Nonfiction & "The Nerdies"

There's a new children's literature award in town: The Nerdies. The award is part of The Nerdy Book Club, which is the brainchild of teachers Donalyn Miller & Colby Sharp. If you're on Twitter, you may be familiar with The Nerdy Book Club movement (#nerdybookclub). There is only one requirement to join: you must have a passion for books and reading.

Donalyn and Colby asked readers to submit their nominations for the first annual Nerdies Award. The award recognizes books in six categories: Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Poetry, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Nonfiction. The nominations were tabulated, and the short list was unveiled this weekend. Readers have until December 17th to vote for their favorite books: Click here for The Nerdies ballot.

The nonfiction field is strong and includes a variety of formats including two graphic novels. I was pleased to see we had reviewed many of the nonfiction books on the ballot. Here are the nonfiction titles from the short list. We've linked our reviews below if you want to gather more information before voting.

Nonfiction Nominations for The Nerdies

Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming

America is Under Attack by Dan Brown

Around the World by Matt Phelan

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

Big Wig by Kathleen Krull

A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long

Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins

The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs by Sandra Markle

The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson

Fenynman by Jim Ottaviani

Heart & Soul by Kadir Nelson

How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg

Swirl by Swirl by Joyce Sidman

Stay tuned because later this month we'll reveal the Nonfiction Detectives' favorite nonfiction books of  2011.