NONFICTION SELECTIONS FOR GRADES 5 – 8
(You may choose only one from this list. (*Easiest text. ***Most difficult text.)
*Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the
Revolutionary War. Washington, D. C.: National Geographic, 2004
A biography of Revoluntionary War general and first President of the United States, George Washington, focusing
on his use of spies to gather intelligence that helped the colonies win the war.
Aronson, Marc and Marina Budhos. Sugar Changed the World: a Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery,
Freedom, and Science. Boston: Clarion Books, 2010.
Sugar has left a bloody trail through human history. Cane--not cotton or tobacco--drove the bloody Atlantic slave
trade and took the lives of countless Africans who toiled on vast sugar plantations under cruel overseers. And yet the
very popularity of sugar gave abolitionists in England the one tool that could finally end the slave trade. This book
traces the history of sugar from its origins in New Guinea around 7000 B.C. to its use in the 21st century to produce
ethanol.
***Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist
Group. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.
Traces the history of the supremacist group from its founding by six confederate veterans in the post-Civil War
Reconstruction period delineating the record of the use of fear, violence and intimidation by this group and its
connection to the terrorism of current times.
***Blumenthal, Karen. Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. New York: Feiwel and Friends,
2012. Traces the inspiring life and career of the late founder of Apple, covering topics ranging from his struggles as
an adopted child and a college dropout to his Buddhist faith and friendship with Steve Wozniak, in a portrait framed
around his inspirational Stanford University commencement speech.
Brimmer, Larry Dane. Black and White: The Confrontation Between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and
Eugene “Bull” Connor. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Boyds Mills Press, 2011.
Contrasts the Reverend Fred Shuttleworth, a Birmingham, Alabama minister dedicated to the civil rights movement
with his opponent, “Bull” Connors, a strict segregationist, supported by the K. K. K.
Fleming, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia. New York,
NY: Schwartz Wade Books, 2014.
Describes the decline and fall of the House of Romanov, a dynasty that had been in power for 300 years, provides a
close look at the royal family, and examines their lives in relation to increasing social upheaval in Russia in the early
20th century.
Freedman, Russell. Because They Marched: The People’s Campaign for Votiing Rights That Changed
America. New York, NY: Holiday House, 2014.
This riveting account of a pivotal event in the civil rights movement was written for the 50 th anniversary of the
march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Gann, Marjorie and Janet Willen. Five Thousand Years of Slavery. New York: Tundra Books, 2011.
Traces the practice of slavery throughout the millennia, drawing on historical narratives, personal accounts, and
visual sources to cover such examples as the ancient Sumerian practices of selling impoverished children into
bondage and the oppression of ninth-century Zanj salt marsh workers.
Hoose, Phillip. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books, 2009
The story of a courageous fifteen-year-old teenager whose importance in the Civil Rights movement has taken a
back seat in history. Nine months before Rosa Parks act of dissention, she refused to give up her seat on a
segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama changing her life forever and not all in ways one would expect. Includes
well-documented chapter notes, and suggestions for further reading.
Kanefield, Teri. The Girl from the Tarpaper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil
Rights Movement. New York: Abrams Books, 2014.
Describes the peaceful protest organized by teenager Barbara Rose Johns in order to secure a permanent building for
her segregated high school in Virginia in 1951, and explains how her actions helped fuel the civil rights movement.
*Krull, Kathleen and Kathryn Hewitt. Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the
Neighbors Thought). Boston: Harcourt, 2013
Profiles 18 of history’s most noteworthy scientists, from Zhang Heng and Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein and
Barbara McClintock, sharing lesser-known facts about their favorite activities, relationships, and eccentricities.
Leyson, Leon with Marilyn J. Harran and Elisabeth B. Leyson. The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the
Impossible Became Possible…on Schindler’s List. New York: Atheneum, 2013.
The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s List child.
Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along
the Way). Washington, D. C.: National Geographic, 2011.
Covers the history of women’s rights and how the bicycle empowered women including the influence on fashion,
freedom of mobility, and the impact on social change.
Meissner, David and Kim Richardson. Call of the Klondike: A True Gold Rush Adventure. Honesdale,
Pennsylvania: Highlights, 2013
The true story of Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond—two young prospectors who made the dangerous journey to
the Yukon to look for gold.
Montgomery, Sy. Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the
World. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2012.
Examines the life and accomplishments of Temple Grandin, whose childhood diagnosis of autism and love of cows
led her to revolutionize the livestock industry.
Murphy, Jim and Alison Blank. Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis. New York: Clarion Books, 2012.
Describes the history of tuberculosis, a disease that has continued to plague human kind for millennia, and the
attempts to find a cure.
*Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. New York: HarperCollins,
2011.
A simple introduction to African-American history from Revolutionary-era slavery up to the election of President
Obama.
Newquist, H. P. The Book of Blood: From Legends and Leeches to Vampires and Veins. New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 2012.
A thrilling and lively tour of the world of blood, from ancient history to modern science, to dark and often gruesome
legends of vampires and plague, this book informs readers about the most important tissue in the body.
Rappaport, Doreen. Beyond Courage: the Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust.
Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2012.
Provides detailed accounts of twenty-one acts of defiance committed against Nazis in Nazi-occupied countries
during World War II.
***Rubalcaba, Jill. I. M. Pei: Architect of Time, Place, and Purpose. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall
Cavendish, 2011.
This biography tells how I. M. Pei, who was born in China, created a unique and striking architectural style by
incorporating influences from his native land with influences from his adopted home, America.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. Freedom Summer: the 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. New York,
NY: Holiday House, 2014.
Introduces the efforts of student volunteers who traveled to Mississippi in 1964 to encourage African Americans to
exercise their right to vote, and discusses the violent resistance they faced from supporters of segregation.
Rusch, Elizabeth. The Next Wave: The Quest to Harness the Power of the Ocean. Boston, Massachusetts:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
Another in the acclaimed Scientists in the Field series, this is the electrifying story of the scientists and engineers
who are working to transform ocean waves into electricity in hopes of generating a cleaner, more sustainable power
source.
Sandler, Martin W. The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure. Somerville,
Massachusetts, 2012.
Presents the true story of three men sent by President McKinley in 1807 to drive two herds of reindeer across parts
of Alaska to feed stranded whalers whose ships were trapped in ice.
Sheinkin, Steve. Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. New York:
Roaring Brook Press, 2012.
Examines the history of the atomic bomb, discussing the discovery of the behavior of uranium when placed next to
radioactive material, the race to build a bomb, and the impact of the weapon on societies around the world.
Sheinkin, Steve. The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism and Treachery.
New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2010.
An introduction to the life of Benedict Arnold that highlights not only the traitorous actions that made him
legendary, but also his heroic involvement in the American Revolution.
Sheinkin, Steve. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and Fight for Civil Rights. New York, NY:
Roaring Brook Press, 2014.
Presents an account of the 1944 civil rights protest involving hundreds of African-American Navy servicemen who
were unjustly charged with mutiny for refusing to work in unsafe conditions after the deadly Port Chicago
explosion.
Turner, Pamela S. The Dolphins of Shark Bay. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2013.
A Scientific journey to study the dolphins of coastal Australia considers the many potential sources of dolphin
intelligence and what dolphin behavior can inform the scientific community about human intelligence, captive
animals and the future of the oceans.
Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of
Penguin Group, 2014.
In vivid poems that reflect the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, an award-winning author shares what
it was like to grow up in the 1060’s and 1970’s in both the North and the South.