Taiohi: Non-fiction titles you'll enjoy

There isn't very much non-fiction out there that is published specifically for young adults, so we've brushed off some of our favourite titles from across our library collections that we promise you will enjoy.

Updated November 27, 2025
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Make a zine! : start your own underground publishing revolution
Biel, Joe
Paper Book
Do you have a passion that you want to obsess about in a love letter to the world? In this new edition of Microcosm's popular DIY guide to zine-making, Joe Biel updates the information provided in the first edition (edited by Biel and the late and great Bill Brent) to address zine making in today's...
Smash the patriarchy
Breen, Marta
Paper Book
★ "This is a well-told and highly informative read. Highly recommended for young adult graphic novel and nonfiction collections." - School Library Journal (STARRED review) Winner of the 2024 Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Translated Young Adult...
The observologist : a handbook for mounting very small scientific expeditions
Clarkson, Giselle
Paper Book
A highly illustrated, playful field guide for budding natural scientists and curious observers of the world right under our noses. Observology is the study of looking. An observologist makes scientific expeditions, albeit very small ones, every day. They notice interesting details in the...
Trans history : from ancient times to the present day
Combs, Alex L.
Paper Book
"Combs and Eakett do a fantastic job of providing readers an incredibly comprehensive and strongly researched--yet somehow compact--look into the history of trans identity." --School Library Journal (starred review) An essential introduction to trans history, from...
The history of science fiction : a graphic novel adventure
Dollo, Xavier
Paper Book
Journey through time and space with this graphic novel history of the science fiction genre, from Jules Verne, Jonathan Swift, and Mary Shelley to William Gibson and Philip K. Dick to Ken Liu and Ted Chiang, and beyond. Trace the progress of SF through modern<...
Smoke gets in your eyes : and other lessons from the crematory
Doughty, Caitlin
Paper Book
Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty--a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre--took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life's work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both...
Will my cat eat my eyeballs? big questions from tiny mortals about death
Doughty, Caitlin
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestselling AuthorEvery day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty blends her mortician's knowledge of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions...
Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich
Evans, Richard J.
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews and Air Mail "A fascinating and instructive book . . . elegantly written and perceptive." --Wall Street Journal "Kaleidoscopic . . . A fascinating exploration of individual agency that never loses sight...
Mythos
Fry, Stephen
Paper Book
STEP INTO ANOTHER WORLD - OF MAGIC, MAYHEM, MONSTERS AND MANIACAL GODS - IN STEPHEN FRY'S MOMENTOUS SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, MYTHOS 'A romp through the lives of ancient Greek gods. Fry is at his story-telling best . . . the gods will be pleased' Times...
The Anthropocene reviewed : essays on a human-centered planet
Green, John
Paper Book
Goodreads Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 and instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. "The perfect book for right now." -People <...
Sapiens : a graphic history. Volume one, The birth of humankind
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. #1 New York Times Bestseller The Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, now available as a beautifully packaged paperback From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking...
The story of art without men
Hessel, Katy
Paper Book
Instant New York Times bestseller One of Vanity Fair's Favorite Books to Gift * One of PureWow's 42 Books to Gift This Year * One of Kirkus's Best Books of 2023 The story of art as it's never been told before, from the Renaissance to the present day,...
Amazons, abolitionists, and activists : a graphic history of women's fight for their rights
Kendall, Mikki
Paper Book
A bold and gripping graphic history of the fight for women's rights by theNew York Timesbestselling author ofHood Feminism "A beautifully drawn, hold-no-punches, surprisingly deep dive through the history of women's rights around the world, which will entrance...
Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster
Krakauer, Jon.
Paper Book
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still...
Insectopolis : a natural history
Kuper, Peter
Paper Book
This visually immersive work of graphic nonfiction dives into a world where ants, cicadas, bees, and butterflies visit a library exhibition that displays their stories and humanity's connection to them throughout the ages. Kuper's thrilling visual feast layers history and science, color and design,...
Bad gays : a homosexual history
Lemmey, Huw
Paper Book
These "very funny-deep dives into the lives of the most dastardly queer people in history" offer a passionate argument for rethinking gay politics beyond identity (Vogue). What can we learn from the homosexual villains, failures, and baddies of our past? ...
The age of magical overthinking : notes on modern irrationality
Montell, Amanda
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A BookPage Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 From the bestselling author of Cultish and host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores...
I am Autistic : a work book, sensory tools, practical advice, and interactive journaling for understanding life with autism by someone diagnosed with it
Moriah, Chanelle
Paper Book
Navigate the world of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with this inclusive, full-color autism workbook for those interested in learning more about ASD, getting an early autism diagnosis, and recognizing how being autistic can impact a person's daily life.In this first-ever creative autism guide...
What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions
Munroe, Randall.
Paper Book
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, a hilarious and informative book of popular science that provides answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick...
What if? additional serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions / 2
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An NPR Best Book of 2022 "The questions throughout What If? 2 are equal parts brilliant, gross, and wonderfully absurd and the answers are thorough, deeply researched, and great fun. . . . Science isn't easy, but...
How to speak whale : a voyage into the future of animal communication
Mustill, Tom
Paper Book
What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill--the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak--asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication....
An outbreak of witchcraft / A Graphic Novel of the Salem Witch Trials
Noyes, Deborah
Paper Book
A gripping tale of paranoia at its worst, this bewitching narrative nonfiction graphic novel visually imagines the haunting details behind the Salem witch trials. From 1692 to 1693, fear reigned in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts. The night Abigail...
Supremacy : AI, ChatGPT, and the race that will change the world
Olson, Parmy
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS 2024 BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD In November of 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was an AI chatbot called ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer...
Around the world in 80 trains : a 45,000-mile adventure
Rajesh, Monisha
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER AWARD FOR BEST TRAVEL BOOK SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 'Monisha Rajesh has chosen one of the best ways of seeing the world. Never too fast, never too slow, her journey does what trains do best. Getting...
Fuzz : when nature breaks the law
Roach, Mary
Paper Book
What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are...
Side quest : a visual history of roleplaying games
Sattin, Samuel
Paper Book
For fans of dungeon crawls and dice rolls--and anyone wanting to know more about them--Side Quest is a stand-alone graphic novel history of roleplaying games (RPGs), from ancient games to those played today, with personal stories from creators throughout! With...
The incredible story of cooking : from prehistory to today : 500,000 years of adventure
Simmat, Benoist
Paper Book
For the first time, a graphic novel tells the story of humanity through the evolution of cuisine. From the discovery of fire to organic cooking, this book is aimed at all curious people and foodies. By the authors of Wine, A Graphic History. As soon as humans mastered fire, they invented cooking....
No one is too small to make a difference
Thunberg, Greta
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller The history-making, ground-breaking speeches of Greta Thunberg, the young climate crisis activist who has become the voice of a generation. 'Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.' In August 2018 a fifteen...

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