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Summer Updates

New materials will not be listed during the summer months, but if you want to keep current about what's new in the CMC, you can check out this link.


Have a great summer!

New DVD on Internet Safety

Digital Footprint: Watch Where You Step
A digital footprint is the data trace left by one's activity in a digital environment, whether on the Internet, buying something with a credit card, or using a mobile phone. Like everything on the web, digital data cannot be washed away; it remains forever, a permanent footprint. Discover how things done in a digital environment can ultimately impact one's life.

New Children's Books

My Side of the Car - Kate Feiffer
Sadie and her father have been planning a trip to the zoo for a long time but something always gets in the way, so when they finally start out and her father sees some raindrops, Sadie insists there is no rain on her side of the car.


The Loud Book - Deborah Underwood
From the blare of an alarm clock in the morning to snores and crickets in the evening, simple text explores the many loud noises one might hear during the course of a day.

New YA Books

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell - Kristiana Gregory
In her diary, thirteen-year-old Hattie chronicles her family's arduous 1847 journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. In a diary format, this novel chronicles the hardships that pioneers endured during a trip west on the Oregon Trail.

Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol
Anya, embarrassed by her Russian immigrant family and self-conscious about her body, has given up on fitting in at school but falling down a well and making friends with the ghost there just may be worse.


Okay for Now - Gary D. Schmidt
As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends, an abusive father, and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him until he finds an ally in Lil Spicer--a fiery young lady. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon's birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage.


A World Without Heroes - Brandon Mull
Fourteen-year-old Jason Walker is transported to a strange world called Lyrian, where he joins Rachel, who was also drawn there from our world, and a few rebels, to piece together the Word that can destroy the malicious wizard emperor, Surroth.

New Middle Childhood and YA Books

The Manatee Scientists: Saving Valuable Species - Peter Lourie
Scientists in Florida, West Africa, and the Amazon Basin share information with the goal of protecting the docile and sometimes elusive manatee.


Can I See Your I.D.?: True Stories of False Identities - Chris Barton
Contains ten stories of true crime, fraud, and adventure, including accounts of a fake Asian princess, master thief Frank Abagnale, and a teen who "stole" a subway in 1993.


Recovery Road - Blake Nelson
While she is in a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol abuse, seventeen-year-old Maddie meets Stewart, who is also in treatment, and they begin a relationship, which they try to maintain after they both get out.

The Fitzosbornes in Exile - Michelle Cooper
In January 1937, as Sophia FitzOsborne continues to record in her journal, the members of Montmaray's royal family are living in luxurious exile in England but, even as they participate in the social whirl of London parties and balls, they remain determined to free their island home from the occupying Germans despite growing rumors of a coming war that might doom their country forever.


The Piper's Son - Melina Marchetta
After his favorite uncle's violent death, Tom Mackee watches his family implode, quits school, and turns his back on music and everyone who matters, and while he is in no shape to mend what is broken, he fears that no one else is, either.


Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein - Susan Goldman Rubin
Biography of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.


Tom Thumb: The Remarkable True Story of a Man in Miniature - George Sullivan
Chronicles the life of Charles S. Stratton, who stopped growing about six months after his birth in 1838 and began performing as a curiosity named Tom Thumb, including discussion regarding ethical questions about exploitation.


Flesh & Blood: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy - Albert Marrin
Provides a detailed account of the disastrous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 garment workers in 1911, and examines the impact of this event on the nation's working conditions and labor laws.


The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True - Gilbert Morris
Relates the adventures of Sir Gawain, the only undefeated knight in King Arthur's court, who eventually learns the value of friendship, courtliness, and courtesy after a challenge from the Green Knight.


The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic - Jennifer Trafton
Ten-year-old Persimmony Smudge, who longs for heroic adventures, overhears a secret that thrusts her into the middle of a dangerous mission that could destroy the island on which she lives.


Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey
In small-town Australia, teens Jasper and Charlie form an unlikely friendship when one asks the other to help him cover up a murder until they can prove who is responsible.


The Trouble with May Amelia - Jennifer L. Holm
Living with seven brothers and her father, who thinks girls are useless, a thirteen-year-old Finnish American farm girl is determined to prove her worth when a enterprising gentleman tries to purchase their cash-strapped family settlement in Washington State in 1900.


We All Fall Down: Living with Addiction - Nic Sheff
Sheff writes candidly about stints at in-patient rehab facilities, devastating relapses, and hard-won realizations about what it means to be a young person living with addiction.

New Picture Books

Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace - Anna Grossnickle Hines
A collection of poems about peace by Anna Grossnickle Hines, accompanied by illustrations that feature homemade quilts.


Energy Island - Allan Drummond
It's windy on the Danish island of Samsø. Meet the environmentally friendly folks who, in a few short years, worked together for energy independence, and who now proudly call their home Energy Island.


The Voyage of Turtle Rex - Kurt Cyrus
Follows the life of a giant prehistoric sea turtle.

Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story - Thomas F. Yezerski
Presents the history of the Meadowland, from its pristine state, to its gradual transformation by European settlers, to the pollution caused by industrialization, and the changes brought by environmental organizations striving to protect it.


Me...Jane - Patrick McDonnell
Holding her stuffed toy chimpanzee, young Jane Goodall observes nature, reads Tarzan books, and dreams of living in Africa and helping animals. Includes biographical information on the prominent zoologist.


Bulldog's Big Day - Kate McMullan
While looking for a job, Bulldog tries being a firefighter, a window washer, a sign painter, and a bookseller before finding just the right job for himself.


The Honeybee Man - Lela Nargi
Fred, a beekeeper whose hives are on the roof of his Brooklyn, New York, apartment building, tends his bees and distributes their honey to his neighbors. Includes facts about bees and beekeepers.


Perfect Square - Michael Hall
A perfect square that's perfectly happy is torn into pieces, punched with holes, crumpled, and otherwise changed, but finds in each transformation that it can be something new, and just as happy.


Red Wagon - Renata Liwska
When Lucy gets a new red wagon she wants to play with it immediately, but first she must use it to bring vegetables home from the market for her mother.


Ladder to the Moon - Maya Soetoro-Ng
Suhaila's wish to know her deceased grandmother is granted when a golden ladder appears at her window and Grandma Annie invites her on a journey to the moon, where they welcome people who are facing tragedy. Includes facts about the painting and woman who inspired the story.


Owly & Wormy, Friends All Aflutter - Andy Runton
Good friends Owly and Wormy are disappointed when their new plant attracts fat, green, bug-like things, instead of butterflies, until a metamorphosis occurs.


Clancy & Millie & the Very Fine House - Libby Gleeson
Clancy's family moves into a house he thinks is too big. He goes outside and begins playing with the moving boxes. Soon Millie asks if she can play with them, too. After building a tower and a train using the boxes, they act out the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf.


The Adventures of Mark Twain by Huckleberry Finn - Robert Burleigh
An illustrated biography of American author Mark Twain, presented from the perspective of the Twain's famous literary character Huckleberry Finn.


The Bear Who Shared - Catherine Rayner
Norris the bear has been waiting patiently for the last ripe fruit to fall from the tree, and when it does he decides to share it with his two new friends.


Seven Fathers - Ashley Ramsden
A lone traveler, tired, hungry, and cold, finds a house and asks for a room for the night, but the old man to whom he speaks refers him to his father, and that man to his father, until he is finally rewarded for his efforts by the eldest.

New Teachings Aids

Bean Bag Fruit and Vegetable Seedies
Bean bag characters that help teach children about eating 5 fruits and vegetables per day. Includes games and activities booklet for physical education.

Life-size Human X-rays
These computer enhanced real x-rays can be used to create the skeletal system of a young adult 5 feet (1.5m) tall, as well as learn about x-rays and the x-ray process.

New YA Books

Vespers Rising - Rick Riordan
Fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother Dan thought they could return to their regular lives when they found the 39 clues. But the Vespers, powerful enemies, will stop at nothing to get the clues. And with the Vespers rising, the world is in jeopardy.


The Emerald Atlas - John Stephens
Kate, Michael, and Emma have passed from one orphanage to another in the ten years since their parents disappeared to protect them, but now they learn that they have special powers, a prophesied quest to find a magical book, and a fearsome enemy.


Karma - Cathy Ostlere
In 1984, following her mother's suicide, 15-year-old Maya and her Sikh father travel to New Delhi from Canada to place her mother's ashes in their final resting place. On the night of their arrival, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated, Maya and her father are separated when the city erupts in chaos, and Maya must rely on Sandeep, a boy she has just met, for survival.


Where She Went - Gayle Forman
Adam, now a rising rock star, and Mia, a successful cellist, reunite in New York and reconnect after the horrific events that tore them apart when Mia almost died in a car accident three years earlier.


Entwined - Heather Dixon
Confined to their dreary castle while mourning their mother's death, Princess Azalea and her eleven sisters join The Keeper, who's trapped in a magic passageway, in a nightly dance that soon becomes nightmarish.


Plague: A Gone Novel - Michael Grant
A deadly, flu-like epidemic and a plague of flesh-eating creatures threaten the lives of the children at Perdido Beach while Sam, Astrid, Caine, and Diana each struggle with doubts and uncertainties.

New Children's Books

Queen of the Falls - Chris Van Allsburg
Recounts the stunt performed by sixty-two-year-old retired charm school instructor Annie Edson Taylor, who went over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel in an effort to gain fame and fortune.


Fancy Nancy, Aspiring Artist - Jane O'Connor
Inspired by such art masters as Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, and Jackson Pollock, Nancy, who likes to use fancy words, dons her beret to create her own fabulous artwork.


At Your Baptism - Carrie Steenwyk
What baptism tells you about God.






The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps - Jeanette Winter
An illustrated biography of British primatologist Jane Goodall, describing her childhood, the years she spent in the African forests to observe chimpanzees, and her efforts to protect and preserve primates and their habitats.


Say Hello to Zorro! - Carter Goodrich
Mister Bud, the family dog, has a satisfying routine to his life, but when another dog joins the family and disrupts his schedule, Mister Bud must learn to adapt.

New Teaching Aids

Canvas Drawstring Bags
36 small, drawstring bags of various colors that can be used for sorting and other educational activities.


What We Do Lesson Planning Kit - Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Designed to teach about the role of the nation's central bank. Contains lesson plans and activities for teaching economics, government, and history.

Linkology Animals Card Game
Help students 'link' animal facts to make important life science concept connections. This fast-paced card game asks players to match word and picture cards relating to animal attributes, reinforcing key scientific concepts and vocabulary. Easy-to-follow instructions allow for quick game play. For up to 6 players.


Linkology Human Body Card Game
This fast and easy card game helps students make "links" between important life science and human body concepts as they link pictures with corresponding facts. Helps students make important links among key human body concepts. Covers a variety of human body core concepts, content and vocabulary relating to organs, bones, and muscles. Engages students with photos, illustrations and facts related to the digestive, circulatory, respiratory, nervous and skeletal systems. Reinforces vocabulary and classification skills.


Linkology Solar System Card Game
Reinforces concepts of the solar system, including scientific vocabulary, characteristics of space objects, planets, and moons, etc.


Customary Safe-T Weights
Weights allow students to have a hands-on experience with weights and measurement, shapes, and fractions. Set includes 8 1-oz, 2 4-oz, 2 8-oz, and 1 1-lb [16 oz] weights, designed for stacking.


Giant Magnetic Insects
This 14-piece set includes 10 insects: butterfly, dragonfly, grasshopper, praying mantis, ladybug, moth, was, beetle, ant, and bee. The ant and bee divide into three parts to highlight the head, thorax, and abdomen. Appropriate for use on whiteboards.