Nonfiction Summer 2017 Reading Challenge

‘Tis the season for summer reading lists. I created a list to share with a group of fellow nonfiction writers here in the Pacific Northwest that I thought might be fun to share. The goal is to read 1 adult nonfiction title, 3 MG/YA titles, and 10 picture books before school begins again. This list is by no means exhaustive, and I’d love to hear about other nonfiction titles you love.

P.S. If you are a nonfiction writer, particularly if you are a new nonfiction writer, I have a list of questions to accompany these books to help you think more deeply about choices each author made as they wrote. My hope is that it will be helpful as you think about your own work. If you’d like a copy, contact me and I’d be happy to send it to you.

Read a list 1 adult nonfiction book, either from the list below or choose your own.

  • The Songs of Trees, by David George Haskell
  • Grunt; Gulp; Packing for Mars; Stiff; or Bonk, all by Mary Roach
  • The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery
  • Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
  • I Contain Multitudes, by Ed Yong
  • Atlas Obscura, by Joshua Foer, Ella Morton, and Dylan Thuras

Read a least 3 books from the MG/YA list or choose your own:

  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
  • Bomb, by Steve Sheinkin
  • March (3 books), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
  • Why’d They Wear That? by Sarah Albee
  • Josephine, by Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson
  • Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet
  • A Black Hole is Not a Hole, by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano
  • Samurai Rising, by Pamela S. Turner
  • Drowned City, by Don Brown
  • The Slowest Book Ever, by April Pulley Sayre
  • Bubonic Panic, by Gail Jarrow
  • The Story of Seeds, by Nancy F. Castaldo
  • The Octopus Scientists, by Sy Montgomery
  • Courage & Defiance, by Deborah Hopkinson

Read at least 10 books from the Picture Book list or choose your own:

  • Coyote Moon, by Maria Gianferrari
  • Neighborhood Sharks, by Katherine Roy
  • Giant Squid, by Candace Fleming
  • The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, by Jen Bryant
  • Enormous Smallness: A Story of E.E. Cummings, by Matthew Burgess
  • Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story, by Suzanne Slade
  • Gravity, by Jason Chin
  • Feathers, Not Just for Flying, by Melissa Stewart
  • Whoosh! by Chris Barton
  • Glow, by W.H. Beck
  • Mesmerized, by Mara Rockliff
  • High Tide for Horseshoe Crabs, by Lisa Kahn Schnell
  • Pink is for Blobfish, by Jess Keating
  • Emmanuel’s Dream, by Laurie Ann Thompson
  • Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton, by Don Tate
  • Raindrops Roll, by April Pulley Sayre
  • Can an Aardvark Bark, by Melissa Stewart
  • When Lunch Fights Back, by Rebecca L. Johnson
  • Round, by Joyce Sidman
  • A Village is a Busy Place, by V. Geetha
  • Swimming with Sharks, by Heather Lang
  • A Nest is Noisy, by Dianna Hutts Aston