Skip to main content

Five Faves: Informational Picture Books

Image
By

 

There have been some great informational picture books that have come out this past year. And I thought I would take a moment to show you five of my favorites. So, if you know anyone who wants to learn more and have that information presented in a beautiful format with fantastic illustrations, this list is for you! 




By Nell Cross Beckerman 
Illustrated by Kalen Chock 
Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, 2022. 

I have always been fascinated by speleologists—possibly because I may or may not be a tiny bit afraid ever since I read Tom Sawyer and imagined myself trapped like Becky and Tom. Anyway, this book totally grabbed my attention. It shows all the beauty (both the small bits and the grand, majestic parts) of caves. Readers who love adventures and exploring will enjoy learning more about this part of the world. 




By Melissa Steward 
Illustrated by Howard Gray 
Peachtree Publishing, 2022. 

This is one of those books that you hand to a reluctant reader that loves facts and knowing cool bits that they can tell others in casual conversations. It also has a human shadow that can be compared to the early predators so readers can visualize just how monstrous these carnivores really were. This is the type of book that elementary school kids will be wowed by. 




By Greg Pizzoli 
Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022. 

I love pizza—and so do millions of people around the world. This is a fantastic informational book that tells all about the history of pizza. When it was first made, how it evolved to what it is known as today, and how it varies around the world. Give this to young Food Network fans who know their way around the kitchen and who like to know the history of their favorite foods. 




By Antoinette Portis 
Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, 2022. 

All of the stages of the life cycle of a plant can’t always be seen by children—since some of what happens does so below ground. This book has a series of illustrations that show the above and below ground bits of a sunflower as it grows from a seed. With limited text and bold pictures, this is a perfect book to explain plants and growing to young preschoolers. 




By Jason Chin 
Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, 2022. 

This is a fantastic book that shows just how small things are. Caldecott medalist Chin first starts by showing a person compared to the smallest hummingbird. Then shows the hummingbird compared to the smallest butterfly. This continues until readers get to the elementary particles that make up all the atoms that make up everything. But because Chin starts things by comparing a person to that first hummingbird, readers can really grasp just how microscopic things really are. Brilliant!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stand Tall by Joan Bauer

By DeeDee
Stand Tall By Siena Siegel by Joan Bauer Putnam, 2002, 182 pgs Realistic Fiction Tree is 12 years old and over 6 feet tall. That would be great if he were a basketball player, but he is not. Dealing with his unusual size is not Tree's only challenge. Tree's parents have recently gone through a divorce, and his grandfather has had his leg amputated as the result of an old Vietnam War injury. The strength of this book is the characterizations. All of the main characters are dimensional and sympathetic. Bauer sets the characters in real and often funny family situations. Best of all is the character of Tree. He is boy with a heart to match his stature. This is a great book for boys or girls ages 9-12, as a read aloud or for individual reading. This book could also be a good Rx book for children whose families are going through divorce, or for anyone who feels like they don't fit in.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker

By
  Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker By Heidi Heilig New York: Greenwillow Books, 2025. Fiction. 291 pages. Thanks to Cincinnati Lee's no good, dirty rotten, artifact stealing great great great grandfather, Cincinnati's family is now cursed and Cincinnati feels like it's up to her to break the curse. Which involves trying to steal the artifacts back from museums that her grandfather robbed from graves and archeological sites around the world and return them to their countries of origin. But when Cincinnati's first artifact stealing mission goes awry, she decides it might be more effective to steal an all-powerful artifact herself that she can use to break the curse - The Spear of Destiny. Unfortunately her race for the spear will pit her against art smugglers and thieves intent on finding the ancient artifact themselves. If you are looking for an Indiana Jones read-alike, this is the perfect for you! Heavy on the adventure with similar levels of mysticism to those seen in th...
Post a Comment
Read more