Memorial Day marks the end of the school year and the beginning of summer for me. I’ve been trying to think of Memorial Day picture books, though, that actually commemorate Memorial Day as Memorial Day.

Rolling Thunder by Kate Messner explains in the Author’s Note:

Every year on Memorial Day weekend, veterns and their supporters gather in Washington, DC, for the Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom, a demonstration honoring America’s veterans.

The book, while not strictly nonfiction, describes in simply rhyming text, a child participating in the event, riding to it in the sidecar of his grandfather’s motorcycle, camping with other veternas, and then visiting the Vietnam Memorial. It has a kid-friendly focus on the details of the demonstration rather than on the tragedies that unite the demonstrators.

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal isn’t a strictly Memorial Day title. And it’s also not strictly nonfiction. It fits in one of my favorite picture book categories: books that come out of family history. In this book, Martinez-Neal (or, as the Author’s Note in the back tells us, Juana Carlota Martinez-Neal Pizarro) imagines a little girl burdened with a very long name. As her father shares with her the stories of the people she’s named for, though, the long name comes to feel less like a burden and more like a gift. This is a wonderful book about remembering the people who came before us, who helped us become who we are.

And that, after all, is what Memorial Day is about.

Rolling Thunder by Kate Messner, illustrated by Greg Ruth. (Scholastic: 2017).

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. (Candlewick: 2018).

Alyson Beecher hosts the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at kidlitfrenzy.com. Visit there for more great nonfiction picture books!