Nonfiction Monday Roundup – 6 July

Welcome to Nonfiction Monday! We’d love to hear about your review of a nonfiction book for children. Nonfiction books for children can be lots of fun. They offer stories that can engage kids as readers.

We look forward to collecting some recent reads here.  Please leave a comment or add your book in Mr. Linky. Throughout the day I’ll return here, collect the links, and add them to this post.

We’ve organized the books by theme and audience. Publisher information is included in the audience list.  Update: There is also lots of nonfiction-for-kids-book-related news, too. So be sure to read the whole post!

Across the Land …

Over at Wild About Nature, Heidi Bee Roemer is wild about Redwoods by Jason Chin. She offers a beautiful summary of this book that is an “adventure of fantasy, time travel, and nonfiction.”

Lori Calabrese tells us that Wolfsnail a Backyard Predator by Sarah C. and Richard Posey Campbell is an excellent book to teach readers young and old about predators.

Under the sea …

The Book Chook tells us she was inspired to read  Bubble Homes and Fish Farts byFiona Bayrock after hearing about it during Share a Story-Shape a Future.  She says a book with “fart” in the title is a sure-fire hit with kids.

The Reading Tub hit a reviewer’s bonus when Terry’s daughter picked Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies at the library last week.  Terry thinks the light-hearted illustrations helps tame the scary facts about sharks.

Beyond our Wildest Dreams

In her review of Cars on Mars: Roving the Read Planet by Alexandra Siy, Betsy Bird (Fuse #8) offers a bonus: the litmus test for judging children’s nonfiction picture books.

Speaking of space travel, Anastasia Suen (who created Nonfiction Monday) has a new book out … and it is her contribution for this week’s Roundup. Man on the Moon celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.  In her post at Picture Book of the Day, Anastasia has ideas and links for bringing the book to life for elementary students.

According to Abby the Librarian, The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton reminds her about why she loves children’s nonfiction picture books: “[It has] the perfect amount of information on a subject that I never would have thought to wonder about.”

In her book review at The Gift of a Book, Dianne B explains that kids get a nice introduction into why money exists by reading Money Madness by David Adler.  “For families that want to teach their children about the exchange of money, Money Madness is a wonderful early economics lesson.”

Picture Books (4 to 8)

Bubble Homes and Fish Farts by Fiona Bayrock, Ill. Carolyn Conahan (Charlesbridge, 2009) – Book Chook review

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton, Ill. Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge, 2009) – Abby (the) Librarian review

Redwoods by Jason Chin (Roaring Brook, 2009) – Wild About Nature review

Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies, Ill. James Croft (Candlewick, 2003) – Reading Tub review

Wolfsnail A Backyard Predator by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard Posey Campbell (Boyds Mill Press, 2008) – Lori Calabrese Writes! book review

Picture books (9 to 12)

Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy (Charlesbridge, 2009) – A Fuse #8 Production Book Review

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton, Ill. Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge, 2009) – Abby (the) Librarian review

Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies, Ill. James Croft (Candlewick, 2003) – Reading Tub review

More Nonfiction News …

If you’d like to learn about writing nonfiction for children, then you’ll want to sign up for Laura Salas’ next online class:  Writing Children’s Nonfiction Books for the Educational Market. Learn about this intense two-week class, see feedback from other students, and explore Laura’s books  at Laura Salas: Writing the World for Kids.

Over at Interesting Nonfiction for Kids (aka I.N.K.), Linda Salzman offers a roundup of what the Ladies of I.N.K. are up to in the coming months.

• Sue Macy is speaking on the “Intimate Portrait: The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League” at the Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ, on Saturday, July 18 at 1 p.m. Her talk is part of the “Linedrives & Lipstick: The Untold Story of Women’s Baseball” exhibit that runs through August 9.
• Tanya Lee Stone is celebrating honors for her two newest releases.   Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared To Dream is named a 2009 Honor Selection for Nonfiction by the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature.  Her picture book Elizabeth Leads the Way was just named a Minnesota Comstock Award honor book.
• Indie Booksellers selected Barbara Kerley’s book One World, One Day for its Summer 2009 Kids’ List.
• Deborah Heiligman will be talking about Charles and Emma: The Darwins Leap of Faith and signing books at the Princeton Book Festival September 12.