Nonfiction Book

Bibliography
Alexander, Lori. All in a Drop: How Anthony van
Leeuwenhock Discovered an Invisible World. New
York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
Antony van Leeuwenhoek sold cloth in the 1600s. He
was a simple man. Anthony was not likely to make a
great scientific discovery, but he did. He invented a
simple microscope and discovered something
amazing. Anthony saw microbes, tiny living things.

Flynn, Sarah Wassner. This Book Stinks! Gross

Garbage, Rotten Rubbish, and the Science of Trash
Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2017.
Trash is slimy and stinky. There are different ways
we get rid of things we do not want. What do we put
in the trash? How much garbage does one person
create in a year? Where does recycling go? What can
you make with trash or recyclables? Answer these
questions and more. Trash can be treasure!

Burcaw, Shane. Not So Different: What You Really

Want to Ask About Having a Disability. New York:
Roaring Brook, 2017.
Shane Burcaw has spinal muscular atrophy. His
disease makes his muscles weak. Ever since Shane
was a baby, his body has not gotten stronger. He
needs help from his family and friends to do most
things. He also uses an electric wheelchair to help
him get around. Shane answers all the questions
anybody might have about his busy life.

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Dunbar, Erica Armstrong and Katherine Van Cleve.
Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and
Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared
to Run Away. New York: Aladdin, 2019.
George and Martha Washington had a slave named
Ona Judge. She was a personal servant to Mrs.
Washington and traveled with the couple away from
Virginia. Ona discovered that in the North there
were free black people. One day she just left home
and boarded a ship to take her to New Hampshire
and freedom. She chose liberty, even though life was
harder than when she was a slave.

Engle, Margarita. Bravo! Poems About Amazing

Hispanics. New York: Henry Holt, 2017.
Learn about Hispanics from all around the world.
Each short poem tells the story of one person and
their contributions. The book has colorful
illustrations with portraits of the subjects. Read
about a librarian, a medical researcher, a baseball
player, and many others. If you want to know more,
there are notes at the end of the book.

Heiligman, Deborah. Torpedoed: The True Story of

the World War II Sinking of the “Children’s Ship”.
New York: Henry Holt, 2019.
During World War II, the passenger ship SS City of
Benares sailed, carrying children from England to
Canada. A German submarine was following and
torpedoed the “Children’s Ship”. It was cold and at
night when the survivors boarded lifeboats. Wearing
only pajamas, the children prayed for rescue.

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Jarrow, Gail. The Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and
Fraud in Our Food and Drugs. New York: Calkins
Creek, 2019.
Chemist Harvey Washington Wiley saw that
chemicals and garbage were mixing into foods. No
one was stopping greedy companies or letting
shoppers know. He began to speak out about the
danger of things in jarred and canned foods. His
work led to the creation of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, or FDA. The FDA continues to
protect American food to this day.

Messner, Kate. The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the

World’s Coral Reefs. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2018.
Ken Nedimyer had an idea. Could he take a small
piece of coral and plant it in a dying reef? Coral was
dying because the ocean water In Florida was too
warm. If it worked, the tiny bit of coral could make a
colony in the ocean and create a habitat for other
species. Ken’s idea worked, and Coral Restoration
Foundation was born. Ken and others have rebuilt
thousands of reefs and saved ocean habitats.

National Geographic Kids. Bet You Didn’t Know!

Fascinating, Far-out, Fun-tastic Facts. Washington,
DC: National Geographic, 2017.
Sometimes the truth is weird and funny. Butterflies
can see more colors than humans can, and people
used rock candy as medicine. See what the proper
name for a litter of kittens is and learn some sweet
facts about chocolate too. Facts and information can
be fun and strange!

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Newman, Patricia. Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators
That Saved an Ecosystem. Minneapolis, MN:
Millbrook, 2017.

What could a sea otter and seagrass have in

common? A marine biologist had a mystery on his
hands. The water on the California coast was dirty.
Farms had dumped fertilizers into the water. This
should have killed the seagrass. The seagrass was
healthy. “How could the grass be healthy?” was the
big question. Answering the question led scientists to
the sea otter and a cool discovery.

Ogle, Rex. Free Lunch. New York: Norton Young

Readers, 2019.
Rex is in 6th grade. He is also starting at a new school
in a nice neighborhood. Rex does not think his life is
good at all. His baby brother is a pain, and all his
mom does is yell. Rex’s mom also has a problem with
money. She never seems to have any. Rex uses the
school free lunch program and is embarrassed. He
thought 6th grade was going to be great.

Portis, Antoinette. Hey, Water! New York: Neal

Porter, 2019.
A little girl sees that water is all around us. Water can
look very different too. Water can be for drinking.
Water can be a lake or a river. Water can be a pool
or a tear. Water can be fog or snow. Water can be so
many, many things. The many forms of water and
the water cycle are important parts of our lives.

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Roy, Katherine. How To Be an Elephant: Growing Up
in the African Wild. New York: Roaring Brook, 2017.
African elephants are the Earth’s largest land
animals. It takes work to survive. A baby elephant
learns how to be an elephant from its family herd.
The family herd is the baby’s mother, siblings,
cousins, and aunts. A baby elephant must keep up
with the moving herd to find food and water. The
infant must also figure out how to use its trunk to
drink and eat. Trunks are not easy things to master!

Soundar, Chitra. Pattan’s Pumpkin. Somerville, MA:

Candlewick, 2017.
Pattan was a farmer. One day he found a sick plant
with yellow flowers. He took the vine home and took
care of it. The plant started to grow and grow. It was
a pumpkin. The pumpkin grew to be as big as a
mountain! One day it started to rain. It rained and
rained and rained. Pattan was worried. How could he
save his wife and farm animals from the flood? He
had an idea; maybe the pumpkin could help.

Winchester, Simon. When the Sky Breaks:

Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and the Worst Weather in
the World. New York: Viking, 2017.
Writer Simon Winchester looks at bad weather. He
explains how the very worst weather on Earth
happens. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the Bahamas,
before heading north to hit both New Jersey and
New York. Weather watchers in England were the
only ones who predicted it accurately. Learn about
how they predicted the storm would grow.