Tag: nonfiction monday

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Blizzard of Glass

blizzardofglass

BLIZZARD OF GLASS: THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION OF 1917
By Sally M. Walker
Henry Holt, 2011

Category: Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction

I picked up an Advance Reader’s Edition of this book at the annual conference of the American Library Association last month. Technically, I am too biased to review it: Sally Walker is a friend and Henry Holt is publishing my own next book. But I’m not the sort of girl that would let those things sway her into praising a book she didn’t love … and I love this book too much not to sing about it.

In 1917, a ship carrying munitions into Halifax Harbor collided with another ship, setting off what was then the largest man-made explosion in history. The accident happened on an otherwise humdrum December morning, and Sally Walker tells the story perfectly, bringing readers into Halifax, showing them around, feeding them breakfast, walking them to school, and leading them, moment by painstaking moment, toward the disaster that changed the community forever. She gives special attention to those facets of the story that will most intrigue young people, and she does so with respect and care for both her subjects and her readers.

This is narrative nonfiction at its finest, folks. A page-turner right out of the history books, a disaster story told not for its shock value, but for its enduring value. Today’s kids are surrounded by disaster—natural or manmade, real or in sound-byte. To some of them, it may feel as if disaster is a new thing, as if dealing with it is something humans are not equipped for. The fact is—and BLIZZARD OF GLASS readers come to understand this—we humans have dealt with disaster for our entire history. And time and again, we’ve come together, in community, to help one another through. That message rings powerfully in this book, and its why I made sure both my tweens had a chance to read it before I passed it along, with rave reviews, to my town librarian.

BLIZZARD OF GLASS will be available in bookstores on November 22, 2011. Don’t miss it!

Edited to add:

It’s Nonfiction Monday, which means a gaggle of bloggers are talking about children’s nonfiction. You can see a roundup of today’s offerings at the proseandkahn blog. As always, you can read up on Nonfiction Monday celebrations at the official website.

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Nonfiction Galore

January is award season in the children’s publishing world, and the result is lists and lists of books I’d like to read. I’ve compiled a few of my favorite nonfiction book lists here …

From the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the 2011 Orbis Pictus Award and Finalists

From the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the 2011 Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12

From the American Library Association, the 2011 YALSA Award for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction winner and finalists

Also from the American Library Association, the 2011 Sibert Medal winner and honor books

From the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Subaru, the 2010 SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books winners and finalists

And don’t forget the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ 2010 Literary Awards finalists in the Nonfiction Picture Book and Nonfiction Middle Grade and Young Adult Book categories

* * *

Are there lists of this year’s award-winning non-fiction that I’ve missed? Please let me know and I’ll add them.

And what do you think of that rockin’ banner up there? I thought it was a bit loud, but its creator, my son, thinks that is because I’m a bit old.

Finally, did you know you can find all things nonfiction from around the blogosphere every Monday at Nonfiction Monday? Here’s today’s roundup, courtesy of the blog Great Kid Books. Check it out.

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Nonfiction Monday: Some Thoughts and Some Books

Marc Aronson, who blogs about nonfiction for young people at the School Library Journal website, recently asked his readers what they love about reading nonfiction. I’ve been mulling the question for days, and my answer is this: the stories are true.

Before anyone gets outraged, let me state, for the record, that I adore fiction. I read an awful lot of it, and I react strongly and emotionally to made-up characters and situations all the time. (For a fine example, ask my three kids how I handled Dumbledore’s death.) But my reaction to fiction is always tempered, just the tiniest bit, by the knowledge that the stories and the characters and the situations are not real, but instead dreamt up in the mind of a working writer.

Conversely, the emotions stirred when I read non-fiction are boosted, sometimes imperceptibly and sometimes by leaps and bounds, simply because the stories and characters and situations I have just discovered are real. The people existed in flesh and blood. Their deeds are a matter of historical or personal record. I could learn more, should I choose to, without the author’s knowledge or consent, because the story is not his or hers, but ours; it belongs to you and to me and to all of humankind.

Corny, I know, but that’s my answer.

Here are two works of nonfiction I read recently and adored. These are not reviews, mind you, but hearty recommendations.

WRITTEN IN BONE
By Sally M. Walker
Carolrhoda, 2009

Category: YA Nonfiction

Sally M. Walker’s meticulously researched and sparklingly rendered young adult standout, WRITTEN IN BONE is perfect for any person of over the age of ten with an interest in history or science or real-life mysteries. In fact, I suspect persons over the age of ten heretofore uninterested in these topics, upon reading the book, will be inspired to wonder about history and science and real-life mysteries and, perhaps, why they hadn’t wondered about these things before.

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS
The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors
by Chris Barton
Illustrated by Tony Persiani
Charlesbridge, 2009

Category: Picture Book Nonfiction

In THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS, Cris Barton and Tony Persiani share the story of Bob and Joe Switzer and their somewhat accidental discovery of colors that glow in the dark AND in the light. The spotlight here is on serendipity, the unique strengths of two very different brothers, and how the road to our childhood dreams is often circuitous, eye-popping … and not so very hard to navigate after all.

Do YOU read nonfiction? What books have you adored lately? Do tell! And for a roundup of web-wide posts on nonfiction for children, check out today’s post at Wendy’s Wanderings.