Summer Reading 2020: Nonfiction

Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles describes how she overcame early difficulties through the help of her family and God to realize her dream of becoming an elite gymnast. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies)

James Doty, a distinguished neurosurgeon, reflects on his impoverished childhood, his alcoholic father, and his career in medicine to show readers how it is fundamentally possible to change the thinking patterns in one's brain. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Autobiographies and memoirs; Life stories; Spirituality and Religion)

In the early 1800s, John James Audubon, an ornithologist, traversed America studying birds. Despite challenging weather and wildlife along the way, he persevered to create beautiful illustrations still admired today. Genres: Nonfiction and Graphic Novels (Also: Biographical comics; Historical comics)

In this heartfelt, thoughtful, and inspiring memoir, the author tells the story of his beloved rescue donkey, Simon, and the wondrous ways that animals make us wiser and kinder people. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Autobiographies and memoirs; Family and relationships; Life stories)

In his deeply personal graphic novel memoir, Krosoczka illustrates the devastating impact his mother’s addiction had on his childhood and how his supportive grandparents and his love of art ultimately saved his life. Genres: Nonfiction and Graphic novel (Also: Autobiographical comics; Biographies)

Explores objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Science writing)

Explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus -- a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature -- and the remarkable connections it makes with humans, revealing what octopuses can teach us about consciousness. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Nature writing)

Using a mix of diverse styles and perspectives, ten authors of non-Caucasian background share their personal views on the ways race and discrimination affect children and teenagers. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Anthologies)

In this memoir set in the 1990s, teenaged Sara keeps a diary of life as an Iranian American and her discovery that she and her family entered the United States as undocumented immigrants. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; Narrative nonfiction)

Explores the creative way that curious creatures have adapted to the challenges of survival. Includes a discussion of the satanic leaf-tailed gecko, the velvet worm, and the pink fairy armadillo. Genre: Nonfiction (Also: Essays; Nature writing)

Actor George Takei, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, reveals how at the age of five his family was forced into Japanese-American internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Graphic Memoir, Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature 2020. Genre: Graphic Novels (Also: Autobiographical comics; Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; History books)