NONFICTION ON THE 2014 CAUDILL LIST

This year there are three nonfiction books on the 2014 nominee list for the 2014 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award list. Blizzard of Glass, by Sally M. Walker, tells about a terrifying disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917. Two ships, one going into and one coming out of the harbor collided. One of the ships was carrying flammable chemicals and bomb materials for the war in Europe. Those munitions caught fire and exploded destroying the ships and most of Halifax. The author Sally Walker introduces you to several families living in the area, describes the explosion, and then tells what happens to the families she has introduced.

 

Candy Bomber, by Michael O. Tunnell, is a post-World War II event that happened over West Berlin. Since Berlin was inside the Russian-controlled portion of Germany in 1949, the Russians made it difficult for Americans, British, and the French people to deliver supplies to West Berlin. Lt. Gail Halvorsen, while touring West Berlin after his airplane delivered supplies, noticed how sad the children looked. He developed a plan to drop small parachutes with candy attached to bright the children's spirits. He became known as the candy bomber and made many friends in West Berlin.

Finally, How They Croaked, by Georgia Bragg, is a collected biography about famous people throughout history. But this is not a book about their lives. It's a book about their deaths -- how they diesd where they died, why they died. Starting with King Tut and ending with Albert Einstein you will learn a lot about medicine, assassination plots, radiation poisoning, and other causes of death, some of which could have been prevented or cured today. This is a book you can dip into and read a chapter or two, but I think you will end up reading every amazing chapter!