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Your favorite non-fiction picture books?


three4me
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We grabbed this book about the Statue of Liberty at the library the other day and my kids LOVE it! And, while I also love quality fiction picture book stories, I loved that they were learning something while they enjoyed the writing and the beautiful pictures.

 

So, can you recommend some other picture books like this? I'm not looking for DK type books, but ones that read like a story and have wonderful artwork but also will teach them some history/geography/science or such.

 

ETA: Ok, maybe I'm not necessarily looking for non-fiction (though some recommendations would be nice), but maybe also historical fiction, or fictional stoires set in other areas of the world that still teach us about that area.

Edited by CamilikinsMama
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I love nicely done picture books! We own and enjoy all these Maestros titles:

 

The Story of Money

Discovery of the Americas

Exploration and Conquest

Struggle for a Continent

 

We also like Diane Stanley biographies (we get these from the library)

 

Joan of Arc

Michaelangelo

Leonardo Da Vinci

Good Queen Bess

William Shakespeare

Peter the Great

Shaka Zulu

And more

 

Recently we got into some Cheryl Harness picture books

 

Thomas Jefferson

The Adventures of Lewis and Clark

The Amazing, Impossible Erie Canal

The Pony Express

 

She has others, too. Ds liked that the Lewis and Clark one was linked to a National Geographic online activity.

 

Aliki picture books are great, too:

 

Medieval Feast

Shakespeare and the Globe

 

And many others..

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I always liked this one: The Librarian Who Measured the Earth. And Cactus Hotel (Guiberson) is charming.

 

And DSs thought Motel of the Mysteries was hilarious; I remember many years ago, some one on this Board said their family read this one each year at the beginning of the school year as their fun "intro" into studying History. And all of David Macauley's books are lovely; while most are History-based, the New Way Things Work is a wonder gr. 4+ physics supplement.

 

 

The photography in the Seymour Simon books (science topics) is stunning (at least the astronomy topics!).

Edited by Lori D.
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A few we like:

 

Oh Say can you see

So you want to be president

The boy who invented TV

The Sir Cumference series

The scrambled states of America

Now and Ben

 

I know I have more as this is one of our favorite types of books to read!

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We read a *large* number of gorgeous non-fiction picture books. I don't even know where to begin with suggestions. :)

 

To Go Singing Through the World: The Childhood of Pablo Neruda by Deborah Kogan Ray

Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, the One-Armed Explorer by Deborah Kogan Ray

A Boy Named Beckoning: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero by Gina Capaldi

Walt Whitman: Words for America by Barbara Kerley

Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe

The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark by Carmen Agra Deedy

Annie Jump Cannon, Astronomer by Carole Gerber

The Man Who Made Parks: The Story of Parkbuilder Frederick Law Olmsted by Frieda Wishinsky

Dark Fiddler: The Life and Legend of Nicolo Paganini by Aaron Frisch & Gary Kelley

Francis Woke Up Early by Josephine Nobisso (St. Francis of Assisi)

Jingle Bells: How the Holiday Classic Came to Be by John Harris

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

The Little Chapel That Stood by A.B. Curtiss (St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC, September 11, 2001)

The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont by Victoria Griffith

Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime by Gloria Spielman

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

Benjamin West: The Boy Who Loved to Draw by Barbara Brenner

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies

 

The Poetry for Young People series are lovely, illustrated books of poetry.

 

Books by Cheryl Harness, Anna Harwell Celenza (composers), Diane Stanley.

 

And that's just a start. :)

 

ETA: We also read these recently:

Goran’s Great Escape by Astrid Lindgren (Sweden)

The Birds of Killingworth by Robert San Souci (based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Chirchir is Singing by Kelly Cunnane (Kenya)

 

Oh, and books by Peter Sis, Allen Say, Paul O. Zelinsky...

Edited by Heidi @ Mt Hope
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I love these threads and am excited to see titles that I don't know about. Here are a few I do know about.

 

I put dates on a few of these. Some are fiction but based on a true story, often there are notes at the end that tell what is true. One is fiction but has nice author's notes at the back about the time period.

 

Mailing May by Tunnell

Togo by Robert Blake

Boxes for Katje by Fleming

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Raven

The Journey that Saved Curious George by Borden

Only one woof / James Herriot (and others, my favorite is Moses the Kitten)

Apples to Oregon : being the (slightly) true narrative of how a brave

Mailing May by Tunnell 1914

A big cheese for the White House : the true tale of a tremendous cheddar /

by Fleming, Candace. 1801

 

Richard Wright and the library card / by Miller, William, 1925

 

Sister Anne's hands / by Lorbiecki, Marybeth. 1960s

 

Non Fiction Picture books by Ted Lewin Elephant Quest, Tooth to Claw, Top to Bottom Down Under, I think there are others.

 

I really liked the book mentioned,

The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark by Carmen Agra Deedy

 

But then I read that it was not at all true. It acts like a based on true story, so I did not like that it was not. My understanding was that it wasn't even based on a true story. Just real characters. I'd be happy to be corrected about this.

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This thread reminded me of "the one that got away", a picture book about Galileo. We read it at a library. I loved it. It was more historical fiction, but there were gobs of facts IIRC and the illustrations were beautiful. I kind of forgot about it until now. I found it on Amazon! Galileo's Leaning Tower Experiment. I'm also getting some others listed here. I both love and hate lists like this. If a book is on a list, I feel like I ought to get it.:001_smile:

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Gail Gibbons does some good ones for younger kids. 'Apples' and 'Pumpkins' are favorites here. They're more beginning science titles.

 

I'm subscribing because even though my DS hasn't been into picture books for a while... there are so many good titles that I want to pull in once in a while... like the Maestro books.

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