True Stories

Starred review from August 1, 2014
A stellar lineup of nonfiction writers offers true stories, which, like the previous volumes in the Guys Read series, are written to appeal especially to boys. Steve Sheinkin leads off with a survival tale, as Capt. James Riley and his crew are shipwrecked off the coast of West Africa in the summer of 1815 and survive the Sahara desert by drinking their own urine and eating their peeling, sunburned skin. Enslaved, they are eventually saved by Muslim traders, and Riley joins the anti-slavery movement upon his return to the United States. Sy Montgomery writes a beautiful ode to the rain forest of French Guiana and profiles tarantulas and Sam Marshall, a scientist who studies them and who is featured in Montgomery's The Tarantula Scientist (2004). Jim Murphy delivers an unsettling history of dental horrors from 6,500 years ago to the present day (or at least his second visit to the dentist); Candace Fleming profiles Jumbo, the world's largest elephant; Elizabeth Partridge writes about Alan Lomax and Muddy Waters; and T. Edward Nickens is almost killed canoeing frigid Alaskan waters. The stories-prose, poetry and a graphic story-are full of action and lively, sometimes-gross details that make their subjects come alive. An unusually strong volume-a smorgasbord for young nonfiction readers (both boys and girls) and a good pick for the classroom. (Short stories. 8-14)

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Starred review from July 1, 2014
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Ten terrifically told true stories demonstrate the wide range of subjects and formats available for young readers of nonfiction. This fifth anthology in the Guys Read series stars some of the best-known names in informational writing today. From Sibert-winning Steve Sheinkin's gripping tale of survival in the Sahara desert to outdoorsman T. Edward Nickens' celebration of extreme canoeing, there are thrills, gore, humor, and pathos enough to satisfy both eager and reluctant readers. Within these pages, you will find high-interest stuff like jungle tarantulas of French Guiana; a pack of brothers in Saigon, Vietnam; Jumbo the elephant; gruesome historical dentistry; and Hugh Glass, mauled by a bear and left for dead in the wilds of what would become South Dakotaand each is explored in either narrative or graphic-novel fashion. But there are also topics not so high-octane: poems about science, a biography of a blues musician, and an autobiography of a cartoonist. Selected, edited, and neatly introduced by Scieszka, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature emeritus, these appetite-whetting accounts are accompanied by occasional illustrations by Floca (not seen). You certainly don't have to be a guy to appreciate these morsels of fact-based storytelling and then beg for more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)