Miss Carol's Favorite Book Finds of 2015 - Non-fiction Children's Books

Every year at my library, I spend the last couple days of the year compiling my favorite book finds of the year.  They are not always new books.  Just books I discovered for the first time and really, really liked.

CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION BOOK DISCOVERIES FOR 2015:

 

Animal Stories: Heartwarming True Tales from the Animal Kingdom by Jane Yolen and her children, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, Adam Stemple, and Jason Stemple, illustrated by Jui Ishida 

Presents a collection of true animal stories from different historical periods, including the tales of Balto the Alaskan sled dog, Smoky the Bear, and internet sensation Christian the lion.

The House that Jane Built: A Story about Jane Addams by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Kathryn Brown 

Ever since she was a little girl, Jane Addams hoped to help people in need. In 1889, she chose a house in a run-down Chicago neighborhood and turned it into Hull House--a settlement home--soon adding a playground, kindergarten, and a public bath, By the early 1920s, more that nine thousand people visited Hull House each week. The dreams of a smart, caring girl had become a reality. And the lives of hundreds of thousands of people were transformed when they stepped into the house that Jane Addams built.

 

Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Kahteryn Russel-Brown, illustrations 
by Frank Morrison 

A biography of African American musician Melba Doretta Liston, a virtuoso musician who played the trombone and composed and arranged music for many of the great jazz musicians of the twentieth century. 

Strongheart: The World’s First Movie Star Dog by Emily Arnold McCully 

When silent movie director Larry Trimble decides to put Strongheart, a police dog, into his movies as the lead actor, he must first train him to play with toys and walk like a regular dog, but Strongheart becomes a sensation until his military training leads to trouble, and possibly the end of his career.