YA Nonfiction: The Japanese American Internment: An Interactive History Adventure

Hanel, R. (2008). The Japanese American internment: an interactive history adventure. Mankato, Minn.: Capstone Press.

Reading level: 700L
Interest level: Grades 5 - 7

This book succeeds based on the concept alone. I know the Interactive History Adventure series uses the "choose your adventure" format for several major historical events, but the idea is particularly well suited to Japanese-American internment. A commenter at Good Reads complained that too many paths led to the same outcome, but that's the genius of this book! Like Japanese Americans in WWII, you have few real choices, and usually no good ones. This book is well suited to younger teens who are learning about WWII, and it’s especially helpful for resistant readers, who will appreciate the high entertainment/educational value paired with the easy reading level.

YA Nonfiction: An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming

Gore, A. (2007). An inconvenient truth: the crisis of global warming. New York: Viking.

Reading Level: 1070L

Interest Level: Grades 10 – 12

I read this book as a companion to Seymour Simon’s “Global Warming,” which is written for a younger age group. I have to admit, I wonder how great Al Gore works as a “brand” for the YA set – I mean, I like Gore, but the average 14 year old probably doesn’t care much for his endorsement of action about global warming. You have to wonder whether this is an effective package for teenagers, especially when it somewhat reinforces a scientific topic as political. That said, this glossy nonfiction work is attractively presented and written plainly enough that a teen could both enjoy and understand it. In comparison to Simon’s “Global Warming,” Gore’s longer book obviously goes into greater detail. Particularly effective was Gore’s citing of Carl Sagan’s metaphor for the Earth’s atmosphere (a layer of varnish on a globe). This increases the understanding of the topic, since the vulnerability of the atmosphere is a major factor in global warming; Simon doesn’t mention this point at all. This book would make a good companion to Seymore’s, where you can compare and contrast the delivery of information as well as which facts are included and omitted.

YA Nonfiction: The Way Things Never Were: The Truth About the Good Old Days

Finkelstein, N. H. (1999). The way things never were: the truth about the "good old days". New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.



Reading Level: 760L
Interest Level: Grades 4 - 7


I checked out this nonfiction work expecting it to be a YA version of a book I’d read for my U.S. history post-reconstruction class. I remember gleefully poring though that book, snarking alongside the author about how obviously evil the past was. Among the major points that book made was that the “good old days” weren’t that amazing for women or people of color. This book, however, avoids that discussion almost completely, instead focusing on the lamest reasons to romanticize the past, including such scintillating chapters such as "We Respected Our Elders." Pass on this one to contextualize the past - it's pretty much pointless.