New YA Books

Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X. Stork
Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

A Curse Dark as Gold - Elizabeth C. Bunce
Upon the death of her father, seventeen-year-old Charlotte struggles to keep the family's woolen mill running in the face of an overwhelming mortgage and what the local villagers believe is a curse, but when a man capable of spinning straw into gold appears on the scene she must decide if his help is worth the price. William C. Morris Debut Award

Alice's Shooting Star - Tim Kennemore
Middle sister Alice helps her family recognize that her exuberant younger sister Rosie's accounts of her day are creative stories rather than lies.

The Last Thing I Remember - Andrew Klavan
High school student Charlie West awakens bloody and bruised in a concrete bunker, only to discover that he has lost a year of his life and remembers nothing about escaping from prison after being convicted of murdering his former best friend, or why he is being pursued by both the law and a group of terrorists trying to bring down the government of the United States.

New Picture Books

Naughty Little Monkeys - Jim Aylesworth
Mom thinks all twenty-six of her monkeys are angelic, but from Andy's wayward airplane to Zelda's trip to the zoo, these little ones find a way to get into mischief for each letter of the alphabet.

Butterflies in My Stomach and Other School Hazards - Serge Bloch
On the first day of school, a student is confused by many of the phrases that are used, such as when the librarian says not to open a can of worms, or when the teacher says he expects the class to be busy bees doing their homework.

Our Abe Lincoln - Jim Aylesworth
Rhythmic verse tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's life, from his childhood in the wilderness of Illinois to his famous achievements as president.

The Black Book of Colors - Menena Cottin
This title invites readers to imagine living without sight through remarkable illustrations done with raised lines and descriptions of colors based on imagery. Braille letters accompany the illustrations and a full Braille alphabet offers sighted readers help reading along with their fingers.

One - Kathryn Otoshi
A number/color book reminding us that it just takes one to make everyone count.

Tacky Goes to Camp - Helen Lester
Tacky the penguin and his friends go to Camp Whoopihaha where they scare each other by telling ghost stories around the campfire, never expecting that one of the frightening stories will come true.

Tackylocks and the Three Bears - Helen Lester
Tacky the penguin and his friends perform a play for the little penguins in Mrs. Beakly's class, but with Tacky in the lead role, things do not go exactly as planned.

Little Beauty - Anthony Browne
When a gorilla who knows sign language tells his keepers that he is lonely, they bring him a very special friend.

Home on the Range: John A. Lomax and His Cowboy Songs - Deborah Hopkinson
As a child, John Avery Lomax loved the songs he heard the cowboys singing along the nearby Chisholm Trail. He began writing them down at an early age. As John grew older, he traveled the country collecting and recording cowboy songs, helping to preserve many favorites.

There's a Wolf at the Door: Five Classic Tales - Zoe B. Alley
As his plans are spoiled over and over again, the wolf keeps trying to find his dinner, in this retelling of five well-known stories and fables.

New Youth Bible

Manga Bible
Includes manga versions of the creation story, a history of the Israelites through the destruction of Jerusalem, and the life of Jesus.

New YA Books

Carolina Harmony - Marilyn Taylor McDowell
In the summer of 1964, Carolina is a runaway hiding out at Harmony Farm in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Harmony's, Mr. Ray and Miss Latah treat Carolina as their own and wait for her to reveal her secret. But Carolina doesn't want to reveal the accident that claimer her parents and her younger brother and the surrogate grandmother who cared for Carolina until illness forced Carolina to go to a foster home. Russell, a troublemaker who runs away from the foster home where Carolina was, comes to Harmony Farm. Then something so terrible happens that Carolina must run away again.

You Know Where to Find Me - Rachel Cohn
In the wake of her cousin's suicide, overweight and introverted seventeen-year-old Miles experiences significant changes in her relationships with her mother and father, her best friend Jamal and his family, and her cousin's father, while gaining insights about herself, both positive and negative.

Peace, Locomotion - Jacqueline Woodson
Through letters to his little sister, who is living in a different foster home, sixth-grader Lonnie, also known as "Locomotion," keeps a record of their lives while they are apart, describing his own foster family, including his foster brother who returns home after losing a leg in the Iraq War.

The Devil's Paintbox - Victoria McKernan
In 1865, fifteen-year-old Aiden and his thirteen-year-old sister Maddy, penniless orphans, leave drought-stricken Kansas on a wagon train hoping for a better life in Seattle, but find there are still many hardships to be faced.

Zorgamazoo - Robert Paul Weston
Imaginative and adventurous Katrina eludes her maniacal guardian to help Morty, a member of a vanishing breed of zorgles, with his quest to uncover the fate of the fabled zorgles of Zorgmazoo as well as of other creatures that seem to have disappeared from the earth.

Burn My Heart - Beverley Naidoo
Matthew and Mungo, boys with a different skin color and culture, have a friendship that is tested during the Mau Mau bid for national independence.

Crown of Horns (Bone #9) - Jeff Smith
It's full-fledged war as Briar, the rat creatures, and the Pawan army storm the city of Atheia. The Bone cousins, Thorn, and Gran'ma Ben are all there to defend the Valley and stop the return of the Lord of the Locusts. When Thorn goes inside a ghost circle, she hears a voice urging her to seek the Crown of Horns. What follows is another dangerous journey for Thorn and loyal Fone Bone as they race to the sacred grounds of the dragons, searching for the one thing that may save them all. This is the breathtaking conclusion to Jeff Smith's nine-book graphic novel series.

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith - Deborah Heiligman
Charles Darwin and his wife, Emma, were deeply in love and very supportive of each other, but their opinions often clashed. Emma was extremely religious, and Charles questioned God's very existence.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christian Teen Talk - Jack Canfield
A collection of 101 of the best stories and poems from Chicken Soup's library, written by Christian teens for other Christian teens to provide them with stories about the ups and downs of being a teenager, but from a devout Christian perspective. Stories deal with school, friends, love, family, growing up, puberty, and tough issues such as teen suicide, pregnancy, illness, death, and substance abuse.

New Children's Books

Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book - Ed Emberley
Shows how to make pictures by using one's fingerprints and a few dots and lines.

Do Kangaroos Wear Seat Belts? - Jane Kurtz
On a visit to the zoo, a little boy imagines what it would be like to be various animals, such as a hippopotamus or a penguin, and listens as his mother explains how all parents keep their young ones safe.

Tacky and the Emperor - Helen Lester
While awaiting a visit from the Emperor, a group of penguins fail to recognize their friend Tacky in the Emperor's clothes.

Annie Oakley: Wild West Sharpshooter - Jason Porterfield
Profiles Phoebe Ann Moses, the star sharpshooter of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show under the name Annie Oakley, who began shooting to help feed her family after her father's death.

Living in the Australian Outback - Jane Bingham
Looks at the ways in which the Aboriginal people have adapted to life in the Australian outback, describing their beliefs, art and artists, music and dance, body decoration, hunting and gathering skills, and use of plants and animals.

Australian Rainforest Animals - Steve Parish
Features information on Australian rainforest animals such as wallabies, dragons, and geckos, photographed in their natural habitats.

New Music Curriculum

Spotlight on Music
Teacher's editions for grades 1-8

New Children's Books

Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug - Mark Newgarden
A wordless picture book about a persistent terrier who spends a day following a bug through his neighborhood. Buckeye Children's Book Award

You never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! - Jonah Winter
In this striking picture book biography, an old-timer tells us what made Sandy Koufax so amazing. We learn that the beginning of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers was rocky, that he was shy with his teammates, and experienced discrimination as one of the only Jews in the game. We hear that he actually quit, only to return the next season--different--firing one rocket after another over the plate. We watch him refuse to play in the 1965 World Series because it is a Jewish high holy day. And we see him in pain because of an overused left arm, eventually retiring at the peak of his career. Finally, we are told that people are still "scratchin' their heads over Sandy," who remains a modest hero and a mystery to this day.

The Snow Day - Komako Sakai
A little rabbit enjoys having a day off from kindergarten and spending time with his mother during a snowstorm, but his father's flight home is cancelled until the snow stops falling.

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream - Tanya Lee Stone
Profiles thirteen women who challenged social norms and government policies to prove they could be exceptional astronauts.

Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator - Shelley Tanaka
Ever since Amelia Earhart and her plane disappeared on July 2, 1937, people have wanted to know more about this remarkable woman. Amelia Earhart follows the charismatic aviator from her first sight of an airplane at the age of ten to the last radio transmission she made before she vanished. Illustrated with original artworks, contemporary photographs, quotes, and details, this is a great introduction to the famous pilot. Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

A Foot in the Mouth - Paul Janeczko
A collection of lively rhymes and tricky tongue twisters, poems for more than one voice, bilingual poems -- from classic Shakespeare and Lear to anonymous rhymes to contemporary riffs on everything under the sun. These poems just might inspire kids to memorize them!

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Phillip Hoose
The account of Claudette Colvin, a little-known civil rights figure whose story provides a fresh perspective on the Montgomery bus protest of 1955-56.

Telling Time with Big Mama Cat - Barry Moser
A cat describes her activities at various times throughout the day from morning to night. Features a clock with movable hands.

Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson
This is the story of Greg Mortenson's first building project in Pakistan.

New Teaching Aids

States and Capitals Pocket Flash Cards
Contains 50 state cards, 3 outlying area cards, and 3 activity cards that teach about the states of the United States. Each card contains information on the state's capital, state bird, state flower, industries, admission to the union, etc.

Play Money
Contains play bills and coins of various denominations in large tray. Includes suggested extension activities. For ages 3 and up.

Cross Section Brain Model
Soft foam cross-section model of the human brain. For grades 2 and up.

Cross Section Heart Model
Soft foam cross-section model of the human heart. For grades 2 and up.


U.S. States and Capitals Bingo
Teaches the states of the United States and their capitals. For 3 to 36 players, ages 8 and up.


Antonyms Bingo
Builds vocabulary while teaching antonyms for 60 words. For 3 to 36 players, ages 8 and up.

U.S.A. Bingo
Teaches state capitals, nicknames, and more. For 3 to 36 players, ages 8 and up.




Survival Signs & Symbols Flash Cards
Contains 75 signs and their definitions. Includes activity ideas.

U.S. States and Capitals Flash Cards
Contains 109 cards: 50 state cards, 55 state and territory fact cards, 2 U.S. cards, 1 capital card, and 1 resource card. For ages 8 and up

New Music Curriculum

Jazz for Young People Curriculum - from Jazz at Lincoln Center
Based on Jazz at Lincoln Center's popular Jazz for young people concert series, this multimedia jazz appreciation curriculum is designed for upper elementary/middle school students and beyond. The curriculum explores core concepts and major figures in jazz through accessible, interactive lessons that demonstrate the exuberant, rich cultural heritage, and definitive musical elements inherent in jazz.

New Children's Video

White Mane
In the south of France, in a vast plain region called the Camargue, lives White Mane, a magnificent stallion and the leader of a herd of wild horses too proud to be broken by humans. Only Folco, a young fisherman, can tame him. A strong friendship grows between the boy and the horse, as the two go looking for the freedom that the world of men won't allow them.

New Children's Books

Rhyming Dust Bunnies - Jan Thomas
As three dust bunnies, Ed, Ned, and Ted, are demonstrating how much they love to rhyme, a fourth, Bob, is trying to warn them of approaching danger.

The Lion Encyclopedia of World Religions - David Self
A full-color, illustrated introduction to the origins, festivals, and beliefs of six major world religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, along with other East Asian and modern religious beliefs.