New Children's Books

The Scrambled States of America Talent Show - Laurie Keller
The states decide to get together and put on a show featuring their particular talents. Also includes facts about the history and geography of the states.

Bats in the Library - Brian Lies
Bored with another normal, inky evening, bats discover an open library window and fly in to enjoy the photocopier, water fountain, and especially the books and stories found there.

Friday My Radio Flyer Flew - Zachary Pullen
A father and son find an old Radio Flyer wagon when cleaning out the attic and, through the course of a week, turn it back into a wonderful toy.

You're a Grand Old Flag
Norman Rockwell images accompany this patriotic song written for a Broadway musical by George M. Cohan.


Splat the Cat - Rob Scotton
A nervous Splat finds his first day at Cat School much better than he expected.

Otto Runs for President - Rosemary Wells
While the popular Tiffany and athletic Charles make increasingly outrageous promises in their campaigns for President of Canine Country Day School, Otto quietly enters the race, vowing only to try to do what students really want.

New YA Books

Whirlwind - David Klass
Jack finds himself embroiled in another dangerous adventure when, after a six-month absence, he returns to the Hudson River town where he grew up to find his girlfriend PJ only to discover that she is missing and everyone believes him to be responsible for her disappearance and the death of his family.

Climbing the Stairs - Padma Venkatraman
In India, in 1941, when her father becomes brain-damaged in a non-violent protest march, fifteen-year-old Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father's extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life.

The Missing Girl - Norma Fox Mazer
In Mallory, New York, as five sisters, aged eleven to seventeen, deal with assorted problems, conflicts, fears, and yearnings, a mysterious middle-aged man watches them, fascinated, deciding which one he likes the best.

The Empty Kingdom - Elizabeth Wein
Telemakos, imprisoned on the upper levels of Abreha's, ruler of Himyar, twelve-story palace and lacking any way to communicate his predicament to his family in far-away Aksum, tries to find a subtle and effective way to regain his freedom.

Me, the Missing, and the Dead - Jenny Valentine
When a series of chance events leaves him in possession of an urn with ashes, sixteen-year-old Londoner, Lucas Swain, becomes convinced that its occupant, Violet Park, is communicating with him, initiating a voyage of self-discovery that forces him to finally confront the events surrounding his father's sudden disappearance.

Keeping Score - Linda Sue Park
In Brooklyn in 1951, a die-hard Giants fan teaches nine-year-old Maggie, who is a "Bums" (Dodgers) fan, how to use a technique to keep score of a baseball game which creates a special friendship between them.

How to Build a House - Dana Reinhardt
Seventeen-year-old Harper Evans hopes to escape the effects of her father's divorce on her family and friendships by volunteering her summer to build a house in a small Tennessee town devastated by a tornado.

Keeping the Night Watch - Hope Anita Smith
A thirteen-year-old African American boy chronicles what happens to his family when his father, who temporarily left, returns home and they all must deal with their feelings of anger, hope, abandonment, and fear.

Something to Sing About - C.C. Payne
Ten-year-old Jamie Jo's fear of bees keeps her inside most of the time, but a series of events that begins when her mother is excluded from the church choir brings about many changes, including new friendships and greater trust in God.

The Dead and the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer
After a meteor hits the moon and sets off a series of horrific climate changes, seventeen-year-old Alex Morales must take care of his sisters alone in the chaos of New York City.

Elephant Run - Roland Smith
Nick endures servitude, beatings, and more after his British father's plantation in Burma is invaded by the Japanese in 1941, and when his father and others are taken prisoner and Nick is stranded with his friend Mya, they plan a daring escape on elephants, risking their lives to save Nick's father and Mya's brother from a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

New YA Books

Death in the Air - Shane Peacock
After losing his mother while solving a brutal murder, young Sherlock Holmes commits himself to fighting crime. While visiting his father at work, Sherlock watches a dangerous trapeze performance. When the troupe's star drops to his death, Sherlock notices something is amiss and realizes it was foul play.

Rex Zero: King of Nothing - Tim Wynne-Jones
In 1962 Ottawa, eleven-year-old Rex Norton-Norton faces several confusing mysteries, including his father's troubling secrets from World War II, the problems of a beautiful but unhappy woman named Natasha, what to do about his mean and vindictive teacher, and whether or not he should even be concerned about these things.

Drowned Wednesday - Garth Nix
Everyone is after Arthur Penhaligon including strange pirates, shadowy creatures, and Drowned Wednesday, whose gluttony threatens both her world and Arthur's.

Sir Thursday - Garth Nix
When Arthur is drafted into the Glorious Army of the Architect by Sir Thursday, he must survive basic training, avoid getting posted to the Front, and figure out how to free Part Four of the Will, while Leaf tries to banish Arthur's doppleganger on Earth.

Lady Friday - Garth Nix
Young Arthur Penhaligon must weigh an offer from Lady Friday that is either a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir or a golden opportunity that he must seize.

Superior Saturday - Garth Nix
Even as he grows stronger and closer to discovering the secret of his identity, Arthur must face further dangers and conflicts as he struggles to attain the Sixth Key from the powerful Saturday.

New Christian Education Resources

100 Bible Heroes: 100 Bible Stories - Stephen Elkins
This illustrated children's Bible storybook focuses on 100 Bible heroes and is designed to help children remember and learn more about their favorite Biblical heroes and their life stories. Contains two full-length CDs with over three hours of sing-along music.

New Pop-Up Books

A Knight's City - Philip Steele
Discover a world from long ago through the eyes of Sir Hugo, a brave and noble knight. Life as it really was within the walls of medieval city is shown through artwork and pop-ups.

Flight: A Pop-up Book of Aircraft - Robert Crowther
This pop-up book of aircraft will take you up, up, and away with tons of facts all about flight! Lift the flaps and pull the tabs to trace the history of flying; check out the newest passenger planes in the pop-up airport; and step into the cockpit of a 747.

New Professional Resource

Show & Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration - Dilys Evans
For over 30 years, Dilys Evans has been deeply involved in the fine art of children's book illustration. In 1980 she founded The Original Art, an annual exhibition in New York featuring the best children's book illustration of the year. Now she focuses on the work of 12 contemporary illustrators. Looking at the wide variety of artistic genius in children's books, Show and Tell teaches the reader how to look for the perfect marriage of art and text, and is an invaluable guide for anyone interested in children's books and the art of illustration. Illustrators include: David Wiesner, Trina Schart Hyman, Lane Smith, Brian Selznick, Bryan Collier, David Shannon, Petra Mathers, Paul O. Zelinsky, Hilary Knight, Denise Fleming, Harry Bliss, and Betsy Lewin.

New Children's Books

Big Bad Bunny - Franny Billingsley
When Baby Boo-Boo, a mouse dressed in a bunny suit, becomes lost in the forest, his mother follows the sound of his cries to locate him.

Everybody Bonjours! - Leslie Kimmelman
Describes in rhymed text the many ways to use the greeting "Bonjour" when visiting Paris. Includes brief descriptions of Parisian landmarks at the end of the story.

Hello, Day! - Anita Lobel
Various animals greet the sunrise in their own unique voices, except for the owl who welcomes the night.

Madam President - Lane Smith
A little girl imagines what her day would be like if she were President of the United States.

Farmer George Plants a Nation - Peggy Thomas
Besides being a general and the first president of the United States, George Washington was also a farmer. His efforts to create a self-sufficient farm at Mount Vernon, Virginia, mirrored his struggle to form a new nation. Excerpts from Washington's writings are featured throughout the book, which also includes a timeline, resource section, as well as essays on Washington at Mount Vernon and his thoughts on slavery.

Wave - Suzy Lee
A wordless picture book that shows a little girl's first experiences at the beach, as she goes from being afraid of the roaring waves to playing on the shore while gulls soar overhead.

On the Farm - David Elliott
Describes all the animals of the farmyard, including a goat, a cow, a rooster, bees, and bunnies, presented in verse and accompanied by woodcut and watercolor illustrations.

Planting the Trees of Kenya - Claire A. Nivola
Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many years, as more and more land was cleared, Kenya was transformed. When Wangari returned home from college in America, she found the village gardens dry, the people malnourished, and the trees gone. How could she alone bring back the trees and restore the gardens and the people?

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City - Janet Schulman
A red-tailed hawk and his mate build their nest near the top of a Fifth Avenue apartment building and bird watchers gather hoping to see the chicks in the nest.

Monarch and Milkweed - Helen Frost and Leonid Gore
Every spring the monarch butterfly migrates thousands of miles in search of the ideal milkweed plant. When she finds it, she lays her eggs on the plant, so when each egg hatches, the baby caterpillar can feed on the milkweed leaves. The milkweed plant then provides the perfect protection as the caterpillar turns into one of nature's wonders, a chrysalis, before transforming into an even greater wonder: a monarch butterfly. And once the newborn butterfly soars away, the milkweed seeds fly away on the wind and start this cycle over again.

My Heart Glow - Emily Arnold McCully
Describes the history of the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, and the invention of American Sign Language, and includes biographical information on the school's founder, Thomas Gallaudet, and Alice Cogswell, the young girl who inspired the creation.

Alice's World Record - Tim Kennemore
On the way to their grandparents' house, Alice beats her older brother Oliver at the alphabet game for the first time ever, making him so miserable that he reacts in a way that changes him and his status as favorite grandchild.

New Award Book

Surfer of the Century - Ellie Crowe
A brief biography of Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, five-time Olympic swimming champion from the early 1900s who is also considered worldwide as the 'father of modern surfing'. Asian/Pacific American Award

New YA Books

The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich
Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. For as long as Omakayas can remember, she and her family have lived on the land her people call the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. Although the chimookoman, white people, encroach more and more on their land, life continues much as it always has. Every summer the family builds a new birchbark house; every fall they go to ricing camp to harvest and feast; they move to the cedar log house before the first snows arrive, and celebrate the end of the long, cold winters at maple-sugaring camp. In between, Omakayas fights with her annoying little brother, Pinch, plays with the adorable baby, Neewo, and tries to be grown-up like her beautiful older sister, Angeline. But the satisfying rhythms of their lives are shattered when a visitor comes to their lodge one winter night, bringing with him an invisible enemy that will change things forever.

Afrika - Colleen Craig
For thirteen-year-old Kim, travel to South Africa with her journalist mother will mark the end of her childhood and the beginning of a remarkable journey. Expecting nothing more than three months in her mother's homeland, Kim comes to terms with the country's diverse and often shocking history. The Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in post-apartheid South Africa open her eyes to the tragedy and brutality of its segregationist policies. Kim's first meeting with her relatives, her contact with schoolmates and cousins, bring her face-to-face with the realization that she is not as removed from this powerful story as she thought. As her mother struggles with her past, Kim becomes more and more determined to unlock the secret that has always kept her from knowing her father. Helped by the young son of a long-time family servant, whose own father was a casualty of Apartheid history, Kim eventually unlocks her mystery and brings her mother and herself to their own truth and reconciliation. Layered and complex, this is a novel that raises questions and challenges beliefs.

When Mother Was Eleven-Foot-Four: A Christmas Memory - Jerry Camery-Hoggatt
Story about two boy's commitment to restore the Christmas spirit to their larger than life mother.

The Picture History of Great Buildings - Gillian Clements
An illustrated history of over 9,000 years of great buildings around the world from the tombs of ancient Egypt to the modern skyscrapers of today.

My Chincoteague Pony - Susan Jeffers
Every summer on Chincoteague Island, there is an auction of ponies who have swum across the channel from Assateague, where ponies run free. If Julie works hard and saves her money all year, perhaps she can win the pony of her dreams, her very own Chincoteague pony.

Happy School Year! - Susan Milord
Children gather for a first day of school celebration that calms their worries about the day. Includes note about the history of such celebrations, and a related website.

Tenth Avenue Cowboy - Linda Oatman High
In 1910, when his family moves to New York City from their ranch out West, Ben misses the cowboys and the prairies that they left behind, but after he learns that there are cowboys in the city who race along the railroad tracks and warn people of approaching trains, he begins to feel more at home.

George Washington Carver - Tonya Bolden
Illustrated with historical artifacts and photographs, a fresh look at a pioneering American innovator traces Carver's life, discoveries, and legacy as the first African-American to attend Iowa State College and as an inspirational conservationist.

Jumpy Jack and Googily - Meg Rosoff and Sophie Mackall
umpy Jack the snail is terrified that there are monsters around every corner despite the reassurances of his best friend, Googily.

Heart in the Pocket - Laurence Bourguignon
A baby kangaroo is reluctant to leave the comfort of his mother's pocket, where he is safe and warm and can always hear her heartbeat, until he finds out that her heart is not actually in her pocket.

Animals Robert Scott Saw: An Adventure in Antarctica - Sandra Markle
Presents the animals Robert Scott saw during his two years of study and exploration of Antarctica in the early 1900s, including penguins, whales, birds, and small, previously undiscovered sea creatures, derived from writings and sketches he left behind.

Sergio Makes a Splash! - Edel Rodriguez
Even though he loves water, Sergio the penguin is afraid to swim in the deep water until he learns how.

The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too! - Mo Willems
Do pigeons have feelings? Is a hot dog yummy? Throughout a hilarious board book, Pigeon runs through his signature gamut of emotions while attempting to thwart his old nemesis, the bus driver. By the creator of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Board book.

I Will Surprise My Friend! - Mo Willems
Best friends Elephant and Piggie decide that they will try to surprise each other, with unexpected results.

I Love My New Toy! - Mo Willems
When Elephant accidentally breaks Piggie's new toy, they both experience intense feelings before coming to realize how important their friendship is.