Thursday, March 31, 2016

New Picture Books

Prince Fly Guy - Tedd Arnold
Buzz is writing a fairy tale for homework, and Fly Guy naturally assumes the role of a handsome prince, who fends off a giant and rescues a beautiful princess.

Dylan the Villain - K.G. Campbell
Dylan's parents have always boasted that he is the "very best and cleverest super-villain in the whole wide world," but when he meets Addison Van Malice, his powers are put to the test.


The Night Gardener - Terry Fan and Eric Fan
Everyone on Grimloch Lane enjoys the trees and shrubs clipped into animal masterpieces after dark by the Night Gardener, but William, a lonely boy, spots the artist, follows him, and helps with his special work.

When Spring Comes - Kevin Henkes
Animals and children alike watch as the world transforms from the dark and dead of winter to a full and blooming spring.


The Hueys in None the Number: A Counting Adventure - Oliver Jeffers
One of the Hueys tries to explain the concept of "none" to another by finding different numbers of items, one through ten, then taking them all away.




Into the Snow - Yuki Kaneko
A child plays in the snow and experiences the sensory joys of winter and independence.


Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber - Sue Macy
Examines the career of Mary Garber, who "was a sportswriter for fifty-six years and was the first woman to receive the Associated Press Sports Editors Red Smith Award, presented for major contributions in sports journalism. And now, every year the Association of Women in Sports Media presents the Mary Garber Pioneer Award in her honor to a role model for women in sports media.

Parachute - Danny Parker
A boy wears a parachute because it makes him feel braver when he is scared but eventually comes to a point when he realizes he doesn't need it any more.


Elizabeth Started All the Trouble - Doreen Rappaport
Includes bibliographical references. A picture book that celebrates female social reformers, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Sojourner Truth.


Bear Sees Colors - Karma Wilson
While taking a walk with Mouse, Bear meets many other friends and sees colors everywhere.


The Bear Snores On - Karma Wilson
On a cold winter night many animals gather to party in the cave of a sleeping bear, who then awakes and protests that he has missed the food and the fun.

Fiction & Nonfiction for Young Adults

FICTION
 
Unbecoming - Jenny Downham
Life has just become very complicated for seventeen-year-old Katie; her father walked out a year ago, her mother is stressed out, her brother is a "special needs" teenager, and she is caring for the maternal grandmother she has never met, who is suffering from Alzheimer's--and Katie has a secret of her own that she cannot reveal.


Titans - Victoria Scott
Seventeen-year-old Astrid Sullivan belongs to a family of compulsive gamblers, and now that her father has been laid off from his job in Detroit and lost all their money betting on the Titans, which are half-horse, half car, and race around impossible tracks, her family is falling apart--but when Astrid's new friends give her the chance to participate in this year's Titan races, she thinks she sees a way to win some money and keep her family together.

NONFICTION
A Wicked History Series:
Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare - Philip Brooks
Includes bibliographical references and index. Presents the history of Hannibal, a famous Carthaginian military commander who invaded Italy by crossing the Alps with war elephants, and won many battles against Rome over a decade before being defeated in the Battle of Zama at Carthage.


Ivan the Terrible: Tsar of Death - Sean Price
A biography of Russia's first tsar Ivan the Terrible that describes his life, cruelty, and victims.

DVDs

A Sloth Named Velcro
In 2000, Ana Salceda, a young journalist, moved from her native Spain to explore the wilds of Panama. She became the caregiver for a tiny orphaned baby sloth named Velcro. This is the story of Ana's return to Central and South America to see how much has changed since Velcro came into her life. Sloths, once largely ignored, have become a hot topic of scientific researchers

He Named Me Malala
An intimate portrait of Malala Yousafzai, who was wounded when Taliban gunmen opened fire on her in Pakistan's Swat Valley. The shooting of the then fifteen-year-old teenager sparked international media outrage. An educational activist in Pakistan, Yousafzai has since emerged as a leading campaigner for the rights of children worldwide and in December 2014, became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Books for Elementary & Middle School Students

My Diary from the Edge of the World - Jodi Lynn Anderson
Spirited, restless Gracie Lockwood, twelve, of Cliffden, Maine, living in a world where sasquatches, dragons, giants, and mermaids are common, keeps a diary of her family's journey in a used Winnebago as they seek The Extraordinary World in hopes of keeping her little brother, Sam, safe against all odds.

The Owlings - Books I & II- D.A. DeWitt
A worldview adventure for readers young and old alike about a young boy named Josiah who discovered an important lesson from some unlikely visitors. Get ready to meet Gilbert, a talking owl, who is joined by three of his friends to explain the greatest truth in all of the world -- that the world is not all there is, or ever was, or ever will be.--Back cover

Curse of the Iris - Jason Fry
As Tycho and his siblings continue to compete for the captain's chair of the Shadow Comet, they must work together to hunt for an old pirate treasure--a treasure that is tied to some long-buried family secrets.

Apollo: The Brilliant One - George O'Connor
Mighty Apollo is known by all as the god of the sun, but there's more to this Olympian than a bright smile and a shining chariot.


Fuzzy Mud - Louis Sachar
Two middle-grade kids take a shortcut home from school and discover what looks like fuzzy mud but is actually a substance with the potential to wreak havoc on the entire world.

Prayers That Changed History - Tricia Goyer
Stories of twenty-five notable people are presented along with how prayer changed their lives and changed history. Following each historical example is a biblical story that ties to that person's life and actions, as well as ways you can use the power of prayer in your life as well.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Young Adult Fiction

Need - Joelle Charbonneau
Teenagers at Wisconsin's Nottawa High School discover a social networking site that promises to grant their every need ... regardless of the consequences. A new iPhone? Concert tickets? Kaylee needs a kidney for her sick brother. Can't hurt to try, can it? But soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes, and the body count rises.

The Forever Man - Eoin Colfer
Riley, an orphan boy living in Victorian London, who has achieved his dream of becoming a renowned magician, and Chevie, the seventeen-year-old FBI agent who traveled from the future and helped him defeat his murderous master, Albert Garrick, face the return of Garrick, an assassin-for-hire, and must destroy him once and for all.


When Lightning Struck!: The Story of Martin Luther - Danika Cooley
Martin Luther's life was too exciting not to be written for teens and younger readers! In this fast-paced, action-packed novel of Martin Luther's life, teen readers will be introduced to a fascinating time when princes ruled Europe and knights roamed the countryside. They'll learn about a time when powerful forces lined up against each other and believing the wrong thing could get you killed.

See No Color - Shannon Gibney
Alex has always identified herself as a baseball player, the daughter of a winning coach, but when she realizes that is not enough she begins to come to terms with her adoption and her race.


The Ghosts of Heaven - Marcus Sedgwick
Four linked stories of discovery and survival begin with a Paleolithic-era girl who makes the first written signs, continue with Anna, who people call a witch, then a mad twentieth-century poet who watches the ocean knowing the horrors it hides, and concluding with an astronaut on the first spaceship from Earth sent to colonize another world.
A 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor book.

The Bitter Side of Sweet - Tara Sullivan
They only wanted to make some money during the dry season to help their impoverished family; instead they were tricked into forced labor on a plantation in the Ivory Coast. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods Amadou and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. Then Khadija comes, the first girl who has ever come to camp, and shes a wild thing. She fights, but the bosses break her. Now the three band together as family and try just once more to escape.

An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir
Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

Zeroes - Scott Westerfeld
Told from separate viewpoints, teens Scam, Crash, Flicker, Anonymous, Bellwether, and Kelsie, all born in the year 2000 and living in Cambria, California, have superhuman abilities that give them interesting but not heroic lives until they must work as a community to respond to a high stakes crisis.

Monday, March 14, 2016

New Picture Books

Don't Throw It to Mo! - David A. Adler
Mo is the youngest kid on the Robins football team. The kids on the rival team tease him for being a 'butterfingers' who's too tiny to catch the ball. But Mo's coach has a plan up his sleeve to turn Mo's little size into a big win for the Robins. Winner of the 2016 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award.

Mr. Goat's Valentine - Eve Bunting
When Mr. Goat learns that it's Valentine's Day, he sets out in search of gifts for his first love, but his choices are a little unconventional.


Bloom - Doreen Cronin and David Small
When the glass kingdom begins cracking, the king and queen fail in their quest to get help from the fairy Bloom, who can work great magic but was banished because of her muddy boots and messiness, so they send Genevieve, an ordinary girl who will do what it takes to save the day.


Snappsy The Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book!) - Julie Falatko
Snappsy's ordinary day is interrupted by a meddling narrator.


The Hueys in What's the Opposite? - Oliver Jeffers
Quirky egg-shaped creatures known as the Hueys explore the concept of opposites.


Toys Meet Snow - Emily Jenkins
While Little Girl is away on winter vacation, her toys, Lumphy, StingRay, and Plastic, decide to go outside and learn more about snow.


Little Red Gliding Hood - Tara Lazar
Little Red is an excellent ice skater, but she will need a good partner for the skating pairs competition and the only one available is a certain Wolf, who needs new skates as badly as Little Red does.

Mr. Putter & Tabby Smell the Roses - Cynthia Rylant
When Mr. Putter and Tabby take Mrs. Teaberry to the Conservatory for her birthday, Zeke tries his best to stay out of trouble, but one of the trees is irresistible.


Tree: A Peek-Through Picture Book - Britta Teckentrup
A book with peek-through holes that let a child view the changes in a tree throughout the four seasons.

Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run!: An Alphabet Adventure - Mike Twohy
When a bouncing ball wakes a sleeping mouse, it's just the beginning of an alphabet adventure.


Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Nonfiction for Middle School & High School

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March
- Lyda Blackmon Lowery
A 50th-anniversary tribute shares the story of the youngest person to complete the momentous Selma to Montgomery March, describing her frequent imprisonments for her participation in nonviolent demonstrations and how she felt about her involvement in historic Civil Rights events.
A 2015 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor recipient.

Tommy: The Gun That Changed America - Karen Blumenthal
John Taliaferro Thompson had a mission: to develop a lightweight, fast-firing weapon that would help Americans win on the battlefield. His Thompson submachine gun could deliver a hundred bullets in a matter of seconds, but didn't find a market in the U.S. military. Instead, the Tommy gun became the weapon of choice for a generation of bootleggers and bank-robbing outlaws, and became a deadly American icon. Blumenthal tells the history of this famous and deadly weapon.

Women in Black History: Stories of Courage, Faith and Resilience - Tricia Williams Jackson
Explores the lives of fourteen African-American women, including writers, athletes, singers, activists, and educators whose courage, faith, and resolve paved the way for others to follow.


Breakthrough!: How Three People Saved "Blue Babies" and Changed Medicine Forever
- Jim Murphy
In 1944, a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome. The operation's success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for open-heart surgery. But the technique had been developed by Vivien Thomas, Blalock's African American lab assistant, who stood behind Blalock in the operating room to give him step-by-step instructions. The stories of this medical and social breakthrough and the lives of Thomas, Blalock, and their colleague Dr. Helen Taussig are intertwined in this nonfiction narrative.

Fiction for Middle Grades

The Keeper - David Baldacci
Vega Jane and her friend Delph have taken the map that Quentin Harris left them and set out from the town of Wormwood, determined to brave the Quag and find freedom on the other side. But the Quag, designed to keep the town people in, it is filled with bloodthirsty creatures and sinister magic, and it is not going to let them escape unscathed.

George - Alex Gino
When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

Redeemed - Conclusion to The Missing Series - Margaret Peterson Haddix
Conclusion to 'The Missing' series. Jonah was able to save all of time from collapsing but in doing so gained a twin brother, Jordan, who must learn what has happened and do his own part to save time--and his parents.

Under Their Skin - Margaret Peterson Haddix
Twelve-year-old twins Nick and Eryn investigate why their mother and new stepfather are keeping secrets, why they are forbidden to meet their stepsiblings, and, most important, why their lives are in danger.


Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School - Jeff Kinney
Life was better in the old days. Or was it? That's the question Greg Heffley is asking as his town voluntarily unplugs and goes electronics-free. But modern life has its conveniences, and Greg isn't cut out for an old-fashioned world. With tension building inside and outside the Heffley home, will Greg find a way to survive?

Criminal Destiny - Gordon Korman
A group of kids discovers they were cloned from the DNA of some of the greatest criminal masterminds in history for a sociological experiment, and they must find a way to prove it to the rest of the world.


Listen to the Moon - Michael Morpurgo
May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies-- injured, thirsty, lost-- and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even, as some islanders suggest, a German spy? Only one thing is for sure: she loves music and moonlight, and it is when she listens to the gramophone that the glimmers of the girl she once was begin to appear.

The Hollow Boy - Jonathan Stroud
Anthony, George, and Lucy investigate new hauntings, track down assassins, and a new assistant joins Lockwood & Co.


Secret Coders - Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes
Welcome to Stately Academy, a school which is just crawling with mysteries to be solved! The founder of the school left many clues and puzzles to challenge his enterprising students. Using their wits and their growing prowess with coding, Hopper and her friend Eni are going to solve the mystery of Stately Academy no matter what it takes.