Fun Edcuational Books for Back to School

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have been gathering all summer some amazing educational books. And now that school has started again, I think it is beyond time for me to share them with you!! These books are for various ages and are for various subjects. There is English, history, geography, science and more!! Talk about a fun mix. I even have some educational game books!! Hazel has been loving these. Let's start with Shakespeare!!

Our first book is a pop-up book. It is Pop-Up Shakespeare by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor and illustrated by Jennie Maizels. This fun book talks about Shakespeare and his life as well as his amazing works. It has pop-ups and lift up flaps to fit it all in and oh, if you turn the book around there are even more works represented there. It is fun!!

The genre of plays are represented on a page. The sample page above is Tragedies. You see King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello.  Behind Othello is a flap for Timon of Athens and behind King Lear is a flap for Titus Andronicus. Then when you flip the book around 180-degrees the pop-ups have Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Anthony and Cleopatra represented. The stories are summarized in the written information and the pictures and summaries give a very brief look at each play. There is also a section of Quotable Quotes from each genre when the page is turned around. This book is recommended for ages 7 to 10.

Our next book is a graphic novel to celebrate women and teach about some women's amazing accomplishments and lives. It is Hooray for Women! by Marcia Williams. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12. This book covers Boudicca, Mary Wollstonecraft, Florence Nightingale, Marie Curie, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Frank, Cathy Freeman, Malala Yousafzai, and so many more. At the end of the book are sections with short blurbs about different women in that category. The categories are Leaders & World Changers, Athletes & Creatives, and Scientists, Pioneers & Adventurers.

The book is fun and full of information about these women and their accomplishments. It is a great book to help kids learn more about women in history. 

Our next book takes a look of the history of the continent, North America. It is North America by Sarah Albee and illustrated by William Exley.  It is being released October 1, 2019. This book has so much information starting with 11,000 BCE to today!! It is a fold-out graphic history. There are short blurbs about the different time periods and history in them. It includes things like the making of Crater Lake in Oregon to the Aztec people dying cloth with insects to the American Revolution and the first indigenous women elected to the U.S. Congress (that was this year). This book is suggested for ages 8 to 14. It has such an interesting look at history with what was happening to the earth as well as the cultural history.

While talking social studies we need to know our geography. Our next book helps a lot with this. It is National Geographic Kids Student World Atlas Fifth Edition. In the beginning of this book is information about Earth, maps, the physical world and the human world (culture) then it goes by continent with maps and information about the continent. It is very complete and currently the most up-to-date student atlas available. Of course it is from National Geographic Kids so it is also full of fun photographs and lots of facts and information. This edition is recommended for teens and young adults. 

Now let's look at some biographical books and more. We will start with a book about Birute Mary Galdikas. She is actually one of the women who gets a blurb in Hooray for Women! 

The book is a National Geographic Kids book so you know it has lots of photographs!! It is Undaunted: The Wild Life of Birute Mary Galdikas and Her Fearless Quest to Save Orangutans by Anita Silvey. This book shares the life of Birute as well as what was happening in the world around her. It actually starts before she was born. Her parents escaped from Lithuania in the 1940s and they met a refugee camp dance. They got married and had Birute. With the end of the war and the changing of governments in Europe they wanted to escape and eventually settled on Canada. In Canada Birute grew up and fell in love with animals but in particular with orangutans. She dreamed of meeting orangutans in the wild. First she learned how to do it and then she went to Borneo Rainforest in Indonesia. Her love for the orangutans and her work with them has helped save these precious animals and she is still working to save them and their rainforest. 

I love how this book shares so much information not only about Birute and her work but also about the places she lived and what it was like when she was there. It adds so much to the readers' understanding to have a glimpse of what the life was like in that place.

The book provides maps, a timeline of Birute's life, a scrapbook of the orangutans, information about the plants in Indonesian Borneo and further resources. This book is so informative and it is a true honor to Birute and her amazing work. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Our next two books are part of a new series. They share information about twelve people in different areas. They are wonderful books for studying biographies as well as STEM. The books are each written by Alan Katz and illustrated by Chris Judge. Alan Katz has quite a sense of humor that shows in these books. Each shares information about twelve almost famous people and are a joy to read. They are recommended for ages 8 to 12.

The first book is Awesome Achievers in Science. This book introduces the reader to people like Michael Collins, Dr. Henry Heimlich, Stephanie Kwolek, Dr. James Jude, Dr. Roy J. Plunkett and more. They are the people who did amazing things but didn't always get the credit they deserve. They have medical discoveries, flew the first men who walked on the moon to the moon, invented things like Velcro, and Polariod snapshots and sticky notes. There is so much fun in this book as well as information about people you may not have heard of (and some that you probably have).

Each person is presented with an illustration as well as information about his or her life and their accomplishment. Then there is usually some humorous more details and information or Alan Katz's own thoughts on the invention/accomplishment. Below is the humorous after thoughts from Dr. Henry Heimlich's information.

The other book is Awesome Achievers in Technology. Do you know who started Atari? Or who invented the three-point seatbelts? Or how about Siri? Or maybe the remote control for your television? Yes, they are all in this book with other amazing inventors of technology. It includes everything from windshield wipers to the world wide web and so much more. Plus it still has Alan Katz's humor and even great suggestions and math problems (see sample page below).

These books are entertaining and sure to please kids. Between the humor as well as the interesting subjects I know many kids who will love to read them.

Our next book shares tales of adventure with the great martial artists of the world. It is Legends of the Martial Arts Masters by Susan Lynn Peterson. This new version comes out October 1, 2019. The previous edition was published in 2003. This is a book for teens and young adults. 

This book starts by talking about what a legend is. It is a story that is about a real person but the story itself may have been exaggerated to the point of being fiction. This book shares the legends of many of the martial art masters including ones you may not have heard of. Before the legend starts there is a paragraph about the person and what he or she is famous for. There is so much more than the stories about these people but also information about the culture and history that grew into the martial arts we know today. It is a wonderful read!

Our next book is one Hazel has been loving the past month or so. It is Explorer Academy: Code-Breaking Activity Adventure by National Geographic Kids. Now Explorer Academy is a series of books from National Geographic Kids. I reviewed the first book awhile ago. Now they have come out with this activity adventure book to go with the novels. I love code-breaking and have introduced it to Hazel as well as the math club I teach at her school. This book starts out with easy ones and they get harder as you move through the book. The codes can be words or letters to spatial patterns and more. 

Code-breaking is a fun way to add more STEM to your child's life and this book is full of it with so much more than just codes in it. I love how this series brings science to kids through novels and puzzles. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12. 

Here is a fun puzzle book for ages 7 to 9. The theme of the book is under the sea and with every page turn there is a new puzzle to solve. There are things to find, matching, looking for differences and so much more. Talk about fun!! Hazel loves these kind of books.

Each two page spread has two questions on it for the reader to try. This book will keep them busy for hours and they will love it!!

Our final book is Brain Games: Mighty Book of Mind Benders by Stephanie Warren and Dr. Gareth Moore. It is from National Geographic Kids and is full of puzzles and games. It has seven chapters and covers things like the senses, spatial problems, problem-solving, memory, mysteries, and more. It also has information about the brain and lots of fun facts.

The puzzles and games vary in level as well as topic and there is something for every kind of thinker. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12.

That ends this round-up of books for back to school. I hope you will check these fun books out and enjoy!!