National Network for Equitable Library Service

First-hand accounts that include diary entries and personal letters describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.

You gotta know the rules to play the game. Ball is life. Take it to the hoop. Soar. What can we imagine for our lives' What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life' What if we had our own rules of the game to help us get what we want, what we aspire to, what will enrich our lives' Illustrated with photographs by Thai Neave, The Playbook is intended to provide inspiration on the court of life.

In July of 2015 a robotic spacecraft reached Pluto after a nine-and-half-year journey. New Horizons is the first spacecraft mission to Pluto and revealed its five moons as never before seen. Images from the mission show a reddish surface covered in ice-water mountains, moving glaciers, and hints of possible ice volcanoes and an underground ocean. Pluto is geologically alive and changing! This addition to the Scientists in the Field series goes where no person or spacecraft has ever gone before.

If you had to name a statue, any statue, odds are good you'd mention the Statue of Liberty. Have you seen her' She's in New York. She's holding a torch. And she's taking one step forward. But why' In this fascinating, fun take on nonfiction, uniquely American in its frank tone and honest look at the literal foundation of our country, Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris investigate a seemingly small trait of America's most emblematic statue. What they find is about more than history, more than art.

Elizabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn't hers (it was her big brother's), and it wasn't strung right for her (she was left-handed). But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By age eleven, she'd written "Freight Train," one of the most famous folk songs of the twentieth century. And by the end of her life, people everywhere'from the sunny beaches of California to the rolling hills of England'knew her music.

These 13 deadly creatures can be difficult to spot until you're right on top of them...'r they're right on top of you. Look for each animal in its environment-look closely!-and learn all the ways you could perish-or survive-depending on how smart, well-informed, and good at running away you are. From the deathstalker scorpion and the poison dart frog to wasps, alligators, and many more, young readers will gain a new appreciation for the animal kingdom, and the dangers it hides in plain sight!

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is one of the most famous pieces of civic architecture in the world. But most people are not as familiar with the reserved college student who entered and won the design competition to build it. This accessible biography tells the story of Maya Lin, from her struggle to stick with her vision of the memorial to the wide variety of works she has created since then.

Curious about constructions' Inside this book, you'll come face-to-face with 50 incredible structures, including: a fire-breathing octopus sculpture; the skateboard ramp you'd need to jump the Great Wall of China; a whole community of tree houses in Costa Rica; and a lifesize X-Wing Starfighter built of Legos. These and many more fascinating accounts of constructions both fantastically useful and gloriously unnecessary await inquisitive readers, aspiring engineers, and anyone who ever looked at a skyscraper and thought, "Yeah, but what if it had a roller coaster on top'"

This rollicking and fascinating picture book biography chronicles the life of the first pioneer of children's books-John Newbery himself. While most children's books in the 18th century contained lessons and rules, John Newbery imagined them overflowing with entertaining stories, science, and games. He believed that every book should be made for the reader's enjoyment. Newbery-for whom the prestigious Newbery Medal is named-became a celebrated author and publisher, changing the world of children's books forever.

From wet noses to fuzzy paws, babies and toddlers will love learning the parts of the body from the adorable dogs and puppies in Heads & Tails. With lively images from the lens of expert animal photographer Carli Davidson, this sturdy book is perfect for the very youngest readers'and fun for the whole family.