New Children's Books

My Dad, John McCain - Meghan McCain
This picture book biography, written with great love and insight by his oldest daughter, writer Meghan McCain, shows us the public John McCain and the personal John McCain in a way we've never seen before--making this American hero come to life before young eyes.

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope - Nikki Grimes
Full-color illustrations and easy-to-follow text presents a narrative description of the life of politician Barack Obama, beginning with his childhood in Hawaii, his family, his education, and professional achievements.

Mail Harry to the Moon - Robie H. Harris
Harry's older brother, unhappy that the new baby seems to have taken over, dreams up imaginative ways to get rid of him.

U.S. Navy Alphabet Book - Sammie Garnett
An alphabet book describing the personnel, ships, equipment, weapons, and history of the United States Navy.


Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak - Kay Winters
Kay Winters' poems in the voices of different colonists, enhanced by historical notes, provide a glimpse into life in colonial times and the dramatic events of a famous rebellion.

Madeline and the Cats of Rome - John Bemelmans Marciano
The orphan Madeline catches a thief and makes a friend in Rome.

Duel!: Burr and Hamilton's Deadly War of Words - Dennis Brindell Fradin
In the early morning hours of July 11, 1804, two men stood facing each other on a New Jersey cliff side. One was the U.S. vice president, Aaron Burr, and the other was Alexander Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury. They were ready to fight to the death for honor.



Sisters & Brothers: Sibling Relationships in the Animal World - Steve Jenkins
An illustrated picture book that investigates sibling relationships within the animal kingdom.

New PE Books

Soccer: Steps to Success - Joseph A. Luxbacher
This comprehensive guide contains progressive instruction for optimal learning of individual techniques and team tactics. Discusses dribbling, passing, receiving, shooting, defending, tackling, heading, and goalkeeping with the help of clear, detailed descriptions and accompanying illustrations of all fundamental techniques and variations. Explains how and when to apply these skills in game situations, such as winning one-on-one matchups or attacking and defending individually or as part of a team. Includes more than 155 drills.

Teaching Middle School Physical Education - Bonnie S. Mohnsen
Physical education in a changing world -- Reform efforts in the middle school -- The role of physical education in middle school -- The physical education environment -- The psychological environment -- Creating the curriculum foundation -- Planning a course of study -- Assessing and grading your students -- Understanding today's learner -- Improving your teaching effectiveness -- Teaching styles and strategies to meet learners' needs -- Selecting instructional materials and management tools -- Continuing to grow as a professional -- A fifth grade program: manipulating objects efficiently and effectively -- A sixth grade program: learning skills through cooperation -- A seventh grade program: taking acceptable risks through problem solving -- An eighth grade program: working as a team to develop strategies for success

New YA Book

Brisingr - Christopher Paolini
The further adventures of Eragon and his dragon Saphira as they continue to aid the Varden in the struggle against the evil king, Galbatorix. Book 3 in the Inheritance series.

New YA Books

Would You - Marthe Jocelyn
When her beloved sister, Claire, steps in front of a car and winds up in a coma, Nat's anticipated summer of working, hanging around with friends, and seeing Claire off to college is transformed into a nightmare of doctors, hospitals, and well-meaning neighbors.

Ringside 1925 - Jen Bryant
Visitors, spectators, and residents of Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925 describe, in a series of free-verse poems, the Scopes "monkey trial" and its effects on that small town and its citizens.

New Graphic Format Book

The Lindbergh Child - Rick Geary
All was well for Charles Lindbergh, after his daring solo crossing of the Atlantic. Fame and fortune came quickly. Soon after the Lindbergh's build themselves their dream home far from the madding crowd, tragedy strikes--their baby is abducted.

New Children's Books

The Little Yellow Leaf - Carin Berger
A yellow leaf is not ready to fall from the tree when autumn comes, but finally, after finding another leaf still on the tree, the two let go together.

Old Bear - Kevin Henkes
When Old Bear falls asleep for the winter, he has a dream that he is a cub again, enjoying each of the four seasons.

New Children's and YA Books

Baron von Baddie and the Ice Ray Incident - George McClements
When Baron von Baddie defeats his nemesis, Captain Kapow, he discovers that it is not as much fun to create chaos and engage in bad behavior if no one tries to stop him.

Rapunzel's Revenge - Shannon and Dean Hale
Rapunzel is raised in a grand villa surrounded by towering walls. Rapunzel dreams of a different mother than Gothel, the woman she calls Mother. She climbs over the wall and finds out the truth. Her real mother, Kate, is a slave in Gothel's gold mine. In this Old West retelling, Rapunzel uses her hair as a lasso and to take on outlaws--including Gothel.

New YA Book

Pilgrim's Progress - retold by Gary D. Schmidt
The pilgrim Christian undertakes the dangerous journey to the Celestial City, experiencing physical and spiritual obstacles along the way.

September 2008 Newsletter

Children's and Young Adult Literature Database

Thanks to Eric Svendsen in Computer Services, there is a new enhancement to the Children's and Young Adult Literature Database this fall. Users can now put books in a Book Bag while using the database. Once the Book Bag is complete, users can then print their lists or email the results to any email address. In addition, the display for each hit now shows the call number of the book; previously, users had to go to the library catalog to find the call numbers. Click here to take a look at the new and improved database, which now contains just under 5000 titles.

Websites of the Month

Teachers are sure to need reliable information about the upcoming election. Scholastic News Online's Countdown to Election 2008 is a great site with excellent coverage of all aspects of the election. It is updated daily with a countdown clock, news updates and more. Scroll down to see Games and Quizzes. Teachers, be sure to take a look at For Teachers for lesson plans and more.

The Ohio Social Studies Resource Center has also added a special Election 2008 Resources section to their homepage. Just scroll down a little ways to find links to such resources as CSPAN's Road to the White House and Weekly Reader's Election Central.

New Materials

Over the summer, many new resources were added to the CMC collection, including a new choral music curriculum, additional books in MacMillan/McGraw Hill's elementary science series for Ohio classrooms, and a large number of trade books. To see the resources added just in August, please click here.

New YA Books

The Possibilities of Sainthood - Donna Freitas
While regularly petitioning the Vatican to make her the first living saint, fifteen-year-old Antonia Labella prays to assorted patron saints for everything from help with preparing the family's fig trees for a Rhode Island winter to getting her first kiss from the right boy.

Grim Tuesday (Book 2 of The Keys to the Kingdom) - Garth Nix
Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from his enemy Grim Tuesday in order to save the world. Arthur doesn't think he will ever have to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday -- the house that contains an entire world. But Tuesday brings new challenges -- in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the well-being of both Arthur's family and his world.

New Children's Books

The Dog Who Belonged to No One - Amy Hest
The hard-working daughter of two bakers and a perfectly nice stray dog live lonely lives in the same town, until they meet one very stormy day.

Wee Little Chick - Lauren Thompson
When the other barnyard animals comment on how tiny the littlest chick is, the proud little one peeps louder, stands taller, and runs faster than any of them.

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.