Nonfiction World

After the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese Americans became the subject of racism and discrimination within the United States. Many were rounded up and put in concentration camps. But even while this was happening, there were many Japanese American soldiers who fought to ensure that all Americans were safe during the biggest conflict in world history. Facing the Mountain is the story of three Japanese American soldiers: Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to fight for their country in World War II.

Ever since it was established in 1789, the United States Supreme Court has had a major impact on the lives of all Americans. Some of its landmark decisions have helped end segregation, protected a person’s privacy, and allowed people to marry whomever they love.

Today, most people remember E. B. White as the beloved children's book author who gave us Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, but did you know that most of his career was spent writing for famous magazines like The New Yorker? His lifelong dream to write a children's book about a mouse would take years to get published before it became the classic book we know and love today. A few years later, White would publish yet another children's book inspired by a pig he had raised and a spider whose webs he loved to admire in his barn.

Eight-year-old Nashida shares stories about the legacy of four former Mississippi governors, including Andrew Longino (1900-1904), James Kimble Vardaman (1904-1908), Edmond Favor Noel (1908-1912), and Earl Leroy Brewer (1912-1916) with young listeners. Nashida also describes the responsibilities of lawmakers in the context of her tour of the Mississippi State Capitol.

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great - the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Jim Henson, for example, was always dreaming up something new, and always expressing his belief in the goodness of people. Henson was a born performer with a terrific sense of humor, and he used those talents to help create two of the most beloved programs in television history: The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. Through his Muppets, Jim showed the world that there’s nothing more beautiful than imagination.

Robert Stone was a singular American writer, a visionary whose award-winning novels - including Dog Soldiers, Outerbridge Reach, and Damascus Gate - earned him comparisons to literary lions ranging from Samuel Beckett to Ernest Hemingway to Graham Greene. Stone had an almost prophetic grasp of the spirit of his age, which he captured with crystalline clarity in each of his novels. Of course, he was also a sharp and brilliant observer of American life, and his nonfiction writing is revelatory.

Author Teri Kanefield examines the life of America’s famous suffragette, Susan B. Anthony, who was born into a world in which men ruled women. She began her public career as a radical abolitionist, and after the Civil War, she became an international figurehead of the women’s suffrage movement.

From an early age, Cecilia Chiang could be found delighting in the sounds and smells from her favorite room in her home—the kitchen. Little did Cecilia know that she would one day have to escape war and travel to a faraway country, destined to change Chinese cuisine in the United States forever. Experience the dishes Cecilia Chiang enjoyed throughout her life as the seventh daughter in a large family to the owner of the famous Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco.

Are you ready to listen about daring deeds and world-changing events? Meet the American Trailblazers, diverse historical and modern figures who accomplished incredible things. History books for kids age 9-12 should include a range of people and stories - here you'll learn about the greats in sports, civil rights, art, science, and more.

50 women who shaped American history - how will they inspire you? Women have always been at the forefront of American history - and now it's time to hear their stories! This look into American history for kids is bursting with engaging biographies that explore the lives of these inspiring women from different backgrounds and a wide array of fields.

Eleven-year-old Rosey Sachs is worried about her school writing assignment. How can she write anything interesting about her ordinary life in Brooklyn? A poem might have made her neighborhood sound a little more exciting, but to Rosey's dismay, she quickly discovers that Brooklyn doesn't rhyme with anything.

Floella Benjamin was just a young girl when she, her sister and two brothers arrived in England in 1960 to join their parents, whom they had not seen for 15 months. They had left their island home of Trinidad to make a new life in London—part of a whole generation of West Indians who were encouraged to move to Britain and help rebuild the country after the Second World War. Reunited with her mother, Floella was too overwhelmed at first to care about the cold weather and the noise and dirt from the traffic.

In a small village called Yellow Stone, below the mountains of southeastern China, Sisi is a model sister, daughter, and student. She brews tea for her grandfather in the morning, leads recitations at school as class monitor, and helps care for her youngest brother, Da. But when students are selected during a school ceremony to join the prestigious Red Guard, Sisi is passed over. Worse, she is shamed for her family’s past - they are former landowners who have no place in the new Communist order.

On April 24, 1975, the last flight out of Saigon, Vietnam carried over 400 people to the United States, six days before Saigon’s surrender to the North Vietnamese Army. Kristen Giang was a little girl, on that flight with family, and here in this story she shares all the emotions of the decision to flee from the perspective of someone eight years old; Playing a game of space-explorers to protect herself and her sister’s eyes from tear gas; sneaking a stuffed animal into the family’s overstuffed suitcase for comfort.

Am 8. Juni 1924 nimmt der britische Abenteurer und Bergsteiger George Mallory zum dritten Mal Anlauf, als erster Mensch den höchsten Berg der Welt zu besteigen. Er kehrte nie zurück, seine Leiche blieb verschwunden. Was ist passiert? Hat er den Gipfel tatsächlich erreicht? Ist er abgestürzt, und wenn ja, wo? Der deutsche Alpinhistoriker und Geologe Jochen Hemmleb beschäftigt sich seit seiner Kindheit mit der Geschichte Mallorys und organisierte eine Suche.

Growing up in West Africa, Amen learned about the simplicities of life from his grandmother. She inspired him to accomplish more with less, face his fears with confidence, and look for the unexpected gifts each day would bring. In The Tire Boy, Amen shares his early primal experiences in Esanland in West Africa, which will inspire children as well as adults on a path of confidence and self-respect. It is an incredibly inspiring story with profoundly impactful life lessons that will change the way you approach each day of your life moving forward.

Rising from poverty-stricken Louisville in the 1950s, Ali became one of the world's greatest athletes. Beginning life as Cassius Clay, Ali would struggle against opponents both in and out of the ring. Segregation and racism stood as obstacles in his path, but as he climbed the boxing ranks, his social conscience grew. He refused to be pigeonholed as a stereotypical black athlete in the 1960s and changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam.

Katie Sandwina was the strongest woman the world had ever seen. In her circus performances, she bent steel bars, broke chains, and carried a cannon! She could lift men with one hand and twirl them around! In an era when “proper ladies” were expected to be helpless and frail, Katie showed everyone that women could be powerful. She also spoke up for women’s equality and the right to vote.

Every activist started out as a kid‚ and in some cases, they were kids when their activism began! But even the world's greatest champions of civil liberties had relatable interests and problems‚ often in the middle of extraordinary circumstances. Martin Luther King, Jr., loved fashion and argued with his dad about whether or not dancing was a sin. Harvey Milk had a passion for listening to opera music in different languages. Dolores Huerta was once wrongly accused of plagiarizing in school.

Every great author started out as a kid. Before the best sellers, fan clubs, and beloved stories we know today, the world's most celebrated writers had regular-kid problems just like you. Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) loved to skip school and make mischief, with his best friend Tom, of course! A young J. R. R. Tolkien was bitten by a huge tarantula - or as he called it, "a spider as big as a dragon." Toddler Zora Neale Hurston took her first steps when a wild hog entered her house and started chasing her!