Book Finder

The extraordinary memoir of an orphan who danced her way from war-torn Sierra Leone to ballet stardom, most recently appearing in Beyonce’s Lemonade and as a principal in a major American dance company.

Meet the Hatchers through the voice of Peter, the oldest of son, tormented (as all siblings are) by his younger and perennially “cute” brother, Farley (better known as Fudge). Their life in an apartment in New York City sparkles with humor and plausible family scenes in this first of the stories of Peter, his family, and ultimately his neighbors.

Based on the true stories of the Native American Code Talkers, this incredible graphic novel features nine original stories by Native American artists and writers documenting the heroic tales of Code Talkers from World War I through the Korean War. The graphic novel also features a history of the Code Talkers and a lesson plan for teachers who wish to use the book to teach students about the struggle and accomplishments of these Native American heroes.

Teaching Literacy Online is a practical guide for secondary and college teachers of English in digital and online environments. Like other, practical, “how to teach online” books, TLO includes an overview of good practices and guidelines for teaching in digital environments. However, it goes further, by providing detailed suggestions and examples to model good digital teaching practices. You’ll learn how to apply the online teaching guidelines through:

• Digital organization;
• Engagement with materials;
• Analysis and synthesis of information; and
• The production of texts in a multitude of media and modalities.

By focusing on the engagement, analysis, and production of texts, TLO positions literacy pedagogy as the driving force when making decisions about how to teach online and/or with different digital applications.

A behind-the-scenes look at the people on the ground — engineers, safety inspectors, seamstresses, painters, doctors, electricians — who helped get a man on the moon. Also includes many fascinating photos.

Eight teenagers who fled from Ethiopia and Rwanda tell how they got to America and Canada only to receive more prejudicial treatment.

Cammie attends the private Gallagher Academy, a boarding school for spies in training. The only problem is that it’s an all-girls school. So when she meets a boy from town, she has to put her best skills to use to see him without letting him find out her true story, or letting her Mom find out she’s sneaking around. A great chick-lit meets spy story.

The never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. In this first book of the Numair Chronicles, three student mages (Arram, Varice, Ozorne) are bound by fate and fated for trouble.

When Temple Grandin was born, her parents knew that she was different. Years later she was diagnosed with autism. Her mother believed in her abilitie and supported her education, and Temple eventually went on to graduate school. Today, Dr. Temple Grandin is a scientist and professor of animal science at Colorado State University. Through her work she revolutionized the livestock industry. As an advocate for autism, Temple uses her experience as an example of the unique contributions that autistic people can make. This biography, complete with personal photos, takes us inside Temple’s extraordinary mind and opens the door to a broader understanding of autism.

This riveting biography of Mary Mallon looks beyond the tabloid scandal of Mary’s controversial life. How she was treated by medical and legal officials reveals a lesser-known story of human and constitutional rights, entangled with the science of pathology and enduring questions about who Mary Mallon really was. How did her name become synonymous with deadly disease? And who is really responsible for the lasting legacy of Typhoid Mary?

In Tortall, two centuries before the Lioness rides, 16-year-old Rebakah (Beka) Cooper begins her work for the Provost’s Guard. She’s long dreamed of this position with the police, and she tells her story through the journal she keeps beginning on with her first day as a trainee or “Puppy.” She, her fellow “Dogs,” and the purple-eyed cat Pounce, work hard to make the city safer, especially the crime-ridden slums where Beka grew up.

Seeking to understand how religious ardor leads to violence, Stern recounts her dramatic encounters with Christians and Muslims who use terrorism in the name of God.

After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they’ve inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he’s hit in the head by a toaster. That’s just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids-Mitch, Caitlin, and Vincent-and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties. What’s more, Nick figures out that the attic is a strange magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. It’s as if the attic itself has an intelligence… and a purpose.

Children learn from their mothers and mothers learn from their children. Photographs from the authors’ extended family combine with gentle language to convey universal emotions and universal wisdom.

When Grace Cahill dies, her grandchildren, Amy and Dan, and seven other teams take up the challenge she left behind in her will: to search the globe for the 39 clues that will release the hidden power of the Cahills — a family filled with spies, scientists, artists and explorers — and make the winners the “richest, most important people in history.”

An African-American teenage boy is charged with setting a transgender white teen on fire aboard a bus in Oakland, California. The riveting story behind the headlines is told in brief, gripping chapters that invite teens to think deeply about social justice issues.

When Junior gets a chance to leave the reservation school and attend a far-away white high school, he must deal with prejudice not only from his new schoolmates, but from those he left behind.

Arguably Mark Twain’s most famous novel — indeed, one of the greatest works of American literature — The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brings together two people from the lower rungs of society, an ill-educated boy escaping an abusive father and a kind, strong man escaping slavery, and puts them on a raft going down the Mississippi River. The raft gives us the quintessential image of Huck Finn, but in fact much of the novel takes place on land, where the protagonists repeatedly find themselves having to escape from one bind or another.

Our narrator Chuy is dead! He was stabbed in a nightclub bathroom by another teen who misunderstood something he said. As he floats around in the afterlife, he not only learns about being dead, but he also comes to understand his short life.

Alice was four when her mother died. Though her father and brother do what they can, it’s tough being the only girl in the family. But as Alice begins 6th grade, she learns that there’s more to a person than just good looks. Readers will appreciate Alice’s sturdy but unattractive teacher, Mrs. Plotkins, and grow to respect her as did Alice. Both poignant and funny, this first in the Alice series introduces a girl who grows up literally in each successive installment. As Alice grows, so does the sophistication of the issues with which she deals.

In an accessible format, this unique work provides a basic working knowledge of art and art history through short essays, sidebars, and photographs.

The history and more of a modern American classic by well-known historian of children’s literature publishing is just in time for its 50th anniversary (and the 50th Anniversary edition).

Kang recounts his life as a boy growing up in Pyongyang during the Sixties after his Korean family returns to North Korea from their affluent lives in Japan. After Kang’s grandfather is accused of high treason, Kang spends ten years of his life surviving in a remote labor camp or gulag. Kang was only nine years old when he was first imprisoned at the Yodok camp in 1977.