Selling kids on nonfiction

It's hard to know if you have an interest in a topic unless you know something about it. That's one of the terrific things about children's books - you can learn a lot in a few pages, helping to either spark an interest or not. Either way is OK. The point is to expose children to as many well-written nonfiction books as possible and allow children to decide for themselves.

In casual conversation with friends, I've often been asked where I've learned certain facts. For the most part, those snippets of information come from children's books. Some of those snippets have made me want to read further on that topic and I have. The same might be true for a child, but you'll never know unless you take the time to open that door.

The books reviewed below represent excellent nonfiction books, and there are many, many more available in your library and bookstore. Include nonfiction books in your child's reading mix and see where it leads.

Books to Borrow

The following book is available at many public libraries.

"Home at Last - A Song of Migration" by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Alix Berenzy, Henry Holt, 36 pages

Read aloud: age 4 and older. Read yourself: age 8 and older.

Sayre and Berenzy have created a book that is a beautiful and gentle celebration of the courage, determination and instinctual drive of migratory animals in their pursuit to reach their home. For some, the journey may only be a few miles. For others, it may thousands of miles or even halfway around the earth.

In spare text and soft, almost dream-like illustrations, readers learn about the sea turtle, arctic tern, wood frog, the warbler, salmon, monarch butterfly, gray whale, caribou and lobsters.

Reassuring in many ways, this book gently demonstrates that "home" is a special place for all creatures.

Librarian's Choice

Library: Dayton Valley Branch Library, 321 Old Dayton Valley Road

Branch Manager: Theresa Kenneston

Choices this week: "Spike" by Paulette Bogan; "Stanley in the Dark" by Christina M. Butler; "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary

Books to Buy

The following books are available at favorite bookstores.

"Children of the Great Depression" by Russell Freedman, black & white photographs by various photographers, Clarion Books, 2005, 118 pages, $20 hardcover

Read aloud: age 9Ð10 and older. Read yourself: age 10 and older.

What was the Great Depression and what was it like being a child during that time?

Drawing on first-hand accounts, letters, diaries and memoirs, Russell Freedman takes this complex and devastating time in American history and recreates it in an accessible, fast-paced way for older children.

During the Great Depression, people all over the country suffered. Countless families didn't have adequate food or shelter and many children didn't attend school because they had to work. Children did without new clothing and toys, and the list of what children and adults did without during this dark time goes on and on.

Masterfully written and supported by extraordinary photographs by the nation's most accomplished photographers of that time, this book sensitively depicts this catastrophic chapter in our nation's history.

"Horses" by Seymour Simon, color photographs by various photographers, 2006, 36 pages, $15.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 5 and older. Read yourself: age 7Ð8 and older.

Through short, lively vignettes and gorgeous color photographs, fascinating facts about horses are revealed. From the Ice Age to Roman civilization and beyond, the horse has played an important part of history. Readers learn what horses like and don't like, the different kinds of horses, how to interpret what a horse is feeling by the way it moves its eyes, ears, and other gestures and sounds a horse makes, and a host of other interesting information.

For horse lovers or those simply curious to know more about this amazing animal, this beautiful selection delivers a lot in 36 pages.

-- Nationally syndicated, Kendal Rautzhan writes and lectures on children's literature. Contact her at: kendal@sunlink.net.