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
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The poisoner's handbook : murder and the birth of forensic medicine in jazz age New York
Blum, Deborah
Paper Book
Equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is "a vicious, page-turning story that reads more like Raymond Chandler than Madame Curie." --The New York Observer "The Poisoner's Handbook breathes...
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...
We are all Greta : be inspired to save the world
Giannella, Valentina
Paper Book
Todos somos Greta, y solo nosotros podemos salvar el planeta ¿Qué es el cambio climático? ¿Lo hemos causado nosotros? ¿Cuáles son sus consecuencias? ¿Estamos a tiempo de solucionarlo? Con solo 16 años, Greta no solo se ha hecho estas preguntas, sino que ha...
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 <...
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...
Insectopolis : a natural history
Kuper, Peter
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the 2025 Wainwright Prize for Illustrative Books Award-winning cartoonist Peter Kuper transports readers through the 400-million-year history of insects and the remarkable entomologists who have studied them. This visually immersive work of graphic...
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...
What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, hilarious and informative 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-figure drawings about science, technology,...
What if? 2 : additional serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions
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...
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...
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....
Kid activists : true tales of childhood from champions of change
Stevenson, Robin
Paper Book
Moving, relatable, and totally true childhood biographies of MartinLuther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, Malala Yousafzai,and 12 other inspiring activists. Every activist started out as a kid-and in some cases they were kidswhen their activism began! But even the world...
No one is too small to make a difference
Thunberg, Greta
Audiobook
The #1 New York Times bestseller by Time's 2019 Person of the Year "Greta Thunberg is already one of our planet's greatest advocates." --Barack Obama "A powerhouse compendium of [Greta's] greatest hits." --Teen Vogue The groundbreaking...
The age of video games : a graphic history of gaming from Pong to VR and beyond
Zeid, Jean
Press Start on an immersive journey revealing the pixels, polygons, and people that revolutionized entertainment forever. Join journalist Jean Zeid, artist Émilie Rouge, and their console pal Roby to learn how digital dreams built an industry now worth...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.