National Network for Equitable Library Service

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was a man of many talents-a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, and scholar-but he is best known for Lives of the Artists, which singlehandedly established the canon of Italian Renaissance art. Before Vasari's extraordinary book, art was considered a technical skill, and artists were mere decorators and craftsmen. It was through Vasari's visionary writings that Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo came to be regarded as great masters of life as well as art, their creative genius celebrated as a divine gift.

When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback, titled The Double Helix, on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the building blocks of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn't become scientists, she decided she would.

The definitive biography of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, detailing the remarkable rise and political brilliance of the most powerful, and elusive, woman in the world. No modern leader has so ably confronted Russian aggression, provided homes to over a million refugees, and calmly unified Europe at a time when other countries are becoming more divided. But Marton also describes Merkel's many challenges, such as her complicated relationship with President Obama, who she at one point refused to speak to.

The astonishing true story of a boy who survived the war by hiding in the Polish forest Maxwell Smart was eleven years old when his entire family was killed before his eyes. He might have died along with them, but his mother selflessly ordered him to save himself. Alone in the forest, he dug a hole in the ground for shelter and foraged for food in farmers' fields. His clothes in rags and close to starvation, he repeatedly escaped death at the hands of Nazis and Ukrainian thugs. After months alone, Maxwell encountered a boy wandering in the forest looking for food.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "Moneyball" and "Liar's poker" comes the story of a young man's rise to football stardom. The young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story will one day be among the most highly paid athletes in the NFL. Plucked from the mean streets by a wealthy family, he took up football and school, and turned out to possess the priceless combination of size, speed, and agility needed to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability: his blind side.

A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski that is already being hailed as "an instant sports classic" (New York Post), The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write.

Named Most Anticipated Crime Book of the Year by CrimeReads - A chilling true story--part memoir, part crime investigation--reminiscent of Ann Rule's classic The Stranger Beside Me, about a little girl longing for love and how she found friendship with her charismatic babysitter--who was also a vicious serial killer.Growing up on Cape Cod in the 1960s, Liza Rodman was a lonely little girl.

Nicknamed the "Real-Life Lorax" by National Geographic, the biologist, botanist, and conservationist Meg Lowman--aka "CanopyMeg"--Takes us on an adventure into the "eighth continent" of the world's treetops, along her journey as a tree scientist, and into climate action. Welcome to the eighth continent! As a graduate student exploring the rain forests of Australia, Meg Lowman realized that she couldn't monitor her beloved leaves using any of the usual methods.

"The New Testament gives us 27 canonical texts-gospels, letters, and more-but these works are only a tiny fraction of the many volumes written about the life of Jesus, his family, and the apostles. This alternative body of literature falls under the category of "apocrypha," which means "hidden" or "secret," and it offers fascinating insights into the early Christian world. But these early Christian apocryphal works are more than historical curiosities.

"A brave and marvelous book. A page-turner that will rip your heart out."--Jon KrakauerIn the tradition of Into the Wild comes an instant classic of outdoor literature, a riveting work of uncommon depth. I'm planning on doing 4 days in the jungle. ... It should be difficult to get lost forever: These were the haunting last words legendary adventurer Roman Dial received from his son, before the 27-year old disappeared into the jungles of Costa Rica.