Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
I had so much fun when my kids and I visited Washington, D.C., and visited the National Postal Museum, so I was excited to read a review copy of Who’s Got Mail?: The History of Mail in America by Linda Barrett Osborne (Abrams Books, May 2023). This middle-grade nonfiction book covers the details of the
Ecomazes by Roxie Munro (Sterling, 2010) lets us learn about ecosystems while doing mazes! In her “12 Earth Adventures,” she illustrated 12 unique habitats with their own landscapes. Each page has a subtle story of trying to get from here to there and also a list of the flora and fauna to look for on
Riding an ostrich? It’s a long shot, but Suzy Bowles hopes that’s her key to finally leaving her small Michigan town in Long Road to the Circus by Betsy Bird (Knopf, 2021). Her story entails a one-of-a-kind summer in the 1920s in this historical fiction novel for young readers. Long Road to the Circus is
In I See a Kookaburra by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), the authors show six unique habitats with eight animals. With first a two-page spread showing animals in the habitat and then a spread introducing the unique animals, the book becomes a seek-and-find book as the reader looks for the named animals
Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin (Sourcebooks, 2018) is a graphic novel that illustrates the fictional story of two orphaned brothers traveling illegally from their home in Ghana to Europe, hoping to reunite with their sister, who illegally traveled the same route years before. On their journey, they face robbers and homelessness as they
Meerkat Moves Out of the Desert by Nikki Potts, illustrated by Maarten Lenoir (Picture Window Books, 2020), gives a specific animal a dilemma: she’s tired of her habitat and would like to try something new. With a cartoon meerkat layered on top of photographic textures and scenes, this book provides an interesting contrast between Meerkat’s
Wild Zoo Train by Carmela Lavigna Coyle, illustrated by Steve Gray (Muddy Books, 2017), does not attempt to be a serious nonfiction text about biomes. However, for young students’ introduction to the concept, it would work well to engage the young reader to understand that there are unique biomes in the world, including the North
Beastly Biomes by Carly Allen-Fletcher (Creston Books, 2019) is an informative picture book about biomes and the animals in the biomes nicely illustrated and labeled for an older elementary reader. With a focus on five main types of biomes (aquatic, forest, grassland, desert, and tundra), Beastly Biomes then moves into more specific groups, giving each
Habitat Spy by Cynthia Kieber-King, Illustrated by Christina Ward (Sylvan Dell Publishing, 2011), introduces a variety of habitats with an illustrated snapshot of a scene, accompanied by a simple, personable rhyming text. Each page features text overlayed in a binocular-shaped text bubble, with an image of a child looking through binoculars right next to it.
The Nature Girls by Aki (Godwin Books, 2019) features a group of sixteen girls who explore various biomes of the earth. Each two-page spread shows cartoon-illustrated landscapes paired with rhyming couplets. Brief lines on each spread do not share many informational details, but it makes a nice read-aloud for younger children. The end matter shares
Many Biomes, One Earth by Sneed B. Collard III, illustrated by James M. Needham (Charlesbridge, 2008) gives a general overview of biomes on earth, explaining clearly the differences between a biome and a habitat and explaining why earth’s biomes may not look as they originally were before human intrusions. As he describes the various terrestrial
The picture book Wild Symphony by Dan Brown, illustrated by Susan Batori (Rodale Kids, 2020) is a combination of so many genres it astounded me the first time I found it. It is a set of animal poems, an app with related musical pieces, a seek-and-find book, and a scrambled letters puzzle. Although it is
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