A Youthful Frame of Mind
News from the Rod Library Youth Collection
December 2013
- Displays... Rosa Parks, World Aids Day, Winter Activities
- New Books!
- Book Give-Away!
World Aids Day
World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate people who have passed. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and was held in 1988. (worldaidsday.org) The AIDS epidemic is an important issue in today's society. The Youth Collection will be displaying a number of Aids and HIV related books in the Blue Box display. These books are a great way to educate children about this serious problem.
Rosa Parks
Winter Activities
New Books in the Youth Collection!
Here are the eight new books that the Youth Collection will be adding to its selection!
Click on the link to see reviews and book covers!
Fairy Tale Comics by Chris Duffy -- Once upon a time, eighteen of the finest cartoonists from across the land came together to make Fairy Tale Comics! This fun-filled new collection is packed with beloved tales. Cartoonists and illustrators such as Brett Helquist (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Ramona Fradon (Aquaman) , Raina Telgemeier (Smile), and many more have reimagined classic stories in comic form... and the result is nothing short of delightful! Overall, the book is an ideal choice for a child's first comics experience and a new way to enjoy old favorites.
Year of the Jungle by Suzanne Collins -- When Suxy's father is called to war in a faraway jungle (Vietnam), she struggles to deal with his absence. Why did her father have to go? When will he return? And will she even recognize him when he does? As months go by, measured by the arrival of postcards and the passing of holidays, Suzy's father starts to feel farther and farther away. Suzanne Collins, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hunger Games series and the Underland Chronicles, has created a powerful and moving story based on her own childhood. With her signature ability to touch readers' hearts, combined with James Proimos's bright and friendly artwork, here is a book that will speak to any child who has had to spend time away from a loved one.
Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled: How do we know what dinosaurs really looked like by Catherine Thimmesh -- No human being has ever seen a triceratops or velociraptor or even the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex. They left behind only their impressive bones. So how can scientists know what color dinosaurs were? Or if their flesh was scaly or feathered? Could that fierce T.rex have been born with spots? In a first for young readers, the Sibert medalist Catherine Thimmesh introduces the incredible talents of the paleoartist, whose work reanimates gone-but-never-forgotten dinosaurs in giant full-color paintings that are as strikingly beautiful as they aim to be scientifically accurate, down to the smallest detail. Follow a paleoartist through the scientific process of ascertaining the appearance of various dinosaurs from millions of years ago to learn how science, art, and imagination combine to bring us face-to-face with the past.
Train Books -- Have you ever wanted to take a train ride to the North Pole with Tom Hanks? Iowa's Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad & Museum, gives you a similar experience. (www.scenic-valleyrr.com/) Take a train ride on the Santa Express through Boone to the "North Pole" and read about the "Santa's Scenic Valley Ride". It's an great way to spend the weekend with family and friends enjoying the holidays to come. Before you go on your magical train ride, the Youth Collection has three new book about trains. These books, listed below, are great ways to help young readers learn more about trains and how they operate.
How to Train a Train by Jason Carter Eaton -- Finding advice on caring for a dog, a cat, a fish, even a dinosaur is easy. But what if somebody’s taste in pets runs to the more mechanical kind? What about those who like cogs and gears more than feathers and fur? People who prefer the call of a train whistle to the squeal of a guinea pig? Or maybe dream of a smudge of soot on their cheek, not slobber? In this spectacularly illustrated picture book, kids who love locomotives (and what kid doesn’t?) will discover where trains live, what they like to eat, and the best train tricks around—everything it takes to lay the tracks for a long and happy friendship. All aboard!
Locomotive by Brian Floca -- Here are the locomotives, the iron horses, the great machines, pulling their trains behind them. Here are the crews that make them run, and here is how they do it. And here is a family, heading West, hoping to start a new life. It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America's first transcontinental railroad, still new, just built. In these pages, dense with details of their trip, are the sounds speed, and strength of the locomotives; the work that keeps them moving; the thrill of travel from plains to mountains to oceans.
Train by Elisha Cooper --Climb aboard a red-striped Commuter Train in the East. Switch to a blue Passenger Train rolling through midwestern farmland. Then hop on a Freight Train, soar over mountains on an Overnight Train, and finish on a High-Speed Train as it races to the West Coast. Trains are moving. Fast and loud, colorful and powerful. Experience their sights, sounds, smells--and the engineers and conductors who make them go--as they roll across the country.
Win a New Book in Our Book Give-Away
Lullaby: For a Black Mother by Langston Hughes -- “My little dark baby, / My little earth-thing, / My little love-one, / What shall I sing / For your lullaby?" With a few simple words as smooth as a song, the poet Langston Hughes celebrates the love between an African American mother and her baby. The award-winning illustrator Sean Qualls’s painted and collaged artwork captures universally powerful maternal moments with tenderness and whimsy. In the end, readers will find a rare photo of baby Hughes and his mother, a biographical note, further reading, and the complete lullaby. Like little love-ones, this beautiful book is a treasure. "This appealing, quiet offering would serve as an appropriate introduction to poetry for new readers since the font is big and much of the vocabulary repeats. Share with little ones needing a gentle lullaby" - Kirkus Reviews.
Stronger Than Steel: Spider Silk DNA and the Quest for Better Bullerproof Vests, Sutures, and Parachute Rope by Houghton Mifflin -- In Stronger Than Steel, readers enter Randy Lewis' lab where they come face to face with golden orb weaver spiders, and transgenic alfalfa, silkworm silk, and goats, whose milk contains the proteins to spin spider silk--and to weave a nearly indestructible fiber. Learn how this amazing material might someday be used to repair or replace human ligaments and bones, improve body armor, strengthen parachute rope, and even tether an airplane to an aircraft carrier! Readers explore rapid advancements in the application of genetic medicine and their potential to save and improve lives while considering the crucial ethical concerns of genetic research. A timely addition to the acclaimed Scientists in the Field series.
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The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne by Catherine Reef -- The Bronte Sisters were the most extraordinary of literary siblings. In the nineteenth century, when women were discouraged from writing and publishing books, all three produced one or more novels, now considered masterpieces. In The Bronte Sisters, award-winning author Catherine Reef explores the turbulent lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne and offers insights into their passionate and timeless work. The sisters spent their childhood creating endless imaginative stories with their brother, Branwell, and running free on the wild moors of Yorkshire, England. Their mother died when they were tiny girls, and two older sisters soon followed her to the grave. Heartbreak and hardship continued to plague the Brontes, but sisters leaned on one another. They turned their misfortune into novels and poems that remain as potent today as when they were written. As tragic and as much fun to read as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, or Agnes Grey, this enthralling family biography introduces young readers to these fascinating writers and their books.
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers -- Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?
Click on the link to see reviews and book covers!