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An engaging story would have benefited from a simpler format but nonetheless serves as a helpful purchase for those looking to fill gaps in their collection.
PREMIUM
God’s Holy Darkness
For collections that already include similar material, this book states very clearly what it is and what it hopes to be used for; it enlarges an existing discussion and turns tropes around to include everyone and everything.
An excellent choice as a read-aloud in an elementary setting or as an independent choice for children ready to tackle simple language on their own or with a family member.
This is an appealing resource to encourage children, parents, teachers, and librarians to explore, enjoy, and celebrate science.
This title belongs in most elementary nonfiction libraries. Pair it with Steve Jenkins’s The Animal Toolkit for a visually engaging experience about the creatures around us and how much we all have in common.
PREMIUM
Look What I Found at the Beach
A great addition to libraries and classrooms, this will inspire children to embrace all the discoveries the world has to offer.
This literary biography is at home in the art, architecture, or biography sections of any library. It will surely pique interest in this genius and inspire visits to Gaudi’s creations, if only online.
This heartfelt book will stay with readers. Purchase for all bilingual collections.
This inspirational tale about friendship, courage, and good trouble is an essential purchase for all collections.
This is a must-have for any collection, and a necessary read to inspire the next generation to fight for social and racial justice.
PREMIUM
To Change a Planet
This clear-eyed discussion of climate change will educate young readers without demoralizing them. A worthy purchase for all collections.
A missed opportunity for a grand tour, but a starting point for some children.
An important nonfiction collection of stories about influencers and leaders when they were children. Perfect for group sharing and current events connections.
While a teen-centered perspective and focus on achievement and social impact are appealing, collective biographies can be a difficult sell and the absence of any back matter makes this one difficult to recommend.
Pair this with Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X or Sonia Manzano’s Becoming Maria. An excellent choice for memoir collections.
A casual but damning account of the future of our species, bound to turn many youngsters into climate activists. While this book won’t appeal to all readers, particularly those with anxiety, it is an essential purchase for nonfiction collections.
These four titles share new perspectives on some of the people and events surrounding our nation's independence.
Authors say these books broke new ground, with gripping subjects, innovative narration, and rich backmatter for further research.
Great for group choral reads, one on ones, and gifts. A perfect board book for every shelf.
PREMIUM
Button! Snap! Zip!
This novelty book’s cover is a wonderful tool for teaching children how to get dressed. Purchase multiple copies for library use.
PREMIUM
Ours
A generous first glimpse of acceptance and inclusion, and a first purchase for most libraries.
PREMIUM
My First Learn-To-Talk Book
A great purchase for public libraries, offering palatable science on nurturing.
These 14 dinosaur resources celebrate the unique traits of these creatures and share evolving discoveries and theories about them and their prehistoric habitats.
A first purchase for all libraries, and not limited to the conventional board book audience.
This title’s introductory construct and strong visual appeal make it an adequate choice for larger collections desiring to build their animal books section.
PREMIUM
How We Eat
Having merit for use in family, daycare, and counseling situations, this book’s use in libraries may be limited to story-hour sharing.
Vibrantly illustrated and featuring a variety of justice-seekers, this book belongs in every library and classroom.
An engaging look at how various bathroom technology has changed over time; this is sure to appeal to the elementary school sense of humor.
PREMIUM
Where in the World Are You?
For an age-appropriate lesson for educators and parents who want to provide children with perspective about their place in the world, this book is close to ideal.
These nonfiction audio adaptations of recent Young Readers Editions cover a range of ages, and most feature difficult subjects including history, climate change, and systemic racism.
Share these seven titles, with a focus on trans identity, during Pride and all year long.
An appropriately in-depth look at one of Earth’s odder aquatic creatures, this book is a must-have for every nonfiction collection.
PREMIUM
Find Out About Animal Babies
Full of unique facts and appeal for a wide range of ages, this book is a welcome addition to most shelves.
Even allowing for tongue-in-cheek, this book is confusing despite its good intentions.
Despite its wonder, the instructions to cut out pages makes this ineligible for children’s library collections.
Witty, engaging, and informative, this book will inspire all types of readers to do what they love, whether in the gaming industry or not.
A recommended purchase for school and public libraries.
An accessible, if softened, biography of a complex and anguished artist, and certainly of value in bringing her name and work to a younger audience.
This excellent piece of reporting would be a great addition to any library serving elementary readers.
PREMIUM
The Global Ocean
A timely exploration of the threats facing the world’s oceans, this book will educate and inspire the next generation of environmental activists.
This is a stunning and provocative addition to biography collections for elementary school-age children.
This is a juvenile nonfiction treasure; highly recommended to all libraries who serve children.
For animal lovers or budding historians, this book is sure to be a hit with young readers.
In just over 60 pages comes Nelson Mandela’s story—from his childhood and early education through to his anti-apartheid activism and later election to president of South Africa
Narrative nonfiction at its best, helping readers understand the impact of global warming or even simply wildlife from a unique perspective.
Elementary school-aged readers will enjoy learning about a colorful and creative woman through this work.
Recommended for early nonfiction collections and any shelf emphasizing STEM titles or biographies of women.
PREMIUM
Forgotten Founders
This book will delight visual learners, history lovers, and trivia enthusiasts. It would also validate the diversity of the United States’s heroes, encourage critical thinking, and inspire further research. A solid addition to any library or classroom.
Library collections and STEM programs would benefit from this book’s age-appropriate blending of biography with diversity, history, geography, and social commentary.
PREMIUM
Famous Robberies
An excellent premise in an attractive package is hurt by a lack of depth, repetitive presentation, and missing back matter. Only recommended for libraries with the most comprehensive true crime collections.
Recommended for all teen (and college) collections
Young readers will instantly like Lysiak and come to respect her love for the press as well as the responsibilities that come with reporting. An insightful, solid read for middle school.
PREMIUM
What Is Math?
Overall, the book is a fun and engaging introduction to math and a solid purchase for libraries looking to expand their early math collections.
PREMIUM
The Friendship Book
A workbook best suited for single-use with children who are working on learning the tools to build friendships.
This title is not suitable for libraries due to its “fill in the blank” aspect, but it is a fun method for young children, or anyone else interested in learning the basics, to produce drawings of identifiable animals.
Highly recommended for the curious upper elementary reader interested in earth science or paired with a geology unit that explores mountain formation and geological terms.
PREMIUM
Elvis Presley
While this book serves as an informative introduction to the life of Presley and the legacy of his music, educators seeking a more complex exploration of his relationship to race can provide young readers with Elvis by Bonnie Christensen.
This well-researched account of human evolution is a first purchase for library collections.
History buffs looking for a personal account of the war will enjoy this book. Recommended for schools and public libraries.
An important nonfiction tool in social emotional learning to draw attention to the harsh realities facing refugee children around the world.
PREMIUM
Where Do Wishes Go?: Poems
This insipid and uneven collection falls short as an introduction to poetry for primary grade audiences.
If your shelves are in need of particle science this might be a nice addition, although the concept is very abstract and will probably need further explanation by additional sources.
Most science board books overwhelm or understate. This one is just right.
A gorgeous depiction of summer vacation in Brooklyn in the 1970s that could work in writing classes as well. Don’t miss this one.
PREMIUM
Drip
The water cycle is a complicated process, but this book opens it up to the youngest of readers with beautiful graphics and a story line they can understand. This would be a strong book to start, or add to, a nonfiction board book section for children who are always asking questions about the world around them.
This is a must-have for biography collections on strong women.
These 15 titles represent some of the most practical, detailed, clear, critical, and diverse perspectives on picking, achieving, and living the dream that is higher education today.
Children's literature has lost another giant with the death of Jim Murphy; Colin Kaepernick to release a graphic memoir; SCBWI launches new fund and programs; and more in this edition of News Bites.
In a reflective nod to his youthful days spent with his father, Parra presents a balanced, intricate illustrative style to convey his earnest appreciation for hard work, lessons, and creative influence.
A good choice for entertaining children and leading them to seek out more material.
PREMIUM
On the Internet
A basic introduction to online safety that can serve as a tool for classroom discussion.
An entertaining work with a message that big business and doing good can go hand in hand.
A first purchase sure to inspire budding scientists and snowy owl aficionados.
A chilling page-turner with compelling psychoanalytic aspects not often seen in young adult nonfiction. Highly recommended.
A bold and exciting addition to the nonfiction collections.
This title could be used to supplement an existing collection for middle school–aged students in a school or public library.
PREMIUM
The Tide Pool Waits
This narrative nonfiction on Pacific Coast tide pools is a great read-aloud with text spacing and other cues to provide drama, a perfect accompaniment for the dramatic activity in the tide pool itself.
Readers will learn assertiveness during Persephone’s journey from Olympus through the underworld and back in this self-contained story.
PREMIUM
Have You Seen the Darkness?
The horrors become darker and more dangerous, but there are still chuckles to be found. Will work best starting from the first book.
Barb’s epic adventure combines the charming gags and story reversals of a Lewis Trondheim comic with the earnest boldness of Barry Deutsch’s “Hereville” series. Start at book one.
PREMIUM
Robot Battle
The cast, themes, and style of the series expand without losing the friendship at its core. This series is best experienced from the beginning.
PREMIUM
Moody Moody Cars
Though other titles may handle this better topically, this is a good addition to libraries and classrooms as a way to normalize talking and recognizing feelings and broaching emotional intelligence with the added bonus of a subject many children obsess over.
A valuable addition to science and nature collections. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM
Wild Sharks! (Wild Kratts)
Either pair this title with the PBS Wild Kratts videos or skip it.
PREMIUM
If You’re a Kid Like Gavin
All kids should be challenged to think about the message of standing up and fighting for what is right. Here is a worthy discussion-starter on an important topic for all collections.
PREMIUM
Baloney and Friends: Dream Big!
Early readers’ laughs will be as big as Baloney and his friends’ dreams from one scene to the next n this newbie-friendly variety show.
The variety of warm personalities, as well as baked goods, create welcome bug-size tours of a world worth exploring repeatedly for new and returning readers.
Due to the rapid changes in currency trends, investing, and monetary policy, this book will likely not stand the test of time, but it is currently an excellent addition to the school library’s self-help collection.
Tweens will find themselves effortlessly involved in this mostly stand-alone story of a young man who must learn to accept change and find his own role within it.
Higginbotham approaches a difficult topic with sensitivity and nuance; an excellent, insightful resource for young people who have been through abuse, as well as friends of young people who have been sexually assaulted.
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