Nonfiction for Younger Readers

What Happens Next? - Nicola Davies
Here's a hungry chameleon with a long, long tongue. And here's a big juicy caterpillar. Can you guess what happens next? What if a honeybee comes upon a beautiful patch of flowers, but the members of her hive don't know how to find her? Or if two chimps want to munch on termites that are out of reach deep inside a mound? Peek under large flaps to find out — and refresh your memory at the end!

Who Lives Here? - Nicola Davies
The jungle is warm and steamy. What kind of animal might live there, a snow goose or a sloth? What about a still, cool pond — could that be home for a howler monkey? Find out why meerkats like dry sunny grasslands (hint: they like to dig holes to hide in) or why clown fish feel right at home in a coral reef. Small flaps and a matching spread at the end make learning about habitats fun.

The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery
- Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin
Documents the efforts of an Ohio community to secure the freedom of escaped slave John Price, examining various aspects of Price's escape from Kentucky, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and the heroic showdown.

Cooking with Sunshine: How Plants Make Food - Ellen Lawrence
Takes readers step-by-step through a clear, grade-appropriate explanation of the process of photosynthesis. Children will learn how plants gather water and carbon dioxide and use sunlight to "cook" them up inside their leaves. The book also explains how plants make the oxygen.

Freaky Plant Facts: Extreme Greens - Ellen Lawrence
What's the tallest tree in the world? How many thousands of years has the oldest plant on Earth been around? Which plant has the biggest leaves, or the largest flowers? In this title, young readers are introduced to some of the plant kingdom's most amazing record-breakers! While children enjoy reading about some of the planet's most amazing plants, they will also be learning plenty of core science information about the parts of plants and plant life cycles.

What Lily Gets from Bee: And Other Pollination Facts - Ellen Lawrence
Explores how plants reproduce, and features a clear, accessible, step-by-step explanation of how insects and other animals pollinate flowers.

Nelson Mandela - Kadir Nelson
Presents a biography of the former South African president best known for his political activism and fight to end apartheid.

Becoming Babe Ruth - Matt Tavares
Before he is known as the Babe, George Herman Ruth is just a boy who lives in Baltimore and gets into a lot of trouble. But when he turns seven, his father brings him to the gates of Saint Mary's Industrial School for Boys, and his life is changed forever. At Saint Mary's, he's expected to study hard and follow a lot of rules. But there is one good thing about Saint Mary's: almost every day, George gets to play baseball. Here, under the watchful eye of Brother Matthias, George evolves as a player and as a man, and when he sets off into the wild world of big-league baseball, the school, the boys, and Brother Matthias are never far from his heart. With vivid illustrations and clear affection for his subject, Matt Tavares sheds light on an icon who learned early that life is what you make of it and sends home a message about honoring the place from which you came.

Nonfiction for Older Readers

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad - David A. AdlerA comprehensive introduction to the life and achievements of the heroic former slave details how after managing her own escape, Harriet Tubman returned thirteen times to guide other slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, in a portrait that also relates her subsequent contributions as a wartime cook, nurse, spy, and suffragist.

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different - Karen Blumenthal

Traces the inspiring life and career of the late founder of Apple, covering topics ranging from his struggles as an adopted child and a college dropout to his Buddhist faith and friendship with Steve Wozniak, in a portrait framed around his inspirational Stanford University commencement speech. A 2013 finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.

Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty - Tonya Bolden"...This book offers readers a unique look at the events that led to the Emancipation Proclamation. Filled with little-known facts and fascinating details, it includes excerpts from historical sources, archival images, and new research that debunks myths about the Emancipation Proclamation and its causes."--Amazon.com

Wild Horse Scientists - Kay FrydenborgTraces the work of two wildlife veterinarians who protect and chart the lives of Assateague Island's wild horses, describing their shared efforts to balance the horses' ecosystem and raise awareness.


Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 - Phillip HooseDocuments the survival tale of an intrepid shorebird who has endured annual migrations between Argentina and the Canadian Arctic throughout the course of a long lifetime while his species continues to decline.

New Picture Books

The Chickens Build a Wall - Jean-François Demont - When a friendly hedgehog visits the farm, the chickens build an enormous wall to keep out "prickly invaders."

The Matchbox Diary - Paul Fleischman - Follow a girl's perusal of her great-grandfather's collection of matchboxes and small curios that document his poignant immigration journey from Italy to a new country.

Betty Bunny Didn't Do It - Micahel B. Kaplan

When a young rabbit breaks a table lamp and blames the Tooth Fairy, her family explains the importance of honesty.

999 Frogs Wake Up - Ken Kimura

It's spring and 999 frogs wake up, they decide to awaken a still sleeping turtle, lizard, ladybugs, and a big snake.

Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? - David Levinthal and John Nickle
Police detective Binky investigates the theft of a golden goose, the poisoning of Snow White, and other fairy tale crimes.

Otis and the Puppy - Loren Long
When a puppy gets lost while playing hide and seek on the farm, Otis the friendly little tractor must face his fear of the darkness in order to help his new friend.

The McElderry Book of Mother Goose: Revered and Rare Rhymes - compiled by Petra Mathers
An illustrated collection of Mother Goose nursery rhymes, including well-known ones such as "Hey Diddle Diddle" and "The Queen of Hearts" and less familiar ones such as "Mother May I Go and Swim" and "Ten Little Penguins."

Take Me Out to the Yakyu - Aaron MeshonA little boy's grandfathers, one in America and one in Japan, teach him about baseball and its rich, varying cultural traditions.

Lucky Ducklings - Eva Moore
While following their mother through town, five little ducklings, Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin and Little Joe, all fall into a storm drain.



The Art of Miss Chew - Patricia Polacco
Describes how a teacher named Miss Chew encouraged individuality, and accepted learning differences, and helped a young student with academic difficulties get extra time to take tests and permission to be in advanced art classes. Inspired by the author's memories of her art teacher.

Bunnies on Ice - Johanna Wright
A confident and determined young rabbit demonstrates how to be a champion ice-skater.

New Audiobooks

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater


In all the years she has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house, Grace has been particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been watching her with increasing intensity.

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.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
Having survived the Hunger Games twice before, Katniss Everdeen is lucky to be alive.
However, she is far from safe. With the Capitol and President Snow blaming her for the strife plaguing District 12, Katniss must sacrifice herself to protect her loved ones.

Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction

A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return - Zeina Abirached

Living in the midst of civil war in Beirut, Lebanon, Zeina and her brother face an evening of apprehension when their parents do not return from a visit to the other side of the city. A 2013 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor book.

Perfect Escape - Jennifer Brown
Seventeen-year-old Kendra, living in the shadow of her brother's obsessive-compulsive disorder, takes a life-changing road trip with him.

Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
Sequel to Delirium. After falling in love, Lena and Alex flee their oppressive society where love is outlawed and everyone must receive "the cure"--an operation that makes them immune to the delirium of love--but Lena alone manages to find her way to a community of resistance fighters, and although she is bereft without the boy she loves, her struggles seem to be leading her toward a new love.

Requiem - Lauren Oliver
The final book in the Delirium trilogy. While Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland.

Runaway King - Jennifer A. Nielsen
Book Two in the 'Ascendance Trilogy'. Young King Jaron has taken the throne of Carthya, but after enemies attempt to assassinate him, and a neighboring kingdom threatens invasion, he finds that he has no friends in the palace, not even his bride-to-be, princess Amarinda--and his regents think it would be better for Carthya if he just disappeared again.

New Fiction

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover - Cece Bell
A 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor book.  Rabbit is excited about the sleepover he has carefully planned for his friend Robot, but Robot has some different ideas about how things should go.

Amelia Bedelia Means Business - Herman Parish
Young Amelia Bedelia will do almost anything for a shiny new bicycle. Her parents say they'll split the cost with her, and that means Amelia Bedelia needs to put the pedal to the metal and earn some dough! With Amelia Bedelia anything can happen, and it usually does.
 

A Dog Called Homeless - Sarah Lean Fifth-grader Cally Louise Fisher stops talking, partly because her father and brother never speak of her mother who died a year earlier, but visions of her mother, friendships with a homeless man and a disabled boy, and a huge dog ensure that she still communicates.

Young Adult Fiction
Insurgent - Veronica RothSequel to Divergent. As war surges in the dystopian society around her, sixteen-year-old Divergent Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

 Seraphina - Rachel Hartman
The William C. Morris Debut Award winner for 2013. In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept and develop her extraordinary musical talents.

New Picture Books

The Goldilocks Variations - Allan Ahlberg - Presents a traditional retelling of the "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" fairy tale as well as six variations on the classic story. On pop-up and lift-the-flap pages, with a minitature book.

Honey...Honey...Lion! A Story From Africa - Jan Brett - After working together to obtain honey, the African honey badger always shares it with his partner, the honeyguide bird, until one day when the honey badger becomes greedy and his feathered friend decides to teach him a lesson.

Itsy Bitsy Spider - Richard Egielski - An illustrated version of the classic nursery rhyme about a spider climbing a water spout on pop-up pages.        

Penny and Her Marble - Kevin Henkes

Penny feels guilty after taking a beautiful blue marble that she sees in Mrs. Goodwin's grass, but gets a pleasant surprise when she goes to return it the next day.

I, Too, Am America - Langston Hughes
The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner for 2013. Presents the popular poem by one of the central figures in the Harlem Renaissance, highlighting the courage and dignity of the African American Pullman porters in the early twentieth century.


Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons - Eric Litwin
Pete the cat loves the buttons on his shirt so much that he makes up a song about them, and even as the buttons pop off, one by one, he still finds a reason to sing. A 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor book.


Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding - Lenore Look
A Chinese American girl describes the festivities surrounding her uncle's Chinese wedding and the customs behind each one.

Ellen's Broom - Kelly Starling Lyons
A Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor book. Ellen has always known that the broom hanging on her family's cabin wall is a special symbol of her parents' wedding during slave days, so she proudly carries it to the courthouse when the marriage becomes legal.

H.O.R.S.E. : A Game of Basketball and Imagination - Christopher Myers
A Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award book. Two friends try to outdo each other on the basketball court in an out-of-this-world game of H.O.R.S.E.


Chopsticks - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"Not exactly a sequel to Spoon. More like a change in place setting." When a pair of chopsticks get separated, after some traumatic moments the two friends eventually learn to stand on their own.


It Jes' Happened: When Bill Tralor Started to Draw - Don Tate
A biography of twentieth-century African American folk artist Bill Traylor, a former slave who at the age of eighty-five began to draw pictures based on his memories and observations of rural and urban life in Alabama. Includes an afterword, author's note, and sources.

A Few Bites - Cybèle Young
When her brother Ferdie would rather play than eat, Viola spins a tale about how dinosaurs ate broccoli to escape predators and carrots provide alien super-vision, an effort repaid when Viola is tired and Ferdie presents a surprise.