LIBRARY HIGHLIGHTS 2022 - 23
The ISY Library collection is in constant growth. Take a sneak peek at the new book additions you can check out, and enjoy.
Theme: Stories of Asia
Generation Misfits by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Millie is attending a real school for the first time, and she dreams of finally having friends and a bit of freedom. She finds her chance when she joins an imitation band of her favorite J-Pop group, where she's thrilled to meet a group of misfits who quickly become a group of friends that are like family. Recommended for Middle School students.
Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joana Ho
A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future. Recommended for Elementary students.
My First Day by Phung Nguyen
A young child sets out on a boat trip down the Mekong River in Vietnam to attend the first day of school. Recommended for Elementary students.
Room to Dream by Kelly Yang
After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family--to China! A total dream come true. Mia can't wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China's going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life. Recommended for Middle School students.
Eyes that Speak to the Stars by Joana Ho
A young Asian boy, who notices that his eyes look different from his friends', realizes that his eyes--like his father's, grandfather's, and younger brother's--rise to the skies, speak to the stars, and are visionary. Recommended for Elementary students.
Saving Sorya by Trang Nguyen
A young and enthusiastic conservationist overcomes many difficulties and hardships to return a sun bear to its natural habitat in the jungles of South East Asia. Recommended for Middle School students.
New Year by Mei Zihan
It's Lunar New Year, a time when families come together for a wonderful feast, and a father longs to be with his daughter--but she lives in another country. As he imagines how his daughter is spending the festivities, he recalls fond memories of time spent with her, feeling a sense of loss and dislocation. Recommended for Elementary students.
The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable. But Soraya doesn’t know that pelesits have a dark side.
Recommended for Middle School students.
Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship by Chitra Soundar
Being a wise and just ruler is no easy task. That’s what Prince Veera discovers when he and his best friend, Suku, are given the opportunity to preside over the court of his father, King Bheema. Some of the subjects’ complaints are easily addressed, but others are much more challenging. How should they handle the case of the greedy merchant who wishes to charge people for enjoying the smells of his sweets? And can they prove that an innocent man cannot possibly spread bad luck? Are the two clever boys up to the challenge? Recommended for Middle School students.
Theme: The World of Bugs
Dear Little One by Nina Laden
From the treasure of flowers to the mystery of insects, this lyrical book encourages children to explore the natural world around them and to be grateful for all that surrounds them. Recommended for Elementary students.
How to Build an Insect by Roberta Gibson
In the pages of this book, you’ll find a workshop filled with everything you need, including a head, a thorax, an abdomen, and much more. This wonderfully original take on insect anatomy will spark curiosity and engage even those who didn't think they liked creepy, crawly things! Recommended for Middle School students.
Bug on the Rug by Sophia Golz
Pug is snug on his rug. But what happens when along comes BUG?! With a claim to the rug?! The two engage in a hysterical, rhyming battle of wits and strength until Slug asks the necessary questions and helps them find common ground. Recommended for Elementary students.
Hard-boiled Bugs for Breakfast by Ruth Chan
Hard-Boiled Bugs for Breakfast is guaranteed to make readers laugh, imagine, write, and dream. From a lizard playing a mandolin (although not very well) to the surprised guest of honor (at a birthday party he threw for himself), there’s something for everyone in this book. Recommended for Middle School students.
My Book of Butterflies by Geraldo Valerio
The author grew up in Brazil, watching white butterflies visit the vegetable patch behind his house. As he got older, he learned more about these unique and beautiful insects, which can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Recommended for Middle School students.
The Thing About Bees by Shabazz Larkin
This book is a love poem from a father to his two sons, and a tribute to the bees that pollinate the foods we love to eat. Children are introduced to different kinds of bees, “how not to get stung,” and how the things we fear are often things we don’t fully understand. Recommended for Elementary students.
The Way of the Hive by Jay Hosler
Follow Nyuki on a lifelong journey as she annoys her sisters, avoids predators, and learns to trust her inner voice as she masters the way of the hive. Recommended for Middle School students.
Pea, Bee, & Jay: Wannabees by Brian Smith
Who knew being queen could sting so much? All Bee really wants to do is play with hertwo best friends, Pea and Jay. But when she’s replaced by Lenny—an ambitious bee hungry for power—as queen of her hive, the friends set out to prove Lenny isn’t exactly who he seems to be. Recommended for Middle School students.
It Fell From the Sky by Terry Fan
It fell from the sky on a Thursday. None of the insects know where it came from, or what it is. Some say it’s an egg. Others, a gumdrop. But whatever it is, it fell near Spider’s house, so he’s convinced it belongs to him. Recommended for Elementary students.
Theme: Science and Public Health
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
In an Ireland ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. Recommended for High School students.
A Shot in the Arm by Don Brown
This book explores the history of vaccinations and the struggle to protect people from infectious diseases, from smallpox—perhaps humankind’s greatest affliction to date—to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommended for Middle School students.
Unseen Worlds by Helene Rajcak
Unfold each page to reveal stunningly detailed illustrations bursting with jelly-like amoebae, predatory centipedes, ravenous mosquitos and more mites than you could imagine. Recommended for Elementary students.
Design Like Nature by Megan Clendenan
Did you know that lamps can be powered by glowing bacteria instead of electricity? That gloves designed like gecko feet let people climb straight up glass walls? Or that kids are finding ways to make compostable plastic out of banana peels? Biomimicry, the scientific term for when we learn from and copy nature, is a revolutionary way to look to nature for answers to environmental problems such as climate change. Recommended for Middle School students.
Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield by Fallyn Koch
This book takes readers across the microscopic battlefield to get to know the critters behind history’s worst diseases. We delve into the biology and mechanisms of infections, diseases, and immunity, and also the incredible effect that technology and medical science have had on humanity’s ability to contain and treat disease. Recommended for Middle School students.
Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac
Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration. Recommended for High School students.
Severance by Ling Ma
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.
Do Not Lick This Book by Ben-Barak
In this interactive children’s picture book the reader can zoom in on the microscopic world found on everyday objects―and in our bodies―warning readers Do Not Lick This Book. Recommended for Elementary students.
Agnes and the End by Kelly McWilliams
Agnes loves her home of Red Creek—its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town's strict laws. What she doesn't know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman that she must escape, but the outside world isn’t safe either, as a pandemic is killing the population. Recommended for High School students.
Theme: International Literacy Day
Legacy by Nikki Grimes
For centuries, accomplished women--of all races--have fallen out of the historical records. The same is true for gifted, prolific, women poets of the Harlem Renaissance who are little known, especially as compared to their male counterparts. Recommended for High School students.
Read! Read! Read! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
From that thrilling moment when a child first learns to decipher words, to the excitement that follows in reading everything from road signs to field guides to internet articles to stories, these poems celebrate reading. They also explore what reading does — how it opens minds, can make you kind, and allows you to explore the whole world. Recommended for Elementary students.
Pencil: A Story with a Point by Ann Ingots
Pencil and Jackson are a great pair: they draw, they sketch, they scribble. But then Jackson gets Tablet and Pencil finds himself dumped in the dreaded junk drawer; he just can’t compete with Tablet’s videos, games, and movies. How will Pencil ever reclaim Jackson’s attention? Recommended for Elementary students.
Little Red Writing by Joan Holub
This is a hilarious and exuberant retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, in which a brave little red pencil finds her way through the many perils of writing a story. Recommended for Elementary students.
Write! Write! Write! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
This book explores every stage of writing, from learning the alphabet to the thrilling moment of writing a thought for the first time, from writer's block to finding inspiration, and from revision to stapling your finished work into a book. Recommended for Elementary students.
The Word Collector by Peter Hamilton
Jerome discovers the magic of the words all around him -- short and sweet words, two-syllable treats, and multisyllable words that sound like little songs. Words that connect, transform, and empower. Recommended for Elementary students.
You Can’t Say That! By Leonard Marcus
Tune in as thirteen top children’s and young adult authors speak out about what it’s like to have your work banned or challenged in America today. Recommended for High School students.
The Reader by Luciana de Luca
This breathtaking picture book is a celebration of reading and a child’s imagination. Inspire beginning readers to become armchair adventurers by exploring what lies between the pages of a book. Recommended for Elementary students.
The Mailbox in The Forest by Kyoko Hara
While spending a vacation with her grandparents, Mayu finds a mysterious mailbox in the forest near their house. She writes a letter and leaves it in the box. The next day she is surprised to find a letter addressed to her. She responds and a friendship develops between the two letter writers. But who could this mysterious friend be? Mayu discovers who he is, and discovers the joys of writing and receiving letters. Recommended for Elementary students.
Theme: Understanding Disabilities
The Great Upending by Beth Kephart
Trouble is the last thing Sara and her brother need. Sara’s got a condition, you see. Marfan syndrome. And that Marfan syndrome is causing her heart to have problems, the kind of problems that require surgery. But the family already has problems: The drought has dried up their crops and their funds, which means they can’t afford any more problems, let alone a surgery to fix those problems. Sara can feel the weight of her family’s worry, and the weight of her time running out, but what can a pair of kids do? Recommended for High School students.
Invisible Differences by Julie Dachez
The moving and intimate story of what it's like to live day to day with Asperger Syndrome. Marguerite feels awkward, struggling every day to stay productive at work and keep up appearances with friends. Recommended for High School students.
Mallko and Dad by Gusti
A diary, journal, and illustrated story all at the same time written by a father about his son, Mallko, who has Down Syndrome. Recommended for High School students.
Tornado Brain by Cat Patrick
Seventh-grader Frankie, who has various sensory disorders, is determined to find her missing best friend, Colette, before it is too late. Recommended for Middle School students.
Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau
People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, an estimated 15 percent of the global population. But many of us—disabled and nondisabled alike—don’t know how to act, what to say, or how to be an ally to the disability community. Demystifying Disability is a friendly handbook on the important disability issues you need to know about. Recommended for High School students.
Dancing with Daddy by Anitra Rowe
Recommended for Elementary students.
All He Knew by Helen Frost
Henry has been deaf from an early age―he is intelligent and aware of langauge, but by age six, he has decided it's not safe to speak to strangers. When the time comes for him to start school, he is labeled "unteachable." Because his family has very little money, his parents and older sister, Molly, feel powerless to help him. Henry is sent to Riverview, a bleak institution where he is misunderstood, underestimated, and harshly treated. Recommended for Middle School students.
Henry the Boy by Molly Felder
An ordinary boy with daily struggles, and the triumphs of his extraordinary imagination. Henry uses forearm crutches decorated with animal stickers. He sometimes feels out of place at school, especially when he gets made fun of, but through his own rich imagination and his friendship with Joel, Henry learns to define himself on his own terms. Recommended for Elementary students.
Show me a Sign by Ann Clare Lezotte
Mary has always felt safe on her beloved island of Martha's Vineyard. Her great-great-grandfather was an early settler and the first deaf islander. Now, over a hundred years later, many people there -- including Mary -- are deaf, and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. She is proud of her lineage, but a scientist has arrived, hoping to discover the origin of the island's prevalent deafness. Recommended for Middle School students.
Theme: Back to School
Queen of Spelling Bee by Gina Bellisario
Ellie can't wait for the school spelling bee--she's a super-speller and is sure she'll be crowned queen of the bee! But when her best friend Hannah makes the cut for the spelling bee instead, Ellie discovers that being super doesn't mean she shouldn't study. When it's revealed that the substitute librarian in charge of the bee has a villainous plan, it's up to Ellie to save the day--and her friendship. Recommended for Elementary Students.
Read! Read! Read! by Ludwig VanDerwater
Twenty-three poems capture the joys of reading.From that thrilling moment when a child first learns to decipher words, to the excitement that follows in reading everything from road signs to field guides to internet articles to stories. Recommended for Elementary Students.
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Mia’s Secrets: She lives in a motel, her parents hide immigrants, and she wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language? It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get successfully through this year. Recommended for Middle School Students. Recommended for Middle School Students.
Evil Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
During a spy school game of Capture the Flag, twelve-year-old Ben Ripley somehow accidentally shoots a live mortar into the principal’s office—and immediately gets himself expelled. Not long after going back to the boring old real world, Ben gets recruited by evil crime organization SPYDER. And he accepts. Recommended for Middle School Students.
My Pencil and Me by Sara Varon
This picture book tells a fun story of Sara and her pencil. It guides the reader through the steps in the story making process and how to use your imagination. Recommended for Elementary Students.
The Unteachables by Gordon Korman
The Unteachables are a notorious class of misfits and academic train wrecks. Like Aldo, with anger management issues; Parker, who can’t read; Kiana, who doesn’t even belong in the class—or any class; and Elaine (rhymes with pain). The Unteachables have been removed from the student body and isolated in room 117. Recommended for Middle School Students.
Class Act by Jerry Craft
Eighth grader Drew Ellis is no stranger to the saying “You have to work twice as hard to be just as good.” His grandmother has reminded him his entire life. But what if he works ten times as hard and still isn’t afforded the same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted? Recommended for Young Adults.
All the Ways to Be Smart by Davina Bell
A tender, funny, and exquisitely illustrated picture book celebrating all the unique and wonderful qualities that make children who they are. With heartwarming rhyming text all about knowing what makes you special, All the Ways to Be Smart is a wonderful introduction to conversations about self-esteem. Recommended for Elementary Students.
Cece Loves Science by Kimberly Derting
Cece, a budding and inquisitive scientist, and her equally curious best friend, Isaac, conduct experiments to see whether Cece's dog, Einstein, will eat his vegetables. Recommended for Elementary Students.