New Kids’ books (and a music DVD)

We’ve added several new kids’ items in the last month or so, from picture books to chapter books to a kids’ Bible commentary to our first ever music video. If you’re looking for summer reading, look no further! Make sure to stop by the library to check out one or more of these items, and to pick up a summer reading program booklet.

Picture Books (E)

• Tales from the Ark, by David and Chonda Pierce; illustrated by Matt LeBarre. This is a story of the flood from the animals’ perspective. Meet Haman the Hyena, Deborah the Zebra, and Moses the Ferret, who don’t always get along, but who all make it safely to land.
• Four Hear Me Read Bible story books—A Walk on the Waves, Through the Roof, Thank You Jesus, and Daniel and the Tattletales. Written by an educator, these are designed for reading level 2.
• Welcome to Odyssey: The Start of Something Big, by Phil Lollar. Dylan Taylor, a favorite character from the Adventures in Odyssey radio series, moves to town and is in for a big surprise in this story of friendship and God’s love.

Chapter Books (Juv)

• The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers. “The son of a great landholder, Aidan Errolson lives a comfortable and settled life. That, he believes, is the one great injustice of his otherwise happy existence. But everything changes when a wandering seer announces that Aidan is destined to be the Wilderking, the long-prophesied wild man who will come from the forests and swamps to set things right in the kingdom of Corenwald. Aiden finds himself on a journey that takes him into the world of the feechiefolk, a mysterious tribe of half-civilized swamp dwellers who understand things about Aidan that he has never understood about himself.” Your librarian loved this series. Start with The Bark of the Bog Owl, then continue on to The Secret of the Swamp King and The Way of the Wilderking. You’ll love the swamps, the accents, and the feechiefolk, and you’ll love cheering for Aidan as he learns to balance loyalty and destiny, humility and courage.
• 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson. “Lying in bed at night, twelve-year-old Henry York can’t ignore the thumping and scratching he hears on the other side of his bedroom wall. He scrapes off the plaster and discovers doors—ninety-nine cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he hears the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room—with a man strolling back and forth! Henry and his cousin Henrietta soon learn that these are not just cupboards, but portals to other worlds.” This is the first in a series, and comes highly recommended by Andrew Peterson, author of The Wingfeather Saga.
• Seven volumes of The Mandie Collection. We’ve replaced all our old Mandie mysteries with shiny new copies that present three to five books in each volume. We haven’t added all the volumes yet, but we’re close, and seven volumes means we now have more stories than we did with the single-book volumes!
• The Exodus: Moses’ Story from the Bible, with notes from Charles Swindoll. Based on the popular movie The Prince of Egypt, this is a children’s Bible commentary on the first fourteen chapters of Exodus. It includes the full scriptural text, sidebars explaining historical and cultural background, explanations of Hebrew words and names, suggestions for imagining yourself in the story, devotional notes, and illustrations from the movie. This is a great introduction to Bible study—engaging, colorful, and not at all intimidating.

DVD

• Slugs & Bugs: The Videos, Volume 1. Randall Goodgame has recorded four Slugs & Bugs CDs (and has written several songs for VeggieTales), and even performs children’s concerts. His music is catchy, upbeat, funny, and full of joy and faith and truth. Kids will love it—and parents won’t mind listening to it fourteen zillion times! This DVD contains 17 songs, most of which are done in a simple, charming animated style (one is live action). We’ll have this video playing in the children’s section after worship each Sunday (except when it’s checked out).

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