The story depicts Sylvia Mendez, the daughter of the parents who brought suit in California. Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation (ages 6-9) written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh is the story about how the Mendez family fought for the end of school discrimination against Mexican-American children in Brown v.

Sisson demonstrates how his imagination and persistence about the cosmos allowed him to realize many accomplishments. The book is a playful, but accurate, account of Carl Sagan’s life from the time he was a young boy when he began to ask questions about his environment and imagined extraterrestrial life and space travel. The five honor books selected include Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos (ages 4-8) written and illustrated by Stephanie Roth Sisson. The story is rich with details and gives us an introduction to another very important historical figure-Vladmir Lenin. Secretive deaths and burials became a part of the legend of the Romanov family with many of the mysteries solved decades later. The surprises throughout the story help us to understand how years of oppression and deprivation created a point in history in which the population would embrace revolutionary fervor.

The story is a history of Czar Nicholas II who stepped into his father’s place but with little preparation to do so. This book (for 12 years and up) is an amazing and complex story about the family however, Fleming superbly provides the context for readers who are unfamiliar with the history. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming was the standout. Each year, NCTE gives one award for a book representing the best of children’s nonfiction for that year along with five honor books and eight recommended books can also be recognized. >The Orbis Pictus Awards, established in 1989, commemorates the work of Johannes Amos Comenius, whose work included the first nonfiction book for children, Orbis Pictus-The World in Pictures (1657).

By Deborah Dimmett, The University of Arizona

Orbis pictus recommdended book birds