Cranbrook Kingswood Boys’ Middle School LibraryNew Materials

December, 2009

Featured Websites

Guys Read

This website (funded by Jon Scieszka) is designed to raise public awareness of the problem of boys’ literacy, and to offer boys reading they will enjoy. The website has two primary functions: it collects book recommendations for boys and gives adults strategies to help boys connect to reading. Guys Read’s recommendations are not value judgments about what is “great literature.” They are more effectively recommendations based on what other guys have liked. Jon Scieszka thought of the idea of GUYS READ after growing up with five brothers, teaching elementary school for ten years, raising a daughter and son, and writing books for kids for the last twenty years.

Tales Told Tall

This website stresses the importance of reading for boys and is updated by author, librarian, teacher, storyteller, and expert on boys and reading, Michael Sullivan. Topics covered include books for middle school boys, reading in the subject areas, tips for parents, books for educators, enjoying a good book, and boys and books blog.

Books

Non-fiction Series

Celebration!, by Robyn Hardyman. Chelsea Clubhouse, 2009. Topics covered include historical highlights, fly the flag, what’s cooking, how do I say, stories and legends, arts and culture and sports and leisure. 943.H17 Germany 944.H17 France 945.H17 Italy 951.H17 China

952.H17 Japan 954.H17 India 972.H17 Mexico 973.H17 United States

World Religions. Chelsea House, 2009. This series covers the origin and history, rites of passage, branches of the religion, impact on the world and new challenges. 280.208.C18 Catholicism & Orthodox Christianity 280.4.B75 Protestantism 294.3.W15 Buddhism 294.6.S35 Sikhism 294.5 W15 Hinduism 295.H17 Zoroastrianism 296.J81 Judaism

297.G57 Islam 297.H17 Baha’i Faith 299.H17 Shinto 299.5.H17 Daoism 299.5.H55 Confucianism 299.6.L82 African Traditional 299.7.H17 Native American

970.01.M15 Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491, by Charles C. Mann. Atheneum, 2009. From the author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, this full-colored journey turns conventional wisdom on it head. New discoveries about Native American history show how the North and South American Indians were every bit as advanced as their worldwide counterparts, with their own thriving societies, governments, trade systems, arts, and inventions.

Biographies

B.Bro John Brown, by Jon Sterngass. Chelsea House, 2009. John Brown, a dedicated and unfaltering abolitionist, was known for his radical and violent efforts to dismantle the institution of slavery in the United States. This title

is part of a series entitled Leaders of the Civil War Era. Each volume is a key resource for students who want to know more about the people who shaped our country into what it is today.

B.Dav Jefferson Davis, by David Aretha. Chelsea House, 2009. Heroic and tragic, despised and beloved, Davis remains one of the most compelling figures in American history. This title is part of a series entitled Leaders of the Civil War Era.

B.Lev Rita Levi-Montalcini: Discoverer of Nerve Growth Factor, by Lisa Yount. Chelsea House, 2009. Recounts the life and work of the scientist who won the Nobel Prize in physiology/medicine in 1986 for her discovery of nerve growth factor. This book also includes information on Levi-Montalcini’s experiments in genetic engineering and the struggles she faced in a male-dominated environment. This series, Makers of Modern Science includes over 30 photographs and line illustrations, a glossary, a chronology, a list of print and Internet resources, and an index in each volume.

B.Weg Alfred Wegener: Creator of the Continental Drift Theory, by Lisa Yount. Chelsea House, 2009. Recounts the life and work of the notable German meteorologist whose groundbreaking theory of continental displacement, later called continental drift, revolutionized the 18th-19th century observations about the development of Earth that were embraced by his contemporary geologist peers. The book includes information on how Wegener reached his conclusions and how his theory of continental drift would not be generally accepted until well after his death in 1930.

Fiction

Fic.Hem The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, by Helen Hemphill. Front Street, 2008. Thirteen-year-old Prometheus Jones and his eleven-year-old cousin Omer flee Tennessee and join a cattle drive that will eventually take them to Texas, where Prometheus hopes his father lives. They find adventure and face challenges as African Americans in a land still recovering from the Civil War.

Science Fiction

Fic.Had Sent, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Simon & Schuster, 2009. Jonah, Katherine, Chip and Alex suddenly find themselves in 1483 at the Tower of London, where they discover that Chip and Alex are Prince Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, imprisoned by their uncle, King Richard III but trying to repair history without knowing what is supposed to happen proves challenging. Author’s notes include historical facts about the princes and king.

Fic.Lyn Cyberia, by Chris Lynch. Scholastic, 2008. In a future where electronic surveillance has taken the place of love, a veterinarian is putting computer chips in animals to control them, and those creatures choose young Zane, who understands their speech, to release captives and bring them to a technology-free safety zone.