Review of Diamond Fever! by Steve Sheinkin

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Diamond Fever!

A True Crime Story in the Wild West

by Steve Sheinkin
with comics and art by Jon Chad

Roaring Brook Press, 2026. 240 pages.
Review written August 30, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here’s a true crime story told with all the drama of a novel. It’s suitable for middle school or upper elementary kids, though teens will like it, too. I’ll list it on the Children’s Nonfiction page, but this isn’t a picture book – it’s an adventure tale of the Wild West.

The story is of a dramatic and complicated swindle involving a diamond mine. We know it’s a crime from the title, and the author doesn’t hide that from the beginning, but we don’t know what was done or how they pulled it off until the end.

Interesting to me is that the criminals got away with it. Essentially, they duped famous and powerful people, who didn’t want it to get out that they had been swindled. It’s a long and involved swindle, and Steve Sheinkin takes us every step of the way.

He starts us off with two men in San Francisco in 1870, bringing a bag of rough diamonds to a mine investor for safe keeping. They say they found a diamond field when out prospecting. The investor checks, and these are real diamonds.

And so begins a long adventure involving multiple investors and multiple expeditions to the secret diamond field in the middle of the country. Before it’s done, they’ve pulled in the rich and powerful and have throngs in San Francisco interested in investing, planning to strike it rich. They even have to be stealthy about visiting the site, because others will want to stake a claim first.

How is it a crime? Who’s responsible? How did they pull it off? Where did the actual diamonds in that bag come from? The author skillfully spreads out the answers to keep us wanting to find out more. And there’s some nice pointers about not falling for scams at the end. It can even happen to the rich and powerful!

Some of the key scenes are shown with comics, and this tale is spun in a way that keeps you turning pages.

stevesheinkin.com
jonchad.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/diamond_fever.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of We Carry the Sun, by Tae Keller, illustrated by Rachel Wada

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Science, Starred Review 0

We Carry the Sun

by Tae Keller
illustrated by Rachel Wada

Norton Young Readers, 2025. 48 pages.
Review written 2/6/26 from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a nonfiction picture book about the history of solar power. The illustrations are lavishly beautiful, and I like the way the author addresses the reader as we – talking about humankind’s collective efforts to harness the power of the sun.

And I had no idea the long history and the wide scope of efforts to produce solar power. She mentions ancient peoples who built their homes to be cooler in summer and warmer in winter. And then goes on to the people who figured out how to make solar panels – and the many people after them who kept refining the design.

It’s a story of people working across the globe, using ideas of others, improving on them, for the good of all. Tae Keller and Rachel Wada capture this idea in their “We”-centered text and stunning illustrations.

There’s a timeline at the back that gives more information about the specific scientists featured. Especially interesting are recent developments – including a scientist in Mexico who makes biodegradable solar panels and scientists in Korea, Germany, China, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore working with perovskite solar panels which are transparent and can be used in place of glass.

All sorts of fascinating information here – told in a way children can understand – and be inspired to wonder what they might do to add to the progression of science improving our lives.

Here’s the last page of the main text:

How does an idea grow?
With people bouncing off one another
like photons,
teaching and inspiring,
listening and learning.
Across the world,
we turn to one another and say,

We are incredible.

Look at all we can do.

We reached into the sky
and carried the sun home —

and what if we could do even more?

rachelwada.ca
taekeller.com
nortonyoungreaders.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/we_carry_the_sun.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Fruitcake, by Rex Ogle and Dave Valeza

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Graphic Memoir 0

Fruitcake

by Rex Ogle & Dave Valeza

Graphix, 2026. 240 pages.
Review written June 12, 2026, from a library book.

Fruitcake is another graphic novel memoir about Rex Ogle’s middle school years, following up on Four Eyes and Pizza Face. This one is about eighth grade, when all his friends were pairing up.

And Rex, too, found a nice girl who liked him – but he couldn’t stop thinking about a boy he spent time with outside of school – and it was the boy who made him blush.

Meanwhile, his Abuela takes him to two different churches – one in his own neighborhood when Abuela is visiting, where the preacher says gay people will burn in hell. Then at Abuela’s home church, the pastor says that God loves everyone.

So Rex keeps trying to hide who he is – until he can’t anymore.

This graphic novel is a quick read, but it’s got a very relatable story about a kid figuring out who he really is.

rexogle.com
davevaleza.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/fruitcake.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Me & the Magic Cube, by Daniel Fehr, illustrated by Golden Cosmos

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Me & the Magic Cube

by Daniel Fehr
illustrated by Golden Cosmos
translated from German by Marshall Yarbrough

NorthSouth Books, 2025. Originally published in Switzerland by NordSüd Verlag. 44 pages.
Review written October 27, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Like the book Ernö Rubik and His Magic Cube, written by Kerry Aradhya, illustrated by Kara Kramer, this picture book tells the story of Rubik’s Cubes, which I’m very surprised are still popular with kids. (My niece can solve one in less than five minutes!)

This one only mentions the inventor in passing, though. It takes a story approach to the topic, showing us three fictional kids who find a Magic Cube. I’m still calling this book nonfiction, though, because the book is primarily interesting facts about the cube, how it’s put together – and the beginning fundamentals about how to solve it. There’s a fantastic illustration of the cube all taken apart.

Like the curious kids portrayed in the story, this is a good choice for kids curious about the Magic Cube and who are interested in learning how to solve it.

And kids like my niece who already know how to solve it can learn lots of fun facts about the Magic Cube and how it’s put together.

northsouth.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/me_and_the_magic_cube.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Basket Ball, by Kadir Nelson

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Basket Ball

The Story of the All-American Game

by Kadir Nelson

Little, Brown and Company, 2026. 104 pages.
Review written August 10, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Like Kadir Nelson’s stunning We Are the Ship from many years ago, his oversize paintings of players are the stars of this book. The book is large and square, as big as a picture book, but packed with text that’s full of information. The detailed text is broken up with a large, magnificent painting on every spread, as if the players are standing there ready to throw you the ball.

He’s got information about how basketball was invented and how it caught on, how and why the rules changed, how it slowly became integrated, and the various leagues over the years. One section highlights star players over the history of the game.

There’s a chapter at the end about women’s basketball. My one quibble is I would have liked this information included with the rest of the book. The author did a good job covering the times when there were separate leagues for African Americans – it would have been interesting to mention how Women’s Basketball fit into that in the same timeline.

But that’s a minor quibble for this strikingly beautiful book. I make no secret that I’m not a sports fan – but reading this had me riveted. I learned much about basketball that I didn’t think I cared about before picking up this book.

kadirnelson.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/basket_ball.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Heronry, by Barbara Herkert, art by Gordy Wright

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Heronry

by Barbara Herkert
art by Gordy Wright

Tilbury House Publishers, 2026. 36 pages.
Review written July 29, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Absolutely no one who follows me on Facebook will be surprised that I love this nonfiction picture book about great blue herons. There’s a small lake (or a large pond) outside my window, and a friendly neighborhood heron can often be found there, hunting. I’m sure it’s a favorite spot for many different herons, but they almost always hunt alone, and I can’t tell them apart. In my thirteen years living in my condo, I have taken thousands of pictures of herons. And I won’t be stopping any time soon. I am, after all, a heron addict.

This book captures the gangly beauty of great blue herons. The setting is a heronry – a nesting site for multiple heron pairs. The male herons arrive first, build up their chosen nests, and then attract females to join them. When the babies hatch, the parents take turns hunting for food for them. After three months, the young herons fend for themselves and the herons are solitary hunters again until breeding season comes around again.

I learned all this by reading this book, while enjoying the wonderful pictures of herons in the beautiful settings of wetlands. (The artist threw in nice sunrises and sunsets as well.)

The author has a simple text that young children can understand on the left side of each spread, with a more detailed paragraph on the right side giving more background facts. Combined with the beautiful illustrations, this book is a delight for heron lovers, and may produce some new ones.

As far as I know, there aren’t any heron nests by my lake – but I do think there are plenty at nearby Great Falls on the Potomac, where I’ve discovered they like to hang out on my birthday in June. However, I will continue to delight in spotting them on their hunting grounds, or rather, hunting waters. And now I know a little more about them and their life cycle.

barbaraherkert.com
gordywright.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/heronry.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of My Bicentennial Summer, by G. Neri, illustrated by Corban Wilkin

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

My Bicentennial Summer

True Adventures from the Most Epic Family Road Trip of All Time

by G. Neri
illustrated by Corban Wilkin

Candlewick Press, 2026. 88 pages.
Review written July 21, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

First, sorry about not getting this read before the Semiquincentennial.

As he did in My Antarctica, G. Neri makes his own travels the center of this nonfiction story, illustrated with plenty of photos, but also illustrations drawn over them. However, this time the travels happened when he was a kid. His family took six weeks and drove and camped all across America in honor of the Bicentennial in 1976.

Now, I was twelve years old in 1976. (It looks like the author is just a bit younger than me.) I remember all the hype about the Bicentennial. It makes me a little sad that not nearly as much happened for the 250th. But our family didn’t do an epic road trip like this, and it was super fun to read about and remember the hype.

I love the way the author points out the people and the cool things they saw as they drove through so many states. He talks about the history behind the Bicentennial, the ideals of democracy that we’re still striving toward, and brings it together with fun things about his own experiences in a pop-up camper with his family.

The end result is that as well as reading a fun story that’s surprising in many places – and true – you also come away proud to be part of this great big, quirky, and diverse country. We’ve come a long way in fifty years, but we’re still an incredibly diverse bunch of people with interesting local traditions in every part.

gregneri.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/my_bicentennial_summer.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Notre-Dame, by Lynn Curlee

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Version 1.0.0
Notre-Dame

The World’s Cathedral

by Lynn Curlee

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2026. 44 pages.
Review written July 7, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here is another book by artist Lynn Curlee about one of the important structures of the world. Although it is illustrated with big, beautiful paintings, those accompany a full text, so this book is more for upper elementary and middle school readers than your usual picture book crowd.

Is it safe to say that most people who have seen Notre Dame de Paris love this cathedral? I don’t think it’s just me. I’ve visited it several times, and each memory of that place is precious. So my heart was broken when the cathedral burned in 2019.

This book begins with the fire, explaining how it happened and the heroic efforts to save as much as possible. Then it goes back and gives the history of the cathedral. I didn’t realize it was the first truly Gothic cathedral, and we get detailed explanations of what that means.

Gothic cathedrals are among the most complex and ambitious structures ever conceived. It is simply mind-boggling to realize that they were constructed completely by manual labor, without the aid of machines of any kind. There were obviously no computers for design work, mathematical calculations, or virtual modeling, and no electric, hydraulic, or steam-powered devices to make things easier. All they had were hand tools like chisels, mallets, handsaws, levers, winches, and pulleys. Building materials were transported by boat or by oxcart. Probably the most complicated device they used was like a big hamster wheel, large enough for several men to operate by walking inside, for hoisting heavy loads high into the air.

Notre Dame has been around for nine centuries, and was ransacked at different times and then restored and added to. The French Revolution left it in disrepair, but then Victor Hugo’s popular novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, aroused interest in restoring it. That restoration was when the gallery of chimeras was added – the wonderful gargoyles on the bell towers.

The book concludes by telling of the amazing restoration work after the fire, with paintings of workers suspended from ropes.

The catastrophe of April 15, 2019, and the campaign of reconstruction riveted the attention of people from all over the world. By almost losing it forever, we gained a new appreciation of Notre-Dame’s importance as the ultimate example of a Gothic cathedral. As a monument of three different eras – the Middle Ages, the nineteenth century, and now the twenty-first century – the newly refurbished cathedral has reclaimed its official place as the Cathedral of Paris, a symbol of France, a great milestone in the cultural heritage of humanity, and one of the most popular tourist attractions on Earth. And unofficially, more than ever before, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame may be celebrated as the World’s Cathedral.

This tribute to the World’s Cathedral makes you feel like you’re there.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/notre_dame.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of What Emma Wrote, by Ann Diament Koffsky, illustrated by N. Tarcan

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

coverWhat Emma Wrote

The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty

by Ann Diament Koffsky
illustrated by N. Tarcan

Apples & Honey Press, 2026. 44 pages.
Review written July 6, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book biography seems especially appropriate for America’s 250th birthday. It’s the story of Emma Lazarus, the author of the poem “The New Colossus” engraved on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, told simply for young readers.

Even as a child, Emma wanted to be a writer. Her family made a book of her poems and stories that they shared with friends. As she grew up, she became aware of the plight of Jewish immigrants facing hard times. Her own family had immigrated to the United States almost two hundred years before, but she remembered their history and felt a kinship.

And her work helping immigrants with practical needs also led to using her writing to rebut people who tried to name immigrants as the problem in America.

She wrote about the people she had met on Wards Island. She explained that they deserved to be welcomed and helped.

Emma didn’t stop after that. She wrote article after article and shared even more stories about immigrants.

Activism on behalf of immigrants plus writing skills made Emma Lazarus the perfect person to write a poem about the Statue of Liberty while it was being built.

I enjoyed reading the entire poem. I wish the name for the Statue of Liberty that she suggests had stuck: “Mother of Exiles.”

There are facts about the statue and about Emma Lazarus at the back of the book.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to commemorate the one hundredth birthday of the United States. How fitting to think back on it at our 250th birthday – but also reflect that some of the issues are still the same, that we still need to be reminded that one of our great strengths lies in welcoming people the rest of the world casts off.

Or, as Ann Diament Koffsky writes for children:

Emma’s poem is carved into a metal plate inside the statue’s base. It reminds visitors how important it is to welcome immigrants with kindness.

annkoffsky.com
nazlisillustrations.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/what_emma_wrote.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Airports: Behind the Scenes, illustrated by Maxim Usik

Children's Nonfiction Review, History 0

Airports

Behind the Scenes

by Anna Ridley
illustrated by Maxim Usik
consultant Laurence Hardisty

Thames and Hudson, 2026. 48 pages.
Review written June 1, 2026, from a library book.

Taking a trip with kids? Here’s a detailed and fascinating in-depth look at what goes on behind the scenes. I still recommend The Airport Book, by Lisa Brown, for very young children and preschoolers. But for kids who are reading on their own and love poring over detailed pictures, this oversized book will be ideal preparation. Okay, it’s really too big to conveniently carry with you – but kids will enjoy it so much in preparation for a trip, it’s worth it.

The book goes through the different parts of an airport – ticketing, security, baggage conveyor systems, through activity on the ground around the plane, air traffic control, and how things work inside the plane.

There are kid-centered questions throughout the book: “Do suitcases get mixed up?” “Why can’t I ride on the luggage carousel?” “Can I take snakes on a plane?” “Can a body scanner see me naked?” “Why is that airplane being towed?” “Who flies the plane when the pilot needs to go to the bathroom?” “How many planes are in the air at one time?” “Why can’t we fly with the windows open?” and “Why do I feel like farting?”

The whole book is filled with detailed pictures, answers to questions like those above and lots more, and plenty of information even I hadn’t known before I read this book. (So it wasn’t just that I ate the wrong thing before the flight!)

I like that this is a modern book, with modern scanners and security requirements, likely to match what a child will see at the airport today.

Interesting and informative, and a great way to get thinking about my upcoming trip to France!

maximusik.art

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/airports.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?