Narrative Nonfiction Redux

From dinosaur bones to Founding Fathers, there is plenty of good new nonfiction coming or way in 2012. Here are two more titles sure to be hits with kids and teachers.



WORST OF FRIENDS: THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JOHN ADAMS AND THE TRUE STORY OF AN AMERICAN FEUD by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain with illustrations by Larry Day (Dutton 2012) discusses how John and Tom were good friends and colleagues until a disagreement about the duties and powers of the new presidency were being written for the newly independent America. Thus began a feud between the two. There was some name-calling and a great deal of silence between the once-friends-now-feuding parties. However, the two did manage to patch things up and become faithful friends later in life. This would be a good companion to THOSE REBELS JOHN AND TOM. <103>




BARNUM'S BONES by Tracey Fern with illustrations by Boris Kulikov (FSG, May 2012) is subtitled HOW BARNUM BROWN DISCOVERED THE MOST FAMOUS DINOSAUR IN THE WORLD. Brown was named after PT Barnum of circus fame. His parents hoped it would lead their son to a famous life. And it did. Barnum discovered hundreds if not thousands of bones and fossils including the granddaddy of them all: T-rex. Archaeology and paleontology come alive as readers follow Brown on his travels searching for a dinosaur to set him apart from the other bone hunters. <104>