Posted by Melissa Taylor on 07 Jun 2011
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It’s very important for kids to read non-fiction as well as fiction books. Why? Because most reading and writing in our life is non-fiction – information in school, communication in work, and almost everything on the Internet.

Non-fiction for children keeps getting better in breadth and depth. Now, there is an abundance of excellent non-fiction for every level of reader with appropriate vocabulary, good text to picture ratio, and in a variety of topics. Here are my recent favorites and an awesome giveaway from National Geographic Kids.

National Geographic

great migrations 326x225 Fantastic Non Fiction Books For Kids

Great Migrations by Elizabeth Carney
Beautiful photographs of Mali elephants, red crabs, butterflies, jellyfish, zebras, army ants, wildebeests, and sperm whales accompany maps, facts and interesting trivia about the migration and life of each group of animals. Plus, as always, you get the gorgeous photography of National Geographic. Amazing.

Fantastic Non Fiction Books For Kids

Readers Series: Levels 1 – 5: Dinosaurs Level 1, Great Migrations: Elephants Level 3, Penguins Level 2, Trains Level 1 (pictured above)

The Reader Series books are fantastic and perfect for younger children! I LOVE everything about them.

Fantastic Non Fiction Books For Kids

Weird But True 3
We can’t wait to read this book, AJ has the first two Weird But True! books and loves them. She told me, “If you get me the third book, I’ll know 900 facts. Because each book has three hundred and I have the first two.” Smart girl. These are super wacky and make great dinner table conversation!

Almanac 2012
It’s amazing how much National Geographic packs into this 350 page Almanac! You get information about the world, animals, going green, cultures, science, nature, history, and geography plus a great section of games, jokes, puzzles and mazes. Smart phone users can use the quick response codes for each chapter to get bonus materials like videos, games and facts. If you’re like me and your phone isn’t very smart, don’t worry, there’s a website for us. I’m starting to play a fireworks puzzle right now.

DK Publishing

If you’re like my students, my kids, and me, then you already love DK books. They never let you down for quality and fascinating facts. Now, the books are even cooler – they’ve published 3-D Dinosaur and 3-D Human Body! Open the book up to your webcam, hold the book up to your webcam, and watch the images pop out of the page. Experience how reader download the 3D pop with the book trailer.

3D Dinosaur Fantastic Non Fiction Books For Kids

3-D Dinosaur
written by John Woodward, consultant Dr. Darren Naish

3D Human Body Fantastic Non Fiction Books For Kids

3-D Human Body
written by Richard Walker

What I really love is that I can use these books myself to find out information – the facts aren’t dumbed down for the young reader, only the vocabulary and the amount of text on the page. (Frankly, it works better for me, too.) You’ll find a mixture of diagrams and photographs.

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Eyewitness Books – Medieval Life
written by Andrew Langley, photographed by Geoff Brightling & Geoff Dann

0756673178.02.LZZZZZZZ Fantastic Non Fiction Books For Kids

Eyewitness Books – Flight

Eyewitness books are packed with great information, pictures, diagrams and more – I recommend all their titles. We have several at our house and AJ and I both enjoy the information.