This month in the collection

Library Pinterest

• New for Children
• New for Juvenile readers
• New Young Teen and Young Adult

New Book Spotlight

*Unless otherwise noted, all items were purchased for or added to the library collection*

Board Books

• Let's make burgers by Jamie Oliver
• Pigeon won't play with shapes
• Waiting room by Eleni Wehner

Picture Books

• Where are my massive flying wings? by Sarah Tagholm
• Kaleidoscope of Hope: How butterfly cycles reflect our world by Miranda Paul
• Buzz! Being brave around buzzy, stinging insects by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Joe Cepeda
• Sharks in Kansas by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander
• Pog and Pickle's Great Escape by Ross Montgomery, illustrated by Sarah Warburton
• Waffles & Julius No hugs please! by Ed Vere
• I used to be a dinosaur by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Laurie Keller
• Farmer's pajamas by Ruth Paul
• Just a frog by Iga Scibek
• Farm Shark by Bill Canterbury, illustrated by Maddie Frost
• The first drum I ever heard by Randy Preston, illustrated by Tamisha Anthony
• Forty the Fortune Teller by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Kevin Cornell (replacement)
• The Mole and the Mound by Will Hamilton-Davies, illustrated by Kasia Fryza
• Finn the Floaty by Leanne Hatch
• Rafi and Rita by Jarvis and Judge
• Sounds of Trash by Tina Athaide, illustrated by Neha Rawat
• Exca-gator! by Brooke Hartman, illustrated by Michael Slack (second copy)
• Big Rig Pig by Claire Tattersfield, illustrated by Rob Sayegh Jr.
• The House by NinoCactus, illustrated by Celia Sacido
• Wonder World: Earth the science of soil by Ben Lerwill, illustrated by Xuan Le
• Let me fix you a plate: A tale of two kitchens by Elizabeth Lilly (replacement)
• All the ways we learn by Chloe Ito Ward, illustrated by Yaroslava Apollonova
• Breathe, Bunny, Breathe: A book about big feelings by Laura Lavoie, illustrated by Mike Boldt
• Sounds like Joy by Yesenia Moises

Early Readers and Transitional Chapters

• Cozy town by Ame Dyckman
• Avery and the squirrel delivery by Rowan Kingsbury
• Frankie and Friends: The missing sock by Christine Platt

Beginning Chapter Books (new series)

• Rainbow magic fairies: Graphic novels
• Super Roomies: Lake of slime by Jarrett Lerner
• Sherlock roach and the case of the missing crumb by Joe McGee
• Venus Washington and the lasagna drama by Maisha Oso
• Miles and Jones: The Anaconda Attack by Sam Smith
• Unicorn rescuers: Mermaid Land by Ana Punset
• Dog meets dog: On the loose in London! by Dan Yaccarino

Beginning Chapter Books

• Happy Birthday, Jose and Feliz by Susan Rose and Silvia Lopez, illustrated by Gloria Felix

Juvenile Graphic Novels

• Unfairies by Huw Aaron
• Monster Locker: Nine-Tail Trouble by Jorge Aguirre & Andres Vera Martinez
• Mixed feelings by Sara Amini
• Zeb and Bel by Rachel Elliott
• The girl who loved monsters by Insha Fitzpatrick, illustrated by Ashley Robin Franklin
• Pet placement society by Primo Gallanosa
• Offside by Christina Gonzalez
• Steven and Parker by James Parker
• My sister the freak by Dani Jones
• Night chef by Mika Song
• 100 cupboards the graphic novel by N. D. Wilson
• Harper Sharp by Jarrett Williams
• Haven and the fallen giants by Jen Xu

Juvenile Fiction

• Swimming into trouble by Angela Ahn
• Youngest Faircrest and the search for a sorcerer by Ollie George Clark
• The last ember by Lily Dodd
• Strays by Gia Gordon
• Friend group by Lisa Greenwald
• Renegades: The magic awakens by Erin Hunter
• Second life of snap by Erin Entrada Kelly
• Confessions of a mango by Kate Lumsden
• Pumpkin Apocalypse by M. D. Payne
• Deepa M. D. by Priya Swaminathan
• Healer and the phoenix by Linda Trinh

Juvenile Nonfiction

• Terrifying true tales by Paige Towler
• Earth by Anna Skowrońska
• Marvelous Mammals: A wild A to Z of Southeast Asia by Debby Ng, illustrated by Darel Seow
• Bat planet by Neil Griffin
• Why communities need engineers by Helen Liang
• Working boats by Tom Crestodina
• Beyond earth by Yolanda Ridge
• Crafty Dolls by Jane Bull (replacement)
• Mbappé v. Haaland by Matt Oldfield

Young Teen (Voted for by TAB)

• Night king's court by Elisa Bonnin
• My Roman summer by Bruno de Luca
• Kaya of the ocean by Gloria Huang
• Midsummer sisters by Niki Smith
• Sunflowers and Lavender by Maisy Valais

Manga (new series) (Voted for by TAB)

• Akira failing in love
• Apothecary Diaries (light novel)
• Cogs of time (light novel)
• Demon prince of Momochi house: Succession
• Betrothed to a fox demon
• Summer Hikaru died (light novel)
• Ichi the witch
• My Isekai life
• Otaku love connection
• I'm running for crown princess, but all I want is a steady paycheck!
• The weakest tamer began a journey to pick up trash
• A timid lady was turned into an ugly cat, but on the verge of fainting is picked up by the most fearsome military duke

Young Adult (Voted for by TAB)

• Be yourself and other bad advice: a teen girl's guide to unlearning the rules (nonfiction)
• 99 things to do before you finish high school (new edition) (nonfiction)
• Gilded blade by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Rolls and Rivalry by Kristy Boyce
• Breakout by Dhonielle Clayton
• Costumes for time travelers by A. R. Capetta (new paperback edition)
• Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst
• When I was death by Alexis Henderson (review copy, reviewed by teens)
• Star Seekers by HYBE
• Release me by Tahereh Mafi
• Her hidden fire by Clíodhna O'Sullivan (review copy, reviewed by teens)

Young Adult Graphic Novels (Voted for by TAB)

• Speak of the devil by Sweeney Boo
• As I dream of you by Jennifer Lee
• Everything amplified by Sarah Lippett
• Morgana and Oz
• My gently raised beast
• Remarried empress
• Sidequested
• Milk & Mocha comics collection: Our little moments

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Play

 I originally had called this section "interactive" books and included most of the I Spy type books here as well. However, most of my patrons had no idea what "interactive" meant and it was too long, so I changed it to books meant to play with. I do have a genre sticker for I Spy books which I use in and out of this section.

Recommended/Favorite Interactive Books for Storytime

• Count the monkeys by Mac Barnett
• Let's dance by Valerie Bolling, illustrated by Maine Diaz
• Silvia Borando
• Open up, please
• Shapes, reshape
• Stomp, wiggle, clap, and tap: my first book of dance by Rachelle Burk
• Don't push the button by Bill Cotter
• If you're a monster and you know it by Rebecca Emberley
• This book is magic by Ashley Evanson
• Watch out for the lion! by Brooke Hartman, illustrated by Anna Susbauer
• I will chomp you! by Jory John and Bob Shea
• David LaRochelle
• Go and get with Rex
• Mr. Fox's game of no
• Croc-a-doodle-doo by Huw Lewis Jones
• What's next door by Nicola O'Byrne
• Bouncing Bunnies by Fiz Osborne, illustrated by Tim Budgen
• Bunny slopes by Claudia Rueda
• How to count to 1 by Caspar Salmon, illustrated by Matt Hunt
• Do you know which ones will grow? by Susan Shea
• Recess by Lane Smith
• Herve Tullet
• Press Here
• Mix it up
• Let's play
• Shake the tree by Chiara Vignocchi
• Museum of shapes by Sven Volker
• How to wake up Piggy by Xu Pingping

I Spy/Seek-and-Find Books

• Have you seen elephant? and Have you seen dinosaur? by David Barrow
• Bustletown series by Rotraut Susanne Berner
• Winter
• Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
• Nighttime
• The Lost Christmas by b. b. cronin
• Dinosaur detective's search-and-find rescue mission by Sophie Guerrive
• I Spy series by Walter Wick/Jean Marzollo
• Find my favorite animals by by Clare Lloyd
• Spunky little monkey by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson, illustrated by Brian Won
• Welcome to the Rabbit Residence: a seek-and-find story by Haruka Nohana
• Who's hiding by Satoru Onishi
• Brown bear wood series by Rachel Piercey
• Penguin Pip's ice-cold seek-and-find book by Benten Pompen
• Where's Walrus? and Penguin? by Stephen Savage
• Spot-it challenge series by Sarah Schuette
• Look! a double book! 14 adventures to explore and discover by Bob Staake
• Look-alikes by Joan Steiner
• Where's the pair and One is not a pair by Britta Teckentrup
• Zebras in the city: seek and find! Thomas van Oostrum

Books to sing

• Baby Shark
• Monster Boogie by Laurie Berkner
• Frog trouble by Sandra Boynton
• Jane Cabrera
• Row row row your boat
• Here we go round the mulberry bush
• The itsy bitsy spider
• 5 little ducks by Denise Fleming
• Cat goes fiddle-i-fee by Paul Galdone
• Miss Mary Mack and The eensy weensy spider by Mary Ann Hoberman
• The animal song by Jonty Howley
• I'm still here in the bathtub by Alan Katz
• Babies on the bus by Karen Katz
• Wheels on the bus at Halloween by Sarah Kieley
• Sing by Joe Raposo
• All god's critters by Bill Staines
• Peanut butter and jelly by Nadine Westcott

Other titles I have reviewed

• This book is too quiet! You add the noise... by Cristina Cubells, illustrated by Joana Casals
• There's a monster in your book by Tom Fletcher, illustrated by Greg Abbot
• Danny Go's Volcano Adventure illustrated by Aleksandar Zolotic
• Watch this! a book about making shapes by Jane Godwin, Hilary Walker, and Beci Orpin
• What was it before it melted? by Kristen McCurry
• Cake for everyone by The Tjong-Khing
• Whose feet? A mix-and-match flip book by Sam Williams, illustrated by Ekaterina Trukhan
• Pet this book by Jessica Young, illustrated by Daniel Wiseman
• Play this book by Jessica Young and Daniel Wiseman

July 2026 in review, looking forward to August

The things just keep on coming. It turns out part of the reason I felt so miserable the latter half of July was because I was actually sick. Yay. The weather has also been very fun. (I am still feeling fairly miserable and very sarcastic.)

While we finished the month's programs, including several huge events with our school colleague, the last performers, and a lot of teen volunteers, I continued planning for the fall. I have already started collecting some teen feedback and will be doing a survey for families in August. I am writing a report on the space use and changes that need to be made. There are some things that need to be done that I cannot (and do not want to) DIY. I am also chronically behind on collection development projects.

In August we will continue summer reading through the 22nd. We don't have any performers or big programs and will not be doing any teen events or volunteering, but we'll do a couple storytimes each week and drop-in activities so there is still something going on every day, Monday - Friday. I will be doing storytimes, which I haven't done in a long time. We are also going to be having one last round of construction at the entrance.

I'm hoping we can start getting some of the program spaces organized, but staff will be on vacation and I am just physically and mentally exhausted. We won't be resuming programs until late September, so we can work on it then.

Summer reading overall has worked very well - there are only a couple minor updates I will make next year.

STEAM Activities: Insects

 Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• wooden cubes
• wooden beads
• pompoms
• googly eyes

General supplies

• pipe cleaners
• tissue paper
• permanent markers
• glue dots
• hot glue

I didn't really observe any of the kids who came in, although we did have a fair number. A lot of them made butterflies or necklaces with the beads.

STEAM Activities: Bubbles

 Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• droppers
• liquid soap
• paint
• straw
• paper

General supplies

• small plastic cups (donated)
• stir sticks/popsicle sticks
• platters
• water

There were a lot of bubble painting projects this week. The small plastic containers a patron donated have been very useful. We had more kids than usual participating this week and a lot of younger kids learning how to blow into straws.

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Dance

 At one point I had a section in Fun for "Arts" that this was integrated into, and I also toyed with putting it in sports. Eventually, I moved it back to its own section. It should really be labeled "ballet" because that's the primary subject of most of the books.

Highlighted Nonfiction Dance Titles

• Welcome to ballet school by Ashley Bouder
• Ballet Dancer by Phoenix Bright
• My first ballet book by Kate Castle

Highlighted Fiction Dance Titles

• B is for Ballet by John Robert Allman
• Ballerina gets ready by Allegra Kent
• Miss Lina's ballerinas (and sequels) by Grace Maccarone
• Ella Bella Ballerina (series) by James Mayhew
• Most are out of print and/or difficult to find
• Tallulah series by Marilyn Singer

Other titles I have reviewed

• Bunheads by Misty Copeland, illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey
• The Bunny Ballet by Nora Ericson, illustrated by Elly MacKay
• My cat does ballet by Robert Heidbreder, illustrated by Matt Schu
• Ready for the spotlight! by Jaime Kim
• Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McClintock
• Swan: The life and dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Julie Morstad

STEAM activities: Jellyfish

 Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• Paper plates with a hole poked in the center
• Pipe cleaners
• Bleeding art tissue paper
• Ribbon

General supplies

• Scissors
• Small cups for water
• Paint brushes
• Hole punch

People really do not look at the posters unless I point them out. But it's fine if they just make something random too. If you haven't used bleeding art tissue paper before, it's fairly mess-free painting - you paint over the tissue with water and it "bleeds" onto the surface it's laid on.

STEAM Activities: Birds (paper airplanes)

 Canva link to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• Feathers

General supplies

• Scissors
• Tape
• Duct tape
• Markers/crayons
• cardboard
• Rulers
• Paper
• Paper clips

Nobody really used the cardboard. Mostly they just taped feathers to things. Which was fine.

Mid-July Update

 Oof. We keep saying "it will slow down!" It has not slowed down. It was a little quieter during the week leading up to July 4th, but this was balanced out with a massive, damaging storm that ripped through our county on July 3rd. Some of our staff lived in the affected areas and almost everyone had friends or family who were affected. I am still very tired but I have to start thinking about what we're doing next.

I've gotten a lot of teen participation in volunteer and drop-in events. The feedback is great, but this is just one group of teens with very specific interests (manga and fiction reading) so I've been searching out teens with different interests. And, of course, these teens will move on in a few years. The heavy traffic, plus the usual and additional work of summer, plus the stress of the last year and a half are definitely affecting all of us. On the positive side, our public seems to generally be happy with storytimes and just hanging out in the new area so I am not feeling a need to plan specific programs.

I have finished weeding several teen sections, am working through backlists of orders, and am waiting for some shelving to arrive to start shifting the nonfiction (again). Budget season will be starting soon and I am collecting feedback and writing reports for the end of the summer for needed updates for the department after we've lived in it for a season. We still haven't had time to organize the Create Space. I think I will need to consider a different method of running our summer performers as well as not all the presenters we get are suited to the audience or venue where I'm holding them.

Link to video of my hapless presenter doing their level best to talk over 270 screaming kids.

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Create

 I've played around with this section a lot, but in the last update I focused on including books on art and storytelling here. Books focused on recipes and cooking have the Dewey of 641, although they are not all nonfiction, and there are also some simple craft books under 745. I have an older subsection of books about writing and storytelling that is designated with a subheading of STORY. I'm not willing to relabel them, but I'm not really adding to this section.

Books about cooking

• Let's cook together
• Look and cook snacks by Valorie Fisher
• Every color soup by Jorey Hurley
• Every night is pizza night by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
• Food play! by Amy Palanjian
• Pizza! A slice of history by Greg Pizzoli
• Pickle words by April Pulley Sayre
• Ramen for everyone by Patricia Tanumihardja
• Sunday pancakes by Maya  Tatsuwaka
• Kobe eats pizza by Ashley Wian

How-to Crafting picture books

• My first guide to paper airplanes by Christopher Harbo
• Play with art by Rachael Hunt
• More-igami by Dori Kleber

Storytelling and Writing

• How this book was made by Mac Barnett
• How to make a book (about my dog) by Chris Barton
• Quest; Journey; Return by Aaron Becker
• Frankencrayon by Michael Hall
• How Rocket learned to read; Rocket writes a story; R is for Rocket by Tad Hills
• Harold and the purple crayon by Johnson Crockett
• Squiggly story; Another squiggly story by Andrew Larsen
• Once upon a book by Grace Lin
• Footprints in the snow by Mei Matsuoka
• Whole hole story by Vivian McInerny
• Use your imagination by Nicola O'Byrne
• Panda problem by Deborah Underwood

Picture books on creativity

• Perfect by Max Amato
• What if... by Samantha Berger
• Something great by Jeanette Bradley
• Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn
• Otto the book bear by Katie Cleminson
• Crayon stub by Marcus Cutler
• Swatch: The girl who loved colors by Julia Denos
• Windows by Julia Denos
• Crafty Chloe by Kelly DiPucchio
• Me and the boss by Michelle Edwards
• Wombats go wild for words by Beth Ferry
• Marcie and Giraffe by Kim Gregory
• Perfect Square by Michael Hall
• Eraser; Marker by Anna Kang
• When Pencil met Eraser (and sequels) by Karen Kilpatrick
• Don't think of tigers by Alex Latimer
• I can only draw worms by Will Mabbitt
• Claymates by Dev Petty
• Not a box (and sequels) by Antoinette Portis
• The Dot by Peter Reynolds
• Lost for words by Natalie Russell
• Andrew drew and drew by Barney Saltzberg
• Chalk by Bill Thomson
• Chester; Chester's Back; Chester's Masterpiece by Melanie Watt

Other titles in this section I have reviewed

• Monsters love colors by Mike Austin
• The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker
• The White Book by Sylvia Borando
• The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life by Lois Ehlert
• The night gardener by the Fan Brothers
• Bad Drawer by Seth Fishman (and friends)
• Bear's book by Claire Freedman, illustrated by Alison Friend
• By Mouse and Frog by Deborah Freedman
• Flowers for Mama by Deborah Freedman
• Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman
• Artist's Studio: Painting by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst
• Mazie's amazing machines by Sheryl Haft, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes
• Field trip to the moon by John Hare
• I cannot draw a bicycle by Charise Mericle Harper
• I cannot draw a horse by Charise Mericle Harper
• The book of mistakes by Corinna Luyken
• Julia, Child by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Julie Morstad
• How to read a story by Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel
• How to by Julie Morstad
• Hum and Swish by Matt Myers
• This is Sadie by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad
• Bears make the best writing buddies by Carmen Oliver, illustrated by Jean Claude
• Put your records on by Corinne Bailey Rae, illustrated by Gillian Eilidh O'Mara
• Poetree by Shauna LaVoy Reynolds, illustrated by Shahrzad Maydani
• Sometimes you find a dragon by Viviane Schwarz
• Made by Maxine by Ruth Spiro, illustrated by Holly Hatam
• A walk in the words by Hudson Talbott
• Yuna's cardboard castles by Marie Tang, illustrated by Jieting Chen
• Help! We need a title! by Herve Tullet
• I worked hard on that! by Robyn Wall, illustrated by A. N. Kang
• Because by Mo Willems, illustrated by Amber Ren
• What do you do with an idea? by Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Mae Besom
• Dog loves drawing by Louise Yates

This month in the collection

Library Pinterest

• New for Children
• New for Juvenile readers
• New Young Teen and Young Adult

New Book Spotlight

*Unless otherwise noted, all items were purchased for or added to the library collection*

Board Books

• 10 little monster trucks by Annie Bailey
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar's rainbow foods
• Chef Luna=Moon Chef by Delia Ruiz (bilingual)

Picture Books

• Puffins by Maria Gianferrari
• Do you really know flamingos? by Brandon Todd
• Jia has a dog problem by Stephanie Ellen Sy
• Riding Magic by Kelly Starling Lyons
• Zebra and Yak: The backwards counting book by Paul Friedrich
• I think we're upside-down! by Marcus Cutler
• On our bikes by Dan Saks
• Fish like me by Jamie Sumner
• Hello, ocean by Corinna Luyken
• Today we'll be eaten by Alan Barillaro
• Searching for wocks by Lucy Knisley
• Watermelon Pool by Bonsoir Lune, translated from the Korean by Frances Cha
• A Cozy Summer Day by Eliza Wheeler
• The River of Caregiving by Jocelyn Chung, illustrated by Sarah Gonzales
• Piggy by Ann Hood, illustrated by Anna Quaranta
• Mabel and Merryglow: The Spark by Anne Montel, translated by Charis Ainslie

Early Readers and Transitional Chapters

• Little Habitats: Fiddlehead Forest by Jana Curll
• Once upon a tail by Audrey Perrott, illustrated by Charlene Chua

Beginning Chapter Books (new series)

• Magic gems: Journey through the waterfall by Doshi Payal
• Max Beast: Sharknado Warning by Mara Maddy

Juvenile Fiction

• Dragon Towers: The ghostly surprise by Pip Bird
• Dawn of the Axolotl by Kit Brooks
• Penelope Positano sees it all by Katie Cotugno
• Griffin speaker by Jan Flynn
• New Norm by Matthew Gilbert
• The Shrew Detective: The case of the pilfered pearls by Margi Preus, illustrated by Junyi Wu
• Sashimi by Dan Santat

Juvenile Nonfiction

• America's founding myths by Christy Mihaly, illustrated by Marta Sevilla
• Unfathomable : 20 wild (but true) stories about the ocean by Mary Boone
• Anthology of beetles by Richard Jones
• Rocket: feel the force of the world's most powerful machines by Josh Barker
• A compendium of curious contraptions by Anna Goldfield
• The Aztecs: the rise and fall of a mighty empire by Anna Limerick

Young Teen

• Opting out by Maia Kobabe
• Still alive by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Young Adult

• How to survive the end of the world by Katy Doughty
• Lies between us by Jessica Goodman
• In the bloody by April Henry

Collection Development: USA 250th Anniversary

 There's a lot of discussion and different perspectives in libraries around the commemoration of the United States' 250th anniversary. I have my own thoughts on this, but since I don't generally do programs with specific themes that particular aspect is not relevant. I have been looking at books on the topic of US history, geography, and in general and here I have to focus very firmly on putting on my librarian hat.

  Whatever my own thoughts and perspective, my professional responsibility is to purchase items that are of interest to my community and that include accurate information. This seems straightforward, but it's actually really tricky; if a book's information is accurate but it limits or ignores some perspectives is it truly accurate? But if I purchase books that are accurate and cover all perspectives and they don't circulate, am I really meeting the needs of my community? It does help that my library is part of a larger consortium so there is access to more materials than are just in my library.

Anyways, this is a list of US-themed materials I have purchased so far this year. I will be updating this periodically and it will be interesting to see the total at the end of the year. I actually have a lot of juvenile nonfiction that hasn't been added yet because I'm currently weeding that collection too.

Picture Books

• 50 states of love: A celebration of America 9781836006077
• Copland: A story about America 9780593693711
• Make a pretty sound: A story of Ella Jenkins the first lady of Children's Music 9781452170640
• The 50 states: Things that go 9781419779725
• Land of the free: America's ABC 9781668979020
• The Navajos 9780823460977
• America the beautiful 9781836008774
• Baseball for breakfast: A (mostly) true story 9781623545703
• Main Street: A community story about redlining 9798217002672
• You are the land 9798217003495
• Once a wasteland: From toxic dump to national park 9781534113480
• Fly rod was first: Cornelia Crosby's adventures in angling 9781534113602
• The flag we love by Pam Munoz Ryan (new edition) 9781623548445
• Charley's honky-tonk mission 9798217003693
• Ghost army: the troop of artists who helped win WWII 9780593691717
• Bald Eagles by Gail Gibbons (new edition) 9780823462889
• Houdini's library: how books created the world's greatest magician 9780593570135

Juvenile Nonfiction

• History Comics: Ellis Island (prebound) 9781250768780
• My bicentennial summer by Greg Neri 9781536239577
• If you lived during the American Revolution by Chris Newell 9781338845655
• America's founding myths ...and what really happened! by Christy Mihaly 9798888599082
• Red, white, blue, and Uncle who? (updated edition) 9780823464135
• Happy birthday, America: 250 years of the United States 9798217137053
• America celebrates 9780760398609
• America as it happened 9781804661673
• National parks of the USA (updated) 9781836006138
• Explore! America's journeys 9781684645657
• A kid's guide to New York City: let the adventure begin! 9781837585243
• Unequal: a story of America by Eric Dyson 9780759557031
• History Comics: Great Depression (prebound) 9781250810335
• Twice enslaved: liberty and justice for Henrietta Wood by Selene Castrovilla 9781662680748

Juvenile Beginning Chapters

• Where is Arizona? 9798217053407
• Where is Florida? 9798217051373
• Where is Michigan? 9798217053285
• Where is New Jersey? 9798217053315
• Where is New York? 9798217051403
• Where is North Carolina? 9798217053254
• Where is Tennessee? 9798217053438
• Where is Virginia? 9798217053346
• Where is Washington? 9798217053377
• Where are the rocky mountains? 9780593890905
• What is American sign language? 9798217049288
• Journey to freedom, 1838 by Sherri Winston (replacement)

Juvenile Fiction

• Opal Watson, private eye by Brittany Thurman 9780063326491
• Opal Watson, a case most fowl by Brittany Thurman 9780063326545
• Where only storms grow by Alyssa Colman 9780374392789
• We the children by Andrew Clements (prebound) (replacement)

These are items I have read/skimmed and plan to purchase

Picture Books

• Teaching for change by Yvonne Clark-Rhines 9780063251601
• This is a powerful biography of a Civil Rights luminary. I'm very pleased to see more biographies of women and behind-the-scenes people from history and large-scale movements which are usually tied to a single man as leader.
• When Paul Revere Rode by Sarah L. Thomson 9781662681387
• A collection of poems from the different people involved in the events of "Paul Revere's Ride". Quotations from original sources and a brief explanation of each event are also included. Two enslaved men are quoted and there is an oblique mention of other riders.
• It takes a family to serve by Lisa Wheeler 9780063283473
• The subtitle is "A tribute to military families" and this does a really good job of showing a variety of different families and military personnel. POC and women are shown serving and a child is shown being raised by his grandfather.
• Honor Flight by Jeff Gottesfeld 9781536230154
• An honor flight as seen through the eyes of the author and the veteran he escorted.

STEAM activities: Heat Art

Canva links to resources and posters

Specific Supplies

• Paint
• Pastels
• Paper

General supplies

• Paintbrushes
• Aprons

This was an extremely apposite choice for this week since temperatures soared putting us into an extreme heat warning. It was also a very short week, right before the July 4th holiday, so we didn't have a big turnout. This project is, essentially, painting.