New Young Adult Books

The Trap - Michael Grant
Mack MacAvoy, an average-seeming twelve-year-old boy who happens to have special powers, travels to China in an effort to assemble an elite team of his peers to help him thwart the evil Pale Queen.

The Bridge to Never Land - Dave Barry
Sarah and Aidan begin to decipher a mysterious document that refers to the origins of Peter Pan and are suddenly pursued by a being that can take any form and will stop at nothing to get what it wants from them.

Darth Paper Strikes Back - Tom Angleberger
Harvey, upset when his Darth Paper finger puppet brings humiliation, gets Dwight suspended, but Origami Yoda asks Tommy and Kellan, now in seventh grade, to make a new casefile to persuade the School Board to reinstate Dwight.

Paper Covers Rock - Jenny Hubbard
In 1982 Buncombe County, North Carolina, sixteen-year-old Alex Stromm writes of the aftermath of the accidental drowning of a friend, as his English teacher reaches out to him while he and a fellow boarding school student try to cover things up.

Dreams of Significant Girls - Christina Garcia
In the 1970s, a teenaged Iranian princess, a German-Canadian girl, and a Cuban-Jewish girl from New York City become friends when they spend three summers at a Swiss boarding school.

Divergent - Veronica Roth
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School - Laura Murray
A gingerbread man searches all over the school for the group of children that made him and then left him behind.

Colors - Thierry Laval
Colorful photos and simple text introduce colors in this lift-the-flap book.

Children Make Terrible Pets - Peter Brown
When Lucy, a young bear, discovers a boy lost in the woods, she asks her mother if she can have him as a pet, only to find him impossible to train. E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Picture Books

Fractured Fables
Presents, in comic book format, thirty familiar fairy tales, songs, fables, and stories as retold by such acclaimed authors and illustrators as Ben Templesmith, Jim Di Bartolo, Scott Morse, and May Ann Licudine.

New Children's Books

Thunder Birds: Nature's Flying Predators - Jim Arnosky
The author describes and identifies winged predators, and explains why there are no feathers on a vulture's head, which bird is the deep-diving champ, and what makes an owl's wings perfectly silent in flight, in a text with fold-out pages.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon: Saint Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures - Katherine Paterson
Reimagines Francis of Assisi's 1224 prayer of praise in celebration of God's gifts throughout the universe.

Pecan Pie Baby - Jacqueline Woodson
When Mama's pregnancy draws attention away from Gia, she worries that the special bond they share will disappear forever once the baby is born.

Blackout - John Rocco
When a busy family's activities come to a halt because of a blackout, they find they enjoy spending time together and not being too busy for once.

Goyangi Means Cat - Christine McDonnell
An understanding cat helps a young Korean girl adjust to her new home in America.

Rescuing Rover: Saving America's Dogs - Raymond Bial
Looks at the problem of dog overpopulation in America; discusses the role of puppy mills, pet stores, and independent breeders; and includes a profile of a local animal shelter.

Freshman: Tales of 9th Grade Obsessions, Revelations, and Other Nonsense - Corinne Mucha
Follows Annie's first year of high school, chronicling her crushes, failures, and successes.

Hungry Hippo, Angry Duck: A Book of Moods - Sandra Boynton
Clever animals exemplify a wide range of emotions in this hilarious story about different feelings.

New Bible Curriculum

From Purposeful Design (ACSI)

Bible
This Bible series focuses on the foundational teachings from the Bible about the nature and character of God, the qualities of His people, and His church. Students are given an overview of the Bible, with an emphasis on God's attributes, biblical characters, the early Church, and what it means to know Jesus Christ and live for Him.

His Shoes Were Far Too Tight - Edward Lear
Come inside this book and meet the Pobble with his chilly feet, the Owl and the Pussycat, a Sieve to sail away and back, a hive of silvery bees. Come inside this book and find poetry to feed your mind.






Naamah and the Ark at Night - Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Noah's wife settles the animals on the ark to sleep by singing a soothing lullaby.

New Young Adult Books

Edda - Conor Kostick
In the virtual world of Edda, ruler Scanthax decides he wants to invade another virtual world, embroiling the universes of Edda, Saga, and Epic in war, with only three teenagers to try to restore peace.









Island's End - Padma Venkatraman
A young girl trains to be the new spiritual leader of her remote Andaman Island tribe, while facing increasing threats from the modern world.










Lucky for Good - Susan Patron
The residents of Hard Pan, California, come together to help Brigitte and Lucky when the County Health Department threatens to close down the café, and meantime Miles's life is complicated by his mother's return.

New Ways to View This Blog

You may now customize the way you view this blog. Click on the links below to see the various options:


Snapshot view

Flipcard view

Mosaic view

Sidebar view

Timeslide view

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.