2021 Non-Fiction Book Nominees
Using Primary Sources (General Information):
The Library of Congress- Using Primary Sources
Primary Source Nexus
National Archives
The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow (2019)
Here's the true story of an inventor who so loved nature's vibrant colors that he found a way to bring the outside world to children - in a bright green box for only a nickel! With experimentation, and a special knack for listening, Edwin Binney and his dynamic team at Crayola created one of the world's most enduring, best-loved childhood toys - empowering children to dream in COLOR!
Lesson Ideas:
Teacher's Guide
Teachers Pay Teachers $
Library Lessons With Books
Literature Links
How Crayola Crayons are made (YouTube)
Authors Website
Fiction Titles:
Love From The Crayons by Drew Daywalt
The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane Derolf
The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
The Elephant by Jenni Desmond (2018)
From Africa to Asia, the elephant makes its home. Light on their feet, despite their great weight, these magnificent creatures appear light and graceful because they're always walking on their tip-toes. They have excellent hearing and can detect the rumblings of other elephants from six miles away. And, just like humans being right handed or left handed, elephants can be right tusked or left tusked!
Lesson Ideas:
Lesson Plan from Educate Esteem Power
Elephant Tool Kit from WWF
San Diego Zoo Kids- Elephants
Top 10 Elephant Facts from NatGeo Kids
Fiction Titles:
Tilly and Tank by Jay Fleck
Elmer and the Tune by David McKee
How To Find an Elephant by Kate Banks
Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev
Wish by Matthew Cordell
I Love My Mama by Peter Kavanagh
The Mightiest by Keiko Kasza
Never Mail an Elephant by Mike Thaler
Flying Frogs and Walking Fish: Leaping Lemurs, Tumbling Toads, Jet-Propelled Jellyfish, and More Surprising Ways Animals Move by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (2016)
A red-lipped batfish waddles across the sea floor on its fins, searching for small sea creatures to eat. Other animals may fly or glide, or jet-propel themselves to get around. These creatures come equipped with legs, wings, or tentacles, and they often move from place to place in surprising ways. In the latest eye-catching escape into the kingdom of Animalia, Caldecott Honor-winning team Jenkins and Page show how animals roll, fly, walk, leap, climb, swim and even flip!
Lesson Ideas:
Teachers Pay Teachers $
Educators Guide from Publisher
Authors Website
Similar Titles:
All Steve Jenkins and Robin Page Books
The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney by Alice B. McGinty (2019)
When Venetia Burney's grandfather reads aloud from the newspaper about a new discovery--a "ninth major planet" that has yet to be named--her eleven-year-old mind starts whirring. She is studying the planets in school and loves Roman mythology. "It might be called Pluto," she says, thinking of the dark underworld. Grandfather loves the idea and contacts his friend at London's Royal Astronomical Society, who writes to scientists at the Lowell Observatory in Massachusetts, where Pluto was discovered. After a vote, the scientists agree unanimously: Pluto is the perfect name for the dark, cold planet.
Lesson Ideas:
Classroom Bookshelf Lesson Idea
Activity Guide from the Publisher
Biography of Ventia Burney from NASA
Read Aloud (YouTube)
Similar Fiction Titles:
A Place for Pluto by Stef Wade (Also a GCRA picture book Nominee!)
Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers (2017)
In this fascinating and fun take on nonfiction for kids, Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris investigate a seemingly small trait of America's most emblematic statue. What they find is about more than history, more than art. What they find in the Statue of Liberty's right foot is the powerful message of acceptance that is essential of an entire country's creation.
Lesson Ideas:
Activity Guide from RIF
Pairing Picture Books with Primary Sources
Classroom Guide from Publisher
Teachers Pay Teachers $
NatGeo Kids Statue of Liberty
Liberty Ellis Foundation
Similar Titles:
Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus
We Came to America by Faith Ringgold
Anna and Solomon by Elaine Snyder
Emma's Poem: The Voice of The Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser
Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai (2017)
As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of garbage from her city, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. But as she grew older, Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for. She saw a world that needed fixing. And even if she never found a magic pencil, Malala realized that she could still work hard every day to make her wishes come true.
Lesson Ideas:
Resource by Publisher
Read Across America Activity
Teachers Pay Teachers $
Teaching Resources List
Similar Fiction Titles:
I Am A Super Girl by Kelly Greenawalt
Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
Lesson Ideas:
Resource by Publisher
Read Across America Activity
Teachers Pay Teachers $
Teaching Resources List
Similar Fiction Titles:
I Am A Super Girl by Kelly Greenawalt
Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
Muhammad Ali: A Champion is Born by Gene Barretta (2017)
The Louisville Lip. The Greatest. The People's Champion. Muhammad Ali had many nicknames. But before he became one of the most recognizable faces in the world, before the nicknames and the championships, before he converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali, he was twelve-year-old Cassius Clay riding a brand-new red-and-white bicycle through the streets of Louisville, Kentucky. One fateful day, this proud and bold young boy had that bike stolen, his prized possession, and he wouldn't let it go. Not without a fight. This would be the day he discovered boxing. And a champion was born.
Lesson Ideas:
Educator Resources for Muhammad Ali
Authors Website
Nation Geographic Teaching about Muhammad Ali
Teachers Pay Teachers $
Similar Titles:
Any nonfiction book about boxing and/or Muhammad Ali
Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere by Barb Rosenstock (2018)
The suspenseful, little-known true story of two determined pioneers who made the first dive into the deep ocean. On June 6, 1930, engineer Otis Barton and explorer Will Beebe dove into the ocean inside a hollow metal ball of their own invention called the Bathysphere. They knew dozens of things might go wrong. A tiny leak could shoot pressurized water straight through the men like bullets! A single spark could cause their oxygen tanks to explode! No one had ever dived lower than a few hundred feet...and come back. But Otis and Will were determined to become the first people to see what the deep ocean looks like. This suspenseful story from acclaimed author Barb Rosenstock with mesmerizing watercolors by award-winning artist Katherine Roy will put you right in the middle of the spine-tingling, record-setting journey down, down into the deep.
Lesson Ideas:
Educational Guide from Publisher
Teachers Pay Teachers $
A Conversation with the Author and Illustrator
Official William Beebe Website
Amusing Planet information on the Bathysphere
Similar Titles:
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne
The Shape of the World: A Portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright by K. L. Going (2017)
When Frank Lloyd Wright was a baby, his mother dreamed that he would become a great architect. She gave him blocks to play with and he learned that shapes are made up of many other shapes. As he grew up, he loved finding shapes in nature. Wright went on to study architecture and create buildings that were one with the natural world around them. He became known as one of the greatest American architects of all time.
Lesson Ideas:
Architecture 101 With Frank Lloyd Wright Lesson Plan (for 4th grade)
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Virtual Classroom
Similar Titles:
Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids by Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen
Architecture 101 With Frank Lloyd Wright Lesson Plan (for 4th grade)
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Virtual Classroom
Similar Titles:
Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids by Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen
She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History by Chelsea Clinton (2018)
Women around the world have long dreamed big, even when they've been told their dreams didn't matter. They've spoken out, risen up and fought for what's right, even when they've been told to be quiet. Whether in science, the arts, sports or activism, women and girls throughout history have been determined to break barriers and change the status quo. They haven't let anyone get in their way and have helped us better understand our world and what's possible.
Lesson Ideas:
Teachers Pay Teachers $
Mini Biography Idea
Similar Titles:
Daring Women Series
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
