More New Picture Books

It's Not Fairy - Ros Asquith
Billy and Mary say they don't believe in the It's Not Fairy, but that's before she turns up at their house! And it's not only the children she wants to bake into a fairy cake - Mum and Dad come in for their share of blame too. There's nothing for it - the whole family may have to change their ways and be nicer to each other!

Bananas in My Ears - Michael Rosen
A charming collection featuring free verse stories, rhymes, and poems from the renowned Michael Rosen and quirky artwork by Quentin Blake.

Cinderella - retold by Sarah L. Thomson
Although mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella meets her prince with the help of her fairy godmother.

Pug and Other Animal Poems - Valerie Worth
Presents a collection of whimsical animal poems that describe eccentric animal behaviors, complemented by collage illustrations.

Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy-Tale Voices With a Twist - Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich
What were all those fairy-tale characters thinking? Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich answer this question in paired poems, with sometimes startling results. The Princess claims all those mattresses kept her awake - not a silly pea - while the poor pea complains that the princess snores. One Snow White begs the witch to settle by the bay and throw that mirror away. Another boldly tells the mirror she "won't be guided by a glass that's so one-sided." Grumbles from the Forest is a bewitching brew of voices - grumbling, pleading, bragging, reminiscing, confiding - that bubbles with magic and wonder.

Teacher Resources

ESL:

Matching Books & Readers: Helping English Learners in Grades K-6

- Nancy L. Hadaway and Terrell A. Young
Providing practical guidance and resources, this book helps teachers harness the power of children's literature for developing ELLs' literacy skills and language proficiency. The authors show how carefully selected fiction, nonfiction, and poetry can support students' learning across the curriculum. Criteria and guiding questions are presented for matching books and readers based on text features, literacy and language proficiency, and student background knowledge and interests. --from publisher description

Literacy:

Inclusive Literacy: Lessons for Early Childhood - Pam Schiller and Clarissa Willis

A collection of one hundred literacy lessons designed to introduce, develop, and help children practice literacy skills and concepts. The lessons also include adaptations for children with special needs and for second language learners.

I See What You Mean: Visual Literacy K-8 - Steve Moline
Some educators may view diagrams, pictures, and charts as nice add-on tools for students who are visual thinkers. But Steve Moline sees visual literacy as fundamental to learning and to what it means to be human. --from publisher description

Math:
Dice Activities for Algebraic Thinking - Chet Delani and Mary Saltus
 "Activities ... created to engage students in developing fluency with the mathematical concepts of square number, square root, prime number, factorials, summation, integers, and exponential notation"--P. iii (for grades 5-8)

Geometric Constructions and Investigations with a Mira™
- Ernest Woodward and Thomas Hamel
Reproducible book features 21 lessons. Each lesson includes full teaching notes, answers, and reproducible transparency and worksheet masters. Lessons include an introduction to the MIRA™, reflections of lines and triangles, symmetry, and congruence(for grades 6 and up)

Mira™ Math Activities for Elementary School
Look at geometry through a child’s eye. The many illustrated games and puzzles use the MIRA™ to introduce concepts of symmetry, congruence, parallel and perpendicular lines, angles, and other ideas.

MIRA™ Math Activities for High School
A sequenced review of transformational geometry with the MIRA™, starting at a 7th grade level and moving upward. Topics include properties of perpendicular lines, reflection, symmetry, and motion.

Science & STEM:
Hands-On Engineering: Real-World Projects for the Classroom - Beth L. Andrews
The author presents 26 projects--each with a teacher's guide, photocopiable worksheet, and additional project ideas--for which students use design and engineering methodologies to investigate and build their own solutions. (for grades 4-7)

Bringing Outdoor Science In: Thrifty Classroom Lessons - Steve Rich
Presents more than fifty science lessons for grades K through 6, arranged in six units: greening the school, insects, plants, rocks and soils, water, and in the sky. (for grades K-8)

Inquiring Scientists, Inquiring Readers: Using Nonfiction to Promote Science Literacy
- Jessica Fries-Gaither and Terry Shiverdecker
Provides guidance and resources for using nonfiction text to teach science in grades three through five, including instructions for eight units, an annotated list of books, student worksheets, and more.(for grades 3-5)

New "Big Books"

The Tiny Seed - Eric CarleA simple description of a flowering plant's life cycle through the seasons.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
 An alphabet rhyme/chant that relates what happens when the whole alphabet tries to climb a coconut tree.

Missing Mittens - Stuart J. Murphy
As a farmer tries to find the correct number of mittens for his various farmyard animals, the reader is introduced to odd and even numbers.

If You Give a Pig a Pancake - Laura Numeroff
One thing leads to another when you give a pig a pancake.

Mouse Paint - Ellen Stoll Walsh
Three white mice discover jars of red, blue, and yellow paint and explore the world of color.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear - Don and Audrey Wood
A little mouse picks a ripe strawberry and tries to hide it from a bear. He finally decides the only way to keep it from the bear is to eat it.

New Picture Books

Night Light - Nicholas BlechmanCount the lights and, through die-cut pages, find out which vehicle they belong to.
Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas!: A Toon Book - Philippe Coudray
Benjamin Bear, accompanied by his faithful rabbit friend, continues to share his observations and questions about the world around him.

Saturday is Dadurday - Robin Pulver
"For Mimi, the best day of the week is always Saturday, the day she gets to spend with just her Dad. But when Dad's work takes him away from Mimi one Saturday, 'Dadurday' is ruined. Can Mimi find a way to save 'Dadurday' and still make it special for her and her Dad?"-- Provided by publisher

Sailing the Unknown: Around the World with Captain Cook - Michael J. Rosen
"A sailor boy named Nick travels the uncharted world of the late 1700s in this illustrated account of the historic three-year voyage of the British vessel Endeavour and its captain, James Cook."--Provided by publisher


Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song - Andrea Davis Pinkney
Explores the intersecting lives of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson at the historic moment when their joined voices inspired landmark changes.

Is It Big or Is It Little? - Claudia Rueda
A cat and mouse chase demonstrates such concepts as deep and shallow, scary and scared, and beginning and end.

Bluebird - Bob Staake
"A wordless picture book about the inspiring friendship that develops between a bluebird and a young boy."--Provided by publisher

Ol' Mama Squirrel - David Ezra Stein
Ol' Mama Squirrel has raised many babies and kept them all safe from predators, but she may have met her match when a determined grizzly bear threatens to eat her entire family tree.

The Very Big Carrot - Satoe Tone
Six imaginative rabbits consider what they might make from an unusually large carrot they have found.

New Middle Grade Fiction

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket

While this series is certainly not new, it is new to our collection. We've had many requests for it and are happy to be able to now provide all 13 titles in the series!
"If you have not read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted, but their lives are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched and will most likely fill you with deep despair." (lemonysnicket.com)
 The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The End


Artemis Fowl series - Eoin Colfer
 The following titles have been added to the series:
The Arctic Incident
The Time Paradox
The Atlantis Complex
The Last Guardian

Friends of Liberty - Beatrice Gormley
Sally Gifford, a Patriot shoemaker's daughter, tries to maintain her close friendship with Kitty Lawton, the daughter of a Loyalist official, as pre-Revolutionary War tensions in 1773 Boston increase and push them apart.

Paperboy - Vince Vawter
When an eleven-year-old boy takes over a friend's newspaper route in July, 1959, in Memphis, his debilitating stutter makes for a memorable month.

P.S. Be Eleven - Rita Williams-Garcia
The Gaither sisters are back in Brooklyn, where changes large and small come to their household as they grow up during the turbulent 1960s.

Elementary & Middle Grade Fiction

Grades 3-6

 A Tangle of Knots - Lisa Graff
"Destiny leads 11-year-old Cady to a peanut butter factory, a family of children searching for their own Talents, and a Talent Thief who will alter her life forever"--Provided by publisher. (Includes cake recipes)

LuLu and the Dog from the Sea - Hilary McKay
Seven-year-old Lulu and her cousin think their vacation house is the most perfect place ever until they find a trouble-prone, stray dog living on the beach.

Blufton - Matt Phelan
The year is 1908, and a troupe of vaudeville performers has arrived in sleepy Muskegon, Michigan to spend the summer. Young Henry Harrison is fascinated with the animals and performers, but mostly with a slapstick performer his own age named Buster Keaton, who is also a master prankster and loves to play baseball.

Grades 5-8

The Reluctant Assassin - Eoin Colfer
In Victorian London, Albert Garrick, an assassin-for-hire, and his reluctant young apprentice, Riley, are transported via wormhole to modern London, where Riley teams up with a young FBI agent to stop Garrick from returning to his own time and using his newly acquired scientific knowledge and power to change the world forever. W.A.R.P. Book 1

Doll Bones - Holly Black
Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl.

The Sea of Monsters (graphic novel) - Rick Riordan
After discovering a secret that makes him question the honor of being the son of Poseidon, demi-god Percy Jackson journeys into the Sea of Monsters in an attempt to save Camp Half-Blood.

New Picture Books

If You Want to See a Whale - Julie FoglianoAdvises the reader about what to do, and not do, in order to successfully spot a whale, such as wrapping up in a not-too-cozy blanket, ignoring the roses, and especially, being patient.

A Good Trade - Alma Fullteron
When Kato heads to the village well to pump a day's supply of water into two jerry cans, he discovers the aid-worker's truck has arrived with a special gift for his village.

Lazy Daisy, Cranky Frankie - Mary Ellen Jordan and Andrew Weldon
During the day on an unusual farm, Daisy the lazy cow would rather eat jelly than grass, Frankie the cranky dog watches television instead of sheep, and the other animals behave equally oddly but at night, all are good at sleeping.

Ready and Waiting for You - Judi Moreillon
"Warm and friendly characters welcome a new student to the first day of school"-- Provided by publisher

The Kindhearted Crocodile - Lucia Panzieri
A crocodile that longs to be a pet sneaks into a house, hides in the pages of a picture book during the day, and comes out at night to do kind and useful things for the family while they sleep.

The Watermelon Seed - Greg Pizzoli
After swallowing a watermelon seed, a crocodile imagines a scary outcome.

Spike & Ike Take a Hike - S.D. Schindler
Spike the hedgehog and Ike the coatimundi go on a lively walk through the ever-changing landscape, meeting other animals along the way. Lots of rhyming words and alliteration - great for beginning readers!

A Big Guy Took My Ball! - Mo Willems
Piggie is upset because a whale took the ball she found, but Gerald finds a solution that pleases all of them.

New Nonfiction Picture Books for Science

Look Up! Bird-watching in Your Own Backyard - Annette LeBlanc CateA conversational, humorous introduction to bird-watching featuring quirky full-color illustrations portray dozens of birds chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types.

Barnum's Bones - Tracey Fern
Documents the work of an early twentieth-century paleontologist, named after the famous circus icon by his ambitious parents, who grew up to work for the American Museum of Natural History and discovered the first documented skeletons of the Tyrannosaurus Rex and other noteworthy species.

Frog Song - Brenda Z. Guiberson
Discusses frog vocalizations and behavior in locations all over the world.




Animal Groups are CATegorical series - Brian P. Cleary
This series uses rhyming text and humorous illustrations to introduce young readers to the major animal groups. Each title playfully highlights the key characteristics of the featured animal group and offers many examples of animals in that group.

Butterfly, Flea, Beetle, and Bee: What is an Insect?

Catfish, Cod, Salmon, and Scrod: What is a Fish?

Dolphin, Fox, Hippo, and Ox: What is a Mammal?

Salamander, Frog, and Polliwog: What is an Amphibian?

Sparrow, Eagle, Penguin, and Seagull: What is a Bird?