Real Life Adventure: 10+ Nonfiction Titles for Adventure 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
Around the World by Matt Phelan
A graphic novel that follows three people as they travel around the world – solo! Thomas Stevens rode a bike around the world, Nellie Bly raced against time and Joshua Slocum sailed the high seas.

A Giraffe Goes to Paris by Mary Tavener Holmes
“This book presents Belle’s true story, told in the imagined words of her devoted Sudanese caretaker, Atir, who accompanied her on her journey to Paris and stayed with her till her death eighteen years later. ” (Taken from Goodreads)

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind With the Great Survivor B95 by Philip Hoose
Since 1995, B95 has traveled every year from Tierra del Fuego to the Canadian Arctic and back again – this is the story of the effects of humans on wildlife, but also the story of an 20 year old bird and his 9,000 mile adventure (and that’s just one way)!

Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands by Katherine Roy
A close-up look at Great White sharks and their ecosystem around the Farallon Islands, a wildlife refuge only open to the scientists who study there.

Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg
“At the turn of the nineteenth century, a retired sixty-two-year-old charm school instructor named Annie Edson Taylor, seeking fame and fortune, decided to do something that no one in the world had ever done before—she would go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. Come meet the Queen of the Falls and witness with your own eyes her daring ride!” (Taken from Goodreads)

Radioactive!: How Irène Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World by Winifred Conkling
“The fascinating, little-known story of how two brilliant female physicists’ groundbreaking discoveries led to the creation of the atomic bomb.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
Eugenie Clark earned the nickname “Shark Lady” after her lifelong study of sharks and their environment at a time when few women were scientists.

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and The Endurance by Jennifer Armstrong
In the 1910s, Ernest Shackleton and his crew planned to cross from one side of Antartica to the other, but their ship got trapped in ice. This is the story of their survival in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth and their amazing survival.

A Storm Too Soon: A Remarkable True Survival Story in 80 Foot Seas by Michael J. Tougias
“When a forty-seven-foot sailboat disappears in the Gulf Stream in the throes of a disastrous storm, it leaves behind three weary passengers struggling to stay alive. This middle-grade adaptation of an adult nonfiction book tells the story of the four intrepid Coast Guardsmen who braved this ruthless storm in the hopes of saving them.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Trapped by Marc Aronson
“In early August 2010, the unthinkable happened when a mine collapsed in Copiapó, Chile, and 33 miners were trapped 2,000 feet below the surface. For sixty-nine days they lived on meager resources and increasingly poor air quality. When they were finally rescued, the world watched with rapt attention and rejoiced in the amazing spirit and determination of the miners. What could have been a terrible tragedy became an amazing story of survival.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall by Anita Silvey
The biography of a young girl from humble beginnings who became one of the scientists on the forefront of field observation and wildlife protection.