Though it’s been three decades since Pelé dominated the professional soccer world, his fame endures and if you know a young soccer-player, this may be the perfect choice. In this electric picture book biography, written in both English and Spanish, we first watch him in action. “Pelé runs across the... Read More

In an oversized nonfiction picture book, illustrated with meticulous and often awe-inspiring full-page art, done in watercolor, ink, acrylic, and gouache, follow the preparations of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins on their historic July, 1969 mission to the moon. Large-sized print makes this look like an easy reader,... Read More

Isn't that the most delightful subtitle for a book? It foreshadows the fun you're going to have reading this picture book biography, winner of a Sibert Honor, about the headstrong and irrepressible oldest child and only daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. It starts, "Theodore Roosevelt had a small problem." In... Read More

With balloon dialogue and classic retro comic book style illustrations, heavy on the yellow, this picture book biography looks like an old time true confessions story. During the Great Depression, in 1930, two nebbishy guys, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, met in high school. Jerry's heroes were fictional characters from... Read More

Arnosky has written so many stellar nature and animal nonfiction picture books, including charmers about an old coot named Crinkleroot, no longer in print, alas. In this information-packed guide to animal tracks, with striking paintings done in pencil and acrylic, he identifies the tracks, actual size, of hoofed mammals, bears,... Read More

Just look at that welcoming cover, a huge close-up portrait of a smiling Martin Luther King, Jr., done in shades of brown and black watercolors. (There's not even a title or author or illustrator listed; you have to turn to the back cover to find them.) That iconic image, along... Read More

"Once there were two towers side by side.They were each a quarter of a mile high;one thousand three hundred and forty feet.The tallest buildings in New York City."A young street performer who "loved to walk and dance on a rope he tied between two trees" looked at the Twin Towers... Read More

Born in 1940 in Clarksville, Tennessee, the third youngest of 22 children, Wilma was a sickly child. Her mother usually nursed her through each illness; medical care was expensive and there was only one doctor in town who would treat black people. At age five, Wilma got a high fever... Read More

"This book will tell you what would happen, and what you would do, if you were the first kid on Mars." The author posits that someday, scientists, engineers, astronauts, and their families might set up a colony on Mars. Follow an unnamed young male space traveler (referred to in second... Read More

You thought you knew all about snowflakes because you read the Caldecott winning picture book biography Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian? Think again. Here's a striking nonfiction picture book that fills in lot more of the details with a dual text format... Read More

Here's the cocoa table book of the year, a treasured present for all your dinosaur-obsessed friends and relatives, ages 3 to 300, who will be bowled over and enraptured by Sabuda and Reinhart's latest feat of paper engineering genius. It's a look at all things dinosaur, packing in facts on... Read More

On the first page, there is an announcement, in a dialogue balloon, from Fran, the youngest member of the Farley family: "May I have your attention, please?" Yes, Fran? Oh, she wants us to read the sign she is holding. It says, "WARNING: Many of the facts in this book... Read More

Astonishing facts abound in this eye-popping look at 22 of the strongest animals, substances, and elements on earth, including the Komatsu D575A, the strongest bulldozer in the world, and the stickiest glue on earth, made by Caulobacter crescentus, a type of bacteria found in water pipes. For each breezy but... Read More

On April 2, 1931, at an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Chattanooga Lookouts, something unheard of happened. Jackie Mitchell, the pitcher for the Tennessee team, took on the giants of the Yankees, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. First, Babe Ruth came up to the plate. She... Read More

In an innovative and intriguing animal book illustrated with dazzling cut paper collages, explore the animal kingdom sorted by color. There are four pages of red animals, with two or three profiles on each page, and an explanation of how the color red helps that animal stay alive. Take a... Read More

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Senator Ted Kennedy did just that—an effusive black Portuguese Water Dog named Splash, who narrates this breezy and informative tour of the nation's capital and guide to daily life in the Capitol. Splash attends the Senator's staff meeting, takes a... Read More

Amidst the newspaper coverage of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, there was a remarkable photo of a baby hippo snuggling against a giant tortoise. Moved by the story of Owen, the orphaned baby hippo who bonded with Mzee, a 130-year-old giant tortoise, Craig Hatkoff and his... Read More

Starting with the day in 1991 that the young red-tailed hawk arrived in Central Park, this appealing and informative nonfiction picture book chronicles the life, loves, and troubles of Pale Male in New York City. Bird watchers were in thrall when the hawk and his mate built a nest on... Read More

Remember the Charles Atlas ads in  the back of the comic books declaring, “Don’t be a 97-pound weakling! Don’t let bullies kick sand in your face!”? Did you know he was a real guy? An inspiration for all us flab-filled folks, this peppy picture book biography of the famed bodybuilder,... Read More

According to portrait artist, Hanoch Piven, athletes are made of big mouths (Muhammad Ali), great minds (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), teamwork (Mia Hamm), and 20 other important attributes. Each page is a visual treat—a portrait of a famous athlete, often in motion, done as a caricature, with a big head and tiny... Read More