Let’s Hear It For Nonfiction!

        I read mostly fiction, but am beginning to realize all the great nonfiction books that I am missing.  Narrative nonfiction (nonfiction that tells a story) is every bit as exciting and engaging as fiction,--and has lots of good information. 

       Try pairing a fiction book you like with a nonfiction book on the same subject.  The pairing will make your reading experience of both fiction and nonfiction richer.

       Here is a pair I think you would like.

The Green Glass Sea by  Ellen Klages (fiction)

            It's 1943, and Dewey Kerrigan is on her way to New Mexico to live with her mathematician father. Soon she arrives at a town that, officially, doesn't exist. It is called Los Alamos, and it is abuzz with activity, as scientists and mathematicians from all over America and Europe are part of the Manhattan Project, working on the biggest secret of all--"the gadget" – the atomic bomb.  None of them knows  how much "the gadget" is about to change their lives.

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin   (Mrs C’s favorite nonfiction book at the moment!) (nonfiction)

             This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and the genius that created the world's most formidable weapon --the atomic bomb.  In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos, New Mexico, working on the Manhattan Project.

And you even can add a graphic biography to this pair (I guess this makes triplets!).

Feymann by Ottaviani and Myrick (graphic biography)

          This is a graphic biography of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century: Richard Feynman: physicist, Nobel Prize winner, bestselling author, and safe-cracker. In comic format, it tells the story of the great man’s life from his childhood in Long Island to his work on the Manhattan Project and the Challenger disaster.
      
         For suggestions of nonfiction books to pair with fiction books, just ask the staff in the Youth Services Room.


Happy reading,
Connie