Recommended Nonfiction Books for Children

            In this Language Arts feature, Julia López-Robertson and six committee members announce the Orbis Pictus Award book for 2025, followed by recommended and honor titles:

- Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones

- Yasmeen Lari, Green Architect: The True Story of Pakistan’s First Woman Architect by Marzieh Abbas, illustrated by Hoda Hadad

- Urban Coyotes by Mary Kay Carson, photographs by Tom Uhlman

- A Plate of Hope: The Inspiring Story of Chef José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen by Erin Frankel, illustrated by Paola Escobar

- Wat Takes His Shot: The Life and Legacy of Basketball Hero Wataru Misaka by Cheryl Kim, illustrated by Nat Iwata

- Daughter of the Light-Footed People: The Story of Indigenous Marathon Champion Lorena Ramirez by Belen Medina, illustrated by Natalia Rojas Castro

- Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker by Holly Thompson, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura 

- Sleepy: Surprising Ways Animals Snooze by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Robin Page

- We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Victor Bizar Gómez

- Space: The Final Pooping Frontier by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White, illustrated by Lars Kenseth

- Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall by Lynn Brunelle, illustrated by Jason Chin

- Race to the Truth: Borderlands and the Mexican American Story by David Dorado Romo

- Ode to Grapefruit: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice by Kari Lavell, illustrated by Bryan Collier

- Behold the Hummingbird by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez 

 “Orbis Pictus Award 2025” by Julia López-Robertson, Caryl Crowell, Jason Griffith, Janelle Mathis, Yoo Kyung Sung, Mellissa Summer Wells, and Becki Maldonado in Language Arts, November 2025 (Vol. 103, #2, pp. 126-131)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1132 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Audio Interviews with U.S. Workers

      In this article in Social Education, Andrew Decker provides links to a series of Library of Congress audio interviews with Americans in a wide variety of jobs, among them:

- Luann Miller, grocery story cashier in Seattle, Washington

- Barbara Miller Byrd, circus owner, Hugo, Oklahoma

- Roberta Washington, architect, New York City

- Henrietta Ivey, home health care provider, Detroit, Michigan

- Dolores Fortuna, professional potter, Galena, Illinois 

- Thomas Sink, circus clown, Mead, Oklahoma 

These interviews, 6-9 minutes long, are excerpts from longer talks about why each person got into this job and what it was like on a day-to-day basis. “Using the America Works Podcast and Occupational Folklife Project to Personalize Economics in the Classroom” by Andrea Decker in Social Education, March/April 2026 (Vol. 90, #2, pp. 67-71)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1132 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.