Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call by Mary Ann Fraser. His father was a speech therapist. His mother was hearing-impaired. Young Aleck was an inventor and an experimenter. After his brother and sister both died of tuberculosis, Aleck “was inspired to do more with his life.” He became a teacher of the deaf by day and an inventor and scientist by night and in his free time. This picture book biography of the Father of the Telephone emphasizes Bell’s childhood, but takes him through to the invention of the first telephone and those famous words, “I need you, Mr. Watson.” Then, a couple of pages in the back of the book tell about Aleck’s other inventions and give a timeline of the major events of his life. As an introduction to the life of Alexander Graham Bell, this colorful book should serve quite well.

Voyager’s Greatest Hits: The Epic Trek to Interstellar Space by Alexandra Siy. The device of dividing the book into “tracks” instead of chapters is a bit gimmicky, as are the track titles: Thing 1 and Thing 2, King Jupiter, The Lord of the Rings, Last Tango in Space, etc. Nevertheless, the photographs and the information about the eight “tracks” of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are vivid and informative. The style is breezy and colloquial, but accurate: “Most planets spin like tops as they orbit the sun. But Uranus spins on its side. It’s totally tilted.” And as justification for the title and the chapter designations, did you know that Voyager carries a “Golden Record” with 90 minutes of the best music from many cultures and times? It’s meant to be a message to any extraterrestrials who might encounter Voyager in space someday.

The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked & Found by Martin W. Sandler. “The exciting true story of the captaincy, wreck, and discovery of the Whydah — the only pirate ship ever found — and the incredible mysteries it revealed.” The pirate ship Whydah sank in a storm off Cape Cod in 1717; it was finally found and recovered in 1984. This book tells the story of the ship’s pirates history as well as the details of how the ship was recovered and what the archaeologists found when they brought the ship’s contents to the surface. This title is a great one to give to pirate enthusiasts who want to know the truth about piracy and its history.

Amazon Adventure: How Tiny Fish are Saving the World’s Largest Rainforest by Sy Montgomery. Not just a picture book about saving the rain forest, this book, with lovely photographs, is an in-depth look at the ecological system in the Brazilian rainforest and at the ways that scientists and businessmen and fishermen are working together to preserve those systems and keep the balance of nature, well, in balance. Science is showing that catching the tiny fish called piabas is good for the environment: as people catch the piabas and sell them for pets around the world, they also work to preserve the environment that enables the piabas to grow and reproduce. And since the people who live in and around the rainforest can make a living from fishing for piaba fish, they are less likely to engage in other kinds of commerce that might destroy or damage the rainforest. The book provides a fascinating and thought-provoking look at how people can work together to solve ecological problems in a real-world, practical way.

Irenaeus by Simonetta Carr. The latest in a series called Christian Biographies for Young Readers, this biography of a second century hero of the faith combines a lively and informative text with beautiful illustrations. This book was chosen by WORLD Magazine as Outstanding 2017 Nonfiction for Children (Real Lives Category), and it certainly lives up to the award. It’s so important for children to be introduced to the controversies and heroes of history, Christian history in particular. We have, in so many areas, forgotten our heritage and forgotten how to think clearly and deeply about theology, teaching, and doctrine. Irenaeus and the other books in this series are a start in the direction of correcting that deficit.