I have always loved learning about the natural world. As a kid, l adored Sylvia Earle and kept my backpack full of Ranger Rick magazines. Even now, when I see a good natural sciences book come through the library, I get just as excited as I used to when I was a kid. Environmental themes are a trend in children’s publishing, especially nonfiction, so I get to be excited a lot lately!

I was thrilled to see a new edition of Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre (author) and Steve Jenkins (illustrator) come out this year. A Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Book of 2008, Vulture View has long been appreciated for the graceful way it depicts the lives of turkey vultures and the important part scavengers play in ecosystems. It’s an engaging and accessible information book for early readers, and now it has updated end matter based on the most current science. That means one of my favorite nonfiction read-alouds is as relevant and factual as ever.

Open Wide! Jaw-Dropping Mouths of the Animal World by Dr. Letizia Diamante and Ed J. Brown really brought me back to my Ranger Rick days! It’s a playful, up-close look at the incredible mechanics of mouths and the different ways animals use them. At its core, it’s a big book of facts (Did you know some sharks can turn their stomachs inside out?) geared toward older readers, with action-packed illustrations and interactive guessing games. It left me surprised at just how much I didn’t know, which is one of my favorite things about nonfiction.

I also enjoyed Lindsey Leigh’s The Dark! Wild Life in the Mysterious World of Caves. It turns out there is an awful lot going on in caves (like waterfall-climbing fish!), and Leigh introduces us to it all through inviting, graphic-novel-style illustrations. I’m always on the lookout for nonfiction that will make kids — especially more reluctant readers — laugh, and this book checks that box. It certainly had me giggling!

Alissa Cornick is a youth services librarian at the Des Moines Public Library. This article was originally published in Little Village’s April 2025 issue.