This book excellently weaves the true aspects of Lincoln‘s life with the fantasy elements of vampire hunting. The story follows his true timeline, but uses the idea of vampires and vampire hunters to explain why certain events took place.

Ilyasah Shabazz gives us a unique glimpse into the childhood of her father, Malcolm X, with a lyrical story that carries a message that resonates still today. The message is that we must all strive to live to our highest potential. This book points to a happy childhood that happened to be plagued with several severe events.

This book, written by Howard Bryant and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, takes a look at how a father's dream to develop his daughters into tennis champions changed the world of sports. Bryant details their successes and personal setbacks. Their resilience shines through to the story's finale, which sees the champions holding trophies and embracing each other.

This book tells the story of Mandela, a global icon, in poignant verse and glorious illustrations. It is the story of a young boy's determination to change South Africa and of the struggles of a man who eventually became the president of his country by believing in equality for people of all colors.

This is a fabulous biographical picture book of one of our important historical figures. This book uses a perfect style of illustration that is somewhat childlike and mirroring sketches and doodles that Einstein might have made when hammering out his theories in order to depict biographical details from the life of Albert Einstein. The book packs in a deceptively impressive amount of great information.

This book is a picture book account of Rosa Park's historic choice to say “no”. The book provides a wonderfully told story about the day Rosa Parks didn‘t give up her seat on the bus and the movement that it started.

This book is a stunning tribute to civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This picture book biography Martin's Big Words consists of Rappaport's own words interwoven with quotes from Dr. King all powerfully brought to life by Collier's striking art.

This is a timely, inspiring picture book biography of the dynamic twentieth-century educator, activist, and politician Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm, a woman of many firsts, was an unforgettable political trailblazer, a candidate of the people and catalyst of change who opened the door for women in the political arena and for the first Black president of the United States.

This is a moving and powerful introduction to the life and art of renowned artist, Judith Scott, as told by her twin sister, Joyce Scott and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist, Melissa Sweet. This book is inspiring and warm, showing us that we can soar beyond our perceived limitations and accomplish something extraordinary.

This series is always a good read as it‘s a really nice introduction to well known people for little children. The plot is always a little bit fast but that‘s to be expected when there is so much information to fit in a short book.

This book tells the life of Bruce Lee. A martial artist and Hollywood film star. Bruce was a child actor who appeared in many films. As a teenager he took up martial arts. He eventually starred in blockbuster hits, featuring his skill as a martial artist. He even wrote film scripts himself. Bruce created his own style of martial arts called Jeet Kune Do, which also embodied his thoughtful philosophies for life.

This story is a telling of what it was like being the world's most beautiful woman as well as the creator of the technology that keeps us from being hacked on our devices. The concepts can be tough to grasp for those who do not have a mathematical or scientific mind but the science concepts are offered up more than once from different angles to help with that.

The story of how, during World War Two, Hedy Lamarr, a movie star, developed a groundbreaking communications system that still remains essential to the security of today‘s technology.

This book details when one county in Virginia chose to close public school rather than integrate them. This led to 5 years where kids could not go to school. This book may be too wordy for younger readers, but elementary schoolers will find it interesting and appreciate the additional information and timeline in the back

This book is about a young African American girl who lived during the shutdown of public schools in Farmville, Virginia, following the civil rights case Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. The children of Prince Edward County located in Farmville, Virginia, who were prohibited from attending formal schools for five years.

I love any story about a dog. This is an inspiring work and is sure to please kids who like animal stories. It introduces the reader to some of the horrors of war in a gentle, age appropriate way. Have tissues ready.

This is the story of a dog who was surviving in Paris when he was found by an American soldier named James Donovan during an air raid after the Americans entered WWI. It didn't take long for Rags to become a favorite with the soldiers and to adjust to infantry life in the trenches.

I thought this book was very informative and a good read. I would use it with older kids and adults because it does have some graphic pictures that may not go well with younger audiences.

In this book there were seven chapters. Each chapter there were different main characters and all of them either died by falling through glaciers or they were someone who looked for peoples bodies from years and years ago. The main plot line was people finding dead bodies from a long long time ago.

Filled with gorgeous photos from Earth and from space and startling facts along with astronaut Scott Kelly's thoughts, this is a good choice for the younger elementary school age.

This is the story of an ordinary boy who grew up to do extraordinary things. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly was the first to spend an entire year in space. This story takes readers from Scott's childhood as an average student to his record-breaking year among the stars

This book is everything that good non-fiction should be. It is engaging, well-researched, informative, challenging, and dramatic. The book begins almost like a picture book as the reader follows a swimming seal with the shadow of a shark lurking in the background. The drama builds as the shark grows larger, until, all at once, it strikes

This story of the great white sharks who come to feed at the Farallon Islands near San Francisco and the scientists who study them is told in a fascinating, informative narrative and in spectacular, dramatic illustrations.

This book is chock full of factoids, and big pictures, and scale, and real people, etc. There is lots of detail about how the bridge is made, information about the steel cables and the bends and so on.

This book shows a different way to see how the Brooklyn bridge was built and the new technology used to create this iconic bridge. The book went into just enough depth about the journey of the bridge, the people involved making it, and what it means to some people today

I would use this book in science class when we study the water cycle and also when we discuss conservation and ways of keeping our water clean. I would start with a discussion about water and bring in the students prior knowledge.

This book looks at why the world's water resources are at risk and how communities around the world are finding innovative ways to quench their thirst and water their crops. The book describes how and why much of our fresh water is contaminated.

The thing I really like about this book is that it would enhance the learning experience of students learning about elephants. It gives a real-life glimpse into that particular field of science. It is written in such a way that the book would compliment other facts and figures style reading

This book tells the story of an elephant biologist who made a discovery about how the huge animals communicate, and is now applying her findings to protecting them. Stunning photos of elephants in their natural habitat fill the pages

Edges:

Another cute poem that essentially describes what it‘s like to be a young fearless child walking on edges. I think young readers would relate to the want to do something that feels dangerous to them

Edges:

This short but sweet poem takes a trip down the edge of a side walk. It comes from the perspective of a young child who loves to walk on these edges and is careful not to tilt or stumble.

Empty Pocket:

I thought this poem was very cute. It isn‘t very long and there isn‘t a lot going on, but young readers will love the excitement of naming things to fill the empty pocket with

Empty Pocket:

This poem tells of an empty pocket. This empty pocket is nothing without the random items that come to fill it. There is not much bulk to the poem, but it is a quick and fun read.

Compass:

I like that this poem tells a story without actually telling it. We are all familiar with what happened to MLK so the writer of this poem knew that we would understand the happenings without having to explicitly give details.

Compass:

This poem focuses on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr without ever explicitly saying that. It uses descriptive words to portray the sights and sounds of the events.

Mosquito Bites!

I thought this poem was super cute. It‘s an easy way to help teach young readers about mosquito bites and what causes them to itch.