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New in Youth Services February 2020
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Agent Lion
by Jacky Davis and Jacky Davis
Starring: Agent Lion, a dim-witted, donut-loving, fedora-wearing detective who’s dispatched to look into the mysterious disappearance of Ms. Flamingo’s cat, Fluffy.
Why kids might like it: Expect giggles galore at Agent Lion’s absurd investigation tactics (“Does Fluffy have a trunk?” he inquires), as well as the mischievous juxtaposition of words and art (Agent Lion’s “direct route” to Ms. Flamingo’s is shown to involve several detours for snacks).
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Bedtime for Sweet Creatures
by Nikki Grimes; illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon
What it’s about: A toddler’s bedtime routine gets wild when every ploy to stay awake -- from clinging like a koala to hopping like an antelope -- conjures up a colorful imaginary animal.
Art alert: Bold hues and lively patterns in the collage illustrations infuse energy into this cozy read.
Try this next: Mary Logue’s Sleep Like a Tiger, another lyrical bedtime story featuring imagined animals.
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In a Jar
by Deborah Marcero
What it’s about: Can you collect the sunset in a jar? Llewellyn the rabbit can, and together with his best friend Evelyn, he collects rainbows and snowball fights and the sound of the ocean.
What happens: After Evelyn’s family moves away, lonely Llewellyn realizes that his collecting allows him to share experiences with his friend, even when they’re apart.
Read it for: the caring friendship, reassuring conclusion, and gently fantastical art.
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The Old Truck
by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey
What it is: the quietly moving story of a small family farm, and the trusty red truck that lasts through three generations.
Why kids might like it: short, easy-to-read sentences will appeal to listeners and beginning readers alike.
About the authors: Creators (and brothers) Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey used over 250 handmade stamps to create the endearing artwork in The Old Truck.
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Almost Time
by Gary D. Schmidt and Elizabeth Stickney; illustrated by G. Brian Karas
What it’s about: When Ethan and his dad run out of maple syrup one chilly winter, Ethan begins the long wait for spring, when the saps runs, the trees are tapped, and sugaring time rolls around again.
Why kids might like it: Ethan’s impatience for the season to change will be relatable to all kinds of kids, and those who aren’t familiar with sugaring may be fascinated by the process.
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The Best of Iggy
by Annie Barrows; illustrated by Sam Ricks
What it’s about: Fourth-grader Iggy doesn’t want to keep getting in trouble. But he also doesn’t think before he acts, and he rarely regrets his actions...unless someone gets hurt. For real, though, that desk-racing injury was an accident!
Why you might like it: Easy-to-read chapters and cartoon art will help you speed through this laugh-out-loud funny story, the 1st in a series.
About the author: You might recognize author Annie Barrows from her popular Ivy + Bean series.
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Cub
by Cynthia L Copeland
What it’s about: It’s 1972, and while mean-girl bullies make 7th-grader Cindy doubt her friendships, her job shadowing a female newspaper reporter gives her a new kind of confidence.
Read it for: Based on the real life of author Cynthia L. Copeland, this graphic novel memoir is filled with middle school struggles you can relate to, as well as 1970s details that might give you a new view on history (or at least make you smile -- bell-bottom jeans, anyone?).
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Notorious
by Gordon Korman
What it's about: Told in different voices, on Centerlight Island, halfway between the United States and Canada, middle-schoolers Keenan (recovering from tuberculosis) and ZeeBee (who thinks her dog was murdered) team up to seek gold rumored to be hidden there by a famous gangster.
Author alert: Gordon Korman is the author of many reader favorite novels, including Swindle, Masterminds, and Ungifted.
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From the Desk of Zoe Washington
by Janae Marks
Starring: twelve-year-old Zoe, whose summer plan (practicing for the Food Network’s Kids Bake Challenge) is derailed after she receives a letter from the father she’s never met, and she decides to prove that he’s innocent of the crime that sent him to prison.
Who it’s for: readers who like realistic stories that are both fun and deep.
Try this next: C.C. Payne’s The Thing About Leftovers, another believable, moving book about a foodie kid dealing with complicated family stuff.
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Jinxed
by Amy McCulloch
Imagine: a lifelike robotic pet with the features of a smartphone. Such devices, known as bakus, are common in Lacey Chu’s world, and she dreams of someday building them for the powerful Moncha Corp.
What happens: After Lucy rescues and repairs a damaged cat baku named Jinx, she’s allowed to attend Moncha’s elite Profectus Academy, where she finds plenty of competition and uncovers secrets about Jinx’s unusual abilities.
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Caught!: Nabbing History's Most Wanted
by Georgia Bragg; illustrated by Kevin O'Malley
What it's about: Outlaw, assassin, art thief, and spy, these fourteen troublemakers and crooks--including Blackbeard the pirate, Typhoid Mary, and gangster Al Capone--have given the good guys a run for their money throughout the ages. Some were crooked, some were deadly, and some were merely out of line--but they all got Caught!
Try these next: If you like Caught!,check out this author/illustrator duo's other funny roundups, How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous and How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous.
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Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom
by Gwendolyn Hooks; illustrated by Simone Agoussoye
What it's about: Soon after American colonists had won independence from Great Britain, Ona Judge was fighting for her own freedom from one of America's founding fathers, George Washington. Born into slavery at Mount Vernon, Ona seized the opportunity to escape when she was brought to live in the President's Mansion in Philadelphia. Ona fled to New Hampshire and started a new life, but the Washingtons wouldn't give up easily. After her escape, Ona became the focus of a years-long manhunt, led by America's first president.
Read it for: the gripping narrative, which captures the danger, uncertainty, and persistence Ona Judge experienced during and after her heroic escape.
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Life: The First Four Billion Years: The Story of Life from the Big Bang to the Evolution of Humans
by Martin Jenkins; illustrated by Graham Baker-Smith
What it is: Beginning with the big bang, Life chronicles significant events in the formation of the universe as we know it today, including the emergence of the star that would become the Earth’s sun, the ice ages, periods of mass extinction, and expanding biodiversity.
What's inside: Covering ice ages and fossils, the first life in the sea and on land, the time of the dinosaurs, and the rise of mammals, author Martin Jenkins navigates through millennia of prehistory in a style both enthralling and accessible.
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The First Dinosaur: How Science Solved the Greatest Mystery on Earth
by Ian Lendler; illustrated by C.M. Butzer
What it's about: Not so long ago, the concept that dinosaurs have roamed Earth millions of years before humans was unfathomable. People thought what we know as dinosaur bones were the bones of giant humans. Of large elephants. Of angels, even. So, how did we get from angel wings to the T-Rex? The First Dinosaur tells the story of the idea of dinosaurs, and the chain of fossil discoveries and advances in science that led to that idea.
Reviewers say: "An outstanding case study in how science is actually done: funny, nuanced, and perceptive" (Kirkus Reviews).
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Into the Blizzard: Heroism at Sea During the Great Blizzard of 1978
by Mike Tougias
What it is: A riveting account of the heroic efforts of Captain Frank Quirk and his four-man crew to rescue a tanker and Coast Guard boat that became trapped on the Salem Sound shoals by the Blizzard of 1978.
For fans of: the I Survived series, who are ready to dive into longer (but no less exciting!) histories.
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Morton Grove Public Library 6140 Lincoln Ave Morton Grove, Illinois 60053 (847) 965-4220www.mgpl.org/ |
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