A Few Non-Fiction Selections

I've added a few wonderful non-fiction selections to my own bookshelves in the past few weeks. These three titles have been loved by my daughters already, and there have even been a few fights and tears over them as they try and decide who will get to read each one and who will get to have it on their bookshelves in their bedrooms.

I don't think I've ever seen a DK book I didn't like - the photography is always amazing!  The Animal Book: a Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth by DK and Smithsonian, and is a great new reference book that anyone could look at for hours.  For my animal lover daughter, this is a book she has added to her backpack and lugged back and forth to school for several days despite the weight of it.  The animals are grouped by type with photographs showing them in proportion to one another.  Small snippets of information about each living creature accompany the photographs. The short text is appealing because it is not overwhelming in length and provides a bit more information on each animal.

DK Smithsonian's Knowledge Encyclopedia is a book full of a vast amount of information on a wide range of different topics. Marketed to upper elementary - high school students, as an adult, I could find plenty of opportunity to crack this book open and read about a random topic.  The six sections this book covers are space, earth, nature, human body, science, and history, with many detailed cut-away illustrations in each section.  
Although the internet seems to be the go-to preference when needing to find information, The Knowledge Encyclopedia is a book that provides in-depth information in an easily readable and accessible way.  This would be a great gift for any child, and is a wonderful addition to our family library that has already been utilized a few times in the short span of time we have owned it.

Lonely Planet is a publishing house that I have come to love.  I have added many of their titles to my school library and am excited to see the latest book, Not-For-Parents: The Real Wonders of the World: Amazing Stuff to Know about the Coolest Places on the Planet is full of great color photographs along with short snippets of information.  The various wonders of the world in this Lonely Planet book are almost all entirely new to me and interesting enough to catch almost any reader's eye.  This book should appeal to any reluctant reader, and is something that can be read in small snippets. This would make a great gift for any boy or girl this holiday season.