women’s rights. The ending felt a bit abrupt, and there was no follow-up to the mention of Tubman’s attempts to rescue her husband, and I had to learn via other sources that he remarried and chose to stay in Maryland.

Two writers’ beginnings

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Otherwise Known as Judy the Great: A Poetic Ode to Judy Blume by Selina Alko (Christy Ottaviano Books, 48 pages, grades 2-6). This collection of poems traces Judy Blume’s life from her birth in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1938 to her earliest days as a writer, when she started creating books based on her own childhood and that of her two children. In between, readers will learn of some of the influences on Judy’s books: her fears growing up in a Jewish family during World War II and worries about her fathers after several of his siblings passed away; her questions about growing up and her changing body that she and her friends (the Pre-Teen Kittens) explored together; and her quest for freckles that drove her to mix up a crazy concoction to try to make them appear on her face. The author’s note tells more about Judy’s life and career, as well the influence Blume’s books had on her own adolescence.

Poems and evocative illustrations show how Judy’s early years influenced her writing. Fans will enjoy learning about scenes from her life that were later turned into books and be inspired how she took seemingly ordinary events from her childhood to tell stories that so many kids rcan elate to.

Small-Girl Zora and the Shower of Stories: A Tall Tale Based on the Life and Work of Zora Neale Hurston by Giselle Anatol, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa (Viking Books for Young Readers, 32 pages, ages 4-8). Small-Girl Zora loves telling stories and is unfazed when people like her father tell her to be quiet and more ladylike. She travels around her small town, sharing her tales and trying to collect the tears of laughter they elicit to help her family during a drought. Even though reactions are mixed, there’s enough positive feedback for Zora to keep going, and as she heads for home, she can hear the influence of her stories as she feels the first drops of rain on her skin. Includes a two-page author’s note with additional information about Zora Neale Hurston and the stories she wrote that are woven into this tall tale.

This enchanting tale, told in a style that evokes Hurston’s works, is an engaging introduction to the writer and her stories that can be enjoyed by both younger readers and older ones who are more familiar her writing. Her hometown of Eatonville, Florida is lovingly portrayed in the gorgeous illustrations, as are some of the characters from her stories.

Two early awards contenders for 2027

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The Dream Builder’s Blueprint: Dr. King’s Message to Young People by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (Calkins Creek, 32 pages, grades 2-8). In the foreword, Alice Faye Duncan explains that the text of this book is an erasure poem, a form of found poetry, in which she took a 1,765-word speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to a Philadelphia junior high school in 1967 and distilled it to 277 words. This brief text captures the essence of the speech, in which Dr. King encouraged his audience to build a blueprint for their lives: believing in themselves, choosing a life’s purpose, working for peace and justice, and practicing nonviolence. Words in the poem are capitalized and printed in large, colorful fonts for emphasis, while the illustrations show the hope and hard word needed to build such a blueprint. Includes additional history about this speech with a link to a YouTube video of it, a list of the historical figures mentioned in the speech with the dates of their lives and a sentence about their achievements, victories from the American Civil Rights Movement, directions for writing your own erasure poem, and a bibliography.

There’s so much more to this book than meets the eye, and readers will learn about this inspiring speech that Dr. King made to kids (something he seldom did), as well as receiving instruction and encouragement for creating their own erasure poetry. Although the announcement of 2027 awards is almost a year away, I hope this will be considered, especially for Coretta Scott King recognition.

Troubled Waters: A River’s Journey Toward Justice by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Bryan Collier (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 40 pages, grades 2-5). The Alabama River tells its story, briefly recounting the millions of years it has flowed from Montgomery to Mobile, witnessing the arrival of the Choctaw, who gave it its name that means “Thicket Clearers,” and later, the Europeans, who brought with them ships carrying enslaved Africans. It witnessed the Trail of Tears, the rise of the Black Belt and its cotton plantations, and battles of the Civil War. A bridge was built over it, and eventually, that bridge became the site of two marches in 1965 that brought the violence against civil rights protesters to the nation’s attention. Those marches led to an even bigger one, from Selma to Montgomery, and to the passage of the Voting Rights Act less than five months later. Includes a timeline of the Alabama River from circa 10,000 BCE to August, 1965 and a note from the illustrator.

This powerful book focuses on the Alabama civil rights marches in 1965 that led to the Voting Rights Act in August of that year, told in the unique perspective of the Alabama River. The text is poetic, with lines from spirituals woven in, and the illustrations are gorgeous, always keeping the river at the center of the story. Definitely another awards contender.

A couple of hatchlings have the best day ever

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How to Hatch: A Gosling’s Guide to Breaking Free by Sara Holly Ackerman, illustrated by Galia Bernstein (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 32 pages, ages 4-8). Written as a how-to manual for a gosling about to hatch out of its egg, the main part of the text gives six steps from Breathe! to Flop! as the baby makes its exhausting sojourn into the world. Cutaway illustrations give detailed views of what’s going on inside the egg, while sidebars give additional information about each step in the process. The final illustration shows the newly-hatched gosling joining its siblings in a line behind a parent. Includes a glossary, a list of selected sources, and an author’s note about the wonder children experience when watching eggs hatch.

Spring will be here before you know it, and egg incubators will be making appearances in preschool and primary grades classrooms. This is an excellent introduction to the process, with the step-by-step instructions and illustrations explaining the process for the youngest readers and the sidebars adding more scientific information for older ones.

Ember the Fire Dragon (Dragon Hill book 1) by Tracey West, illustrated by Carolina Vázquez (Scholastic, 64 pages, ages 5-7). When Alden the Hill Dragon tells young Ember (Fire Dragon) and Gus (Mushroom Dragon) that his magic Jewel of the Hill is missing, the two friends get on the case. Although they don’t have their full dragon powers, they use some sharp detective skills to track it down. Instead of breathing fire, Ember can only sneeze sparks, so when they find the jewel hidden in a dark hole, Gus remembers the flowers that make her sneeze, and the two work together to recover the treasure. Alden hangs it up over his cave, and the forest is protected by its magic once again.

This cute series opener from Dragon Masters author Tracey West is sure to find an audience with those not quite ready for the longer chapter books. With five chapters, there’s a decent plot, and readers will undoubtedly find the illustrations enchanting. Gus gets his own book when the second installment comes out in early March.

From Earth to the Moon

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The Dirt!: Wild Life Under the Soil’s Surface by Lindsey Leigh (Penguin Workshop, 96 pages, grades 3-8). In this companion to The Dark! (caves) and The Deep! (oceans), readers get to explore the layer of soil that covers much of the surface of the planet. They’ll learn about the life forms that keep that soil healthy and fertile, from tiny bacteria to larger animals like meerkats and armadillos whose burrows help to aerate the soil. The final two pages offer tips for helping to protect soil from erosion, acid rain, and chemical fertilizers. Includes an index.

The graphic format and humorous tone in the writing and illustrations will draw in readers, but don’t be fooled by the light touch–there is plenty of fascinating information here about soil and the importance of the many, many life forms that support it. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation of the delicate balance necessary to keep soil healthy, and the final pages offers them ways to do their share to protect it.

Wild Moon: How the Lunar Phases Light Up our World by Andie Powers, illustrated by Lucy Rose (Published by Gibbs Smith, 32 pages, grades K-4). The moon narrates this story of how its phases change, shifting the amount of light to reach the Earth, which affects animal behavior around the globe. The darker nights of the moon are better for animals such as lions who have good night vision, but more dangerous for prey animals with poorer eyesight, like zebras. The bright light of the full moon is a signal to some animals, such as coral in the Great Barrier Reef, to mate and breed. The super moon, micromoon, blood moon, and lunar eclipse are all briefly defined, and the end matter summarizes the moon phases, gives traditional full moon names for each month, and explains what a blue moon is.

The main text of this beautiful book is written as a poem, while facts about the different animals are presented in a smaller font around each page. The nighttime illustrations are gorgeous, with all kinds of animals shown in their habitats. Although the text is pretty short, there’s a lot of information packed into it, although I wish the explanation of the moon on the tides had been expanded on a bit, as that is a concept I struggle with.

All kinds of art

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Making Art by Diana Ejaita (Rise x Penguin Workshop, 32 pages, ages 4-8). “Let’s look around and make some art,” begins this introduction to all different aspects of art. You can make new things or create from old things. It’s important to listen to your feelings, and those feelings can be communicated through your art. It can be difficult (and frustrating) to come up with ideas for your art, but then sometimes inspiration will strike like magic! Works of art can be given away or kept as a gift to yourself. No matter what, art adds beauty to the world, so thank you for your art!

This introduction to art could be used for anyone from a preschool class exploring art for the first time to a group of retirees rediscovering their creativity. The message is simple, yet wise and universal, and invites anyone to use art to express themselves. The illustrations portray a wide range of visual arts, as well as music, dance, and writing.

A Knot Is Not a Tangle by Daniel Nayeri, illustrated by Vesper Stamper (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 48 pages, grades 1 and up). A boy narrates the process of creating a Persian rug with his grandmother in Iran. “All of this takes weeks, but in my memory, it’s one long wonderful day.” In that day from his memory, he and his grandmother wash, card, and spin wool that his grandfather has sheared from their sheep. They dye it and plan the pattern and colors for the new rug on graph paper, then finally start knotting on the loom. The boy keeps wanting perfection, but his grandmother reminds him that the most important part of their rug is that it will become a place for the family to gather, just like the old one that they’re replacing has been. She even pulls one knot out, the “Persian flaw,” symbolizing that that there is no such thing as perfection. Finally, the new rug is done, and the old one gets moved underneath the loom, and “It feels just right to have it there.” Includes an author’s note with additional information on Persian rugs.

Award-winning author Daniel Nayeri has crafted a beautiful picture book celebrating an art form that will be new to many readers. The illustrations do a great job of showing the process of knotting–although, I’ll be honest, I still don’t really get it, but this may whet readers’ appetites to dig deeper. The message about tempering perfectionist tendencies is delivered gently by a wise grandmother who clearly values her heritage and enjoys passing it on to her grandson.

Can You Imagine? The Art and Life of Yoko Ono by Lisa Tolin, illustrated by Yas Imamura (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 48 pages, grades 2-5). Yoko Ono spent her childhood moving between Japan and the U.S. during a time when she felt unwelcome in both places. After enduring wartime hardships in Japan, she moved permanently to the United States, where she studied art and music. Refusing to embrace norms in either field, she explored her own ways of creating art, which often involved audience participation designed to provoke thoughts and ideas. Her greatest fame came after she met and married John Lennon, when racism, misogyny, and the idea that she broke up the Beatles unleashed waves of public hatred toward her. After Lennon’s murder, Ono has continued to create art while working to preserve her husband’s legacy. Includes quite a bit of additional information about Yoko Ono and her art, as well as a bibliography.

I confess I grew up with a pretty negative impression of Yoko Ono, having absorbed the “she broke up the Beatles” message, but my daughter, an episode of the You’re Wrong About podcast, and now this beautiful book have helped me to see her in a completely different light. She had a pretty horrific childhood but instead of being broken by it, she emerged resilient and with a desire to work for peace through her art. It’s pretty clear that the Beatles broke themselves up, and this book focuses on the positive aspects of the Lennon-Oko collaboration. I’m grateful that this talented author-illustrator team continues the revisionist history, although it may be more appreciated by adults than children.