Martin - The mother of all booklists the 500 most recommended nonfiction reads for ages 3 to 103

Praise for The Mother of All Booklists

The Mother of All Booklists is amazing. A valuable resource and a good read in itself! Judy Allen, author of Awaiting Developments and winner of the Whitbread Childrens Novel Award and the Friends of the Earth Award

A brilliant, heartfelt, beautifully written and well-chosen compilation of some of the best books for children, teens, and adults. A fabulous resource for teachers, librarians, and parents. Dianna H. Aston, author of A Rock Is Lively , a Boston Globes Best Childrens Book of the Year

A treasure trove for lovers of nonfiction! Don Brown, award-winning author of He Has Shot the President!: April 14, 1865: The Day John Wilkes Booth Killed President Lincoln

Martins The Mother of All Booklists provides a terrific resource for teachers, students, librarians, and anyone who loves books. Its focus on nonfiction not only caters to professionals looking for Common Core materials but helps validate the interests of the huge number of readers who have always preferred factual books. Most of all, its just a great read and will send people scurrying to the library. Sneed B. Collard, author of Animal Dads , The Prairie Builders , and Sneed B. Collard IIIs Most Fun Book Ever about Lizards

This is a resource Ill keep nearby, not just to guide my own reading but as a secret reference to use when people ask me to recommend good books for them to read. Martins thorough and smart review of recent nonfiction will make me look smart when Im asked to talk about books worth reading. This book is a must-have for school and public libraries. Patrons and librarians will wear out this resource in their search for great nonfiction books. Teachers at all levels will also find great value in it. Considering how much information this book contains, its surprisingly easy to navigate, and the author has anticipated readers needs by, for example, rearranging the master lists into smaller, subject-defined categories. I also appreciated the short biographies of twenty-five contemporary authors and the extensive bibliographies at the end of the volume. The annotations are engagingly written, and the range of books included is impressive. If this book cant help someone find a nonfiction book they want to read, I dont know what will. Chris Crowe, professor of English at Brigham Young University and author of Death Coming Up the Hill

Now that my children are teenagers, I seem to have forgotten how to select books for kids of any other age. Fortunately, Im among readers who can listen to mother to reliably make choices, and not just for children but for readers of all ages. The mother in this case is Bill Martin, author of A Lifetime of Fiction: The 500 Most Recommended Reads for Ages 2 to 102 and its nonfiction sequel, The Mother of All Booklists: The 500 Most Recommended Nonfiction Reads for Ages 3 to 103 . Bill took on the overwhelming task of delving into the opinions of a legion of book reviewers and researching multiyear booklists across the board so his selections represent the combined viewpoints of critics rather than the opinions of just one or a few. His exceptionally easy-to-use guide enables parents, teachers, and interested readers to quickly select books based on readers ages, in five categories, from preschool through adult. Each category contains 100 titles and descriptions. Thank you, Bill, for creating such a valuable resource. Your book will no doubt be one of the most dog-eared in every school and public library. Jennifer Keats Curtis, award-winning author of Kalis Story: An Orphaned Polar Bear Rescue

A wide-ranging and wonderfully varied celebration of nonfiction, proving that this genre provides a rich a nourishing diet to grow the minds of young readers. I wish we had this in the UK! Nicola Davies, zoologist, childrens author, and one of the original presenters of the BBC wildlife program The Really Wild Show

This is the most comprehensive and well-organized nonfiction booklist Ive ever seen. An absolute must-have resource for readers and educators. Matt de la Pena, author of the critically acclaimed young adult novel The Living

What a useful resource William Martins The Mother of All Booklists will be! This guide reflects the best of todays nonfiction for all ages. Kay Frydenborg, author of Wild Horse Scientists

For those of us who know were living in the Golden Age of Nonfiction, The Mother of All Booklists is a godsend. Bill Martin has done the heavy lifting for parents, teachers, and devoted readers, providing us with a one-stop source for acclaimed modern nonfiction organized by age, genre, and interest category. Mother testifies to the brilliance, beauty, and sometimes unbelievability of the truth found in great nonfiction. Gary Golio, author and illustrator of Spirit Seeker , one of the New York Public Librarys 100 Titles for Reading & Sharing

The Mother of All Booklists is the mother of all nonfiction best book guides. It belongs in every home, school, community, and university library. Greg Grandin, professor of history at New York University and prize-winning author of The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World

The Mother of All Booklists is a well-organized composite of major awards and booklists, a great time-saver for accessing the best nonfiction books for any age group. This guide will efficiently help educators, parents, and readers meet Common Core standards. Christy Hale, author and illustrator of Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building , a Bank Street College of Education Best Childrens Book

How do you find the best nonfiction books for yourself or a child in your life? This well-researched, well-written, comprehensive mother list is the perfect place to start. An invaluable resource! Deborah Heiligman, author of Charles and Emma: The Darwins Leap of Faith , winner of the first YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award

Think of The Mother of All Booklists as a treasure chest filled with ideas for great reads. William Martin profiles a huge variety of wonderful books sure to inform, entertain, and inspire readers of all ages. Barbara Kerley, award-winning author of The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and A Home for Mr. Emerson

The Mother of All Booklists

The 500 Most Recommended Nonfiction Reads for Ages 3 to 103

William Patrick Martin

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowman.com

Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB

Copyright 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Martin, William P. (William Patrick)

The mother of all booklists : the 500 most recommended nonfiction reads for ages 3 to 103 / William Patrick Martin.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4422-3861-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-3862-6 (ebook)

1. Best booksUnited States. I. Title.

Z1035.M396 2015

028.10973dc23 2014021412

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Mary Anne Zane,

reader and mother-in-law extraordinaire.