The Best Non-Fiction Books for Kids
When they think about reading, many parents and readers think first and foremost of fiction: story books, novels, and (occasionally) poetry. Nonfiction, in contrast, is often seen as secondary—great for when you want to look something up, but less useful for entertainment, pleasure, or reading aptitude.
However, nonfiction is critically important to child readers for a number of reasons. In the first place, most of the reading that occurs in real life is nonfiction: from recipe books to news articles and work reports, being able to understand and analyze factual information is a crucial skill. The same is true of college learning: the ability to critically read and understand research studies and academic sources is crucial to college success.
Most importantly, however, nonfiction is fun.
Finding a Factual Balance
Kids love facts and knowledge; it’s one reason that parents of toddlers come to dread the question ”why?” from their children and why “did you know?” is a favorite phrase of seven- and eight-year-olds the world over. Nonfiction offers children a medium through which they can come to understand the world and make sense of what they see around them. For this reason, striking a balance between fiction and nonfiction is essential to creating strong, independent readers.
Choosing Great Non-Fiction
With so much nonfiction available (and with ongoing national debates about the nature of truth and the prevalence of “fake news”), knowing how to evaluate and select nonfiction texts is important. While it may seem that facts are just facts, the selection and presentation of information goes a long way to distinguishing a quality children’s nonfiction text from a dubious one.
According to children’s nonfiction expert Joe Sutliff Saunders, the most important aspect of nonfiction for children is that it leaves space for readers to ask questions of their own. Experts on the Reading Recovery website agree, arguing that children’s “own, authentic questions engage them with the text and lead to deeper thinking and greater understanding.” Choose texts that present knowledge as unfinished exploration, rather than black-and-white, cut-and-dry facts.
Books that offer interaction are also a good choice, as are books that offer resources for further research and citation for where their information comes from. Finally, make sure that you are choosing books that are inclusive and diverse, use language with accuracy and precision, and avoid explicit bias.
Non-Fiction Publishers
There are a number of tried and tested publishers of non-fiction texts for children who are worth keeping on your radar. Dorling Kindersley, a division of Penguin Random House, is well known for superbly produced reference books. Characterized by rich illustrations and encyclopedia-style snippets of text, these books provide hours of pleasurable browsing. National Geographic is another prolific producer, offering information books on subjects as wide-ranging as dinosaurs, soccer, and volcanoes.
Smithsonian Kids publishes nonfiction on a range of history subjects, including archeology, anthropology, and ancient history. Their 100 Curious… series offers fascinating facts and images drawn from the museum’s collections. The First Words series from Lonely Planet Kids is a range of board books for foreign language learning; Lonely Planet Kids also offers a range of atlases and exploration-focused books. Finally, it is worth remembering the many smaller, independent children’s publishers offering nonfiction on every subject under the sun.
Non-Fiction Genres and Forms
Nonfiction is a wide-ranging sector and encompasses more than just books of facts like encyclopedias. Biographies and autobiographies often offer stories comparable to fiction in their compelling narrative style and drama. History and contemporary history books can be found covering issues such as civil rights, the development of architecture, and the evolution of bathrooms. Books are also available in science and technology, nature, geography, history and culture, and even math.
Of course, nonfiction for children is not limited to traditional paper books. A wide range of audiobooks and podcasts are also available for children, as well as magazines from Smithsonian, National Geographic, Discover, and Time. There are also excellent graphic non-fiction texts, from Marjane Sartrapi’s Persepolis to Lauren Redniss’s Oak Flat. The Graphic Guides series from Icon Books makes complex topics like epigenetics, relativity, and logic visually accessible to teens, with eBook features also allowing study practices like highlighting and adding notes to text.
Recent Noteworthy Publications
A great way to discover the best new nonfiction publications is to keep an eye on the children’s nonfiction awards, including the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Award, the Orbitus Pictus Award from the NCTE, and the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards. These awards recognize and promote the best nonfiction being published for children and young adults, judging on grounds including artistic merit, accuracy, and significance.
Rex Ogle’s Free Lunch won the YALSA 2020 award; this moving autobiography offers a first-hand perspective on poverty in the US. The 2020 Boston Globe Horn Book Nonfiction Awards was won by Ashley Bryan’s Infinite Hope, a memoir that combines a searching exploration of racism with a fascinating archive of real-life photographs, letters, and other memorabilia. Barry Wittenstein’s A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation won the 2020 Orbitus Pictus Award, offering not only an historical account of Luther’s famous speech, but also an in-depth look at the speech-writing process.
5 Non-Fiction Booklists to Get You Started
True Holocaust Stories for Kids and Adults Because We Cannot Forget
11 Kids Books Celebrating Moon Landings, Apollo Missions, and More
2 Playful Non-Fiction Books to Bug Out Over
6 Non-Fiction Books for Dinosaur Obsessed Kids
Non-Fiction Books: Telling Children the Truth
This article, The Best Non-Fiction Books for Kids, was written by Dr. Jen Harrison.
More of the Best Non-Fiction Books For Kids
Which five words best describe Art in Action?
Matthew “Levee” Chavez: Curious, fun, challenging, transforming, thoughtful.
Yuval Zommer has written and illustrated several children’s books, including The Big Book of Bugs, The Big Book of Beasts, and The Big Book of the Blue.
The Children’s Book Review | November 16, 2018 The Children’s Book Review: Which five words…
This updated edition of the bestselling Girls Think of Everything, by Sibert-winner Catherine Thimmesh and Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet, retains all the integrity of the original but includes expanded coverage of inventions.
Co-authors Carole P. Roman and J. Robin Albertson Wren discuss Mindfulness for Kids:30 Fun Activities to Stay Calm, Happy, and In Control. Their new book introduces the valuable concept of mindfulness with ease.
Body safety is a topic that we know we need to teach our kids about. Start the conversation nowith these body safety books.
Which five words best describe Teach Your Child Meditation: 70 Fun & Easy Ways to Help Kids De-Stress and Chill Out
Lisa Roberts: Playful, Educational, Engaging, Resourceful, and Essential
Girls Resist!: A Guide to Activism, Leadership, and Starting a Revolution: An activism handbook for teen girls ready to fight for change, social justice, and equality.
Book of Bones, by Gabrielle Balkan, is engaging, fun, and different – great as a gift or for the classroom.
My First Book of My Body blends complex facts with engaging activities.