PICTURE BOOKS
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek : A tall, thin tale (introducing his forgotten frontier friend)
By Deborah Hopkinson ; pictures by John Hendrix.
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, p2008, c2008
In Knob Creek, Kentucky, in 1816, seven-year-old Abe Lincoln falls into a creek and is rescued by his best friend, Austin Gollaher.
The Black Book of Colors
By Menena Cottin. illustrations by Rosana Faria ; translated by Elisa Amado.
Publisher: Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, p2008
Raised black line drawings on black pages encourage people to use their other senses to experience art, helping them understand what it is like to be blind.
The Chicken of the Family
By Mary Amato ; illustrated by Delphine Durand.
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, p2008, c2008
Henrietta's two older sister try to convince her she is really a chicken, so Henrietta sets off for the farm to find her real family, and discovers how much fun being a chicken can be.
Grace for President
by Kelly S. DiPucchio ; pictures by LeUyen Pham.
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children, p2008, c2008
After finding out there has never been a female U.S. president, Grace decides to run in her school's mock election, where she learns about the American electoral system and sets out to be the best person for the job even though her opponent, Thomas, seems to be winning all the boys' votes.
Help Me Mr. Mutt : Expert answers for dogs with people problems
by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel ; illustrated by Janet Stevens.
Publisher: Harcourt, p2008, c2008
Dogs across the United States write to Mr. Mutt, a people expert, for help with their humans.
How I Learned Geography
By Uri Shulevitz.
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux, p2008, c2008
As he spends hours studying his father's world map, a young boy escapes the hunger and misery of refugee life. 'Based on the author's childhood in Kazakhstan, where he lived as a Polish refugee during World War II. Caldecott Honor 2009.
The Retired Kid
By Jon Agee.
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children, p2008, c2008
Although he enjoys some aspects of his retirement, eight-year-old Brian gains a new perspective on his job of being a child after spending time in Florida's Happy Sunset Retirement Community.
The Storyteller’s Candle
By Lucia Gonzalez ; illustrations by Lulu Delacre
Publisher: Children's Book Press, p2008, c2008
During the early days of the Great Depression, New York City's first Puerto Rican librarian, Pura Belpre, introduces the public library to immigrants living in El Barrio and hosts the neighborhood's first Three Kings' Day fiesta. Presented in English and Spanish.
Wabi Sabi
By Mark Reibstein ; art by Ed Young.
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, p2008, c2008
Text mainly in English with some Japanese characters. Wabi Sabi, a cat living in the city of Kyoto, learns about the Japanese concept of beauty through simplicity as she asks various animals she meets about the meaning of her name.
FICTION
Alvin Ho: Allerigc to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters
By Lenore Look
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, c2009
Alvin makes a new friend and learns that he can be brave despite his fear of everything when his father takes him camping, hoping to install a love of nature like that of their hometown hero, Henry David Thoreau.
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath
By Nick Bruel.
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, p2008, c2008
Takes a humorous look at the normal way cats bathe, why it is inappropriate for humans to bathe that way, and the challenges of trying to give a cat a real bath with soap and water. Includes fun facts, glossary, and other information.
Diamond Willow
By Helen Frost.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p2008, c2008
In a remote area of Alaska, twelve-year-old Willow helps her father with their sled dogs when she is not at school, wishing she were more popular, all the while unaware that the animals surrounding her carry the spirits of dead ancestors and friends who care for her.
Erratum
By Walter Sorrells.
Publisher: Dutton Childrens Books, p2008, c2008
"Erratum. n. a writer's or publisher's error in publication; pl. such errors or a list of them with corrections." When Jessica finds--and then loses--an unfinished book about her life, she learns that if she cannot keep it from falling into the wrong hands, the balance of the universe is in peril.
George's Secret Key to the Universe
By Lucy & Stephen Hawking with Christophe Galfard ; illustrated by Garry Parsons.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, p2007, c2007
George and his neighbor friend Eric travel through a computer portal into outer space encountering black holes while trying to escape an evil scientist.
Into the Volcano : A graphic novel
By Don Wood.
Publisher: Blue Sky Press, p2008, c2008
While their parents are away doing research, brothers Duffy and Sumo Pugg go with their cousin, Mister Come-and-Go, to Kokalaha Island, where they meet Aunt Lulu and become trapped in an erupting volcano.
Julian Rodriguez: Trash Crisis on Earth
By Alexander Stadler.
Publisher: Scholastic Press, p2008, c2008
Eight-year-old Julian Rodriguez is sent to his room for refusing to take out the trash, and imagines that he is a space warrior.
The London Eye Mystery
By Siobhan Dowd.
Publisher: David Fickling Books, p2008, c2007
When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work together--Ted with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Kat--to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim.
The Magic Thief
By Sarah Prineas ; illustrations by Antonio Javier Caparo.
Publisher: HarperCollins, p2008, c2008
Conn's life is forever changed when he tries to pick the pocket of the wizard Nevery and instead gets a strong jolt of magic, but, instead of punishing the boy, Nevery takes Conn under his wing, teaches him magic, and enlists his help in finding the person responsible for stealing the city's dwindling magic supply.
Masterpiece
By Elise Broach ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy.
Publisher: Holt/Christy Ottaviano Books, p2008, c2008
After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank You Notes
By Peggy Gifford ; photographs by Valorie Fisher.
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, p2008, c2008
Ten-year-old Moxy Maxwell has promised to write twelve thank-you notes by the day after Christmas so that she and her twin brother Mark can go to Hollywood to visit their father, but all her brilliant ideas to help finish the task more efficiently end up creating chaos in the house.
Pandora Gets Jealous
By Carolyn Hennesy.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books , p2008, c2008
Thirteen-year-old Pandy is hauled before Zeus and given six months to gather all of the evils that were released when the box she brought to school as her annual project was accidentally opened.
Savvy
By Ingrid Law.
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers , p2008, c2008
Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident. Newbery Honor 2009.
Swindle
By Gordon Korman.
Publisher: Scholastic Press, p2008, c2008
After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to break into Palomino's heavily guarded store and steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the Smart Pick fruit picker.
The True Meaning of Smekday
By Adam Rex.
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children, p2007, c2007
Twelve-year-old Gratuity "Tip" Tucci is left to fend for herself after Earth is colonized by aliens and her mother is abducted, and must try to stop another alien invasion with only the help of a cat named Pig and an alien named J. Lo.
The Willoughbys
By Lois Lowry.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, p2008, c2008
A tongue-in-cheek take on classic themes in children's literature, in which the four Willoughby children set out to become "deserving orphans" after their neglectful parents embark on a treacherous around-the-world adventure, leaving them in the care of an odious nanny.
NON-FICTION
Go, Go America
By Dan Yaccarino.
Publisher: Scholastic Press, p2008, c2008
Presents hundreds of unique facts about each of the states, describing strange festivals, traditions, contests, laws, people, and landmarks across the country.
Knucklehead : Tall tales & mostly true stories about growing up Scieszka
Featuring Jon Scieszka.
Publisher: Viking, p2008, c2008
Presents a memoir of what it was like to grow up in the 1950s and other almost true stories by American children's author Jon Scieszka.
My Dog May Be A Genius : Poems
By Jack Prelutsky ; drawings by James Stevenson.
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, p2008, c2008
A collection of poems by children's poet laureate Jack Prelutsky that celebrate the joys of childhood and the wackier side of life.
Nic Bishop’s Frogs
Publisher: Scholastic, p2008, c2008
Full-color, illustrated photographs describing the characteristics and behaviors of a variety of frogs around the world.
Our White House : Looking in, looking out
Created by 108 renowned authors and illustrators and the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance.
With an introduction by David McCullough.
Publisher: Candlewick Press, p2007, c2007
A collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, and poetry that traces the history of the White House through the eyes of the children who have lived and visited there.
Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City
By Janet Schulman ; illustrated by Meilo So.
Publisher: Knopf, p2008, c2008
Recounts the true story of Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk living in New York City who has become one of the city's most-watched celebrities and bird watchers, tourists, and residents admire the bird and his nest, built on a Fifth Avenue apartment building.
Piano Starts Here : The young Art Tatum
By Robert Andrew Parker.
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, p2008, c2008
Explores early twentieth-century jazz pianist and virtuoso Art Tatum's passion and talent for playing the instrument.
Planting the Trees of Kenya : The story of Wangari Maathai
By Claire A. Nivola.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, p2008, c2008
Relates the story of Wangari Maathai, a native Kenyan who taught the people living in the highlands how to plant trees and care for the land.
A River of Words : The story of William Carlos Williams
By Jen Bryant ; illustrated by Melissa Sweet.
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, p2008, c2008
A picture book biography of American poet William Carlos Williams, who studied to become a doctor, but still found time to write poetry.
United Tweets of America
By Hudson Talbott.
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, p2008, c2008
A collection of detailed illustrations of state birds from all fifty United States.
Wangari’s Trees of Peace : A true story of Africa
By Jeanette Winter.
Publisher: Harcourt, p2008, c2008
Tells the story of Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Prize-winning environmentalist who, shocked to see entire forests being cut down in her native country of Kenya, decides to take action, beginning with the planting of nine seedlings in her own backyard.
We Are the Ship : The story of Negro League baseball
Words and paintings by Kadir Nelson ; foreword by Hank Aaron.
Publisher: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, p2008, c2008
Explores the history of Negro League baseball teams, discussing owners, players, hardships, wins, and losses; and including illustrations. Coretta Scott King Medal and Honor 2009.
What To Do About Alice? : How Alice Roosevelt broke the rules, charmed the world, and drove her father Teddy crazy!
By Barbara Kerley ; illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham.
Publisher: Scholastic Press, p2008, c2008
An illustrated biography of Alice Roosevelt Longworth that focuses on her experiences while her father was president of the United States.
Wild Tracks! : A guide to nature's footprints
By Jim Arnosky.
Publisher: Sterling, p2008, c2008
Presents detailed illustrations of life-size paw, claw, and hoof prints; and explains how to identify tracks and how fast the animal might be traveling.
Wolfsnail : A backyard predator
By Sarah C. Campbell ; photographs by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell.
Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, p2008, c2008
Close-up photographs and simple text describe how a wolf snail hunts, attacks, and eats it prey.
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