New non fiction books to look for!

I read a really terrific blog post from Donalyn Miller about the importance of teachers reading so that they know what books to choose for their students. Here's a link to her post.   It reminded me WHY I spend so much time reading and how much I hope that the Booksearch (my database that lets you search for books based on the skill you want to teach) can help people find the right books.
Here are some of the newest non fiction books that I think should find their way into YOUR library, or at the very least, on to your reading list.  The first one is called "Women in Black History" by Tricia Williams Jackson.  This is a compilation of several different biographies of notable African American women.  They are arranged chronologically and there's a nice array of women who have made an impact in lots of different ways.  What I really liked about this book was the style of writing.  The biographies are short but written in such a gentle way that you can really feel not only the strength of the women but also their hearts.  There were also several women that I had never heard of before, like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who was a poet and abolitionist or Anna Julia Cooper, an educator and author who's words grace our American passports.  The only thing I missed in this book at all was pictures.  That might be because I was reading an advanced readers copy from Netgalley or maybe there just aren't many pictures of these ladies, but I'm really glad I got a chance to read about them.  This one is definitely coming into my library.

Another one that is definitely going to make it in to my library is this one.  It's called "The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids" by Ruby Roth.  It's a vegan cookbook for kids and it's very charmingly illustrated.  My students LOVE cookbooks and I think they are going to love this one.  It has a nice introduction where it explains some of the less familiar ingredients (this was helpful for me!) as well as some nice basic kitchen safety tips.  The recipes are organized into categories that start off with drinks and then move to snacks, salads, bigger plates, and desserts.  The recipes have clear directions as well as some very interesting information about why being a vegan is so much easier on the planet (it sent me to Google to check the validity of the data how much water it takes for a cow to create a glass of milk).  The pictures are adorable and very engaging.  I think my students will like this one a lot.  

Here's the cover.

And see what I mean about how cute the pictures are?  Totally adorable!

The last one is a compilation of stories called "Choosing Courage" by Peter Collier.  It's about Medal of Honor winners from the last 60 years.  It spans heroes from World War 2, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as stories of heroism here at home.  The people profiled come from all ethnic groups and all walks of life.  The stories are engagingly written with lots of photographs of the heroes in action as well as them receiving their medals.  I think kids will like this one a lot.  I think they'll like the photos, I think they'll be inspired by the heroism, and I think these are stories they need to hear.