Welcome to a new round up featuring recently read and recommended children’s non-fiction titles! Just a note that your library may catalogue some of these titles in children’s non-fiction or in picture books, etc.- it really depends on how your library has decided to categorize them!

“…the truth is never made of straight lines. Lives are strange. And there are people who do not like strange stories, especially in books for children.”- from The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown by Mac Barnett and Sarah Jacoby

Let’s start with The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown, written by  Mac Barnett with illustrations by Sarah Jacoby, this is an incredibly thoughtful, whirling, gorgeous, and yes, very important story about Wise Brown and how she (and those around her) saw books for children. The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown, as with previously featured title Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, is another superb, not-to-be-missed children’s biographical title. Up next we have: Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins by Michelle Meadows and illustrated by Ebony Glenn, a concise and beautifully rendered poetic study of Metropolitan Opera House’s first African American prima ballerina (and dance pioneer) Janet Collins; Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando, written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Kana Urbanowicz, tells the fascinating and reflective story behind Momofuku Ando‘s inspiration for and the creation of instant noodles; Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington, written by Michelle Markel and illustrated by Amanda Hall is an eye-catchingly illustrated and deeply compelling biography of artist, painter and novelist Leonora Carrington– one that may inspire art lovers to delve even further into the lives of surreal artists; and last but not least, we have Apex Predators: The World’s Deadliest Hunters, Past and Present by award-winning illustrator and author Steve Jenkins, a truly amazing and captivating pictorial look at top-of-the-chain predators, from modern-day hunters to those from 500 million years ago. Happy reading!