Kindle Deals for January 5, 2020
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
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Amazon’s having a massive sale on nonfiction today. I’ll keep descriptions brief so that I can fit more deals in. Keep in mind that many of these prices will be just for today.
Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition, by Margot Lee Shetterly, $1.99. This inspiring story of African-American women working for NASA has been adapted for middle-grade readers. Your tween/teen will get to know a group of “computers,” female mathematicians who made many of the calculations that led to successful space missions.
The Story Behind: The Extraordinary History Behind Ordinary Objects, by Emily Prokop, $1.99. Have you ever wondered who invented the lollipop, hula hoops, or the Comic Sans font? This collection of stories from podcaster Emily Prokop will answer all your burning questions. This is a great one to dip into for a little hit of trivia.
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, by Liza Mundy, $3.99. Another amazing history book about a group of unsung women behind some major achievements! Mundy reveals the secret group of more than 10,000 women who were recruited to help brake Japanese and German codes during WWII. There is a young readers’ edition of this one, but it isn’t on sale.
Dear Mother: Poems on the Hot Mess of Motherhood, by Bunmi Laditan, $2.99. I love Bunmi Laditan. Her writing about motherhood is hilarious and freeing. This collection of poems will have you laughing, probably crying, and remembering various moments of parenthood.
The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery, by Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles, $2.99. I am not usually much of a military history fan, but this story is so crazy that I find it fascinating. The US Army created a division of artists and other creatives designed to confuse the enemy by moving decoy tanks and other equipment to strategic locations.
No Stopping Us Now: The Adventures of Older Women in American History, by Gail Collins, $3.99. You’ve seen me recommend Collins before. This book is new to me, but I love the premise. Collins takes on aging in America, what it meant to be “old” at different points in history, and some amazing things accomplished by America’s older women.
Movies (and Other Things), by Shea Serrano, $3.99. I was excited to see this one on sale because I had just leafed through it at a bookstore last week. This is a book about movies, culture, and more. Have you ever considered which characters from other films would be allowed to sit at Regina George’s table in Mean Girls? What about whether the Rockford Peaches should have traded Kit in A League of Their Own? Shea Serrano tackles these and more.
From the Corner of the Oval, by Beck Dorey-Stein, $1.99. This dishy political memoir describes the Obama White House from an unusual perspective, that of one of his twenty-something stenographers. Dorey-Stein came to the job with no political experience and got thrown into the deep end. The New York TImes called this “Bridget Jones goes to the White House” — how can you pass that up?
STILL ON SALE
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, by Hank Green, $2.99. Hank Green, of Sci Show, Crash Course, and Vlog Brothers, has written a novel, and it’s an interesting one! When April and Andy discover a strange sculpture, they upload a video about it. The video goes viral, and April becomes and a public figure overnight. This is simultaneously a fast-paced mystery of the sculpture’s meaning and origin and a thoughtful consideration of the highs and lows of social media fame.
The Genius of Birds, by Jennifer Ackerman, $1.99. It’s time to abandon the term “bird brain.” New research shows that some birds may be as smart as primates! Ackerman tells the fascinating story of research into bird intelligence and will make you understand how much scientists are still discovering. The evocative writing will keep you eagerly reading on.
Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, $1.99. From our big immigration stories reading list (winter 2017): “When Hà’s family flees Vietnam to escape the war there, she finds it difficult to adjust to a very different kind of life in Alabama. Told in spare, simple verse, this book packs an emotional wallop and allows kids to slip inside the first person experience of being a stranger in a strange land.”
The Only Woman in the Room, by Marie Benedict, $1.99. This fast-paced, info-packed book is a somewhat fictionalized account of Hedy Lamarr’s years in Austria. Hedy Lamarr is famous as an actress, but she was also a scientist who developed a frequency hopping technique that was instrumental in cell phone technology. Hedy’s position in Austrian society made her privy to secrets of the Third Reich’s plans, which she shared after her dramatic escape from the country. This book is whirlwind and is an excellent read for lovers of classic film, WWII history, or women in science!
All Souls Trilogy, by Deborah Harkness, $1.99. This price is way too good to pass up! When Diana Bishop finds a long-lost manuscript in an Oxford library, she is drawn into an unexpected supernatural world that has been hiding in plain sight for centuries. If you liked Outlander but also maybe wished it had a vampire, this is the series for you.
Greystone Secrets: The Strangers, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, $1.99. I haven’t read this middle-grade novel yet, but it seems perfect for the long, dark evenings of winter. The publisher’s description is thrilling and chilling: “The Greystone kids thought they knew. Chess has always been the protector over his younger siblings, Emma loves math, and Finn does what Finn does best—acting silly and being adored. They’ve been a happy family, just the three of them and their mom. But everything changes when reports of three kidnapped children reach the Greystone kids, and they’re shocked by the startling similarities between themselves and these complete strangers. The other kids share their same first and middle names. They’re the same ages. They even have identical birthdays. Who, exactly, are these strangers? Before Chess, Emma, and Finn can question their mom about it, she takes off on a sudden work trip and leaves them in the care of Ms. Morales and her daughter, Natalie. But puzzling clues left behind lead to complex codes, hidden rooms, and a dangerous secret that will turn their world upside down.
This Book is Grey, by Lindsay Ward, $1.99. The other colors aren’t always friendly to Grey, and he just wants to fit in. He decides to make his own book of awesome things that are grey (hippos, clouds, kittens, etc.), but the other colors are not so enthusiastic. This is a story about fitting in, being true to yourself, and a little bit of color theory.
A Good Kind of Trouble, by Lisa Moore Ramee, $1.99. This middle-grade novel has been compared to The Hate U Give. Shay is a 12-year-old girl who hates trouble and doesn’t want to stand out. When a tragedy moves her to stand up for what she believes in, she finds out that some things are worth a bit of trouble.
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, $2.99. If you or your teen hasn’t read this fast-paced dystopian series yet, what are you waiting for? Join Katniss on her fight for survival in the epic, televised fight to the death. There’s lots to discuss here about politics, media, morality, and more.
Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy, by Noelle Stevenson, $3.99. My tween absolutely loves this comic series about a group of unusual girls at a summer camp. In addition to having a great time doing your typical camp activities, this gang face off with some supernatural creatures and go on a classic fantasy quest. This is girl power all the way! If you like this one, most of the other books in the series are also on sale right now.