New Non-Fiction Bedtime Stories

Most people think of bedtime stories as having talking animals, princesses, tractors that can talk or a blue cat with big white shoes.  While reading every day to your youngsters is important, it doesn’t have to be the same story books over and over again.  If you have a child who doesn’t like to read or be read to, try introducing non-fiction books into your bedtime routine.  The children’s department at Liberal Memorial Library just got in a whole lot of non-fiction books, a lot of which would make the perfect bedtime story.

Every kid likes gross things, and we just got the No Way series by Michael Rosen.  Learn about disgusting foods (for example, the world’s most expensive coffee – kopi luwak, which is basically kitty litter coffee) in Strange Foods.  Or learn about strange careers in Weird Jobs.  Who knows, maybe after reading this book to your son, he will become a manure inspector when he grows up!

I love, love, love Bedtime Math (and Bedtime Math 2) by Laura Overdeck.  It is so much fun for kids.  Plus, if you have more than one kid, you can read it to all of them at one time.  It will only take a few minutes to do one or two problems a night before bed.  There are three different math problems (each for a different age group) that are accompanied by a story (something that will definitely interest kids, like sharks, teeth falling out and ice cream).  These books definitely make math fun.  Oh, and the book even has the answers, just in case your math skills are a little rusty. 

Kids who like facts, records and oddities should check out the Ripley’s Believe It or Not series.  We just got 31 new books in the series.  Learn about amazing people, animal antics, or find out whether or not that was a good idea.  Each book isn’t too long, has great pictures, and facts that your kids are going to be talking about at the breakfast table the next morning.  I just read about a prison break in Mexico where the convicts spent months digging a tunnel.  It turns out that their escape tunnel came up in the local courtroom. 

Of course, no discussion of non-fiction would be complete without mentioning the new dinosaur books.  The Discovering Dinosaurs series by Jinny Johnson would be perfect for kids who are between five and eight years old.  Big, colorful pictures and big text make the book interesting and a really fast read.  It even tells you how to pronounce the names of the dinosaurs, so you won’t stumble over “yangchuanosaurus”.

For older readers, we just got in Cold Cases by Matt Anniss.  If you’ve ever wondered about the science of crimes and how detectives can solve old crimes, this book is going to answer some of those questions. 

Ok, and if you’ve read this far, you definitely deserve a super-secret tip on non-fiction.  A lot of the fairytales and fables that you know from a kid are actually classified as non-fiction.  So, if you are looking for Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Mother Goose, check in non-fiction. 

Every time that I walk down the non-fiction rows in the library, I discover something new that I want to read.   Plus, since we are always getting new books in, I don’t think that I will ever be able to read everything that piques my interest.  From animals to cookbooks, history and biographies, the children’s non-fiction section of Liberal Memorial Library has books for every child of every age.