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JoCoLibrary - Kids - Narrative Nonfiction

Read stories about ordinary people who became extraordinary through their actions, events that have changed the world, and occurrences too strange to be made up.

Johnson County Library

24 items

  • To Fly Among the Stars

    the Hidden Story of the Fight for Women Astronauts

    Rissman, Rebecca
    This narrative nonfiction work recounts the early years of air and space exploration and the daring exploits of America's first astronauts--both the men and women who were called upon to train."-- "In the 1960s, locked in a heated race to…
    BookNew York, NY : Scholasti Focus, 2020. — J 629.45 Rissman 02/2020
  • Describes how a counterfeiting ring plotted to ransom Lincoln's body to secure the release of their imprisoned ringleader, and how a fledging Secret Service and an undercover agent conducted a daring election-night sting operation.
    BookNew York : Scholastic Press, c2012. — J 973.7092 Sheinkin
  • We Had to Be Brave

    Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport

    Hopkinson, Deborah
    Ruth David was growing up in a small village in Germany when Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. Under the Nazi Party, Jewish families like Ruth's experienced rising anti-Semitic restrictions and attacks. Just going to school became…
    BookNew York : Scholastic Focus, 2020. — J 940.5315 Hopkinso 01/2020
  • We Are the Ship

    the Story of Negro League Baseball

    Nelson, Kadir
    Using an "Everyman" player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through the decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947. Illustrations from oil…
    BookNew York : Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, c2008. — J 796.357 Nelson
  • The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill

    Growing Up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas

    Warren, Andrea
    Explores how the man who became the most famous entertainer of his time and a legend of the "Wild West" grew up amid a violent regional conflict that would soon tear apart the nation.
    BookNew York : Two Lions, [2015] — J BIO BUFFALO BILL Warren 11/2015
  • Bomb

    the Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

    Sheinkin, Steve
    In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents.
    BookNew York : Roaring Brook Press, c2012. — TEEN 623.4511 Sheinkin
  • Truce

    the Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting

    Murphy, Jim, 1947-2022
    On July 29, 1914, the world's peace was shattered as the artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began shelling the troops of the country to its south. What followed was like a row of falling dominoes as one European country after another…
    BookNew York : Scholastic Press, 2009. — J 940.4 Murphy
  • Neighborhood Sharks

    Hunting With Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands

    Roy, Katherine
    "An up close look at the ocean's most fearsome and famous predator and the scientists who study them--just twenty-six miles from the Golden Gate Bridge"--
    BookNew York : David Macaulay Studio, Roaring Brook Press, 2014. — J 597.3 Roy 09/2014
  • Small Steps

    the Year I Got Polio

    Kehret, Peg
    The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating effects.
    BookMorton Grove, Ill. : Albert Whitman, 1996. — J BIO KEHRET P. Kehret
  • Marching for Freedom

    Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary

    Partridge, Elizabeth
    Tells the unsettling but uplifting story of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, using the voices of men and women who participated as children and teenagers. Their stories unfold over 10 chapters that detail voter discrimination and the…
    BookNew York : Viking, c2009. — J 323.1196 Partridg
  • Introduces black holes, describing their physical features, how they were discovered, what causes them, and where they exist in space.
    BookWatertown, MA : Charlesbridge, c2012. — J 523.8875 DeCristo 04/2012
  • Ivan

    the Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla

    Applegate, Katherine
    "The true story of Ivan, known as the Shopping Mall Gorilla, who lived alone in a small cage for almost 30 years before being relocated to the gorilla habitat at ZooAtlanta."-- Details Full Record Additional Info
    BookBoston ; New York : Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2014] — E 599.884 Applegat 10/2014
  • Tyrone Hayes works to discover the effects pesticides have on frogs and, in turn, us, by traveling America with his enthusiastic "Frog Squad."
    BookBoston : Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009. — J 597.8 Turner
  • Moonbird

    a Year on the Wind With the Great Survivor B95

    Hoose, Phillip M., 1947-
    Newbery Honor and National Book Award-winning author Phillip Hoose tells the extraordinary story of one bird's strength, adaptability, and determination. B95 can feel it: a stirring in his bones and feathers. It's time. Today is the day he…
    BookNew York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012. — J 598.07234 Hoose 07/2012
  • Mission Control, This Is Apollo

    the Story of the First Voyages to the Moon

    Chaikin, Andrew, 1956-
    This book highlights the space program's magnificent achievements, as well as its moments of tension and tragedy.
    BookNew York : Penguin Group, 2009. — J 629.45 Chaikin
  • Almost Astronauts

    13 Women Who Dared to Dream

    Stone, Tanya Lee
    Here is the tale of thirteen women who proved that they were not only as tough as the toughest man but also brave enough to challenge the government. But even though the Mercury 13 women did not make it into space, they did not lose, for…
    BookSomerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2009. — J 629.45 Stone
  • Team Moon

    How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon

    Thimmesh, Catherine
    Chronicles the Apollo 11 mission, the spaceflight that landed the first man on Earth's moon on July 20, 1969, emphasizing the contributions and reactions of the thousands of people who made the mission successful.
    BookMew York : Houghton Mifflin, 2006. — J 629.45 Thimmesh
  • Boys of Steel

    the Creators of Superman

    Nobleman, Marc Tyler
    Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, two misfit teens in Cleveland, were more like Clark Kent than Superman. Both boys escaped into the worlds of science fiction and pulp magazine tales. In 1934, they created the superhero, but it was four years…
    BookNew York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. — J 741.5 Nobleman
  • Brothers at Bat

    the True Story of An Amazing All-brother Baseball Team

    Vernick, Audrey
    Learn about the sinking of the Titanic, the discovery of its wreckage and more.
    BookNew York : Clarion Books, c2012. — J 796.357 Vernick 03/2012
  • Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

    Voices From a Medieval Village

    Schlitz, Laura Amy
    A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.
    BookCambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2007. — J 812 Schlitz