Middle Grade March: Nonfiction

I'm back today with 15 of my favorite nonfiction middle grade books for you to enjoy during Middle Grade March! 

All Thirteen... I just talked about this book here but I really can't stress enough how much I loved this book! This is the story of the rescue of the Thailand boys soccer team trapped in a flooded cave for two weeks. It is so well-written and moving.

Amelia Lost... I I requested this middle grade nonfiction as a library book by mistake. I was looking for a grown-up book on Amelia Earhart and this one came in instead. I almost returned it without reading it but decided to give it a try and was so glad that I did! You should be aware that Amelia Earhart had an affair and that is talked about in this book but it was still so well-done and I really enjoyed it.

Best Friends Forever... this book does fall on the lower end of this age spectrum but I just loved it so much! All of the stories in it were interesting but the story of Koko the gorilla was so fascinating to me and got me on a very strong Koko kick. I have since red several other stories about this fascinating gorilla and I'm so excited for my kids to read this one too.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind... This is such a cool story about a young man in Africa who fought through starvation and other tribulations to change his family's and village's lives forever. William Kambkwamba created a windmill out of scraps found in the junkyard and used that to power his village which brought his family income and saved the villagers in several ways. This book is filled with so much inspiring STEM information without meaning to and the perseverance, loyalty, and friendship displayed here were all so moving. I was so impressed with this book.

Brown Girl Dreaming... Jacqueline Woodson tells her story here of what life was like for her as an African American child in the '60s and '70s. The civil rights era is a time period I am always very interested in reading about so this one was a really great read for me. It is written in verse but I have found that that doesn't bother me at all anymore.

Candy Bomber... What would a Sara Bell list be without at least one WWII story, right? This is the story of Gail Halverson, the candy bomber who dropped chocolate out of his plane as he flew over restricted areas after the war. This is a very uplifting read unlike so many WWII stories. There are also some great picture books on this subject but I adored this middle grade nonfiction and hope anyone who likes WWII stories will give it a whirl. 

CS Lewis: Master Storyteller... This biography by Geoff and Janet Benge is apparently written in a very different style from their others in this series, but I have not read those so can't compare yet. I really enjoyed learning more about CS Lewis and his fascinating life/work.

Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport... Oh, look! Another WWII book! This was my first time hearing about the kindertransport and I was very fascinated by the concept. This one does not have the same cheerful and heart-warming feel that candy bomber does so I mostly only recommend this one to those who can handle sad subject matter well and are extra fascinated by WWII stories.

The Griffin and the Dinosaur... This is a really cool story for would-be paleontologists. This is a story about an exploration of dinosaur bones in years past and an attempt at understanding if certain mythical creatures like the griffin were actually imagined because of found fossils before dinosaurs were known as dinosaurs.

Lost on a Mountain in Maine... When I read this fascinating account of a young boy scout who got separated from his troop and was lost on a mountain in Maine I was so impressed and moved. I immediately handed this short book to my husband who also read it in one sitting and then said "that is one tough kid."

Love Does for Kids... I love this middle grade devotional, or maybe collection of essays is a better description, so much! My whole family loves this book and I talked about it on episode 1 of The Christian Bookworm Podcast as well. I just saw two days ago that Everybody Always for Kids is either out or coming out and I am so excited to try that one too! 

A Pioneer Sampler... I was torn between listing this book as a fiction or a nonfiction because it is both! This is a nonfiction account of pioneer life-- what it was like, how things were made, how things were done-- with a fictionalized pioneer family and their stories added in to bring it all to life. This is the classic definition of a "living book" in that I learned so much and I'm bringing so much of this knowledge to our own little homestead but also had a blast doing it.

Soul Surfer... This is probably best for the higher end of the age spectrum. This is the story of Bethany Hamilton, professional surfer who was attacked by a shark while surfing as a 12 or 13 year old. She lost her arm and had of course quite the struggle but went on to do great things and inspire many. I really loved Bethany's sweet spirit and inspiring outlook, and I loved her stories of perseverance and faith. This book was also a cool look at Hawaiian culture too.

I Survived: Five Epic Disasters... The I survived series is fictionalized accounts of disasters and wars and I actually do like quite a few of them (though not all of them,) but this is the nonfiction version of those stories. This is essentially the author's compilation of research used before writing the fictionalized accounts and I think they are all so fascinating. This author has a really great way of bringing hope and light into these sad / scary stories and I am very impressed. These nonfiction accounts, while still dealing with upsetting subject matter, are not quite as sad / scary as some of the fictionalized versions are.

Where is the Bermuda Triangle... The Bermuda Triangle is one of those weird subjects I kind of geek out about so I was super excited when I saw this book had released. I read it during one nap time and really enjoyed it. This is a cool look at multiple stories of Bermuda Triangle disappearances from multiple angles and there was a lot of history and science mixed in here in a way that was still fascinating and engaging.

Homeschool History: Revolutionary War

We've been working through American history and I've decided to list our favorite resources for a specific time period ever so often. We'll start today with the Revolutionary War and the resources I've used for ages 5-7.

Adventures in American History... My mom got us this Adventures in Oddysey audio drama and it's a huge hit. They just want to plow through it and I'm constantly having to convince them to wait for the next episode until we've read books and explored other resources for the subject they just learned about! 

Bedtime History Podcast: Paul Revere's Ride // George Washington part 1, 2 & 3

The Good and the Beautiful's History Year 1... These lessons were a bit lengthy if you're only working with the early elementary crowd but my son still loved it. The lesson book, the Big Book of History stories, the Keys of History board game, all of it.

Picture Books: American Girl: The Story of America (this is such a fun timeline book! Each time period is much too brief to be used alone but it's a great sidekick!) // George vs George // George Washington's Teeth 

Early readers:  George Washington: the First President by Sarah Albee // Imagination Station books 13-15 // Ranger in Time: Night of Soldiers and Spies

Middle Grade: Toliver's Secret by Esther Wood Brady (we read this a read-aloud, as recommended by TGTB's history unit. I liked it. A was on the fence at first but loved it by the end).

Videos: America: the Story of Us (definitely best for ages 10 or 12 and up) // Animated Hero Classics: George Washington

I've shared before that my childhood history lessons were dry and lackluster. I retained very little of it so I've been enjoying learning alongside my children. Those elements of history that did stick for me all involved historical fiction making it all come alive so I'm reading a historical fiction grown-up book with some units, too. For this one I read Rachel Hauck's Christian fiction timeslip The Love Letter. Romantic stories are never my favorites but I did like this one (she's a great writer) and it did indeed help this time period come alive for me! I don't necessarily recommend it for high schoolers but you know your kid better than I do! 

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Nonfiction picture books

A friend of mine once shared online that reading nonfiction picture books to her children is much more enjoyable for her than story-driven picture books. I really like a good mix of both and have read some truly awesome nonfiction picture books I thought I’d share here today. We’ve read some of these for specific homeschool lessons and some just for fun but they’re only on this list if they were enjoyed by both parent AND child.

Abe Lincoln, the Boy Who Loved Books… This is a really great, fun way to condense Abe Lincoln’s life into a picture book. We like the illustrations and reading about how much books were a part of his life made us feel really great about how much books are a part of our lives. My six-year-old adores this book and can tell you all about Abe Lincoln if you take the time to ask him.

Beauty and the Beak… This is the amazing story of an eagle (Beauty) whose beak was damaged by a hunter. She was rescued and eventually fitted with a prosthetic beak.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind… I read the middle-grade memoir (which I really liked) too and I’m just a big fan of William Kamkwamba. This is a really remarkable story about a young man in an African village who didn’t let his family’s circumstances deter him from doing something amazing: creating a windmill that would give them electricity. Although his family’s poverty also included nearly starving to death, the picture book version was not at all as harrowing as the middle-grade version.

Boxes for Katje… This one, I’ll warn you, felt very much like a fiction story. I didn’t even realize it was a true story until I got to the end and read the note in the back. This is the story of a little girl in the US sending a care package to a little girl in post-war Holland, and then the way her entire town came together to help the entire town in Holland. It’s heart-warming and one we’ve read again and again.

Brave Ballerina… My four-year-old is on a major ballerina kick and this fabulous book is a very quick and easy read she requests all the time. This is a rhyming story about Janet Collins’ journey to becoming a prima ballerina in a time when black ballerinas were just not given any respect or credit. The book does a really excellent job at pointing out the adversity she faced without being upsetting for the younger crowd.

A Butterfly is Patient (and others by Dianna Hutts)… This whole nature series is fascinating and just BEAUTIFUL, but the butterfly book is the hands-down favorite in this house.

Giant Squid… We all loved learning more about the giant squid and definitely fell into a bit of a rabbit hole afterwards. We watched ocean movies in hopes that it would be mentioned and borrowed probably 20 other giant squid/ocean library books but none compared to this one.

Moses… This Caldecott is my favorite Harriet Tubman picture book and I especially love the way her faith is woven into the narrative. 

No Monkeys, NoChocolate… This is such a fascinating look at the way certain aspects in nature go hand-in-hand, and in particular, just how imperative monkeys are to the chocolate industry. And yes, we definitely bought some chocolate just so we could eat it while we read this one =D

One Giant Leap… This is the story of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon and is really fun for any kid interested in space/the moon. We also like Buzz Aldrin’s take on the story, Reaching for the Moon.

Over and Under thePond… We were on a pond kick for a little while last year, exploring a semi-local pond during all four seasons and enjoying pond books. This one was technically only the kids’ second favorite but it was definitely my favorite.

A Passion for Elephants… We were all very fascinated by this story about Cynthia Moss, a US scientist who moved to Africa to study and photograph elephants. She also became a huge advocate for elephant safety and was a big part of the movement created to help prevent the unnecessary deaths of elephants for ivory. 

Redwoods… This is a very fact-driven book about the Redwoods but its illustrations are super inviting and feel more like a picture book. We’ve read this one again and again!

Shine-a-Light series… This whole series is so fun! You read a blurb about the topic on hand and then you shine a flashlight behind the page to see what’s hiding inside/underneath something. My personal favorite is the human body book but we also love Secrets of Winter, Secrets of the Apple Tree, Secrets of the Rainforest, Inside the Space Station, Secrets of the Vegetable Garden, and Secrets of Animal Camouflage. There’s a beach version, a hospital version, and so many more. My kids especially love to be the one working the flashlight.

Snowflake Bentley… This is about the first man to photograph snowflakes and was really fascinating. We made a whole big thing of it and attempted to capture photographs of snowflakes with my busted ol’ phone after reading it. Didn’t work out.

This is How We Do it… This was a really awesome look at cultures around the world and the way they all do things. We got to see the way families in different parts of the world eat their meals, the way the children attend school, the way they play… super fascinating.

Tiny Creatures: the World of Microbes… This book is really well done and so fascinating! My six-year-old was instantly intrigued so he emailed our nutritionist friend (which was pretty adorable, I have to say) and now we're both obsessed!

WildAbout Bears… We got to meet this lovely author/illustrator when we attended her storytime event at The Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, Montana. This book is a great look at bears and different bear species’ similarities/differences (habitats, diets, size, all kinds of goodies) and has some really nice illustrations. Also, to be honest, the author is just so incredibly kind and lovely so I am really hoping you’ll buy-not-borrow this particular gem.