Books

**Description from Amazon: "I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed." - William ShakespeareArm yourself with this volume from the Knickerbocker Classic series, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, including 16 comedies, 10 histories, 12 tragedies and all the poems and sonnets of the world's ...

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

The accidental rescue of a little girl who lives with her two great-aunts leads to an adventurous search for a missing will. Longtime fans and aspiring detectives alike will enjoy solving the case alongside Nancy Drew in this suspenseful, action-packed thriller.

**Description from Amazon: When their elderly neighor Mrs. Marden reports that some of her valuables have gone missing, the twins investigate.

** Description from Amazon: Relates the chivalrous and romantic deeds of King Arthur, Lancelot, Gareth, Tristram, Galahad, and other knights of the Round Table

FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Anatole is a most honorable mouse. When he realizes that humans are upset by mice sampling their leftovers, he is shocked! He must provide for his beloved family--but he is determined to find a way to earn his supper. And so he heads for the tasting room at the Duvall Cheese Factory.

** Description from Amazon: Little Tim lived in a house by the sea. He wanted very much to be a sailor, but his parents said he was much too young and must wait for years and years, until he was grown up. So when Tim got a chance to stow away on a steamer, of course he jumped at it, little expecting the hard work, the stormy s...

** Description from Amazon: Celebrate the timeless warmth of a mother's love with the very first ever I Can Read book. Meet Little Bear, a friend to millions of children. And meet Mother Bear, who is there whenever Little Bear needs her. When it is cold and snowy outside, she finds just the right outfit for Little Bear to play...

The charming adventures of Obadiah Starbuck have been beloved by children and adults alike since he first captured hearts in the story of his friendship with an injured seagull in Thy Friend, Obadiah, winner of the Caldecott Honor. The days of Clipper ships and Whalers in the quaint colonial village...

** Description from Amazon: "One of the best mysteries of all time" (The New York Times)—Josephine Tey recreates one of history’s most famous—and vicious—crimes in her classic bestselling novel, a must read for connoisseurs of fiction, now with a new introduction by Robert Barnard.Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard,...

FROM SARAH:

A good collection of famous poems if you'd like to read-aloud some classic poetry with your kids, but don't know where to start.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Fully indexed by title, author, and first line, this much-loved collection, in print since 1916, is a wide-ranging collection of the best-known English language poets, from William Shakespeare Robert Frost, from Percy Bysshe Shelley to Edna St. Vincent Millay.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town, and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can only be guided by one’s own conscience.

**Description from Amazon: No library's complete without the classics! This new, enhanced leather-bound edition collects the legendary fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.They are the stories we've known since we were children. Rapunzel. Hansel and Gretel. Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. But the works originally collected by the B...

**Description from Amazon: Contents The Red Shoes The Chimney Sweep The Ice-Maiden, or the Eagle's Nest The Storks The Ugly Duckling The Wild Swans . The Marsh King's Daughter The Little Mermaid The Girl who Trod on the Loaf

**Description from Amazon: From master storyteller Padriac Colum, winner of a Newbery Honor for The Golden Fleece, comes a collection of fifteen timeless stories inspired by classic Greek literature.Travel back to a mythical time when Achilles, aided by the gods, waged war against the Trojans. And join Odysseus on his journey...

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 
Originally published in 1943, Daugherty dedicated this beautiful work to his son, "Lieutenant Charles M. Daugherty, American soldier-artist and his comrades in arms throughout the world." In every case where tyranny raises its ugly head, Lincoln has and will continue to stand as America's shining symbol of freedom, justice, and equality.

**Description from Amazon: A stunning repackage of a companion to Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, with cover art by two-time Caldecott Honor Award winner Kadir Nelson!It is a frightening and turbulent time for the Logan family. First, their friend T.J. must go on trial for murder--and confront an all-white...

**Description from Amazon: Hard Times by Charles Dickens

**Description from Amazon: Describes the life of Jesus Christ and the establishment of his Kingdom as the Catholic Church.

**Description from Amazon: I am Eve, the first woman God made. I have come to tell you about the creation of the world and what happened in Eden. So begins one of the many exciting lessons in this surprising adventure catechism lessons taught by Abraham, St. Patrick, St. Cecilia, and, of course, Eve, the mother of all mankind...

**Description from Amazon: In these remarkable pages, Marigold Hunt retells for children the events reported in The Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke's account of the dangerous early days of the Church. Focusing on the deeds and experiences of Sts. Peter, Paul, Luke, and Barnabas, author Hunt shows children that the Catholic Chu...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Ethel Pochocki, whimsically and unforgettably, presents a new set of  heavenly friends to readers young and old in this third collection of Once Upon a Time Saints stories.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Here are yet more of "those human and lovable people whose mysterious passion for God led them into preposterous escapades." Story-teller Ethel Pochocki follows up her book Once Upon a Time Saints and presents another collection of wildly distinctive saints.

**Description from Amazon: When a poor devout widow begs for a scrap of bread from a rich faithless baker, she promises to participate in the king’s wedding mass as payment for the baker’s generosity. The baker writes “One Mass” on a scrap of paper and places it on his scale to determine how much bread it is worth. To...

**Description from Amazon: With exquisite artwork and evocative text, this original fable explores the events of Jesus' life, and demonstrates the role of the Virgin Mary as the benevolent agent of God's people. Reduced to desolation by a king and prince who feel they have been wronged, the residents of a once-favored v...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Elizabeth loves to hear her grandmother's stories, and none is more dear to her than the story of her namesake: St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Together the two recall the holiness and charity of this great saint while preparing to celebrate her feast day.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When a tidy little spider is evicted from her home in an even tidier old woman’s cottage, she is cast away to begin her new life in a faraway dark place.

This fanciful tale of love and friendship was inspired by the life of Saint Felix, a third century priest who escaped the Roman persecution in part through the intervention of a spider.

**Description from Amazon: Both children and adults will enjoy this beautiful collection of over 100 saint biographies. The Loyola Treasury of Saints by David Self contains vibrant stories, illustrations, and photographs that detail the lives of saints from the time of Jesus to today. Many of the saint biographies are accom...

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

In this collection of eleven essays, Berry confronts head-on the necessity of clear thinking and direct action. Never one to ignore the present challenge, he understands that only clearly stated questions support the understanding their answers require. For more than fifty years we've had no better spokesman and no more eloquent advocate for the planet, for our families, and for the future of our children and ourselves.

**Description from Amazon: Grover loves having his mommy read to him. So when he starts learning how to read in school, he begins to worry. He wants to be able to read, but what if his mommy doesn't read to him anymore? A charming story that offers simple reassurances to children as they make their way through one of life's m...

**Description from Amazon: The new "sine" of mathematical geekdom!Do you dream about long division in your sleep? Does the thought of solving abstruse equations bring a smile to your face? Do you love celebrating pi every March? Then, Math Geek was made for you! With this guide, you'll learn even more about the power of numbe...

Scheduled to be published across the globe, the story of Fermat's Last Theorem, devised by the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat, recounts the struggles of three and a half centuries of scientists to devise a proof for it.

**Description from Amazon: This is the engaging true story of kids competing in the high-stakes, high-drama world of international science fairs. Every year the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair brings together 1,500 high schoolers from more than 50 countries to compete for over $4 million dollars in prizes and s...

A retelling of the centuries-old tale follows Sylvia, a spirited girl apprenticed to a sorcerer, as she steals from his castle a powerful potion that she is sure will help her complete a difficult task.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Jeanne Bendick, through text and pictures, admirably succeeds in bringing to life the ancient Greek mathematician who enriched mathematics and all branches of science.

FROM SARAH:

A classic for a reason! Sir Cumference always brings a little giggle and lots of problem-solving silliness to our math lessons. Check out the whole series!

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Join Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius for wordplay, puns, and problem solving in this geometry-packed math adventure. King Arthur was a good ruler, but now he needs a good ruler. What would you do if the neighboring kingdom were threatening war?

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

On a remote jungle island, genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park.An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now one of mankind's most thrilling fantasies has come true and the first dinosaurs that the Earth has seen in the time of man emerge. But, as always, there is a dark side to the fantasy and after a catastrophe destroys the park's defense systems, the scientists and tourists are left fighting for survival...With this masterful cross of science fiction and action-adventure, Michael Crichton created one of the biggest bestsellers of all time.

**Description from Amazon: In Gatefather, the third installment in the Mithermages series, New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card continues his fantastic tale of the Mages of Westil who live in exile on Earth.Danny North is the first Gate Mage to be born on Earth in nearly 2000 years, or at least the first to surv...

**Description from Amazon: Freshman Daniel Pratzer gets a chance to prove himself when the chess team invites him and his father to a weekend-long parent-child tournament. Daniel, thinking that his father is a novice, can't understand why his teammates want so badly for them to participate. Then he finds out the truth: as a t...

**Description from Amazon: In his signature style of grand storytelling, James A. Michener transports us back thousands of years to the Holy Land. Through the discoveries of modern archaeologists excavating the site of Tell Makor, Michener vividly re-creates life in an ancient city and traces the profound history of the Jewis...

**Description from Amazon: On the right side of the law. Sort of.   Sebastian Rudd is not your typical street lawyer. He works out of a customized bulletproof van, complete with Wi-Fi, a bar, a small fridge, fine leather chairs, a hidden gun compartment, and a heavily armed driver. He has no firm, no partners, no associates,...

**Description from Amazon: Don't Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski!Tom Clancy reveals Jack Ryan’s origins in this electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling thriller that pits the former Marine turned family man against a vicious group of international terrorists.As an American in Lon...

In an Arizona desert a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headq...

**Description from Amazon: Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? How much do parents really matter? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life...

**Description from Amazon: How does magic in J. K. Rowling’s universe work? Finally, the scientific secrets of the Harry Potter universe are revealed!The insanely popular Harry Potter books and movies have brought the idea of magic and sorcery into mainstream. Modern muggle scientists have uncovered explanations to the seem...

**Description from Amazon: In a book perfect for readers of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, David Eagleman’s Incognito, and Leonard Mlodinow’s Subliminal, the cognitive neuroscientists who discovered how the brain has aha moments—sudden creative insights—explain how they happen, when we need them, and how we ca...

Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson’s New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed The Innovators is a “riveting, propulsive, and at times deeply moving” (The Atlantic) story of the people who created the computer and the Internet.What were the talents tha...

**Description from Amazon: Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Sideways Stories from Wayside School!Accidentally built sideways and standing thirty stories high (the builder said he was very sorry for the mistake), Wayside...

**Description from Amazon: The Wheel of Time ® is a PBS Great American Read Selection! Now in development for TV! Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and g...

**Description from Amazon: You can be a great parent while still enjoying yourself. From the experts at Parenting magazine and popular mommy blogger Meagan Francis, The Happiest Mom brings the latest happiness research--and the experience of a mother of five--to moms who want to make parenting a little more joyful. With its s...

**Description from Amazon: When you’re in the baby and toddler phase of motherhood, life is intense - and often exhausting.But slowly things change. That baby who couldn't go an hour without nursing starts eating table food, and suddenly he's happy to hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's for an evening. The toddler who was int...

**Description from Amazon: Trixie’s summer is going to be sooo boring with her two older brothers away at camp. But then a millionaire’s daughter moves into the next-door mansion, an old miser hides a fortune in his decrepit house, and a runaway kid starts hiding out in Sleepyside!

FROM SARAH:

We can't get enough of Mercy Watson around here, and these chapter books from Kate DiCamillo take the Deckawoo delights to a whole 'nother level! These make for fun read-alouds or audiobooks.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

The first three tales of Kate DiCamillo’s hilarious and heartfelt Deckawoo Drive series are collected in a convenient, affordable bind-up. Dive into a spin-off series starring favorite characters from Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times best-selling Mercy Watson books.

FROM SARAH:

When you think of winter, do you think: warm? With scarves and mittens and toasty fires, why ever not? This clever book is a lot of fun to read aloud.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

A unique twist on the traditional wintertime picture book, the beautiful visual narrative follows a boy and his family through a day of hot breakfasts, steaming afternoon cocoa, and a festive candlelit party before bed. With its inviting scenes, poetic text,and gorgeous illustrations, Winter Is the Warmest Season celebrates all the wonderful things that make winter the coziest time of the year.

FROM SARAH:

I'm a fan of Laura Purdie Salas, and I love how she combines scientfic knowledge with lyrical prose! This is a fun and informative read-aloud, perfect for a morning basket or a winter unit study.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: 

There is more than one way for animals to prepare for winter. This rhyming nonfiction picture book by Laura Purdie Salas tells you all about how animals survive chilly weather.

FROM SARAH:

The cool color palette in this book makes me want to sit on every page a little longer than necessary. If your library doesn't have this book, ask them to get it!

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

A snow-day journey with Grandma highlights all of the beauty, magic, and fun of winter. With sparkling flakes calling from outside, this sister and brother bundle up for an outdoor adventure with Grandma. In the hushed woods, they see and hear wildlife thriving under a new blanket of snow.  In the bustle of town, they help their grateful Grandpa dig out. Then, it’s time to get sledding! Snowy scenes capture the beauty of freshly fallen snow, and the lyrical verse delights in the magic of playing in the snow and the warm comfort of family.

FROM SARAH:

A delightful book for kids who love stories about tractors or construction vehicles. The color palette is especially dazzling!

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Small Walt and his driver, Gus, take on a blizzard! All the bigger snowplows doubt that Walt has what it takes to plow the roads in the storm, but Walt is determined to prove them wrong. Brimming with onomatopoeia and Walt’s affirming chants, this sweet picture book shows that when it comes to strength, size doesn’t matter. Bestselling illustrator Marc Rosenthal’s wintry scenes make this book the perfect cozy read-aloud.

FROM SARAH:

Some kids just can't get enough stories about cars and trucks nad things that go...and if you've got one of those kiddos yourself, you're always on the hunt for a new one! The Small Walt books by Elizabeth Verdick are worth adding to your collection or borrowing from the library.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Small Walt befriends a tow truck when he comes across a car in need of help in this irresistible companion to Small Walt, which Kirkus Reviews called “charming and endearing” in a starred review. A bitter blizzard. A snowbound town. When a car skids off the road, Small Walt and Gus might not have what it takes to save the day on their own. But who does? Mo the Tow to the rescue! Text filled with onomatopoeia and Walt’s affirming chants make this story about friendship and accepting help from others a real winner.

FROM SARAH:

An homage to Martin Luther King, this picture book is longer than most and best for older kids. Gorgeous.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

In a rich embroidery of visions, musical cadence, and deep emotion, Andrea and Brian Pinkney convey the final months of Martin Luther King's life--and of his assassination--through metaphor, spirituality, and multilayers of meaning.

FROM SARAH:

Best for those who love quiet books that stay with you long after you read them.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

One sunny day Samson, a large and friendly woolly mammoth, encounters a little red bird who is looking for yellow flowers for her mouse friend (whose favorite color is yellow). As she flies off with the flowers, Samson wonders what it must be like to have a friend. He wonders this for so long, in fact, that he falls asleep and wakes up to a world covered in snow. In the midst of a blizzard, Samson finds and shelters the little red bird and flower-loving mouse in a tender tale of kindness and unexpected friendship.

FROM SARAH:

There's a reason this book won all the awards it could possibly win! A picture book biography told in MLK's own words.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

This picture-book biography is an excellent and accessible introduction for young readers to learn about one of the world's most influential leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Doreen Rappaport weaves the immortal words of Dr. King into a captivating narrative to tell the story of his life.