Nonfiction

The titles on this list have appeared on one or more of YALSA's booklists.  For a complete list of all of YALSA's booklists, visit www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists .

Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. The photos will grab teens first: a three-masted wooden vessel broken and splintered; rugged ice-encrusted faces of the ship's crew; fields of ice stretching into infinity. The Imperial Transatlantic Expedition, Sir Ernest Shackleton's daring but ill-fated attempt to cross the South Pole, comes to life in pictures taken by one of the crew and in the words of the men who lived the extraordinary Antarctic adventure. It's an exhilarating account of one of the greatest episodes in the history of polar exploration and one of history's all-time great survival stories.

Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. Who knew our most famous Founding Father was a colonial James Bond? This book features Washington in a little known but incredibly important role as the mastermind behind an intricate network of Patriot spies during the Revolutionary War.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Bartoletti relays a detailed account of the Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 and its long-lasting effect on the Irish.

Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote. The long, arduous, and sometimes violent struggle for a woman's right to vote is told in an engaging narrative. The roots of the movement as well as the other efforts it spawned are well told.

Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High. A heart-wrenching account of the nine high school students who integrated Little Rock High School.

Bodanis, David. The Secret Family: Twenty-four Hours inside the Mysterious Worlds of Our Minds and Bodies. With surprises and information on every page, Bodanis' book peels back the layers of our minds and bodies to reveal a churning world of tiny, invisible components in ourselves and in our surroundings that silently affect us. By following the activities of a family through a typical day, Bodanis makes readers active partners in a mysterious and fascinating science adventure. If teens are shocked to discover that there's embalming fluid on postage stamps, just wait till they find out what's floating around the local mall.

Bolden, Tonya. Wake Up Our Souls: A Celebration of Black American Artists. This book highlights influential and important Black American 20th-century artists, from those of the early part of the century, to important participants in the Harlem Renaissance, to modern and contemporary artists. The text also includes sidebars highlighting individual pictures and creators, describing a wonderful chapter in the history of American art and African American life.

Bradley, James. Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima.  James Bradley's father was one of the six men who raised the famous flag on Iwo Jima during World War II. Bradley investigated to learn more about the men and the event.

Bragg, Rick. All Over but the Shoutin'. Bragg, a Pulitzer Prize–winning correspondent, didn't start out to be a writer. In fact, he sort of fell into it. He recalls this personal journey in a rags-to-riches memoir, which begins in 1959 in Alabama, where "white people had it hard and black people had it harder than that, because what are the table scraps of nothing?" In vivid prose, by turns comic and affecting, he recalls growing up white and poor in the South, his difficult relationship with his abusive, alcoholic father, and his love for his courageous mother, who raised him and taught him what really mattered.

Breashears, David. High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places. Admittedly stubborn and driven, Breashears recounts his life story??recollections of his abusive father and tumultuous childhood; his discovery and dedication to mountain climbing, which he has always equated with humankind's belief in hope; and his entry into filmmaking. His account of his 1996 Everest IMAX Filming Expedition, during which he and his crew sought to rescue survivors and reclaim the bodies of the people caught in the well?publicized Everest calamity, is a natural link to Jon Krakauer's 1998 Alex winner, Into Thin Air. The danger, the audacity, the adventure will keep teens enthralled, and send them to the shelves to find similar titles.

Capuzzo, Michael. Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916. In 1916, mass hysteria grips the Jersey coast when a shark terrorizes the shoreline in this account of one of the first documented shark attacks.

Colton, Larry.  Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn.  One player stands out on the Hardin High School's girls' basketball team. Her name is Sharon La Forge, a talented but troubled teenager. During a 15-month stay on the Crow Reservation where the high school is located, the author, a professional baseball player turned journalist, begins to understand how the conditions of life on the reservation affect the lives of teens like Sharon.

Carroll, Rebecca. Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America. Carroll captures the voices of the next generation of African American women in this collection of interviews. Teenagers will hear themselves plainly and powerfully echoed in the honest, unfiltered words of fifteen young black women, who range in age from eleven to twenty. From a variety of backgrounds and in very different ways, they speak candidly about their personal lives, their race, their gender, and their future as black women.

Conroy, Pat. My Losing Season. In this powerful memoir, best-selling novelist Conroy ruminates on the profound effect of his final year as a point guard for the Citadel's basketball team, interweaving stories about the years leading up to college, his abusive father, his love-hate relationship with his school, and his growing fondness for books and writing.

Codell, Esmé Raji. Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year. Fifth?grader Melanie instinctively knows what Codell finds out when she begins as a 24?year?old first?year teacher in an inner?city Chicago school: "You got to know everything." And that doesn't mean just what the textbooks say. As Codell gamely reveals in her forthright diary entries, it means fighting lazy teachers and unsupportive administrators; it means dealing with violence and racism; it means marshalling energy, imagination, and wit enough to ensure her students the best possible education. Teens who have been through "the system" can't help but recognize the landscape.

Crisp, Terri. Out of Harm’s Way: The Extraordinary True Story of One Woman’s Lifelong Devotion to Animals. Driven to rescue animals from disaster, Terri Crisp has saved the lives of thousands.

Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. Using archival photographs and primary sources, Crowe describes how the Mississippi murder of 14- year-old Emmett Till contributed to the civil rights movement.

Crutcher, Chris. King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography. The autobiography of the Margaret A. Edwards Award-winning author recounts the childhood vignettes and discoveries of profound, simple truths that led to his career writing honest and gritty young-adult books.

Defede, Jim. The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. A community as hero; 9/11 closed U.S. airspace and Gander hosted 6,000 stranded passengers.

Dominick, Andie. Needles. "I know about needles. My sister leaves them everywhere." So begins this absorbing memoir of a growing up marked not by illegal drugs but by diabetes. In graceful yet unsparing prose, Dominick recalls the exacting routines, the doctors, the hospitals, and the struggle for normalcy that shaped her older sister's life and later ruled her own. Although a candid record of the ravages of illness on family and self, Dominick's story is also an inspirational account of hope and courage. A paperback will be available next spring.

Doyle, William. An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962. When James Meredith became the first black man to enter the University of Mississippi, he "forced America to face the contradiction of second-class citizenship for multitudes of its black citizens, not with speeches, boycotts, or sit-ins, but on a battlefield." Doyle takes teens to two of those battlefields: a cerebral one where Meredith, President John Kennedy, and Governor Barnett grapple over politics; and a physical one, where federal troops and local mobs converge on the university campus.

Duncan, Lois. Who Killed My Daughter. When fiction becomes reality: Lois Duncan's real life mystery.

Emert, Phyllis Raybin. Mysteries of People and Places: Strange Unsolved Mysteries. Amazing stories from the past that still haunt us.

Ehrenreich, Barbara . Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in Boom-Time America. To find out if individuals can survive on the "wages available to the unskilled," journalist Ehrenreich spent 12 months working at a variety of minimum-wage jobs. Her experiences offer a gritty glimpse into the world of day-to-day work, a stark picture of living from hand to mouth, and a personal perspective on the politics of welfare.

Ferris, Timothy. Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril. Differentiating between the nature of stargazing done by professionals in well-equipped observatories and the work of backyard scientists using homemade telescopes, Ferris invites teens to join the scientific community by tracing the contributions of amateur astronomers, ranging from Copernicus to Brian May.

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science. Phineas is never the same after a metal rod enters his head at the chin and comes out his forehead.

Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's. Poor Richard’s Almanac is the model for this topically organized biography of the printer, writer, scientist, statesman, inventor, and founding father.

Fradin, Dennis Brindell and Judith Bloom Fradin. Fight On! Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration. This biography introduces an indomitable fighter against all forms of discrimination, who conducted a successful campaign to integrate Washington, D.C., restaurants and movie theaters.

Freedman, Russell. In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights. Amendment by amendment, Freedman describes how court cases and societal changes have broadened our understanding of the individual freedoms listed in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution ratified in 1791.

Freedman, Russell. The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights. A biography of the great singer Marian Anderson and her role in bringing the injustice of segregation in the arts to national awareness.

Freese, Barbara. Coal: A Human History. Facts and anecdotes examine the historic, scientific, economic, political, cultural, and literary aspects of coal, as well as the current debates about energy consumption, developing nations, and global warming.

Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life. Gantos reveals how his involvement with drugs and his stint in prison led him to writing. A 2003 Printz Honor Book and a 2003 Sibert Honor Book.

Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan. Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop. This biography of Andy Warhol illuminates his life and times, highlighting his impact on art and culture.

Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan. Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois. Beautifully illustrated with photographs, this intriguing biography portrays the rebellious life of progressive sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

Hampton, Wilborn. September 11, 2001: Attack on New York City. This moving account of the destruction of the World Trade Center is told through the experiences of people who were closely involved.

Hampton, Wilborn. Meltdown: A Race against Nuclear Disaster at Three Mile Island: A Reporter's Story. Journalist Hampton gives an eyewitness account of the 1979 disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, relating it to the bombing of Hiroshima and the Chernobyl power plant explosion.

Hart, Elva Trevino. Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child."My whole childhood, I never had a bed," begins Hart's bittersweet recollections about growing up one of six children in a migrant family that made the circuit from Texas to Minnesota each year. Her stories about her family, especially her stern but caring father, and about breaking away only to return home, show the moving struggle of an immigrant population, but also the universal personal struggle of finding, then acknowledging, oneself.

Hoose, Phillip M. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. The story of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's demise is the centerpiece for a book about extinction and the pressures of mankind upon the Earth.

Janeczko, Paul B. Worlds Afire: The Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. On July 6, 1944, 167 people were killed and over 500 were injured when the circus they were attending in Hartford, Connecticut caught fire. Janeczko recreates the before, during, and after of this true event in haunting poetry.

Kercheval, Jesse Lee. Space. In a memoir so beautifully and seamlessly written that teens will think it is fiction, Kercheval tells her own story, beginning when, at age 10, she moved with her family to a home in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in view of Cape Kennedy. Set against the promise implicit in the launching of Apollo, her touching recollection of her youth and teenage years--her strange, unhappy parents, her difficulties fitting into a new school, and her first love--speaks to universal concerns about growing up and resurrects a pivotal episode of American history and culture for a new generation.

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. Only a handful of people have stood atop Everest. Krakauer is one of them, but the story he tells here is not of glorious triumph. Rather, it is a true account of survival and death that will grab YA readers from the very first page. Krakauer had a front-row seat to the headline-making 1996 climbing disaster that resulted in the deaths of five people, and his account of the unfolding tragedy, filled with keenly observed details, is not only a transfixing drama but also an inquiry into survivor guilt and the outer limits of human strength and responsibility.

Kruger, Kobie . The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa's Wildlife. Kruger eagerly embraced her husband's assignment to a remote ranger station in South Africa, where her life revolved around temperamental hippos, rambunctious badgers, and three beautiful, willful daughters. What she didn't count on was the starving lion cub that her husband brought home.

Kubert, Joe. Yossel, April 19, 1943: A Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. With rough pencil sketches, fifteen-year-old Yossel chronicles the horrifying events of the Holocaust in the Warsaw Ghetto, culminating in the ill-fated uprising.

McPherson, James M. Fields of Fury: The American Civil War. McPherson delivers a battle-by-battle guide to the deadliest American war.

McWhorter, Diane. A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. This handsome volume summarizes and explains the key years of the Civil rights Movement, bringing in major players as well as lesser known heroes and heroines.

Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. In this gripping account, Murphy explores how yellow fever disrupted the federal government, divided the medical establishment, and destroyed the lives of thousands of Philadelphians. The 2004 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner and a Newbery Honor Book.

Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. Primary sources and lively text describe the events that led to General Santa Anna’s victory at the battle of the Alamo.

Myers, Walter Dean. Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices. The hopes, dreams, and disappointments of the iconic African American community are explored in verse and vintage photographs.

Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis. A school project eventually leads to the truth about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the navy’s cover-up, and the court martial of the captain.

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. In an exquisite poetry collection, Nye draws on her Palestinian American heritage to see the Middle East through the eyes of an American and the U.S. through the eyes of a Palestinian.

Paulsen, Gary. How Angel Peterson Got His Name and Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports. Paulsen recounts the bizarre, daredevil feats that he and his friends attempted during their Minnesota childhood.

Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Roach exams the afterlife of human cadavers in this humorous, touching, and respectful look at how scientists utilize the human body.

Robinson, Sharon. Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America. Jackie Robinson's daughter weaves interesting narrative about her father's baseball career, family life and political activism with beautiful photographs and handwritten correspondence to create an unforgettable read.

Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie. Partridge tells the tragic story of the rambling folksinger Woody Guthrie, who wrote "This Land Is Your Land."

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex. Survivor accounts provide the basis for a harrowing account of the 1820 voyage of the whaleship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale.

Rall, Ted. To Afghanistan and Back: A graphic Travelogue. A politically liberal cartoonist/columnist creatively combines narrative and graphics to detail his dangerous 2001 trip to Afghanistan.

Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks. While teaching writing to 17-year olds detained in the Los Angeles Central Juvenile Hall, Salzman was surprised by the boys’ talent. Their heartwarming and funny voices are included in this irresistible and provocative memoir.

Santiago, Esmeralda. Almost a Woman. The author of When I Was Puerto Rican(1993) continues to limn her past, this time focusing on her adolescence and young womanhood. In a patchwork of memories, she recalls her guilty longing to escape the Brooklyn barrio, where she lived with her mother and large, extended family, and what she finds (including an affair with an older man) when she leaves. The mixture of regret, joy, and confusion is unmistakable in this portrait of a daughter growing up in two cultures.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.  In graphic novel format, the author describes her youth in revolutionary Iran.  From the overthrow of the Shah to the establishment of the new regime, she witnesses heartbreak and struggle as life changes in her country.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. Marjane Satrapi continues where she left off in Persepolis, living in Vienna and enduring the hardships of being a Third World citizen in a Western country.

Seagle, Steven T. It's a Bird. A comic writer named Steve is unable to accept the job of a lifetime, to write a Superman story, because the problems in his family's past continue to haunt him in the present.

Silverstein, Ken. The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor. Science geek David Hahn's obsession with nuclear energy results in the unsupervised creation of a radioative device with the potential to spark an environmental disaster in his community.

Steinberg, Jacques. The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College. For the college-bound, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the admissions process—up close and personal.

Thomas, Velma Maia. Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation. In a cleverly designed interactive book, the creator of the Black Holocaust Exhibit relates "the pain of my people." Her simple yet descriptive words tell the story of slavery and the struggle for freedom—from the African villages to the boats, from the plantations to the end of the Civil War and Jubilee, the day of freedom. Letters and newspaper clippings personalize the story, and reproductions of documents, meant to be pulled from envelopes and pouches attached to the pages, bring the past directly into the present.

Ung, Loung. First They Killed My Father.  Memoir of a young girl whose life and family was torn apart by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

Unger, Zac. Working Fire: The Making of an Accidental Fireman. A young rookie provides a behind-the-firehouse doors look at what is like to fight fire in a big city.

Van Der Vat, Dan. D-Day: The Greatest Invasion - A Peoples History. A visually stunning overview of the pivotal invasion of Europe that changed the course of World War II.

Walker, Rebecca . Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self. Born in 1969 to civil rights activists who defied convention, Walker was a "movement child." But when the movement changed course, and her white father and black mother divorced, Walker found herself without an identity--a misfit: too black for some; not black enough for others. A poignant, sometimes angry recollection about racism, growing up, growing away, and finding oneself.