Here are my picks for the best nonfiction titles for children from this past year. The list includes books of poetry and nursery rhymes along with more factual forms of nonfiction. Enjoy!
All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents by Lita Judge
A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Colors of the Wind: The Story of Blind Artist and Champion Runner George Mendoza by J. L. Powers
The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra: The Sounds of Joy Is Enlightening by Chris Raschka
Dare the Wind: The Record-breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey E. Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
Edward Hopper Paints His World by Robert Burleigh
Eye to Eye: How Animals See the World by Steve Jenkins
Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart
Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems by Paul B. Janeczko
Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown
Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk
Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons By Jon J. Muth
A Home for Mr. Emerson by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson
The Iridescence of Birds: A Book about Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison
Little Poems for Tiny Ears by Lin Oliver, illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis, illustrated by Gilbert Ford
The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPre
Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems by J. Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes
The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jennifer Fisher Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life by Lois Ehlert
Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America by Tonya Bolden
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything by Maira Kalman
Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen
Waking Brain Cells 