Nonfiction

Border Crossing by Sneed B. Collard III wins the 2024 Orbis Pictus Award, while The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett earns the 2024 Charlotte Huck Award.

The beginning of life, the stars in the sky, the fungi around us, and some of the hottest topics in biology and science are on display in the best books of 2023 in the elementary nonfiction list. The facts are in: these writers and illustrators help kids connect with the real world in one thrilling book after another. 

These 28 middle grade and YA nonfiction titles invite readers to delve into different facets and figures of history, science, social justice topics, and more. With a range of titles from a graphic memoir by Jerry Pinkney to a logbook-style look at an Arctic expedition to a history of the Scopes Monkey Trial that ties to contemporary censorship, there's much to explore and consider.

With beautiful language and imagery, these eight poems teach children everything from animal facts to how to write a poem, while also allowing readers to sit back and have a good laugh.

How did Suzanne Collins dream up Panem and the Hunger Games? Influences range from Roman Gladiators to the Vietnam War, as this booklist shows. 

The weighty subject of antiracism—actively dismantling the systems of oppression that are based on race—is made more approachable through these titles.

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Wayward Creatures by Dayna Lorentz, the 2023 Orbis Pictus and Charlotte Huck Award winners, will be honored at the NCTE annual conference.

This roundup features reference titles for all ages, including a volume on Norse myths for tweens and encyclopedias on hair, Supreme Court decisions, and African American firsts for high schoolers.

Experiential learning has become an integral part of many classrooms and libraries as we better understand how brains work. That tactile learning mode is essential for some students and beneficial for all.