Nonfiction

Nonfiction genre

Around The World

As the nineteenth century wound down, a public inspired by Jules Verne’s novel Around the world in Eighty Days clamored for intrepid adventure.  The challenge of circumnavigating the globe as no one ever had before attracted toe fearless in droves.  Three hardy spirits stayed the course.  In 1884, former miner Thomas Stevens made the journey on a bicycle…the kind with a big front wheel.  In 1889, pioneer reporter Nellie Bly embarked on a global race against time that assumed the heights of spectacle.  And in 1895, retired sea captain Joshua Slocum quietly set sail on a thirty-six-foot sloop named the Spray, braving pirates and treacherous seas to become the first person to sail around the world alone.

With cinematic pacing and deft, expressive art., acclaimed graphic novelist Matt Phelan weaves a trio of epic journeys into a single bold tale of three visionaries who set their sights on nothing short of the world.

Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afganistan

Award-winning photographer Rafal Gerszak spent a year embedded with the American military in Afghanistan, where he used his camera to document everyday life in the war-torn country. While there, he developed a deep affection for the land and its people, and he later returned on his own. Despite the dangers around him, he continued taking photos, exposing the plight of that besieged country.

Framed by journal entries that relate his experiences on two levels — as a foreigner looking for a deeper connection to a country that has stirred him and as a journalist looking for another side to the story — Beyond Bullets addresses the volatile situation in Afghanistan with sensitivity and profound insight. Through Gerszak’s lens, readers can see the shattered aftermath of military attacks and dismal hospitals and refugee camps, but they can also experience the vibrant activity of life in the markets, at home and on the Muslim day of rest.

 

Under The Mesquite

Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother’s battle with cancer in this young adult novel in verse. When Lupita learns Mami has cancer, she is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit family. Suddenly, being a high school student, starring in a play, and dealing with friends who don’t always understand, become less important than doing whatever she can to save Mami’s life. While her father cares for Mami at an out-of-town clinic, Lupita takes charge of her seven younger siblings. As Lupita struggles to keep the family afloat, she takes refuge in the shade of a mesquite tree, where she escapes the chaos at home to write. Forced to face her limitations in the midst of overwhelming changes and losses, Lupita rediscovers her voice and finds healing in the power of words. Told with honest emotion in evocative free verse, Lupita’s journey toward hope is captured in moments that are alternately warm and poignant. Under the Mesquite is an empowering story about testing family bonds and the strength of a young woman navigating pain and hardship with surprising resilience.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume IV, Issue 4

This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape Of Margret and H.A. Rey

In 1940, Hans and Margret Rey fled their Paris home as the German army advanced. They began their harrowing journey on bicycles, pedaling to Southern France with children’s book manuscripts among their few possessions. Louise Borden combed primary resources, including Hans Rey’s pocket diaries, to tell this dramatic true story. Archival materials introduce readers to the world of Hans and Margret Rey while Allan Drummond dramatically and colorfully illustrates their wartime trek to a new home. Follow the Rey’s amazing story in this unique large format book that resembles a travel journal and includes full-color illustrations, original photos, actual ticket stubs and more. A perfect book for Curious George fans of all ages.

One Day We Had to Run! Refugee Children Tell Their Stories in Words and Paintings

In an anthology of words and drawings compiled by a United Nations relief worker, refugee children from Somalia, the Sudan, and Ethiopia share their feelings about their loss of their homes and their families.

Why Are People Refugees?

This book explains the differences between being a refugee, an internally displaced person and an economic migrant. Readers can find out about the experience of being forced from your home and understand how many people in the world are treated in this way. Together with case studies and quotes from people with different experiences of being refugees, this book provides all the facts readers need to make their own minds up about the subject.

A Rainbow At Night: The World In Words And Pictures

A Rainbow at Night is a lively collection of art by Navajo children. Through these imaginative paintings and drawings, readers will learn about some of the special traditions of Navajo life while discovering the universality shared by children of all backgrounds. The images are accompanied by photographic portraits of the artists and personal descriptions of their work.