Book picks similar to
You Wouldn't Want to Meet a Body Snatcher! by Fiona MacDonald
history
non-fiction
childrens
picture-books
The Boo-Boos That Changed the World: A True Story about an Accidental Invention (Really!)
Barry Wittenstein - 2018
Who Was Sacagawea?
Judith Bloom Fradin - 2002
Through this engaging book, kids will understand the reasons that today, 200 years later, she is still remembered and immortalized on a golden dollar coin.
If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge
Marc Aronson - 2010
In If Stones Could Speak, award-winning author Marc Aronson joins the research crew and records their efforts to crack Stonehenge’s secrets. National Geographic helped sponsor the Riverside archeological team’s mission, and now young readers can journey behind the scenes to experience this groundbreaking story first-hand, through the eyes of the experts. Mike and his team have revolutionized our understanding of Stonehenge by exploring the surrounding landscape for clues about the stones -- an idea first suggested by a visitor from Madagascar. The results have been breathtaking: The team recently unearthed the largest Neolithic village ever found in England. Marc Aronson had total access to the site, the team, and their work over two seasons of digging and brings the inspirational story of the discoveries taking place at this World Historical Site to young readers. The informative and drama-driven text includes tales of dead bodies, cremations, feasting, and ancient rituals, as well as insights into the science of uncovering the ancien t past. The expert text, stunning photography, and explanatory maps and illustrations will all help young readers see this ancient monument in totally new ways, and inspire future generations of archaeological explorers.
Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing
Tonya Bolden - 2020
Read the original words—sometimes abridged and sometimes in their entirety—that have shaped our cultural fabric. A Chicago Public Library Best Book!
"A wide-ranging collection of speeches and a worthwhile resource for students of American history." —Booklist"A golden celebration of the multicultural voices who demand the U.S.—and the world—do better." —Kirkus"An important addition to American history collections." —
School Library Journal
Introductions by acclaimed writer Tonya Bolden provide historical context and critical insights to the meaning and impact of every speech. Illustrations by award-winning artist Eric Velasquez illuminate what it was really like at each moment in history. This collection includes the following:Patrick Henry, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”George Washington, Farewell AddressRed Jacket, “We Never Quarrel about Religion”Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”Sojourner Truth, “I Am a Woman’s Rights”Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg AddressTheodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic”Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”Lou Gehrig, “Farewell to Baseball”Langston Hughes, “On the Blacklist All Our Lives”John Fitzgerald Kennedy, “We Choose to Go to the Moon”Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”Fannie Lou Hamer, “I Question America”Cesar Chavez, Address to the Commonwealth Club of California, 1984Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights”Strong Voices includes a foreword by #1 New York Times bestselling author and celebrated journalist Cokie Roberts, as well as a timeline in the back of the book, along with letters to the reader from Tonya Bolden and Eric Velasquez.Strong Voices is a tremendous introduction to the extraordinary words spoken in history.
Who Was Helen Keller?
Gare Thompson - 2003
She lived in a world of silence and darkness and she spent the rest of her life struggling to break through it. With the help of teacher Annie Sullivan, Helen learned to read, write, and do many amazing things. This inspiring illustrated biography is perfect for young middle-grade readers. Black-and-white line drawings throughout, sidebars on related topics such as Louis Braille, a timeline, and a bibliography enhance readers' understanding of the subject.
The Daring Book for Girls
Andrea J. Buchanan - 2007
But it's not just a guide to giggling at sleepovers--although that's included, of course! Whether readers consider themselves tomboys, girly-girls, or a little bit of both, this book is every girl's invitation to adventure.
Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini
Sid Fleischman - 2006
No jail cell or straitjacket could hold him! He shucked off handcuffs as easily as gloves.In this fresh, witty biography of the most famous bamboozler since Merlin, Sid Fleischman, a former professional magician, enriches his warm homage with insider information and unmaskings. Did Houdini really pick the jailhouse lock to let a fellow circus performer escape? Were his secrets really buried with him? Was he a bum magician, as some rivals claimed? How did he manage to be born in two cities, in two countries, on two continents at the same instant?Here are the stories of how a knockabout kid named Ehrich Weiss, the son of an impoverished rabbi, presto-changoed himself into the legendary Harry Houdini. Here, too, are rare photographs never before seen by the general reader!
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
Lila Perl - 1996
“The writing is direct, devastating, with no rhetoric or exploitation. The truth is in what’s said and in what is left out.”—ALA Booklist (starred review)Marion Blumenthal Lazan’s unforgettable and acclaimed memoir recalls the devastating years that shaped her childhood. Following Hitler’s rise to power, the Blumenthal family—father, mother, Marion, and her brother, Albert—were trapped in Nazi Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was occupied by the Nazis. For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps, including Westerbork in Holland and Bergen-Belsen in Germany, before finally making it to the United States. Their story is one of horror and hardship, but it is also a story of courage, hope, and the will to survive.Four Perfect Pebbles features forty archival photographs, including several new to this edition, an epilogue, a bibliography, a map, a reading group guide, an index, and a new afterword by the author. First published in 1996, the book was an ALA Notable Book, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and IRA Young Adults’ Choice, and a Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and the recipient of many other honors. “A harrowing and often moving account.”—School Library Journal
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois
Amy Novesky - 2016
A picture book biography of sculptor Louise Bourgeois focusing on how her childhood family life influenced her later works.
Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky
Kathi Appelt - 2001
It's 4:30 in the morning, and the "book woman" and her horse are already on their way. Hers is an important job, for the folks along her treacherous route are eager for the tattered books and magazines she carries in her saddlebags. During the Great Depression, thousands lived on the brink of starvation. Many perished. In 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration under his 1933 New Deal initiative. The WPA was designed to get people back on their feet. One of its most innovative programs was the Pack Horse Library Project of Eastern Kentucky. Thoroughly researched and illustrated with period photographs, this is the story of one of the WPA's greatest successes. People all over the country supported the project's goals. But it was the librarians themselves—young, determined, and earning just $28 a month—who brought the hope of a wider world to people in the crooks and hollows of Kentucky's Cumberland Mountains.
Coco Chanel
Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara - 2016
All of them went on to achieve incredible things, yet all of them began life as a little child with a dream. The first book follows Coco Chanel, from her early life in an orphanage - where she is a genius with needle and thread - to her time as a cabaret singer, hat maker and, eventually, international fashion designer. This inspiring and informative little biography comes with extra facts about Coco's life at the back.
George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War
Thomas B. Allen - 2004
A riveting tale of intrigue, spies, counterspies and secret agents, George Washington, Spymasteris a unique and entertaining account of one of the most important chapters in our nation's history. The compelling narrative reveals the surprising role played by the first commander-in-chief, General George Washington in the War of Independence. Follow the action as 1775 dawns, and Washington finds himself in serious trouble. At war with Britain, the world's most powerful empire, his ragtag army possesses only a few muskets, some cannons, and no money. The Americans' only hope is to wage an invisible war—a war of spies, intelligence networks, and deception. Enter the shadowy world of double agents, covert operations, codes and ciphers—a world so secret that America's spymaster himself doesn't know the identities of some of his agents. Meet members of the elusive Culper Ring, uncover a "mole" in the Sons of Liberty, and see how invisible ink and even a clothesline are used to send secret messages. You can even use Washington's own secret codebook, published here for the first time. Experience at close quarters the successes and failures of the Americans as they strive to outwit the British. Meet the chief of covert operations, one Benjamin Franklin, and several other surprising players in America's secret war. Author Thomas B. Allen has sifted through dozens of historical documents and coded letters to uncover the facts about a time shrouded in secrets. Archival art, coupled with lively pen-and-ink sketches by children's illustrator Cheryl Harness, detail all the action and adventure of this momentous tale. Like the highly acclaimed hardback, this little paperback is sure to have a big impact on the imagination of readers everywhere.National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.
Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando
Andrea Wang - 2019
Magic Ramen tells the true story behind the creation of one of the world's most popular foods.Every day, Momofuku Ando would retire to his lab—a little shed in his backyard. For years, he'd dreamed about making a new kind of ramen noodle soup that was quick, convenient, and tasty for the hungry people he'd seen in line for a bowl on the black market following World War II. Peace follows from a full stomach, he believed.Day after day, Ando experimented. Night after night, he failed. But Ando kept experimenting.With persistence, creativity, and a little inspiration, Ando succeeded. This is the true story behind one of the world's most popular foods.
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction
David Macaulay - 1973
This critically acclaimed book has been translated into a dozen languages and remains a classic of children's literature and a touchstone for budding architects. Cathedral's numerous awards include a prestigious Caldecott Honor and designation as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year for Macaulay's intricate pen-and-ink illustrations.Journey back to centuries long ago and visit the fictional people of twelfth-, thirteenth-, and fourteenth-century Europe whose dreams, like Cathedral, stand the test of time.This title has been selected as a Common Core text exemplar (Grades 6–8, Informational Texts: Science, Mathematics, and Technical Studies).
The Quest for Z: The True Story of Explorer Percy Fawcett and a Lost City in the Amazon
Greg Pizzoli - 2017
Most people didn't even believe this city existed. But if Fawcett could find it, he would be rich and famous forever. This is the true story of one man's thrilling, dangerous journey into the jungle, and what he found on his quest for the lost city of Z.