Drake is asking a lot more questions these days as he is learning so much more about the world, and trying to explain everything to him is getting harder. He has always loved these National Geographic books and has amassed quite a few on various topics, but I have a love of illustrations so I’ve compiled these nonfiction books that still have the visual appeal of picture books.
The Big Book of Bugs – I hate bugs so much and cannot even stand to look at photographs of them without screaming. I wasn’t even sure I could deal with illustrations, but after seeing this book on Amazon I just knew it would be perfect. The illustrations drew me in despite how much I hate bugs and Drake loves learning about every animal under the sun so this was perfect for our home.
Maps – Drake has a general concept of our world — he has seen a globe and knows the continents, but we don’t have many maps in our home so I thought he might enjoy having a book at his fingertips to explore where everything is in relation to himself.
The Blue Whale – Drake was gifted this book a few years ago and it’s what made me realize I could find other non-fictio books for Drake with illustrations like a picture book to keep him interested. This one is a break down of blue whales and is a neat, in-depth look at them with some beautiful watercolor-like pictures.
The 50 States – We have a large state map puzzle Drake got right after Juliet was born. It took him a while to really be able to do the puzzle without help, and once he mastered that came all the questions about each state, what states were, where did we live, and of course for mommy to sing all of the names in alphabetical order. This is a book that can help him delve more closely into understanding how all the states fit together to make our amazing county.
Women in Science – This book is still a little too old for Drake and the girls but I thought that it was a very important for them to see the contributions of amazing females in the work of science. Flipping through the pages reminds me of those scratch off black sheets with color underneath we used to play with as kids. It’s definitely a neat looking book with black pages instead of white.
Smart About Sharks – The pictures in this book make me think of old time illustrations. This would make a nice companion to Drake’s Blue Whale book as he explores more about ocean creatures.
Human Body – Drake loves the Shine A Light book series and we own several other titles. The books are always fun since you can use a flashlight. I bought Drake this Human Body one to give to him for Easter in his basket.
Atlas of Animal Adventures– The perfect way of combining Drake’s love of animals with his newfound interest in figuring out where in the world each animal comes from.
. . . . .
What are some of your favorite nonfiction books for kids?
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
These book covers are gorgeous!
blogger / apricot / 482 posts
I absolutely LOVE your book posts and have checked out as many of the books from your previous posts as possible. Mad About Monkeys is also great (a companion, I guess, to Smart About Sharks).
pomegranate / 3212 posts
We’ve been loving the cat in the hat learning library! They hadn’t seen the show before or even read the original cat in the hat, but my curious 3.5 year old is loving learning about eco systems and animals!
honeydew / 7230 posts
My son loves non-fiction books, especially ones about animals. We read a lot of Nat Geo kids books about specific animals. We also love the Atlas of Animal Adventures (and it’s companion book Atlas of Adventures). Along the same lines is the Natural World: Visual Compendium book, which also has beautiful illustrations. My daughter is a bird lover, so one of her favorites is An Egg is Quiet. It’s beautiful and full of cool facts about bird/reptile/insect eggs.
blogger / apricot / 250 posts
I love this list! Thanks for sharing.
cherry / 235 posts
Great list! We have the 50 States and Maps books – big hits with my 6 year old!
Over the holidays I also discovered these books – DS2 was gifted the construction one and it is very cool:
The Ultimate Construction Site
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Construction-Site-Book/dp/2848019840
The Ultimate Book of Vehicles
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Vehicles-Around-World/dp/2848019425/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Z329JBHND3DY9F93E3B3
The Ultimate Book of Space
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Space-Anne-Sophie-Baumann/dp/B01AGIOSQ2/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZT6QFT2DBNW2H12E5NR3
Ultimate Book of Cities
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Cities-Anne-Sophie-Baumann/dp/B00T3CV2VW/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WWABJ4DK5WK99BST5RKW