New Nonfiction Books for Kids, August 2024
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From caves to animals, dinosaurs, Egypt, a light ray, interesting people, and more, here are 12 new nonfiction books for readers who are ages 3 to 12!
New Nonfiction
Hello, I’m a Sloth written and illustrated by Haley and John Rocco
(ages 3 – 7)
ANIMALS
A friendly sloth tells readers about his life. For example, he climbs down from his tree once a week to poop and swims really well. And he poses questions to readers: How often do you poop? Can you swim? The first-person conversational narration will appeal to kids, as well as the clear illustrations. This series will make a great read-aloud for preschoolers and early elementary readers.
Hello, I’m a Pangolin written and illustrated by Hayley and John Rocco
(ages 3 – 7)
ANIMALS
A pangolin introduces itself to readers, explaining more about what it looks like, where it sleeps, what it eats, and so forth. Like the Sloth book, the narrator asks the readers related questions: How many fingernails do you have? The pangolin explains why people are hunting the last of them. Two pages of back matter share even more information.
Ode to a Grapefruit: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice written by Kari Lavelle, illustrated by Bryan Collier
(ages 4 – 8)
ACTOR BIOGRAPHY
THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A BIOGRAPHY! The author captures the right scenes of James Earl’s life to show his fear of speaking because of a stutter, his introduction to poetry that led him to begin writing his own poems and speaking them out loud. Why do I love this book so much? Because it’s not a boring birth to death, too-much-text tome. It’s perfect in every way. Plus, Bryan Collier’s illustrations are rich and evocative, adding everything to the ambiance of this beautiful biography.
Could You Ever Dine With Dinosaurs!? written by Sandra Markle, illustrated by Vanessa Morales
(ages 4 – 8)
DINOSAURS
In this clever book for young readers, learn more about what each dinosaur eats— and get helpful dining tips like “Be sure you are not on the guest list.” The illustrations are a combination of photorealistic dinosaurs and cartoon dinosaurs and kids which make the visuals very appealing.
A Party for Florine: Florine Stettheimer and Me written and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg
(ages 4 – 8)
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Bravo to the creator for making a unique biography that’s actually informational fiction with a first person narrator. The narrator relates to Florine as a Jewish girl who also loves art. She thinks about what kind of food she would serve at parties if she were Florine. The accompanying illustrations are full of movement and whimsy, like the text. Reading this makes you want to learn more about the artist.
There’s a Mountain in this Book written by Rachel Elliot, illustrated by Genevieve Lacroix
(ages 6 – 10)
MOUNTAINS
This is a somewhat unusual book. It’s about mountains, how they’re made, hiking in the mountains, climbing, specific mountains like Kilimanjaro, and more. Some pages fold out. All are designed to draw the reader’s attention to the writing and illustrations which is to say, they’re fun to read and view.
Colossal: Heavyweights of the Vehicle Universe written by Stephane Frattini, illustrated by Studio Muti
(ages 4 – 8)
VEHICLES
Wonderfully oversized, I predict this will be a favorite book for vehicle-loving kids. In the pages, they’ll read about gigantic construction vehicles, boats, airships, helicopters, farm vehicles, and more. The pages feature the vehicle labeled with facts and interesting information.
Ray’s Big Day A Journey at the Speed of Light written and illustrated by Josh Lewis
(ages 4 – 8)
SOLAR SYSTEM
Starting from the sun, Ray speeds off to see the solar system. Each page on the journey shows what Ray sees — planets, emptiness, and stars that she connected to animals. This is a good introduction to light rays and the solar system. Back matter shares more about the speed of light and the solar system.
Gifts from the Garbage Truck A True Story About the Things We (Don’t) Throw Away written by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Oriol Vidal
(ages 4 – 8)
BIOGRAPHY
This is another shining example of what biographies should be like — an engaging glimpse at the MOST IMPORTANT contributions of the person, not a birth-to-death (boring) retelling. This man named Nelson loved to find reusable trash and restore and reuse what he found, like toys for his family and objects he could display — which eventually was turned into a museum.
Magical Museum Ancient Egypt written by Stepanka Sekaninova, illustrated by Jakub Cenkl
(ages 7 – 12)
EGYPT
I received two different Egypt books to review this month but this one is superior to the other because of its oversized pages with colorful illustrations and readable text with bolded words. Kids will love that different characters from King Tut, a mummy cat, and a mouse relay information in dialogue bubbles. Fun!
The Dark! Wild Life in the Mysterious World of Caves written and illustrated by Lindsey Leigh
CAVES
(ages 8 – 12)
I love everything about this nonfiction book for middle grade readers in which you’ll learn about caves, famous caves around the world, and the incredible cave animals and their adaptations. Appeal layouts and illustrations, some in cartoon panels, accompany informational text that isn’t too dense or hard to read because the paragraphs are around 1 or 2 sentences.
The Incredible Octopus Meet the Eight-Armed Wonder of the Sea written by Erin Spencer
OCEAN ANIMALS
ages 10+
The best part of this book is the photographs. Kids will enjoy flipping through the images and noticing the cool details of the octopus. I can imagine a reader using this for research. Even though the layout is appealing, the text is dense, so I would recommend it for upper elementary or middle schoolers.
