Intended as a practical reference tool, this book maintains that nonfiction books are an essential element in the education of all children. The book first discusses the hows and whys of using nonfiction books to encourage reading and enhance a child's innate need to know, then offers tips to link books to children's everyday experiences, and finally reviews, discusses, and recommends more than 500 such books. The book's 12 chapters are as follows: (1) What's in This Handbook? (2) Why Nonfiction? (3) How I Began...; (4) Give Your Kids TLC--the Total Literature Connection; (5) For Parents Especially; (6) For Grandparents Especially; (7) For Teachers Especially; (8) The Non-Book-Report; (9) For Librarians Especially; (10) How To Judge a Book by Its Cover--And Nine Other Clues; (11) A Guide to 500+ Children's Nonfiction Books, with 150 Tips (arranged in more than 60 topics); and (12) How To Use the Quick-Link Index. Appendixes include the Quick-Link Index, 14 notes, a 39-item bibliography, and an index of authors, illustrators, and book titles. (SR)