Children and YA Non-fiction

Cells: An Owner’s Handbook

Two non-fiction picture books offer crash courses in biology and meteorology by way of unconventional instructors. Ellie, a skin cell living on the bum of a Boston terrier, delivers an exuberant ... Read More »

January 13, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books, Picture Books

Little Cloud: The Science of a Hurricane

By Johanna Wagstaffe and Julie McLaughlin (ill.)

January 13, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books, Picture Books

My Story Starts Here: Voices of Young Offenders

By Deborah Ellis

With increasing news of youth-related gun violence, heists, hit and runs, gang activity, sexual assaults, and stabbings – in the past year alone – the personal accounts in My Story Starts Here may be the ... Read More »

December 19, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

A Song for China: How My Father Wrote Yellow River Cantata

By Ange Zhang

The vast and powerful Yellow River is often called the mother river of China. It is also the subject of a famous musical with lyrics by militant poet Guang Weiran. In this non-fiction picture book, ... Read More »

November 21, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

Our Future: How Kids Are Taking Action

By Janet Wilson

The new non-fiction book Our Future was released in the same month as the wave of global climate strikes inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg; but in this roundup of modern youth activists – who ... Read More »

November 18, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die: The Complexities of Assisted Dying

By Nikki Tate and Belle Wuthrich (ill.)

Death is an inevitability. But according to this topical read, what is up for considerable debate is “who and what determines when and how we die.” Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die pulls back the ... Read More »

October 21, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

Highrise: The Towers in the World & the World in the Towers

By Katerina Cizek and Kristy Woudstra (ill.)

Highrise is an exceptional guided tour of sky-reaching residential structures around the globe, adapted from the National Film Board of Canada’s cutting-edge web documentary of the same name. As a way to introduce the project, ... Read More »

August 29, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

Ghost’s Journey: A Refugee Story

By Robin Stevenson

To say that introducing young children to complex social justice issues – such as those involving LGBTQ+ refugees – is a challenge would be an understatement. But Robin Stevenson’s new picture book manages to present ... Read More »

August 26, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

Why Don’t Cars Run on Apple Juice? Real Science Questions from Real Kids

By Kira Vermond and Suharu Ogawa (ill.)

Curious kids intuitively understand that science begins with questions. Two new non-fiction books both encourage and support insatiable inquisitiveness and the voracious need to know. Fifty questions posed by young visitors to the Ontario Science ... Read More »

July 29, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books