By Celeste Trimble, Saint Martin’s University

Adult nonfiction titles adapted for young readers are excellent for engaging secondary and even undergraduate students in vital contemporary issues and conversations. This WOW Dozen highlights newer titles that make essential books written for adults accessible to younger readers. Many adaptations include contextual information that is not included in the original version because of assumed prior knowledge. Also, by using more familiar vocabulary or defining unfamiliar language, and other strategies for increasing accessibility, young readers are invited into the essential understandings and concepts from popular adult nonfiction, encouraging intergenerational community dialogue.

WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.​

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• Themes: Alice Wong, Braiding Sweetgrass, Celeste Trimble, David Treuer, Dear America, Disability Visibility, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Heartbeat of Wounded Knees, Heather McGhee, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Jose Antonio Vargas, Joshua Davis, Judith Heumann, Kathleen Van Cleve, Kritin Joiner, Linda Sarsour, Megan Rapino, Michael Bronski, Monique Gray Smith, Never Caught, Nicole Neidhardt, One life, Proud: Living My American Dream, Queet History of the United States, Reyna Grande, Richie Chevat, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Rolling Warrior, Shiela Keenan, Spare Parts, Sum of Us, We're In This Together
• Descriptors: WOW Dozen