- Two intriguing and satisfying tastes in nonfiction are books that present culture and – very different – an “arm-chair” experience of natural disasters, past and current.
![No Rouz by E. S. Zameen](https://www.readerkidz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/No-Rouz-by-E.-S.-Zameen-300x292.jpg)
A very different experience is NO ROUZ: Our Persian New Year by E.S. Zameen. This book presents a lyrical and visual celebration for readers and shares with them the importance of the Persian New Year for the Iranian people. Soheyla, six years old, invites the reader to join her Iranian-American family as they prepare for and celebrate No Rouz.
- Natural History: Birds, “Beds,” and Dragons. Sometimes the most mysterious and amazing stories are the true ones, the ones about the creatures we see – or would like to see – everyday.
WATER BEDS: Sleeping in the Ocean, a very different nonfiction book by Gail Karwoski, illustrated by Connie McLennan is a bedtime story about how marine mammals sleep in the ocean without drowning. The first tough question Gail had to explore was – what is sleep? And how do scientists study the brain waves of “a blue whale that is bigger than a bus and lives in the deepest ocean and is never kept in captivity?” Amazing, sometimes quiet, information is what makes this nonfiction presentation a delight.
- If birds are what tickle your brain, here are several unusual new books about birds which you might find singing or buzzing in your own backyard.
WHAT BLUEBIRDS DO by Pamela F. Kirby is an award-winning visual delight. Photographs by the author bring the reader right into the home and family of some very busy bluebirds.
![Hummingbirds by Jeanette Larson and Adrienne Yorinks, illustrated by Adrienne Yorinks](https://www.readerkidz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Hummingbirds-by-Jeanette-Larson-and-Adrienne-Yorinks-illustrated-by-Adrienne-Yorinks-225x300.jpg)
![Birds of a Feather by Jane Yolen, Photographs by Jason Stemple](https://www.readerkidz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Birds-of-a-Feather-by-Jane-Yolen-Photographs-by-Jason-Stemple.jpg)
AN EGRET’S DAY and BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Jane Yolen with photographs by her son, Jason Stemple, are two books that present images and poetry about birds.
- Maybe real dragons or their cousins, frogs, toads, or salamanders interest you.
![Big Night for Salamanders by Sarah Lamstein, illustrated by Carol Benioff](https://www.readerkidz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Big-Night-for-Salamanders-by-Sarah-Lamstein-illustrated-by-Carol-Benioff-300x203.jpg)
BIG NIGHT FOR SALAMANDERS by Sarah Marwil Lamstein, art by Carol Benioff. This book invites you to discover what keeps salamanders busy after the sun goes down.
LIZARDS by Nic Bishop is the newest gem (also try FROGS) in his nonfiction natural history series.