True Crime & Forensics: 10 Nonfiction Titles for Mystery Readers

Summer is here! And that means loads of time for kids to experience books in all their glory. This is also a great time to encourage kids to read the books they choose (without having to worry about school assignments) and to try out new genres that they might be interested in learning more about. This series will offer titles for toddlers to teens and include a variety of formats. Each week will focus on a different genre and will follow the same format:

• Mondays – Titles for Ages 3-7
• Tuesdays – Middle Grade Titles for Ages 8-12
• Wednesdays – Young Adult Titles for Ages 13+
• Thursdays – Nonfiction pairings
• Friday – Recap of the Week

Nonfiction
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
“One afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.”(Taken from Goodreads)

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming
A close look at Amelia Earhart’s life and disappearance told in alternating chapters from her life to the search for her downed plane in the Pacific.

Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and The Greatest Show On Earth by Laura A. Woollett
On July 6, 1944 the residents of Hartford Connecticut went to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance, unfortunately a fire broke out and 167 people died in the flames. This nonfiction title takes a closer look of what happened that day.

Blood, Bullets, and Bones: The Story of Forensic Science from Sherlock Holmes to DNA by Bridget Heos
“In this book, acclaimed author Bridget Heos uses real-life cases to tell the fascinating history of modern forensic science, from the first test for arsenic poisoning to fingerprinting, firearm and blood spatter analysis, DNA evidence, and all the important milestones in between.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History’s Mysteries by Elizabeth MacLeod
“Seven intriguing stories about historical royal figures whose demise was suspicious, and hard scientific facts about crime-solving techniques make each event seem like an episode of CSI rather than a history lesson.” (Taken from Goodreads”)

The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller
Sarah Miller takes a close look at the sensationalized true crime of the murder of Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby. Did his daughter, Lizzie, really kill them both? If not, who did?

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
“This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books and other documents. What happened in Washington, D.C., that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have been made up.” (Taken from the book)

Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow
Mary Mallon, otherwise known as Typhoid Mary, unwittingly spread deadly bacteria to homes around New York City as a carrier of the disease, but she herself never showed any symptoms. This is her story and how the New York Health Department determined her fate.

The Freedom Summer Murders by Don Mitchell
Three young men were killed in June 1964 as they attempted to help African Americans register to vote. Their disappearance and murder threw the country into an uproar and was “a significant incident of the Civil Rights Movement, and contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” (Taken from Goodreads)

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb
“In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Nazis’ Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century’s most important trials — one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination. ” (Taken from Goodreads)