Staff Picks Youth Nonfiction
April 2021
Celebrating Ramadan
by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
February 2021
If You Want a Friend in Washington: Wacky, Wild & Wonderful Presidential Pets
by Erin McGill
This is a funny and informative book about the variety of animals presidents have kept as pets at the White House. The animals range from the very small to huge, common and rare. A fun read with whimsical illustrations.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
Ensnared in the Wolf’s Lair: Inside the 1944 Plot to Kill Hitler and the Ghost Children of His Revenge
by Ann Bausum
A heartbreaking and haunting account of the many immediate family members and relatives who were killed or imprisoned in camps when the plot to kill Hitler in an explosion failed. His revenge was swift and thorough, even sweeping up people who happened to share the same last name of some of the conspirators. Told from a diary secreted away by a daughter of one of the conspirator’s, this should rank with Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl to show the evilness of some men, who took no account of age or innocence.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century
by Neil Bascomb
This book gives the reader a gripping description of the greatest prison breakout of the 20th century. 29 prisoners tunnel their way out of Holzminden prison in Germany during World War I. It’s replete with photographs, letters and maps.
Recommended by: Becky McCormack, Youth Services Assistant Manager
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
November 2020
Torpedoed: the true story of the World War II sinking of “The Children’s Ship”
by Deborah Heiligman
Very readable non-fiction book on the torpedoing of the ship ‘The City of Benares’ in 1940. Includes pictures and quotes from survivors. This title is also available on OverDrive.
Recommended by: Becky McCormack, Youth Services Assistant Manager
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
September 2020
Obsessed: a memoir of my life with OCD
by Allison Britz
This memoir is intense. If you have no experience with or knowledge of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) then you’ll expand your know-how significantly in reading this book. Allison has sudden onset OCD in her sophomore year of high school. The struggles she details will both fill you with sympathy and make you cringe in disbelief. Also available on OverDrive.
Recommended by: Becky McCormack, Youth Services Assistant Manager
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
Your Place in the Universe
by Jason Chin
By the author of Grand Canyon, Jason Chin has once again created a book that has magnificent illustrations to go along with text that makes size and distance very understandable. Starting out with the idea that most eight-year-olds are about five times as tall as the book and continuing comparisons on and on into the universe. This is an engaging way to grasp perspectives of things on earth and in space. There is more information found in the back of the book. This is a mind boggling book and a must see to believe.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
August 2020
Into the Clouds: the Race to Climb the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain
by Tod Olson
A white knuckle account of the dangers faced and challenges overcome to be the first to reach the top of K2. The book tells the stories of three different groups over 15 years who tried to reach the top. Suffering from frostbite and illnesses and storms and many other dangers, this book reads as if you are there. For thrills and chills from safely on the ground, this is a must read.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
May 2020
Otis and Will discover the deep: the record setting dive of the Bathysphere
by Barb Rosenstock
A little known true story about an engineer and an explorer who built a hollow metal ball, a bathysphere, to dive deep into the ocean. Not only does the text make this story suspenseful, but the watercolor drawings make this a mesmerizing book. As the two men went deeper and deeper into the ocean, not only the risks of something going wrong grew, but also the rewards in the sights they were the first to see. Read this book to follow them down into the deep. Also available on OverDrive.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
February 2020
Leave it to Abigail : the Revolutionary life of Abigail Adams
by Barb Rosenstock
“Everyone knew that good girls kept quiet, but…leave it to Abigail” is an example of how this biography about Abigail Adams is set up with information about her life and times and then how she managed to prove that women could do more. Colorful illustrations are complemented by cross-stitch pictures of that time period. Abigail Adams throughout her life was truly a revolutionary woman in a revolutionary time…a Founding Mother.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction