Terrific and True New Books

Guest blogger, Marra, works in Children’s Services and relishes nonfiction books of all shapes and sizes..

Miles To Go For Freedom: Segregation & Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years by Linda Barrett Osborne Miles To Go for Freedom tells the stories of African American young people and their families who lived through the injustices of the Jim Crow years–the period of legal segregation and widespread discrimination that lasted from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.

Life in the Ocean:The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire Nivola Whether she’s designing submersibles for exploration, living underwater for two weeks, or taking deepwater walks, Sylvia Earle has dedicated her life to learning more about, and urgently calling on all of us to protect what she calls “the blue heart of the planet.”

Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery From Your Own Backyard by Loree Griffin Burns; photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz You don’t need to be a scientist to take part in real scientific experiments.  Just get out into a field, urban park, or your own backyard.

Every January, the American Library Association presents an award to the author and illustrator of “most distinguished informational book”– the Sibert Medal.  And every year, we like to seek out books that meet the criteria for this award.

On Monday evenings, look for posts on this blog that highlight some of the newly published children’s & YA books we’ve discovered . If you have thoughts to share about any of the books or have a title to suggest, please feel free to do so in the comments field.