Wednesday, October 28, 2009

New Children's Books

Big Frog Can't Fit In -  Mo Willems
Big Frog really wants to fit in. But how? After much frustration, and with her friends' help, she finds out how.

Strega Nona's Harvest - Tomie dePaola
After helping Strega Nona plant her vegetable garden just so, Big Anthony takes some extra seeds and sows another garden willy nilly, then must find a way to deal with the consequences.

Merry Christmas, Splat - Rob Scotton
Splat the cat is worried that he has not been good enough to deserve a visit and a present from Santa Claus.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

New YA Fiction Books

Arch Enemy (Part 3 of The Looking Glass Wars) - Frank Beddor
Virtuous Queen Alyss, who has lost the power of imagination, and her murderous aunt Redd battle for control of Wonderland.

Liar - Justine Larbalestier
Compulsive liar Micah promises to tell the truth after revealing that her boyfriend has been murdered.


Solace of the Road - Siobhan Dowd
While running away from a London foster home just before her fifteenth birthday, Holly has ample time to consider her years of residential care and her early life with her Irish mother, whom she is now trying to reach.

The Rock and the River - Kekla Magoon
In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party.

Hate List - Jennifer Brown
Sixteen-year-old Valerie, whose boyfriend Nick committed a school shooting at the end of their junior year, struggles to cope with integrating herself back into high school life, unsure herself whether she was a hero or a villain.

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones - Brandon Sanderson
Thirteen-year-old Alcatraz Smedry and his companions seek Al's father and grandfather in the Great Library of Alexandria, where they face undead, soul-stealing wraiths called the Curators of Alexandria, and one of the Scrivener's Bones, a part-human, part-machine mercenary.

The Doom Machine - Mark Teague
When a spaceship lands in the small town of Vern Hollow in 1956, juvenile delinquent Jack Creedle and prim, studious Isadora Shumway form an unexpected alliance as they try to keep a group of extraterrestrials from stealing eccentric Uncle Bud's space travel machine.

Monday, October 26, 2009

New Nonfiction Books

Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary - Elizabeth Partridge
Recounts the three months of protest that took place before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s landmark march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to promote equal rights and help African-Americans earn the right to vote.

Life in the Boreal Forest - Brenda Z. Guiberson
The boreal forest is buried in ice and snow during winter. But in summer lakes teem with fish, and bogs swarm with insects. Follow a snowshoe hare, beavers, a lynx, and other animals as they survive a year in this endangered landscape.

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain - Sy Montgomery
A pale, spotted, almost cloud-like coat makes the snow leopard uncannily invisible in its rocky mountain habitat. Author Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop accompany conservationist Tom McCarthy and his team as they travel to Mongolia's Altai Mountains to gather data about snow leopard populations in an attempt to save this endangered species.

The American Presidency
Explores the lives and contributions of the people who have held the office, from George Washington to Barack Obama. Each presidential profile includes a detailed biography, the president's signature, who served as vice president, a profile of the first lady and timelines.
Peter and the Wolf - Chris Raschka
Retells the orchestral fairy tale in which a boy ignores his grandfather's warnings and captures a wolf with the help of a bird, a duck, and a cat.

Crow Call - Lois Lowry
Nine-year-old Liz accompanies the stranger who is her father, just returned from the war, when he goes hunting for crows in Pennsylvania farmland.

All the World - Liz Garton Scanlon
Follow a circle of family and friends through the course of a day from morning till night as they discover the importance of all things great and small in our world, from the tiniest shell on the beach, to warm family connections, to the widest sunset sky.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Front and Center - Christine Gilbert Murdock
Other folks have big plans for D.J. Like her coach. College scouts. All the town hoops fans. A certain Red Bend High School junior who' keen for romance and karaoke. Not to mention Brian Nelson, who she should not be thinking about! Who she is done with, thank you very much. But who keeps showing up anyway . .

Fire - Kristin Cashore
In a kingdom called the Dells, Fire is the last human-shaped monster, with unimaginable beauty and the ability to control the minds of those around her, but even with these gifts she cannot escape the strife that overcomes her world.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.

New Posters

Pharynx & Larynx

The Larynx

Breathing

New Music Book

One-Page Composer Bios - Jay Althouse
Contains 50 reproducible biographies of famous composers.

Monday, October 19, 2009

New Christmas Books

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (retold by Josh Greenhut)
A miser learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future.






The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - L. Frank Baum
A human foundling child, adopted by a wood-nymph and raised by the creatures who inhabit a magical forest, grows up to be the immortal Santa Claus.


The Story of Christmas: The Birth of Jesus
An illustrated version of the story of the birth of Jesus, based primarily on passages from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, features pop-up angels and a final three-dimensional Nativity scene.

New Picture Books

Big Bear Hug - Nicholas Oldland
A bear who loves to hug everything meets a human who is about to chop down a tree, and the bear must make a decision on how to save his forest.

ThunderBoomer! - Shutta Crum
A farm family scurries for shelter from a violent thunderstorm that brings welcome relief from the heat and also an unexpected surprise.

New Children's Books

Return to the Hundred Acre Wood - David Benedictus
Collects the further stories of Christopher Robin and his imaginary animal friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, where the animals anticipate Christopher Robin's return, meet a new friend, and solve the mystery of missing bees.

Dessert First - Hallie Durand
Third-grader Dessert's love of treats leads to a change in her large family's dinner routine, then an awful mistake, and later a true sacrifice after her teacher, Mrs. Howdy Doody, urges students to march to the beat of their own drums.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - Jeff Kinney
In the latest diary of middle-schooler Greg Heffley, he records his attempts to spend his summer vacation sensibly indoors playing video games and watching television, despite his mother's other ideas.

New Graphic Novels

Bone : Rose - Jeff Smith
Princess Rose musters up courage to face the dragon that threatens the small towns in the Northern Valley, only to discover the dragon is actually the Lord of the Locusts.

The Storm in the Barn - Matt Phelan
In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father's failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot's abandoned barn - a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it's hard to trust what you see with your own eyes, and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

New YA Books

The Lost Conspiracy - Frances Hardinge
When a lie is exposed and their tribe turns against them, Hathin must find a way to save her sister Arilou--once considered the tribe's oracle--and herself.

Riot - Walter Dean Myers
In 1863, fifteen-year-old Claire, the daughter of an Irish mother and a black father, faces ugly truths and great danger when Irish immigrants, enraged by the Civil War and a federal draft, lash out against blacks and wealthy "swells" of New York City.

Odd and the Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman
An unlucky twelve-year-old Norwegian boy named Odd leads the Norse gods Loki, Thor, and Odin in an attempt to outwit evil Frost Giants who have taken over Asgard.

Going Bovine - Libba Bray
Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.

By Darkness Hid - Jill Williamson
Given the chance to train as a squire, kitchen servant Achan Cham hopes to pull himself out of his pitiful life and become a Kingsguard Knight. When Achan's owner learns of his training, he forces Achan to spar with the Crown Prince--more of a death sentence than an honor. Meanwhile, strange voices in Achan's head cause him to fear he's going mad. While escorting the prince to a council presentation, their convoy is attacked. Achan is wounded and arrested, but escapes from prison--only to discover a secret about himself he never believed possible.

New DVDs

Newton's 3 Laws of Motion
Newton's Three Laws of Motion are at work in virtually every Disney theme park ride and attraction. The Walt Disney Imagineers demonstrate how they use Newton's Three Laws to create some of the most exciting ride experiences possible. From the thrilling rockets of California Adventure's Golden Zephyr to the wild twists of California Screamin', students will learn to define acceleration, friction and motion. Best of all, they'll be able to see first-hand the relationship between the motion of objects and the forces that act on them.

Animal Adaptations: Communication
Walt Disney Imagineers do more than create wild rides. They also study wild animals to create environments, activities and educational programs at Disney's Animal Kingdom that are tailored to the species' physical and behavioral adaptations. How do naked mole rats identify family members, and why is the toilet chamber so important? How do dolphins recognize each other in murky water? How do meerkats communicate it's safe to come out and forage for food? They all rely on communication adaptations -- olfactory, auditory and visual. Students will learn to define and identify key adaptations, and listen in on amazing elephant communications that most humans have never heard.

Bill Nye's Solving for X: Pre-Algebra
Discusses infinite fractions, exponents, signed numbers, and proportional reasoning.

Bill Nye's Solving for X: Algebra
Looks at variables, balancing equations, dimensional analysis, and linear equations.

New Children's Books

Waddle! - Rufus Butler Seder
Text asks if the reader can move like a variety of animals. Striped acetate overlays on board pages give illustrations the illusion of movement.

A Pop-Up Book of Nursery Rhymes - Matthew Reinhart
Matthew Reinhart adapts Mother Goose's nursery rhymes, as the characters spring to life as intricate pop-up surprises.



Otis - Loren Long
When a big new yellow tractor arrives, Otis the friendly little tractor is cast away behind the barn, but when trouble occurs Otis is the only one who can help.

Robot Zot - Jon Scieszka
On a mission to conquer planet Earth, tiny but fearless Robot Zot and his mechanical sidekick leave a path of destruction as they battle kitchen appliances.

The Lion and the Mouse - Jerry Pinkney
In this wordless retelling of an Aesop fable, an adventuresome mouse proves that even small creatures are capable of great deeds when he rescues the King of the Jungle.

Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry - Cindy Neuschwander
When the Zills family is summoned to Egypt to help find the hidden burial site of an ancient pharaoh, Matt and Bibi are locked into an adventure they did not expect. Stuck inside a pyramid with only each other, their dog Riley, and geometric hieroglyphics to help them find their way, the twins must use their math knowledge to solve the riddles on the walls and locate the burial chamber. Luckily, the two know their stuff when it comes to geometric solids.

New Nonfiction Books

The Great and Only Barnum: the Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum - Candace Fleming
Biography of P.T. Barnum, showman and founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Readers can visit Barnum's American Museum; meet Tom Thumb, the miniature man (only 39 in. tall) and his tinier bride (32 in.); experience the thrill Barnum must have felt when, at age 60, he joined the circus; and discover Barnum's legacy.

Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 - Charles C. Mann
This study of Native American societies is adapted for younger readers from Charles C. Mann's best-selling 1491. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, the book argues that the people of North and South America lived in enormous cities, raised pyramids hundreds of years before the Egyptians did, engineered corn, and farmed the rainforests.