Nonfiction

Julie Andrews' Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year
A collection of illustrated poems and songs for children, celebrating holidays and events throughout the calendar year, including verses Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein, and others, and featuring introductions by Julie Andrews, in which she describes memories of holiday and family moments.

Cold, Crunchy, Colorful: Using Our Senses - Jane Brocket
Combining simple text with gorgeous photos, the latest addition to Jane Brocket's Clever Concepts series encourages children to use all five of their senses (and the corresponding body parts associated with those senses) to investigate the world around them.


A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin - Jen Bryant
Presents an illustrated introduction to the life and work of artist Horace Pippin, describing his childhood love for drawing and the World War I injury that challenged his career.



What Do Authors and Illustrators Do? - Eileen Christelow
Children's books tell stories with words and often with pictures, too. In What Do Authors Do? Christelow shows how an idea blossoms into a final book in colorful watercolors and comic book-style frames. In What Do Illustrators Do?, two artists create their own versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, from rough sketch to finished artwork. Includes creative writing and drawing exercises.

The Scraps Book: Notes From a Colorful Life - Lois Ehlert
Presents a visual survey of Lois Ehlert's artistic career that reflects on her parents' support, her early creative experiments and her behind-the-scenes book-making processes.

The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees: A Scientific Mystery - Sandra Markle
Honeybees are a crucial part of our food chain. As they gather nectar from flowers to make sweet honey, these bees also play an important role in pollination, helping some plants produce fruit. But large numbers of honeybees are disappearing every year ... and no one knows why. Is a fungus killing them? Could a poor diet be the cause? What about changes to bees' natural habitat? In this real-life science mystery, scientists and beekeepers are working to answer these questions ... and save the world's honeybees before it's too late.

The Secret Pool - Kimberly Ridley
A look at vernal pools, which form every year when low places on the forest floor fill up with rain and melted snow.

Preschool & Elementary Books

The Cart That Carried Martin - Even Bunting (nonfiction)
Introduces young readers to details about Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral.

Musk Ox Counts - Erin Cabatingan
Musk Ox and Zebra are back...and trying to make it through a counting book. As usual, Musk Ox has his own ideas and Zebra does not fail to show his frustration trying to get Musk Ox back on track. Will they make it from 1-10, or will their efforts end in annoyance?

Friends - Eric Carle
When his friend moves away, a boy sets out on a journey to find her.

Two Little Birds - Mary Newell DePalma
Two little birds make their first grand migration south, and later return home to start new families.


Here I Am - Patti Kim
"Tells the story in pictures of a family newly immigrated to the United States and the challenges of starting a life in a new place."--Provided by publisher

Thomas the Toadilly Terrible Bully - Janice Levy
After feeling ignored in his new town, a young toad tries to act like a bully but learns the value of being a good friend instead.


Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems - J. Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian
Presents thirteen poems about wacky, imaginative cars, including the "Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy," the "Bathtub Limousine," and the "High Heel Car."

Pantone Color Puzzles: 6 Color-Matching Puzzles
In this fourth offering for the preschool set, children learn to match shades of each of the six basic colors in a self-correcting format. Each spread focuses on variations of a single color category (such as purple), featuring a full-bleed tonal illustration on the left side of the spread and a grid of shades on the right. The illustration has four removable puzzle pieces that fit into the four associated quadrants, arranged by shade. This puzzle book enables young children to further their color familiarity in a uniquely engaging way, strengthening both their visual acuity and their spatial and fine motor skills. An appropriately challenging and satisfying matching book for toddlers, preschoolers, and color-conscious adults.

God's Love for You Bible Storybook - Rich and Renee Stearns
Traditional Bible favorites and faith stories from children show kids that God's love reaches all the way around the globe.

New Nonfiction

Parrots Over Puerto Rico - Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore
Winner of the 2014 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for the most distinguished informational book for children.
A combined history of the Puerto Rican parrot and the island of Puerto Rico, highlighting current efforts to save the Puerto Rican parrot by protecting and managing this endangered species.

The Big Book of Art - Herve Tullet
This spiral-bound, divided-page book with die-cuts encourages children to look at art from every angle, mixing and matching to create their own masterpieces.




Arctic Animals series - Julie Murray
Readers travel to the Arctic Circle to learn about each animal's body structure, diet, life cycle, social behavior, habitat, predators, and ways of defense. Simple, labeled maps highlight the animal's home territory. Background information about the Arctic is also given, as well as threats to the animal's survival. Grades 2-5.
Arctic Foxes
Beluga Whales
Polar Bears
Puffins
Snowy Owls
Walruses

Nonfiction

Grades 3-6

Get Into Art: Animals - Susie Brooks

Introduces children to the world of art while encouraging budding artists to develop their own artistic abilities. Accomplished artists, along with some of their famous pieces and techniques are presented, then followed up with an art project reminiscent of each artist's work or genre. Perfect for active young artists of all abilities.

 

Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More: A History with 21 Activities - Mary Kay Carson

Tracing the evolution of humankind's pursuit of astronomical knowledge, this resource looks deep into the furthest reaches of space. Children will follow along as the realization that the Earth is not at the center of the universe leads all the way up to recent telescopic proof of planets orbiting stars outside the solar system. In addition to its engaging history, this book contains 21 hands-on projects to further explore the subjects discussed. Readers will build a three-dimensional representation of the constellation Orion.

Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette
- Selene Castrovilla
An account of the friendship between the first American president when he was an officer in the Continental Army and the young Marquis de Lafayette describes how the latter came to America to offer his services before earning a military position and Washington's admiration.

Locomotive - Brian Floca
Learn what it was like to travel on the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.





Grades 5-8
Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing - Leonard S. Marcus
Describes the life and work of English illustrator Randolph Caldecott and his influence on the modern picture book.

Grades 9-12
Thrice Told Tales: Three Mice Full of Writing Advice - Catherine Lewis
Uses the "Three Blind Mice" nursery rhyme to illustrate key elements of writing and literature, including plot, mechanics, foreshadowing, point of view, character, style, and dialogue.

New Nonfiction & Biographies for Elementary Grades

Nonfiction
Ocean Sunlight - Molly Bang
Explains how all life on the Earth depends, directly or indirectly, on light from the sun, and describes how all ocean life, from the tiniest plankton to great whales, including the creatures in the darkest depths, form a web that uses sunshine.

Awesome Snake Science! 40 Activities for Learning About Snakes - Cindy Blobaum
Discusses the various types of snakes found around the world, and offers games, activities, and experiments for hand-on learning.

Ruby, Violet, Lime: Looking for Color - Jane Brocket
Presents brightly colored photograph illustrations that demonstrate the three primary colors and three secondary colors, as well as brown, pink, black, white, gray, silver, and gold.

 Spotty, Stripy, Swirly: What are Patterns? - Jane Brocket
A collection of colorful photographs demonstrating different repeating patterns, including simple and complicated patterns in a variety of different materials.

Island: A Story of the Galápagos - Jason Chin
An island is about to be born- one that in time will become the home of plants and animals that exist nowhere else on Earth. This book is the biography of a Galápagos island- from birth, through adolescence, to adulthood, and beyond.


Biographies

Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey - Gary Golio
Tells the story of the legendary jazz musician, from his deeply religious childhood to his career as a boundary-breaking musician who found inspiration in his own unique approach to both spirituality and music.

Colorful Dreamer: The Story of Artist Henri Matisse - Marjorie Blain Parker
Presents the life and work of the turn-of-the-20th-century French artist, imagines his art-inspired childhood and growth into becoming one of the most admired artists in the world.
 

Monsieur Marceau - Leda Schubert

A visual profile of the iconic mime combines lyrical text with artwork to offer insight into the man behind his famous "Bip the Clown" character and the artistry that enabled him to communicate wordlessly and vibrantly.

New Picture Books

Santa from Cincinnati - Judi Barrett
A baby in Cincinnati whose first words are "ho ho ho" grows up to become Santa Claus.

Nightsong - Ari Berk
Chiro, a young bat, is nervous about flying into the world for the first time without his mother, especially on a very dark night, but he soon learns to rely on his "song" to find his way and stay safe.

Who Built the Stable? - Ashley Bryan
A shepherd boy apprenticed to his carpenter father builds a stable and then welcomes two weary travelers from Nazareth.


Seed by Seed - Esme Raji Codell
Recounts the life of John Chapman, the legendary Johnny Appleseed.


All the Awake Animals are Almost Asleep - Crescent Dragonwagon
Illustrations and rhyming text portray an alphabet of animals as they prepare to go to sleep.


The Ant and the Grasshopper - Rebecca Emberley
In this version of the classic fable, a weary ant is energized by the swinging sounds of a grasshopper and his "buggy" band.


Noah Webster and His Words - Jeri Chase Ferris
A portrait of the man who wrote the first U.S. dictionary traces his youth as a bookish Connecticut farm boy and his twenty-year effort to write the all-American dictionary that was published in 1828 when he was seventy years old.


Boot & Shoe - Marla Frazee
Boot and Shoe are dogs that live in the same house, eat from the same bowl, and sleep in the same bed but spend their days on separate porches until a squirrel mixes things up.


What's the Time, Mr. Wolf? - Debi Gliori
Mr. Wolf has a busy day. Starting his daily routine at seven o'clock, his schedule is packed from breakfast to bedtime. At nine o'clock the mail arrives, and he goes shopping at noon. Four o'clock is naptime, and surprise!...At six o'clock there is a big party in Mr. Wolf 's honor. Special guests include Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs, the Cat and the Fiddle and many more characters readers are sure to recognize. Huffing and puffing new life into favorite nursery rhymes, this charming story introduces telling time while showing readers that the Mr. Wolf isn't so big or bad after all. --From the publisher


I Have a Dream - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
An illustrated edition of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. Includes a CD with official recording of the speech.

Cold Snap - Eileen Spinelli
A cold snap has everyone in the town of Toby Mills feeling down, until the mayor's wife thinks of a way to warm things up again.

Mousterpiece: A Mouse-Sized Guide to Modern Art - Jane Breskin Zalben
Janson the mouse, who lives in a museum, becomes an acclaimed artist by copying the styles of paintings she sees there. Includes notes about the artists and works featured.

New Biographies

Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: Bringing Matisse to America - Susan Fillion
Recounts the lives of the Cone sisters, their travels, and their collection of Modern art from such artists as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

I.M. Pei: Architect of Time, Place, and Purpose - Jill Rubalcaba
A biography of the renowned architect that focuses on six of his signature buildings.

New Art Books

Art Up Close: From Ancient to Modern - Claire d'Harcourt
Invites the reader to search for tiny details hidden in famous works of art, providing information about each painting, the techniques used to create them, and how the artists and movements helped art to develop through the ages. Answer key features lift-up flaps.

Louvre Up Close - Claire d'Harcourt
This oversize, colorful companion to Art up close examines 24 reproductions of art housed in the Louvre accompanied by magnified details which readers can locate within each reproduction (answers are provided in the back, along with further information about the artist or artistic media).