Texas Topaz Nonfiction List for Grades K-12

Here are just some of the 57 recommended titles for grades K-12 from the 2025 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List! The purpose of the Texas Topaz Reading List is to provide children, teens, and adults with recommended nonfiction titles that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning. It is intended for recreational reading and is not designed to support any particular curriculum. Visit txla.org/topaz for the full list and lists from previous years.

Updated January 8, 2025
Lewisville Public Library
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Daughter of the light-footed people : the story of indigenous marathon champion Lorena Ramírez
Cabot, Belen Medina
Paper Book
Meet Lorena Ramírez, an Indigenous Rarámuri athlete from Mexico who is internationally known for winning ultramarathons in her traditional skirts and rubber sandals, in this nonfiction picture book. From the copper canyons of Mexico, her swift footsteps echo. Clip clap, clip...
Erno Rubik and his magic cube
Aradhya, Kerry
Paper Book
This first picture book biography of Rubik's Cube creator Erno Rubik reveals the obsession, imagination, and engineering process behind creating an iconic puzzle. Celebrating 50 years of the most popular puzzle in history! In the hills of Budapest, near the banks of...
Mushroom rain
Zimmermann, Laura K.
Paper Book
What can smell like bubble gum, glow neon green at night, be poisonous and yet still eaten by humans, and even help create rain? The answer is mushrooms! From their hidden networks underground to the fruiting body above, mushrooms can do incredible things. But don't call them plants--mushrooms are...
The iguanodon's horn : how artists and scientists put a dinosaur back together again and again ... and again
Rubin, Sean
Paper Book
Highlighting the role of artists in the scientific process, this crowd-pleasing look at dinosaurs explores how new discoveries deepen our understanding of the world. AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 2024 KID'S BOOK AWARD WINNER A HORN BOOK FANFARE TITLE ...
Impossible Escape A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe
Sheinkin, Steve.
Paper Book
This is the true story of Rudolph (Rudi) Vrba. In 1944, he was just a teenager when he did the impossible and escaped Auschwitz, becoming one of the first survivors to share with the world what was actually going on in the Nazi concentration camps. But before he escaped, before he became one of the...
Impossible escape : a true story of survival and heroism in Nazi Europe
Sheinkin, Steve
Paper Book
This is the true story of Rudolph (Rudi) Vrba. In 1944, he was just a teenager when he did the impossible and escaped Auschwitz, becoming one of the first survivors to share with the world what was actually going on in the Nazi concentration camps. But before he escaped, before he became one of the...

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