Nonfiction often gets a bad rap as stuffy, boring, and yawn-inducing. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Great nonfiction content can take the form of a thrilling adventure story, a scary tale around a campfire, or an intriguing true story that took place in a different era. Using data from What Kids Are Reading, we’ve gathered ten nonfiction articles that are popular with K–12 students nationwide that you might be surprised are as popular as they are! Enjoy!

Popular with third, fourth, and fifth graders, a mom in Alaska wants to legally change her daughter’s middle name to “Awesome”.

An elementary school favorite, Terri Tacheny explains why apes at the Como Zoo enjoy the harp and how they react.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a faster WiFi connection? Popular with high school students, this article explores how people are working together to create a faster, more powerful Internet.

Would you be comfortable eating insects? This article dives into Exo bars and how they’re made from crickets.

Bigfoot continues to spark curiosity. This article details the recent testing of hair found in forests that were argued to be from Bigfoot.

What do you do when a monkey takes a selfie with your camera? Photographer David Slater and Wikimedia Foundation took it to court, unsure of who owned the rights to the bizarre photo.

Popular with high school students, this article explores the possibility of eliminating plastic water bottles with new research on spherification.

A highly-read article by new and soon-to-be drivers, this article outlines safety technology the government is hoping car manufactures make standard.

More than 2.5 million people don’t have access to clean water. Knowing this, teams set out to design a toilet that doesn’t use water.

Should we eat more insects and less red meat? This article weighs the pros and cons.