Summer Reading: Find a New Section of Your Library, Like Nonfiction Picture Books

Pic from http://sms6reading.edublogs.org/

We are regulars at the library. My kids walk around like they own the place. They know where my books and where their books are located. Within the children's library, they know where to find the board books and the audio books. They also know where to find the librarian to help us locate something special. They even know how to check themselves out using the kiosk. What none of us knew was that there was an entire section of the children's library that we had never seen...nonfiction.

It never occurred to me that there would be a distinction between fiction and nonfiction for little kiddos. I guess I always assumed there was enough "truth," or learning, to be found in books like "Where's My T.R.U.C.K.?", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," and "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes." But tucked away in the corner, away from board books and the easy-to-reach shelves of fiction, are the tall shelves of non-fiction...

Wow! What a discovery we have made. We have found some outstanding books by Gail Gibbons called "Clocks and How They Go" and "Tool Book." Each book offers simple pictures, words, and explanations of how/why things work. We liked her work so much that we will be seeking out some of her other 50 nonfiction picture books!

We found a series called "Simple Science" by Caroline Rush and Mike Gordon that includes preschool-level picture books about "Levers," "Pulleys," and more. It is another preschool-level series for you to learn some basic physics alongside your Preschool Engineer.

"The Sun, the Wind and the Rain" is a pretty awesome book that tells two stories alongside one another: "This is the story of two mountains. The earth made one. Elizabeth in her yellow hat made the other." It is a very nice picture book for preschoolers with not too much text and pretty pictures. For us, it opened up discussions about erosion, or as I called it "Environmental or Civil Engineering," because of all the water and mud work my kids do in my back yard and at the sandy parks nearby.

"Erosion" was the next book that we've discovered but it is way above the paygrade for preschool. But if you have a preschool engineer who is a book junky with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and attention surplus disorder for this kind of thing, then you should check it out.

And last but not least, "My Light" is my kid's nighttime read. It is about electricity and the energy cycle. This one is pretty sophisticated science but the pictures are cool, there are mechanically interesting things in it, and your kid will probably latch on to the simplest lesson - two kinds of light bulbs for finding and identifying in the house, at school, and all over. Plus, it is a neat thing for grown ups to learn about, too!

I can write more specific reviews of these books later. For now, you probably get the gist.

So go out there and discover a new part of your local library!

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