Looking for interesting middle school non-fiction recs

[wickedwords]

My son's first book report of the year is supposed to be a non-fiction book, but we're both scratching our heads about it. Last year, he used 'Understanding Comics', and this year, he was thinking about 'something to do with history. Maybe the middle ages.' (Yeah, you got it. Like there is such a small number of those.)

So I am actively soliciting recs for non-fiction books that my middle-schooler might like. He needs something with a good narrative voice, and where the vocabulary won't have him looking up every second word (as he doesn't just look it up, he just yells 'mom, what does this mean?', and then I have to yell back at him to look it up, which leads to a lot of shouting.)

If you can think of something that fits these vague guidelines--I'd also say Age of Sail along with the Middle Ages--please drop me a comment and we'll check it out.

Comments

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

It's a good read generally. I recommend stealing it when he is done and reading it yourself. Or reading it before handing it over -- there's a fair amount of detail about naval life in it, and I'm trying to remember if there's anything about VD/prostitutes. I don't recall any, but you might want to check up on that first if you think he might be too young for that.