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

[cricketk.livejournal.com]

A non-fiction book I have loved since I was 12 is Philip Ziegler's The Black Death (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Death-Philip-Ziegler/dp/0061315508). It taught me an awful lot about the plague, but also about reliability of source material, thought processes of other cultures and other times and how to respond to conflicting source material.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Neat! He studied the black plague last year as part of his history of infectious diseases class, so I know he's interested. Thanks!