New books (mostly YA nonfiction)
Every few years I go on a book-buying splurge for the kids to freshen up our collection and dig us out of the reading doldrums, if necessary. We have an excellent library here but the English nonfiction is ever so slighty lacking, so that's where I decided to focus when placing an order from The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!). But I couldn't resist a few fiction titles!
Squirrel Girl, the one Junior Genius Guide we didn't own yet, and the Parvana series from Deborah Ellis (there are four books in total) about a girl growing up in Afghanistan in the 90s and 00s. The Parvana series was a huge hit with all three of us girls in the family. And of course you can never go wrong with a Junior Genius Guide or a Shannon Hale YA.
These Can You Survive? books are the greatest - like Choose Your Own Adventure books but with real-life survival scenarios. The girls read these to each other, and to us, multiple times over. Then some sturdy YA non-fiction: Titanic, the development of nuclear weapons, and the colony of Jamestown.
Finally: the story of English, the Salem Witch Trials, true stories of espionage, architecture, and the story of Shackleton's expedition.
Not pictured: a book and workbook about engineering, plus a book about the making of Wonder Woman.
These books arrived in multiple separate shipments, and it was so exciting for the girls to check the mail to see if any new books had arrived! It was just the thing to liven up the reading experience around our house.
