New Children's Books

Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts! - Lynne Truss
See how the punctuation marks you use (and where you put them) can completely change the meaning of what you write.

Never Take a Shark to the Dentist (and Other Things Not to Do) - Judi Barrett
A list of things one should not do with various animals, such as "hold hands with a lobster."

March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World - Christine King Farris
Christine King Farris describes how her brother, Martin Luther King, Jr., prepared for his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.

Market Day - Carol Foskett Cordsen
The Benson family is so busy preparing for their day at a farmers' market that they not only forget to feed the cow, they leave the farmyard gate open and the hungry cow follows them, making a mess of the market.

Traction Man Meets TurboDog - Mini Grey
Traction Man, an action figure, teams up with the high-tech but not-so-bright Turbodog to rescue Scrubbing Brush, his missing sidekick, from the terrible underworld of the bin.

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman - Marc Tyler Nobleman
Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, two misfit teens in Cleveland, were more like Clark Kent than Superman. Both boys escaped into the worlds of science fiction and pulp magazine tales. In 1934, they created the superhero, but it was four years before they convinced a publisher to take a chance on their Man of Steel in a new format--the comic book.

New Children's Books in French

Goodnight Everyone/Bonne Nuit a Tous - Lone Morton
A young girl finds a place for all her toys to sleep before she can go to bed herself.






I'm Too Big/Je Suis Trop Gros - Lone Morton
The elephant and the giraffe are both unhappy as they are and would like to be more like each other.

New Children's Books

Swing! - Rufus Butler Seder
Rhyming text asks if the reader can do a variety of sports activities. Striped acetate overlays on board pages give illustrations the illusion of movement.

How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? - Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Flies are fast! They can hover, walk upside down, and use their lightning-quick reflexes to escape predators. But rainbow trout, slender lorises, and assassin bugs can catch them. Chimney swifts can, too. How do such diverse creatures manage to capture the same prey? Similar in structure to What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?, this eye-popping picture book introduces readers to a menagerie of animals that approach the same challenges in very different ways.

Way Up and Over Everything - Alice McGill
In this retelling of a folktale, five Africans escape the horrors of slavery by simply disappearing into thin air.

Native North American Foods and Recipes - Kathryn Smithyman
Outlines the diet and cooking practices of Native American culture.

The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body - David Macaulay
A visual exploration of the inner workings of the human body that uses close-ups, cross-sections, and perspectives to look at the different body systems and how they function.

Baby Dragon - Amy Ehrlich
All day, Baby Dragon turns down other animals' offers to go play or find a snack while he waits for his mother to return for him, but at nightfall, he agrees to go with Crocodile to find her.

The Pet Dragon - Christopher Niemann
When Lin's beloved pet dragon disappears, she searches for him far and wide until a witch helps her to reach the dragon's new home. Introduces a different Chinese character on each step of Lin's adventure.

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime - Bob Shea
A young dinosaur takes on many challenges and wins every time. Then Dinosaur faces his toughest challenge of all: bedtime.

Cut-Paper Play - Sandi Henry
Contains instructions for more than eighty two- and three-dimensional construction paper creations, including a Matisse cut-out, a hanging snake mobile, and a personal desk top robot.

The Biggest, Best Snowman - Margery Cuyler
Nell is told by her BIG sisters and her mother that she is too small to help out, but everyone, including Nell, feels differently after her forest friends give her the confidence to build a large snowman.

Kiss the Cow! - Phyllis Root
Annalisa, the most curious and stubborn of Mama May's children, disobeys her mother and upsets the family cow by refusing to kiss her in return for the milk she gives.

December 2008 CMC Newsletter

Children's and YA Literature Database Reaches Milestone!

The 5,000th title, How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly?, was added to the Children's and YA Literature Database on November 20, 2008. The database went online in May 2006 with a little over 1,500 titles, and has grown to over 5,000 titles in just 2.5 years. The database allows patrons to search for children's and young adult books at various reading levels in 40 genres, such as alphabet books, historical fiction, and the newest genre, books in French. All new trade books are added to the database as soon as they arrive in the CMC.

Visiting Author

Children's author and illustrator Will Hillenbrand visited the Centennial Library on November 13, 2008. Addressing approximately 30 students, faculty, and staff in the Curriculum Materials Center, Mr. Hillenbrand spoke about the importance of story in the lives of young people. He stressed the responsibility of teachers and parents to engender a love of story and reading in young children and suggested ways to encourage children to use their imaginations while listening to a story. Mr. Hillenbrand showed examples of his work and explained the processes by which he creates his stories and illustrations. Hillenbrand's books include Down by the Station, Asleep in the Stable, Kiss the Cow, and The Biggest, Best Snowman. The audience was treated to a sneak preview of illustrations from several of his upcoming books, including Don't Slam the Door! A reception was held in the CMC following his presentation. Mr. Hillenbrand's visit to Cedarville was made possible by Rebecca Stroble, elementary librarian for the Xenia Community Schools.

Spotlight on Realia

The Realia collection in the CMC numbers approximately 50 items. The term realia refers to actual artifacts, as opposed to pictures or models. The collection includes such things as peacock feathers, petrified wood, wooden shoes, cocoons, and porcupine quills.

INFOhio

The November issue of The RECORD, INFOhio's online monthly newsletter, is available on the INFOhio website. Visit the "Document Library" section of "About INFOhio" to read prior issues. INFOhio, a state-funded initiative for K-12 schools, is similar to OhioLINK in that it provides a number of databases to all public and private schools across the state.

Puppet Collection

The puppets have been separated from the rest of the teaching aids and placed on special racks to facilitate browsing the collection. The puppet collection now includes nearly 80 puppets of all types - stage puppets, hand puppets, and finger puppets.

New Award Book Added to Award Plan

The E. B. White Read Aloud Award, established by the Association of Booksellers for Children in 2004, "honors a book that reflects the universal read aloud standards that were created by the work of the author E. B. White in his classic books for children: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan." In 2006, in recognition of the fact that reading aloud is a pleasure at any age, the award was expanded into two categories: The E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Picture Books and The E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers. The CMC award plan now includes 24 different awards.

New Materials

During November, over 150 new items were added to the CMC collection. Click here for a complete list.

New YA Books

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan - Nancy Springer
While fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes endeavors to save her friend Lady Cecily Alistair from an unwelcome arranged marriage, she meets with some assistance from her older brother, Sherlock, and interference by the eldest, Mycroft.

Impossible - Nancy Werlin
When seventeen-year-old Lucy discovers her family is under an ancient curse by an evil Elfin Knight, she realizes to break the curse she must perform three impossible tasks before her daughter is born in order to save them both.

The Porcupine Year - Louise Erdrich
In 1852, forced by the United States government to leave their beloved Island of the Golden Breasted Woodpecker, fourteen-year-old Omokayas and her Ojibwe family travel in search of a new home.

The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells, graphic adaptation by Rick Geary
On a cold day in February, a stranger arrives in the village of Iping. He wears gloves and dark glasses, even inside, and his face is covered in bandages. Soon crimes occur that cannot be explained, and the townspeople realize the unthinkable truth: the strange man is invisible--and he is slowly going mad.

Television (Opposing Viewpoints)
Examines the controversies related to television viewing in America since the 1950s, explaining the influence of television on children, both the positive and negative effects of television, and the debate over harmful content.

The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary - Candace Fleming
Though Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's backgrounds differed considerably, both were intellectuals who shared interests in literature and politics, as well as a great love for each other.

New Children's and YA Nonfiction Books

Windy Days - Elisabeth d'Aubuisson
Windy weather -- What is the wind? -- Where wind comes from -- Wind chill -- Fun in the wind -- Sailing -- Measuring wind -- Windmills -- The bad side of wind -- Winds in our world

Journey of a Pioneer - Patricia J. Murphy
What was it like to be a pioneer? Join Olivia and her family on their exciting journey along the Oregon Trail.

Freedom Summer - David Aretha
The civil rights group, Council of Federated Organizations, invited northern college students to travel to the South during the summer and work with COFO staffers registering black voters. The project was called Freedom Summer.

Let's Read About Rain - Kristin Boerger
Simple text and color photographs depict rain in several places; includes a picture glossary.

From the series School Projects Survival Guides:

Studying and Tests

Written Reports

Team Projects

Oral Reports

New YA Books

Nicholas in Trouble - Rene Goscinny
Nicholas and his friends sell raffle tickets for a good cause, learn how to cross the road safely, and bring all kinds of interesting things to school to the surprise and consternation of their long-suffering teacher.

White Sands, Red Menace - Ellen Klages
It is 1946, and Dewey Kerrigan is now living near the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico with the Gordon family. Dewey and her "sister," Suze, share secrets, art, and science as they adjust to high school in an isolated desert town. Then, Dewey's long-lost mother, Rita Gallucci, reappears in their lives.

The Lost Island of Tamarind - Nadia Aguiar
Thirteen-year-old Maya, who has spent her life at sea with her marine biologist parents, yearns for a normal life, but when a storm washes her parents overboard, life becomes anything but normal for Maya, her younger brother and baby sister, as they land at a mysterious, uncharted island filled with danger.

Blackbox - Julie Schumacher
When her sixteen-year-old sister is hospitalized for depression and her parents want to keep it a secret, fourteen-year-old Elena tries to cope with her own anxiety and feelings of guilt that she is determined to conceal from outsiders.

The Last Invisible Boy - Evan Kulhman
In the wake of his father's sudden death, twelve-year-old Finn feels he is becoming invisible as his hair and skin become whiter by the day, and so he writes and illustrates a book to try to understand what is happening and to hold on to himself and his father.

Coraline: The Graphic Novel Adaptation - Neil Gaiman
When Coraline steps through a door in her family's new house, she finds another house strangely similar to her own (only better). At first, things seem marvelous. The food is better than at home, and the toy box is filled with fluttering wind-up angels and dinosaur skulls that crawl and rattle their teeth. But there's another mother and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and all the tools she can find if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
An orphaned boy is raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen - Eric Berlin
Puzzle-crazy, twelve-year-old Winston and his ten-year-old sister Katie find themselves involved in a dangerous mystery involving a hidden ring. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text.

Masterpiece - Elise Broach
After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bog Child - Siobhan Dowd
In 1981, the height of Ireland's "Troubles," eighteen-year-old Fergus is distracted from his upcoming A-level exams by his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for Sinn Fein, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog.

Ronald Reagan: A Twentieth-Century Life - James Sutherland
An introduction to the life and career of the movie actor who left film for the political arena, being elected governor of the state of California in 1966 and 1970, and President of the United States in 1980.

Ghostgirl - Tonya Hurley
After dying, high school senior Charlotte Usher is as invisible to nearly everyone as she always felt, but despite what she learns in a sort of alternative high school for dead teens, she clings to life while seeking a way to go to the Fall Ball with the boy of her dreams.

Brooklyn Bridge - Karen Hesse
In 1903 Brooklyn, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life changes for the worse when his parents, Russian immigrants, invent the teddy bear and turn their apartment into a factory, while nearby the glitter of Coney Island contrasts with the dismal lives of children dwelling under the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Little Audrey - Ruth White
In 1948, eleven-year-old Audrey lives with her father, mother, and three younger sisters in Jewell Valley, a coal mining camp in Southwest Virginia, where her mother still mourns the death of a baby, her father goes on drinking binges on paydays, and Audrey tries to recover from the scarlet fever that has left her skinny and needing to wear glasses.

Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash - Wendelin Van Draanen
Thirteen-year-old Sammy meets a mysterious man who dies of a heart attack after telling her to get rid of the large amount of money he is carrying, leading her to investigate who the man was and how he came to be carrying so much cash.

Antsy Does Time - Neal Shusterman
Fourteen-year-old Anthony "Antsy" Bonano learns about life, death, and a lot more when he tries to help a friend with a terminal illness feel hopeful about the future.

Will Hillenbrand Visits Cedarville University

Children's author and illustrator Will Hillenbrand visited the CMC today, where he spoke to Dr. Sweigard's children's literature class and other invited guests.

New Children's Books

Gully's Travels - Tor Seidler
Gulliver leads a life of luxury with his master. But when his master falls in love with a woman who is allergic to dogs, Gulliver is sent to a new home. He finds himself with a family of raucous human beings and three mutts. But just as Gulliver begins to make a grudging peace with his new reality, he gets swept up in a harrowing new adventure.

Washington at Valley Forge - Russell Freedman
Washington's army nearly perished during the winter of 1777-78. Camped at Valley Forge, the revolutionaries endured severe hardship. The army's supply system had collapsed and they were without supplies. But when the harsh winter ended, the soldiers had survived, and marched away from Valley Forge more determined than ever.

Wild Boars Cook - Meg Rosoff
Besides being naughty, greedy, stinky, and rude, wild boars Boris, Morris, Horace, and Doris are also very hungry and luckily Doris finds the perfect recipe for them to make.

One Boy - Laura Vaccaro Seeger
A boy creates ten paintings in this counting book that also explores the relationship of words within words.

The Library Dragon - Carmen Agra Deedy
Miss Lotta Scales is a dragon who believes her job is to protect the school's library books from the children, but when she finally realizes that books are meant to be read, the dragon turns into Miss Lotty, librarian and storyteller.

Spuds - Karen Hesse
Maybelle, Jack, and Eddie want to help Ma by putting something extra on the table, so they set out in the dark to take potatoes from a nearby field, but when they arrive home and empty their potato sacks, they are surprised by what they see.

New Christmas Books

The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry
A husband and wife sacrifice treasured possessions in order to buy each other Christmas presents.

Santa Duck - David Milgrim
When Nicholas Duck, wearing a Santa hat and coat he found on his doorstep, goes looking for Santa to tell him what he wants for Christmas, all the other animals mistake him for Mr. Claus.

New Professional Resources

The Giant Encyclopedia of Math Activities for Children 3 to 6 - Kathy Charner
Organized by curriculum area or time of day, each activity is complete with math concepts, materials needed, and step-by-step instructions.

The ESL/ELL Teacher's Book of Lists - Jacqueline E. Kress
Includes helpful, practical lists that may be reproduced for classroom use or referred to in the development of instructional materials and lessons. The material contained in this book helps K-12 teachers reinforce and enhance the learning of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and writing skills in ESL students of all ability levels. For easy use and quick access, the lists are printed in a format that can be photocopied as many times as required. A complete, thoroughly updated glossary at the end provides an indispensable guide to the specialized language of ESL instruction.

New Children's and YA Books

Kin (Book One of The Good Neighbors) - Holly Black
Sixteen-year-old Rue Silver, whose mother disappeared weeks ago, believes she is going crazy until she learns that the strange things she has been seeing are real, and that she is one of the faerie creatures, or Good Neighbors, that mortals cannot see.

Katie Loves the Kittens - John Himmelman
When Sara Ann brings home three little kittens, Katie the dog's enthusiasm frightens the kittens away, until she learns that quiet patience is sometimes needed to begin a friendship.

From the series Nutrition: A Global View:

Nutrition & Society - Zachary Chastain

Nutrition & Poverty - Rae Simons

Nutrition & Politics - Jacquelyn Simone

Nutrition & Science - Camden Flath

Nutrition & You - Ida Walker

New YA Fiction Books

Chalice - Robin McKinley
A beekeeper by trade, Mirasol's life changes completely when she is named the new Chalice, the most important advisor to the new Master, a former priest of fire.

Nation - Terry Pratchett
After a devastating tsunami destroys all that they have ever known, Mau, an island boy, and Daphne, an aristocratic English girl, together with a small band of refugees, set about rebuilding their community and all the things that are important in their lives.

Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

Nobody's Princess - Esther Friesner
Determined to fend for herself in a world where only men have real freedom, headstrong Helen, who will be called queen of Sparta and Helen of Troy one day, learns to fight, hunt, and ride horses while disguised as a boy, and goes on an adventure around the Mediterranean world.

Nobody's Prize - Esther Friesner
Still longing for adventure, Princess Helen of Sparta maintains her disguise as a boy to join her unsuspecting brothers as part of the crew of the Argo, the ship commanded by Prince Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece.

He Forgot to Say Goodbye: The Things Our Fathers Left Unsaid - Benjamin Alire Saenz
Two teenaged boys with very different lives find that they share a common bond--fathers they have never met who left when they were small boys--and in spite of their differences, they become close when they each need someone who understands.

The Kingdom of the Waves (vol. II of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation) - M.T. Anderson
When Octavian hears that Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, will free all slaves who join his "Ethiopian Regiment," the recent runaway gladly signs up. Upon enlisting, Octavian is reunited with his friend Pro Bono. The two comrades, who once shared a master, are thrilled to meet again, but their joy quickly subsides.

Becca at Sea - Deirdre Baker
Becca has often gone with her parents to visit Gran at her rustic cabin by the sea. But this year Becca's mother is expecting a baby, and Becca is sent to visit her grandmother on her own. The prospect of spending time at Gran's--with her peculiar plumbing and ridiculous Scrabble rules--is hardly appealing. Then, on her very first night, Becca finds an oyster full of pearls. One pearl for every adventure to come? Becca desperately hopes so, as much as she longs for a friend to share them with.