Best Children's Nonfiction Where We Live

Little Britches was the literary debut of Ralph Moody, who wrote about the adventures of his family in eight glorious books, all available as Bison Books. -- Kirkus "1950". Ralph Moody's books should be read aloud in every family circle in America.

Review By Jean Glasser: This is a delightful book for young children. Sigal Adler is an Israeli children's author with a refreshing, rhythmic writing style. The combination of catchy rhymes spiced with humor and an ethical message appeals to the hearts of children.

Eighteen-year-old Seven and her best friend, Ten, live where all is peaceful ... except for the violent war raging above the sky. Lifelike humanoid robots and self-operated drones tend to everyone's needs, leaving people free to spend their time stimulating their minds and enjoying life's pleasures. The rules force everyone to accept their fates, but Seven decides to do something unprecedented: to go against the Decision Makers' wishes. "Every time I thought I had figured something out, the story took yet another twist and I was left re-thinking everything I had come to believe! THE SKY is a young adult / new adult science fiction novel that tells the story of a teen girl coming of age in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future society founded on lies. Filled with constant suspense, surprising twists, forbidden romance, imaginative adventure, and thought-provoking philosophy, THE SKY is perfect for readers who enjoyed THE HUNGER GAMES (by Suzanne Collins), DIVERGENT (by Veronica Roth), THE FIFTH WAVE (by Rick Yancey), THE MAZE RUNNER (by James Dashner), THE GENDER GAME (by Bella Forrest), and THE GIVER (by Lois Lowry). Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle e-reader, Fire tablet, or Fire phone: Borrow THE SKY (The Sky Series, Books 1-3) for FREE from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. -- Megan, i fall in love book blog. "Every time I thought I had figured something out, the story took yet another twist and I was left re-thinking everything I had come to believe! An excerpt from THE SKY: Ten throws his arm around me and shoves me against the wall. He lets go of me quickly, but he remains unusually close. A huge, black, shiny, box-like terrestrial drone is coming out of--not a doorway, but--the middle of a wall, through an opening that shouldn't be there. It's a few feet taller than Ten and almost as wide as the hallway. I take small, shallow breaths, even though my lungs are begging for more air. I feel the heat of Ten's controlled breaths against my face. As we stand there, it feels as if an electric charge is growing between us, so powerful that it would shock us if we moved even a millimeter closer together.

Everything changes when Kerri's friends are kidnapped and taken through a Gateway into an unknown land rife with danger, where shapeshifting clans threaten war, and no one can be trusted. The story revolves around Kerri, who enters a Gateway to a strange land to save her friends, and gets caught up in the conflict between creatures vying for the extremely powerful Crystal. "...full of unexpected twists and turns, a whole world to immerse yourself in... Lyrical and magical. It tackles thought-provoking themes like conflict and loyalty while taking you on a wild adventure..." 5 ★★★★★. 2nd Edition: Updated and renamed from Cats & Dogs to Shifters Alliance (Part 1) in the Changing Times trilogy.

“Much like The Boy In the Striped Pajamas or The Book Thief ,” this remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list, “brings to readers a story of bravery and the fight for a chance to live” ( VOYA ). Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2013: For readers ages 11 and up, Leon Leyson’s remarkable memoir, The Boy on the Wooden Box , is the moving account of a happy childhood shattered by the Holocaust. As the youngest member of Schindler’s list, Leyson offers a unique perspective on the man who became his lifelong hero and his first-hand account of day-to-day existence in the factory--which did not alleviate the fear or deprivation--and his personal interaction with Schindler is powerful and special.

America’s #1 radio talk-show host and multi-million-copy #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a book for young readers with a history teacher who travels back in time to have adventures with exceptional Americans. Talk about a rock star—this guy wanted to protect young America so badly, he rode through those bumpy, cobblestone-y streets shouting “the British are coming!” On a horse. But what if you could get the real picture—by actually going back in time and seeing with your own eyes how our great country came to be? Our exceptional nation is waiting to be discovered all over again by exceptional young patriots— like you ! After offering a wide-ranging definition of American exceptionalism that begins with the statement that the U.S. is a “land built on true freedom and individual liberty, and it defends both around the world,” Limbaugh goes on to explain that the Founders believed all people were born to be “free as individuals.” Really? The book’s premise is that a substitute history teacher, Rush Revere, who dresses like his hero, Paul, along with his talking horse, Liberty, can go back in time. The text is wordy, and many of the pages are spent on the banter between Rush and Liberty, occasionally amusing but mostly just filling space, as do the tedious explanations of the way time travel works. They hadn’t been spoiled by wall-to-wall carpets, central heating and microwave ovens.” The fact that many modern-day people do experience incredible hardships, albeit different from the Pilgrims, seems not to have occurred to Limbaugh. Apparently, the turnaround for the struggling colony came “when every family was assigned its own plot of land to work.” Rush Revere drives home the point that it was after the Pilgrims stopped sharing the profits that success was ensured. Even Squanto adds, “No more slaves to the Common House.” As for factual inaccuracies, Paul Revere never said, “The British are coming!” That was Mr. Longfellow.

What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. Grade 5 Up—When she was in sixth grade, Telgemeier tripped while running and lost her two front teeth. The dental case that Telgemeier documents in this graphic memoir was extreme: a random accident led to front tooth loss when she was 12, and over the next several years, she suffered through surgery, implants, headgear, false teeth, and a rearrangement of her remaining incisors.

Raina uses her signature humor and charm in both present-day narrative and perfectly placed flashbacks to tell the story of her relationship with her sister, which unfolds during the course of a road trip from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado. *Starred Review* Telgemeier’s follow-up to Smile (2010)—possibly the only universally embraced graphic novel on the planet—offers the same thoughtful perspective while also creating a slightly more mature and complex tone. While the focus of the story explores Raina’s combative relationship with her younger sister, Amara, it is in some sense about families themselves, the tensions they breed, the unspoken worries that swirl through households, and the ways an older generation’s unintended example echoes through younger generations. -- KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review. "Telgemeier is prodigiously talented at telling cheerful stories with realistic portrayals of middle-school characters."

Updated and revised, this 10th anniversary edition will help readers betterunderstand that "bucket dipping" is a negative behavior, not a permanent label. In this revised and updated edition,the verbs "bucket dipping" and "bullying" have replaced the nouns"bucket dipper" and "bully" to help readers understand that "bucketdipping" and "bullying" are negative behaviors (what we are doing) andnot permanent labels (who we are). The bucket represents a person's mental and emotional health.You can't see the bucket, but it's there. Tell them whose bucket you filled that day.

The #1 bestselling Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids series heads back to school with a collection of brand-new jokes that will have the whole class in stitches!