Tag Archives: Texas Topaz

2025 Texas Topaz Adult Nonfiction Reading List

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The Texas Library Association has created a list that highlights outstanding nonfiction published during the past three years that stimulates reading for pleasure and personal learning. This list is the Texas Topaz Reading List. Here are the items from the 2025 list that are in the TBP collection.

For more information check out the Texas Library Association’s Website.

AGE OF MAGICAL OVERTHINKING: NOTES ON MODERN IRRATIONALITY by Amanda Montell (DB 123290)
AMERICAN GIRLS: ONE WOMAN’S JOURNEY INTO THE ISLAMIC STATE AND HER SISTER’S FIGHT TO BRING HER HOME by Jessica Roy (DB 119214)
BIRDGIRL: A YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST LOOKS TO THE SKIES IN SEARCH OF A BETTER FUTURE by Mya-Rose Craig (DB 118312)
CHAMBER DIVERS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE D-DAY SCIENTISTS WHO CHANGED SPECIAL OPERATIONS FOREVER by Rachel Lance (DB 120888)
EYELINER: A CULTURAL HISTORY by Zahra Hankir (DB 119371)
FOUR THOUSAND PAWS: CARING FOR THE DOGS OF THE IDITAROD: A VETERINARIAN’S STORY by Lee Morgan (DB 122275)
HIDDEN POTENTIAL: THE SCIENCE OF ACHIEVING GREATER THINGS by Adam Grant (DB 117392, LB 0000582)
HIS MAJESTY’S AIRSHIP: THE LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST FLYING MACHINE by S. C. Gwynne (DB 123529)
HOW TO BE PERFECT: THE CORRECT ANSWER TO EVERY MORAL QUESTION by Michael Schur (DB 106773)
HOW TO SURVIVE HISTORY: HOW TO OUTRUN A TYRANNOSAURUS, ESCAPE POMPEII, GET OFF THE TITANIC, AND SURVIVE THE REST OF HISTORY’S DEADLIEST CATASTROPHES by Cody Cassidy (DB 118800)
MAKING IT SO by Patrick Stewart (DB 116785)
MAN OF TWO FACES: A MEMOIR, A HISTORY, A MEMORIAL by Viet Thanh Nguyen (DB 122406, BR 25523 IN PROCESS)
ONE IN A MILLENNIAL: ON FRIENDSHIP, FEELINGS, FANGIRLS, AND FITTING IN by Kate Kennedy (DB 118984)
ROGUES: TRUE STORIES OF GRIFTERS, KILLERS, REBELS AND CROOKS by Patrick Radden Keefe (DB 108725, LB 14056)
SAYS WHO?: A KINDER, FUNNER USAGE GUIDE FOR EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT WORDS by Anne Curzan (DB 120286)
SWANS OF HARLEM: FIVE BLACK BALLERINAS, FIFTY YEARS OF SISTERHOOD, AND THEIR RECLAMATION OF A GROUNDBREAKING HISTORY by Karen Valby
(DB 120913, LB 0000347)
TWELVE TREES: THE DEEP ROOTS OF OUR FUTURE by Daniel Lewis (DB 120510)
UNCLAIMED: ABANDONMENT AND HOPE IN THE CITY OF ANGELS by Pamela Prickett (DB 120500)
WAGER: A TALE OF SHIPWRECK, MUTINY, AND MURDER by David Grann
(DB 113965, BR 25435 IN PROCESS, LB 14399)
WALK IN THE PARK: THE TRUE STORY OF A SPECTACULAR MISADVENTURE IN THE GRAND CANYON by Kevin Fedarko (DB 122177)
WALKING WITH SAM: A FATHER, A SON, AND FIVE HUNDRED MILES ACROSS SPAIN by Andrew McCarthy (DB 114419)
YOU NEVER KNOW: A MEMOIR by Tom Selleck (DB 125747, LB 0000518)

2024 Texas Topaz Youth Nonfiction Reading List

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Texas Library Association has created a list that highlights outstanding nonfiction published during the past three years that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning. This list is the Texas Topaz Youth Reading List. Here are the items from the 2024 list that are in the TBP collection.

For More Information: https://txla.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-Texas-Topaz-List_Youth-Annotated_final.pdf

GRADES K-2

BEAK BOOK by Robin Page (DB 115526)
CAVES by Nell Cross Beckerman (DB 111301)
CHAMPION CHOMPERS, SUPER STINKERS AND OTHER POEMS BY EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS by Linda Ashman (IN PROCESS)
 HOW DO YOU SPELL UNFAIR?: MACNOLIA COX AND THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE by Carole Boston Weatherford (DB 115677 IN PROCESS)
POLAR BEAR by Candace Fleming (DB 112429)

GRADES 3-5

ADVENTURES OF DR. SLOTH: REBECCA CLIFFE AND HER QUEST TO PROTECT SLOTHS by Suzi Eszterhas (DB 110554)
HOLDING HER OWN: THE EXCEPTIONAL LIFE OF JACKIE ORMES by Traci N. Todd (DB 112392)
JUST JERRY: HOW DRAWING SHAPED MY LIFE by Jerry Pinkney (DB 115908)

GRADES 6-8

AGENT MOST WANTED: THE NEVER-BEFORE STORY OF THE MOST DANGEROUS SPY OF WORLD WAR II by Sonia Purnell (DB 110047)
BUZZKILL: A WILD WANDER THROUGH THE WEIRD AND THREATENED WORLD OF BUGS by Brenna Maloney (DB 111662)
HOPE WINS: A COLLECTION OF INSPIRING STORIES FOR YOUNG READERS (DB 108650, LB 14334)
INAUGURAL BALLERS: THE TRUE STORY OF THE FIRST US WOMEN’S OLYMPIC BASKETBALL TEAM by Andrew Maraniss (DB 110512, LB 14383)
LONG TIME COMING: A LYRICAL BIOGRAPHY OF RACE IN AMERICA FROM ONA JUDGE TO BARACK OBAMA by Ray Anthony Shepard (DB 115751)
MONA LISA VANISHES: A LEGENDARY PAINTER, A SHOCKING HEIST, AND THE BIRTH OF A GLOBAL CELEBRITY by Nick Day (DB 116805)
MONKEY TRIAL: JOHN SCOPES AND THE BATTLE OVER TEACHING EVOLUTION by Anita Sanchez (DB 114312)

GRADES 9-12

ACCOUNTABLE: THE TRUE STORY OF A RACIAL SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT AND THE TEENAGERS WHOSE LIVES IT CHANGED by Dashka Slater (DB 116594)
AMERICAN MURDERER: THE PARASITE THAT HAUNTED THE SOUTH by Gail Jarrow (DB 110750, BR 24570)
FACE FOR PICASSO: COMING OF AGE WITH CROUZON SYNDROME by Ariel Henley (DB 106407, BR 24036)
FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: THE KILLING OF VINCENT CHIN AND THE TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT by Paula Yoo (DB 103862)
MONEY OUT LOUD: ALL THE FINANCIAL STUFF NO ONE TAUGHT US by Berna Anat (DB 117606 IN PROCESS)
WORK WITH WHAT YOU GOT: A MEMOIR by Zion Clark (IN PROCESS)

2024 Texas Topaz Adult Nonfiction Reading List

Posted on by

Texas Library Association has created a list that highlights outstanding nonfiction published during the past three years that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning. Here are the items from the 2024 the Texas Topaz Reading List that are in the TBP collection.

For More Information: 2024 Texas Topaz List_Adult Annotated (txla.org)

ALL THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: FROM EMBALMERS TO EXECUTIONERS, AND EXPLORATION OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE DEATH THEIR LIFE’S WORK by Hayley Campbell (DB 110278)
ART THIEF: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE, CRIME, AND A DANGEROUS OBSESSION by Michael Finkel (DB 115367, LB 14518)
ATLAS OF THE HEART: MAPPING MEANINGFUL CONNECTION AND THE LANGUAGE OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE by Brené Brown (DB 106540, BR 24796 IN PROCESS, LB 13602)
BARBIZON: THE HOTEL THAT SET WOMEN FREE by Paulina Bren (DB 103460)
BEAVERLAND: HOW ONE WEIRD RODENT MADE AMERICA by Leila Philip (DB 112050)
COBALT RED: HOW THE BLOOD OF THE CONGO POWERS OUR LIVES by Siddharth Kara (DB 112317)
FATTY FATTY BOOM BOOM: A MEMOIR OF FOOD, FAT, AND FAMILY by Rabia Chaudry (DB 113084, LB 14612)
FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND: THE KU KLUX KLAN’S PLOT TO TAKE OVER AMERICA, AND THE WOMAN WHO STOPPED THEM by Timothy Egan (DB 114864)
FOREVER WITNESS: HOW DNA AND GENEALOGOY SOLVED A COLD CASE DOUBLE MURDER by Edward Humes (DB 112528)
FRIENDS, LOVERS, AND THE BIG TERRIBLE THINGS by Matthew Perry (DB 110888, LB 14205)
GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM: AND OTHER HELPFUL RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO BECOME AMERICAN by Wajahat Ali (DBC 27456)
GREAT ESCAPE: A TRUE STORY OF FORCED LABOR AND IMMIGRANT DREAMS IN AMERICA by Saket Soni (DB 113144)
HIJAB BUTCH BLUES: A MEMOIR by Lamya H. (DB IN PROCESS)
HYSTERICAL: A MEMOIR by Elissa Bassist (DB 113145)
JACQUES PEPIN ART OF THE CHICKEN: A MASTER CHEF’S PAINTINGS, STORIES, AND RECIPES OF THE HUMBLE BIRD by Jacques Pepin (DB 112702, BR 24763 IN PROCESS)
LIFE IN FIVE SENSES: HOW EXPLORING THE SENSES GOT ME OUT OF MY HEAD AND INTO THE WORLD by Gretchen Rubin (DB 114675 IN PROCESS, LB 14423)
LIGHT WE CARRY: OVERCOMING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES by Michelle Obama (DB 111237, BR 24710 IN PROCESS)
MONSTER’S BONES: THE DISCOVERY OF T REX AND HOW IT SHOOK OUR WORLD by David K. Randall (IN PROCESS)
MY FIRST POPSICLE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FOOD AND FEELINGS (LB 14504)
ROUGH SLEEPERS: DR. JIM O’CONNELL’S URGENT MISSION TO BRING HEALING TO HOMELESS PEOPLE by Tracy Kidder (IN PROCESS)
SCENES FROM MY LIFE: A MEMOIR by Michael Kenneth Williams (DB 109789)
STAY TRUE: A MEMOIR by Hua Hsu (DB 110669)
TELL ME EVERYTHING: THE STORY OF A PRIVATE INVESTIGATION by Erika Krouse (DB 108142)
UNRAVELING: WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT LIFE WHILE SHEARING SHEEP, DYEING WOOL, AND MAKING THE WORLD’S UGLIEST SWEATER by Peggy Orenstein (DB 113482)
WE SHOULD NOT BE FRIENDS: THE STORY OF A FRIENDSHIP by Will Schwalbe (DB 113625)
YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL: A MEMOIR by Maggie Smith (DB 115170)