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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

NF 10 for 10- My Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 2013!

 Today is one of my favorite days of the year- NF 10 for 10. A couple of years ago, Cathy Mere, Mandy Robek, and Julie Balen, decided that we needed a little midwinter excitement, so they thunked up the first annual Nonfiction Ten for Ten Picture book event. It's become an annual favorite!

Since I just finished judging the 2013 CYBILS NONFICTION BOOKS, this year my list is my favorite ten 2013 nonfiction books (ok, with a teeny bit of cheating). I've already reviewed most of these, so the links to my reviews are included with the title.

Head over to Julie Balen's site for a compilation of all of the nonfiction lists!

1. FROG SONG by Brenda Z. Guiberson
My own personal CYBILS winner. 

2. THOMAS JEFFERSON BUILDS A LIBRARY
Clever, clever book design!

3. Eye on the Wild: Orangutan by Suzi Eszterhas
Really any book in this new series. Perfect for introducing younger kids to nonfiction. Perfect mentor text for older kids. 


4. LOOK UP: BIRD WATCHING IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD by Annette LeBlanc Cate
Winner of this year's CYBILS award. An amazing amount of information packed onto each page. And guaranteed to make you want to get out your sketchbook.

5. A SPLASH OF RED: THE LIFE AND ART OF HORACE PIPPIN.
Love this picture book biography. Hope this author/illustrator team have lots more coming.

6. COURAGE HAS NO COLOR by Tanya Lee Stone
The story of the America's first black paratroopers. Too important to miss.

7. ICK! YUCK! EEW! OUR GROSS AMERICAN HISTORY!

Or for the younger set, David Macaulay's TOILET: HOW IT WORKS



8. NELSON MANDELA by Kadir Nelson
(Ok, really any book by Kadir Nelson is a favorite of mine, but this is this year's favorite).

9. Two amazing collage-illustrated nonfiction picture books

PARROTS OVER PUERTO RICO by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumboare
Gorgeous collage illustrations


VOLCANO RISING by Elizabeth Rausch
An unusual look at volcanoes. More beautiful collage illustrations.

10. Two really good books about big animals
 SCALY, SPOTTED, FEATHERED, FRILLED by Catherine Thimmesh

 THE TAPIR SCIENTISTS by Sy Montgomery
Or any other book in the SCIENTISTS IN THE FIELD series.

4 comments:

Rose said...

Thanks for the great suggestions! A Splash of Red is one of my favorites, but I may be a bit biased since I helped write the teacher's guide.

Linda B said...

Thanks Carol--I know a lot of these, but wrote down a few, like that Scaly, Spotted, Feathered, Frilled-lookd great!

Cathy said...

Carol,
I'm so glad you joined and we were able to benefit from your work on the Cybils Nonfiction committee. You have so many great titles here. I just requested several from our library.

Cathy

Carrie Gelson said...

I love these Scientist in the Field titles. Currently reading Saving the Ghost of the Mountain by this same author/photographer team to my children. You have some of my favourites here - like A Splash of Red. So much fun to find out everyone's favourite titles!