Kid’s Books Found in the 600s

With a new month, it’s time to start a new series of blog posts! This time we’re going to take a closer look at the Dewey Decimal System. For each class of numbers, I’ll share twelve specific titles for kids that you might find in that class. Before we get started, let me share a little information about the Dewey Decimal System and then we can dig in!

The Dewey Decimal System, created by Melvil Dewey in 1876 was created to organize books based on discipline and subject. The system is broken down into ten classes, each divided into ten divisions, and each of those divided into ten sections. Each subject matter has a three-digit that explains where it belongs with the option to include decimal places to further divide the section. For example, a cookbook is found in:

• 600 – Technology
  • 640 – Home economics and family management
    • 641 – Food and drink
      • 641.5 – Cooking and cookbooks

While the system has been updated through the years, criticism remains as the Dewey Decimal System is extremely Eurocentric and treatment of women, people of color, and other minorities continues to need updates (which can take years). Some public libraries have even abandoned the Dewey Decimal System in favor of other systems that either make more sense for their communities or systems that are better balanced.

We’re halfway through the Dewey Decimal System and we’re up to the 600s! The 600s are all about “technology”, but let me caveat that with the fact that it’s not about computers. It’s about medicine, transportation, space travel, and more! You’ve also got farm, pets, and cookbooks, thrown in this section as well! It’s got a little bit of everything, which is one of the reasons why it makes such a great section to browse! You’ll definitely be surprised by what you’ll find!

The next time you stop at your local public library, swing by the nonfiction section and take a look at what you might find in the 600s! And at home, you can check out LibraryThing’s MDS – you can click on each class and see how things are organized at each level.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.

Kid’s Books Found in the 600s

Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars by Jonathan Roth

One day in 1903 the Wright brothers entered a department store in Ohio to buy a bolt of fabric. The plain muslin cloth was most often used to make underwear. As it happens, the Wright brothers were about to wrap the simple cloth around the ribs of a mechanical ‘wing’ and dramatically change the world. Sixty-six years later, in 1969, Neil Armstrongtook a big leap onto the moon. With him was a swatch of the exact fabric the bicycle mechanics had purchased in 1903. Fifty-two years after that, in 2021, a remote-controlled car-sized explorer landed on Mars. Attached to the underside of a cable was a tiny piece of very old cloth—cloth that had almost become underwear. Almost Underwear is the story of that incredible piece of fabric, and the historic ‘firsts’ it stitches together.  

Atlas Obscura’s Guide to Inventing the World by Dylan Thuras and Jennifer Swanson, illustrated by Ruby Fresson

Following up on the New York Times bestselling Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid, with more than 200,000 copies in print, here is a globe-spanning history of invention like no other. This illustrated and STEM-oriented exploration of the planet’s 50 most interesting inventions and scientific discoveries sends middle-grade readers on an unforgettable trip around the planet and across time.

Each spread focuses on a world-changing technology and how it led to or influenced the tech or discovery on the next page. Starting with the very first invention, fire, readers will spelunk the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa for evidence of humankind’s earliest control of flames, then learn how fire is necessary to create another essential tech: glass, including the modern-day glass bridge in Zhangjiajie, China, that offers a crystal-clear (and terrifying!) view of the chasm 1,300 feet below.

As you gaze at comets through telescopes, create unbreakable codes, zap space garbage with lasers, and break supersonic records in the world’s fastest car, gorgeously illustrated scenes will transport readers across continents and centuries into a world of wonder and discovery.

The Big Book of Lego Facts by Simon Hugo

Did you know that 68,000 LEGOⓇ pieces are created every minute? Or that The LEGO Group is one of the biggest manufacturers of tires in the world? This must-have guide for LEGO fans of every age is crammed full of fascinating LEGO trivia. From the first brick to the latest record-breaking build, discover everything there is to know about the LEGO world.

The Brilliant Brain: How It Works and How to Look After It by Dr. Roopa Farooki, illustrated by Viola Wang

Every second of every day, something is happening in even the tiniest parts of your body, from head to toe. And if you think of your body as a machine, your brain would be the control room, with millions of buttons and levers for all kinds of important jobs. With an enthusiastic and warmly humorous text, medical doctor Roopa Farooki familiarizes kids with terms like cerebellum and brain stem along with the workings of the nervous system, the digestive system, the circulatory system, the limbic system, and more. With colorful illustrations by award-winning artist Viola Wang, The Brilliant Brain explores not only how different parts of the brain work, but also how they work together. An author’s note suggests handy tips for keeping your own brain healthy.

Do Not Disturb: How to Say No to Your Phone by Brad Marshall and Lindsay Hassock, illustrated by Lauriane Bohémier

In Do Not Disturb, Brad Marshall and Lindsay Hassock share cutting-edge insights on how young people can unplug from their phones. Readers will discover the effects that their phone has on their brain and body.

They’ll find out how to create a relationship with their phone on their terms. They’ll even establish simple, healthy screen time habits that stick.

This is a must-have resource that includes:

• Ten practical steps to help teens and children unplug from their phones
• A toolkit at the end of each step, providing accessible, practical techniques
• Advice from trusted psychologists who have spent two decades working with young people
• Full-color illustrations by Lauriane Bohémier
• Additional resources at the back of the book

Practical, insightful, and never preachy, this book will help readers stop doomscrolling and start unplugging!

First Big Book of How by Sally Symes and Saranne Taylor, illustrated by Kate Slater

How do scientists see into space? How do polar bears keep warm? How do keys open locks? How do fireworks explode? Featuring more than 150 compelling questions about space, Earth, machines, buildings, animals, and the human body, this magnificent book by the author-and-illustrator team behind the bestselling First Big Book of Why provides answers for every inquisitive child. And these are answers you can trust, as they have all been thoroughly fact-checked and reviewed by subject experts, who are proudly profiled in the book.

By encouraging children to question how things are happening in the world around them First Big Book of How supports STEAM learning and nurtures curious minds. The warm and playful text is accompanied by stunning real-life photography as well as gorgeous original illustrations and helpful, friendly diagrams. This book is the ultimate gift for kids who need to know everything—and now!

Growing Up Powerful: A Guide to Keeping Confident When Your Body Is Changing, Your Mind Is Racing, and the World Is… by Nona Willis Aronowitz, illustrated by Caribay Marquina

Puberty comes with a lot of changes for girls today. There’s the thrilling stuff: making friends, discovering their superpowers, and finding their voices. Then there are the not-so-fun parts: body changes, school stress, and totally understandable social anxiety. It’s enough to make a Rebel Girl’s head spin! That’s where we come in.

Filled with helpful advice, Q&As between experts and girls around the world, and fun quizzes, Growing Up Powerful has the inside scoop on all things girlhood, and gives tweens and teens the tools they need to become their most confident selves.

Making Sense of Dog Senses: How Our Furry Friends Experience the World by Stephanie Gibeault, illustrated by Raz Latif

Did you know that dogs have millions more olfactory receptors than humans and that their noses are built to reserve some air that they breathe in just for smelling? So why the butt sniffing? Actually, dogs discern a lot of information about another dog from a whiff of that region, including the dog’s health and eating habits.

In five chapters that explore each of a dog’s senses, and an additional chapter that questions whether dogs might have senses that people don’t, this middle-grade nonfiction book explains canine senses from both evolutionary and scientific perspectives. Sidebars offer additional information throughout the text, including hands-on activities that let readers experience a dog’s sensory abilities for themselves.

Plague-Busters!: Medicine’s Battles with History’s Deadliest Diseases by Lindsey Fitzharris, illustrated by Adrian Teal

Smallpox! Rabies! Black Death! Throughout history humankind has been plagued by . . . well, by plagues. The symptoms of these diseases were gruesome-but the remedies were even worse.

Get to know the ickiest illnesses that have infected humans and affected civilizations through the ages. Each chapter explores the story of a disease, including the scary symptoms, kooky cures, and brilliant breakthroughs that it spawned. Medical historian and bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris lays out the facts with her trademark wit, and Adrian Teal adds humor with cartoons and caricatures drawn in pitch black and blood red. Diseases covered in this book include bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy.

Thanks to centuries of sickness and a host of history’s most determined plague-busters, this riveting book features everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the world’s deadliest diseases.

The Six – Young Readers Edition: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush, illustrated by Rebecca Stefoff

Sally Ride may have been the first US woman in space, but did you know there were five other incredible American women who helped blaze the trail for female astronauts by her side?

When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group women were also aggressively barred from—had the right stuff. But as the 1980s dawned so did new thinking, and six elite women scientists—Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Anna Lee Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon—set out to prove they had exactly the right stuff to become the first US women astronauts.

In The Six — Young Readers Edition, acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows how these brilliant and courageous women fought to enter STEM fields they were discouraged from pursuing, endured claustrophobic—and often deeply sexist—media attention, underwent rigorous survival training, and prepared for years to take multi-million-dollar equipment into orbit.

Told with contributions from nearly all the living participants and now adapted for young readers, this book is an inspiring testament to their struggles, accomplishments, and sacrifices and how they built the tools that made the space program run. It’s a legacy that lives on to inspire young people today.

Transported: 50 Vehicles That Changed the World by Matt Ralphs, illustrated by Rui Ricardo

From ancient chariots and Viking longships to racing cars, rockets, and solar-powered airplanes, our world has been changed by the pioneering development of many incredible vehicles.

You’re the Boss: A Kid’s Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Own Business by Brian Weisfeld and Bonnie Bader

Are you bursting with great ideas for a new business but aren’t quite sure where to start? Do you know that you’d be great at selling something but first need to figure out what that “something” actually is? Are you gearing up to be an entrepreneur but think that kids can’t really build anything big? If any of these sound like you—you’ve come to the right book!

You’re never too young to start a business. Whether you want to launch a babysitting service, run a lemonade stand, sell crafts online—or don’t even know what business to start—You’re the Boss is here to help. In this book, you’ll learn how to figure out which business is right for you, find your ideal customers, manage the competition, calculate costs and profits, pitch your ideas, and so much more.

Ready to build up the confidence, creativity, and grit that come along with being an entrepreneur—and ready to make some money and build your business empire along the way? Let You’re the Boss show you how!