Nonfiction

Nonfiction genre

Jack Pine

Even though it is a short, gnarled tree, the Jack Pine still stands tall in the forest world.  It thrives in bad soil and is hardy enough to withstand wind and fire. Moreover, its scrubby branches shelter other trees, allowing them to grow. Jack Pine celebrates this tenacious tree through beautifully crafted text that’s as hard and knotty as the tree itself. In telling Jack Pine’s story, the book shows how the great pine forests contributed to America’s growth as a nation. Cybele Young’s exquisite 3-D collages depict the trees, farmers, and animals that lived in the 19th-century forest.

Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan

This story introduces readers to children living in Kabul and in rural Afghan villages through photographic portraits and brief narrative profiles that offer a glimpse of their lives and dreams.

My School in the Rain Forest: How Children Attend School around the World

Ruurs set out to discover the many different, and sometimes unusual, ways that children around the world attend school. In this book, readers get to know students who are pursuing their dreams of a brighter future, and of teachers who are devoted to improving people’s lives.

Follow the Line around the World

Follow the line from the camels of the Sahara Desert to the blue whales of Greenland, from the giraffes of Kenya’s grasslands to the kangaroos of Australia’s Outback. This book takes young children around the world to see animals in their natural habitats.

Panda Kindergarten

School is in session! But this is no ordinary kindergarten class. Meet sixteen young giant panda cubs at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda at the Wolong Nature Preserve. The cubs are raised together from infancy in a protected setting, where they grow strong. Under the watchful eyes of the scientists and workers, the cubs learn skills that will help prepare them to be released into the wild.

One Well: The Story of Water on Earth

Seen from space, our planet looks blue. This is because almost 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered with water. Earth is the only planet with liquid water — and therefore the only planet that can support life. All water is connected. Every raindrop, lake, underground river and glacier is part of a single global well. Water has the power to change everything — a single splash can sprout a seed, quench a thirst, provide a habitat, generate energy and sustain life. How we treat the water in the well will affect every species on the planet, now and for years to come. One Well shows how every one of us has the power to conserve and protect our global well.

The Time Book: A Brief History from Lunar Calendars to Atomic Clocks

This book explores many other timely questions, such as how the first calendars and clocks were invented, why February is such an odd month, and what strange and wonderful things Einstein discovered about the nature of time itself.