Special Collections
Accelerated Reader (ATOS Score: 7.0-7.9)
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Dodger
by Terry PratchettBeloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett's Dodger, a Printz Honor Book, combines high comedy with deep wisdom in a tale of one remarkable boy's rise in a fantasy-infused Victorian London. Seventeen-year-old Dodger is content as a sewer scavenger. But he enters a new world when he rescues a young girl from a beating, and her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England. From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd, to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.
Alive
by Piers Paul ReadTrue story about how a group of people who survived an airplane crash in the Andes had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Mothstorm
by Philip ReeveA sinister cloud is approaching the solar system. The closest planet, Georgium Sidus, is inhabited by the missionary Reverend Cruet and his daughter, Charity. Art, Myrtle, and the family decide to investigate after communication with them is lost.
Navy Seal Dogs
by Michael RitlandRitland's prior "Trident K9 Warriors" gave readers an inside look at the training of military war dogs. Now he gives readers an inside look specifically at the Navy SEAL teams' elite K9 warriors--who they are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake to save lives. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and highest skilled working animals on the planet. Mike Ritland's job is to train them. This special edition re-telling presents the dramatic tale of how Ritland discovered his passion and grew up to become the trainer of the nation's most elite military working dogs. Ritland was a smaller-than-average kid who was often picked-on at school--which led him to spend more time with dogs at a young age. After graduating BUD/S training--the toughest military training in the world--to become a SEAL, he was on combat deployment in Iraq when he saw a military working dog in action and instantly knew he'd found his true calling. Ritland started his own company to train and supply working and protection dogs for the U. S. Government, Department of Defense, and other clients He also started the Warrior Dog Foundation to help retired Special Operations dogs live long and happy lives after their service. Navy SEAL Dogs is the true story of how Mike Ritland grew from a skinny, bullied child, to a member of our nation's most elite SEAL Teams, to the trainer of the world's most highly skilled K9 warriors.There are various types of end-of-book information, plus captions from 15 pages of photos, with added image description when appropriate.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J. K. RowlingThe war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses. And yet…
As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate — and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.
So it’s the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort — and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
by J. K. RowlingThere is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror? Here are just a few things on Harry's mind: -A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey -A venomous, disgruntled house-elf -Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team -The loming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams ... and of course, the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling's seven-part story, Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice.
Witches
by Rosalyn SchanzerRobert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Book2012 Notable Children's Books--ALSCNCSS--Notable Social Studies Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies 2012School Library Journal Best Books of 2011SLJ's 100 Magnificent Children's Books of 2011Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2011In the little colonial town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two girls began to twitch, mumble, and contort their bodies into strange shapes. The doctor tried every remedy, but nothing cured the young Puritans. He grimly announced the dire diagnosis: the girls were bewitched! And then the accusations began. The riveting, true story of the victims, accused witches, crooked officials, and mass hysteria that turned a mysterious illness affecting two children into a witch hunt that took over a dozen people's lives and ruined hundreds more unfolds in chilling detail in this young adult book by award-winning author and illustrator Rosalyn Schanzer. With a powerful narrative, chilling primary source accounts, a design evoking the period, and stylized black-white-and-red scratchboard illustrations of young girls having wild fits in the courtroom, witches flying overhead, and the Devil and his servants terrorizing the Puritans, this book will rivet young readers with novelistic power. Taught in middle and high schools around the U.S., the 17th-century saga remains hauntingly resonant as people struggle even today with the urgent need to find someone to blame for their misfortunes. In addition to the Sibert Honor, Witches! has been honored by the Society of Illustrators with their Original Art Award Gold Medal, has been named a Notable book by both the American Library Association and the National Council for the Social Studies, and was chosen one of School Library Journal's 100 Magnificent Children's Books and one of Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Children's Books.
Downsiders
by Neal ShustermanBeneath the sewer grates and manholes of the city lies a strange and secret world called the Downside.Every Downsider knows that it's forbidden to go Topside, and most fear a collision of the two worlds. But fourteen-year-old Talon is curious about what goes on above ground, and one day he ventures out in search of medicine for his ailing sister. There he meets Lindsay, who is as curious about Talon's world as he is about hers. When Lindsay visits the Downside for the first time, she marvels at the spirit of the Downsiders, and the way they create works of art from topside "trash," like old subway tokens and forgotten earrings. As awed as she is by the Downside, however, she also questions its origins, and when she finds out that this fantastic world is not all it appears to be, she is determined to tell Talon the truth. Then a construction accident threatens to crush Talon's world, and his loyalty is put to the test. Can the truth save the Downside, or will it destroy an entire civilization? Neal Shusterman takes readers on an amazing journey into a place that's only a few steps away, yet beyond their wildest dreams.
The Pearl
by John SteinbeckFrom the author of Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck's The Pearl is a flawless parable about wealth and the evil it can bring, published with an introduction by Linda Wagner-Martin and drawings by José Clemente Orozco in Penguin Modern Classics. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the world' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. He will marry Juana in church and their little boy, Coyotito, will be able to attend school. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and even violence the pearl arouses in him and his neighbours. Written with haunting simplicity and lyrical simplicity, The Pearl sets the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive and finds them tragically inadequate. John Steinbeck (1902-68), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature, is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. During the Second World War Steinbeck served as a war correspondent, his journalism later collected in Once There Was a War (1958), and he was awarded the Norwegian Cross of Freedom for his portrayal in The Moon is Down (1942) of Resistance efforts in northern Europe. His best-known works include the epics The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and East of Eden (1952), and his tragic novella Of Mice and Men (1937). John Steinbeck's complete works are published in Penguin Modern Classics. If you enjoyed The Pearl, you might like Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'There is no more impressive writer on either side of the Atlantic'Time and Tide
Blizzard Of Glass
by Sally M. WalkerOn December 6, 1917 two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One ship was loaded top to bottom with munitions and one held relief supplies, both intended for wartorn Europe. The resulting blast flattened two towns, Halifax and Dartmouth, and killed nearly 2,000 people. As if that wasn't devastating enough, a blizzard hit the next day, dumping more than a foot of snow on the area and paralyzing much-needed relief efforts. Fascinating, edge-of-your-seat storytelling based on original source material conveys this harrowing account of tragedy and recovery. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.
Under Siege!
by Andrea WarrenPeriod photographs, engravings, and maps extend this dramatic story as an award-winning author re-creates one of the most important Civil War battles through the eyes of ordinary townspeople, officers and enlisted men from both sides, and, above all, three brave children who were there.
The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle
by Don L. WulffsonArranged in alphabetical order with anecdotal, fun-to-read text, this fascinating book is packed with the stories behind over 100 inventions.