New Books Added to the Unger Memorial Library Collections

When a lost dog helps Laura find a way home to her family, they discover family in each other along the way.

Rafael Fuentes isn't easily scared. He loves writing ghost stories, reading scary books, and entertaining his friends with terrifying tales he creates on the spot. Rafa has come up against enough real-life scary situations that fictional hauntings seem like no big deal. Rafa's incarcerated mom is being released from jail soon and will be coming to live with him, his sister, and their grandparents. For the first time in a while, Rafa feels a pit of fear growing in his stomach. To take his mind off his mom's return, Rafa spends an evening crafting the scariest ghost story he's ever told. As an eerie blood moon hangs in the sky, Rafa tells a group of friends about The Caretaker. The Caretaker is an evil ghost who lures unsuspecting kids into the neighborhood pond. . . and they don't ever come out. Rafa is proud of his latest creation until strange things start to happen around him. With a sinking feeling, Rafa realizes the Caretaker is real. Rafa has brought the ghost to life and only he can stop him.

When a new dog named Decker arrives in Miss Lottie's home and convinces Moon Pie to embark on an impossible journey, Gus, the insecure pack leader, must gather his courage to bring Moon Pie home.

Andie Gladman is your typical kid -- she lives in a small town, doesn't have many friends, and quietly puts up with taunts from the school bully, Myrtle Klinghoffer. But one day, a new neighbor moves into the house next to Andie's family . . . and he looks familiar. Could he be famous author Hans Christian Andersen? Andie sure thinks so, and the arrival of this well-known writer inspires Andie to write her own poems (with a feminist twist) based on his classic fairy tales. Her newfound hobby leads her to make a friend and finally feel some excitement about her previously quiet life . . . but will a shocking revelation change everything for Andie?

Eleven-year-old Alex knows that starting middle school will be a big change, and for an autistic person, change can be terrifying. He is sure that having a friend by his side will help. But how can he make one? Alex devises a plan to impress the kids at school by winning a trophy at the PAWS Dog Show with his trusty sidekick, Kevin the Cockapoo. This should be a walk in the park, right? If only. It turns out that finding a friend is harder than Alex thought--unless, maybe, friendship is about something more than popularity. This charming story, told through Alex's clear and honest voice, navigates relationships of all stripes between classmates, new neighbors, family, and, of course, a kid and his dog. After all, friendship isn't one-size-fits-all--maybe it's found in the small things where you least expect it.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thirteen-year-old Matthew discovers a shocking secret about his great-grandmother's past as he learns about her life during the Holodomor famine in Soviet Ukraine.

When hard truths come out after a tragedy, ten-year-old mermaid Sofía must learn how to forgive herself and others.

Zane is itching for an adventure that will take him away from his family's boarding house in Rockaway, Queens. So when he is entrusted with a real treasure map, leading to a spot somewhere in Manhattan, Zane wastes no time in riding the ferry over to the city to start the search with his friends Kiko and Jack and his dog, Hip-Hop. Through strange coincidence, they meet a man who is eager to help them find the treasure: John, a sailor who knows all about the buried history of Black New Yorkers of centuries past, and the gold that is hidden somewhere in those stories. As a vicious rival skateboard crew follows them around the city, Zane and his friends begin to wonder who they can really trust. And soon it becomes clear that treasure hunting is a dangerous business.

Twelve-year-old Stan and Elpidia find hope in an unexpected friendship as they navigate challenging family circumstances and a dangerous local gang in the desolate Southern California desert.

During Black History Month, Ryan learns more about her ancestors and local Black pioneers, and their hopes for her generation.

After twelve-year-old Ellis's big break turns into his most embarrassing moment ever and his relationship with his dad and their cookie store starts to change, Ellis hatches plans to get his life back on track.

For young detective Aggie Morton and her friend Hector, Christmas becomes a lot more exciting when a dead body is found in this second book in the Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen series, inspired by the life of Agatha Christie as a child and her most popular creation, Hercule Poirot. For fans of The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency. Aspiring writer Aggie Morton is looking forward to Christmas. Having just solved a murder and survived her own brush with death in her small town of Torquay on the coast of England, Aggie can't wait to spend the holidays with her sister Marjorie, the new Lady Greyson of Owl Park, an enormous manor house in the country; Grannie Jane and her fellow sleuth and partner in crime, Hector Perot. Owl Park holds many delights including Aggie's almost cousin Lucy, exciting and glamorous visitors from Ceylon, and disguises aplenty in the form of a group of traveling actors, not to mention a secret passageway AND an enormous, cursed emerald. Not even glowering old Lady Greyson (the Senior) can interfere with Aggie's festive cheer. But when Aggie and her friends discover a body instead of presents on Christmas morning, things take a deadly serious turn. With the help of a certain nosy reporter, Aggie and Hector will once again have to put their deductive skills and imaginations to work to find the murderer on the loose.

Following a not-exactly-restful trip to a Yorkshire spa, aspiring writer Aggie Morton and her sleuthing chum, Hector Perot, are excited to stay in a seaside camp near Lyme Regis to watch real paleontologists at work. The husband-and-wife fossil hunters are poised for fame with the discovery of the prehistoric skeleton of an ichthyosaur. The news has caught the attention of a wealthy American collector, a British museum, and a traveling circus owner, all of whom want the bones for themselves! As greed sends tempers flaring, no one at Camp Crewe is left unscathed, from the cook and staff to the scientists themselves. Then, Aggie and Hector discover a body on the beach. A human body.

Riley Oh ventures into the Spiritrealm, where she hopes to convince Saint Heo Jun to become the new patron god of the Gom clan and restore their healing powers.

Up until now, middle school hasn't exactly been a joyride for Greg Heffley. So when the town threatens to close the crumbling building, he's not too broken up about it. But when Greg realizes this means he's going to be sent to a different school than his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, he changes his tune. Can Greg and his classmates save their school before it's shuttered for good? Or is this the start of a whole new chapter for Greg?

Forced to watch one of their own being destroyed, the remaining teddies, who are thrust back into a world that doesn't want them, decide to return to the place they were created to finally learn why they were thrown away.

A twelve-year-old Chinese American boy must learn to embrace his heritage and accept his beloved older brother's spirit companion--a mystical fox named Kai--to solve the mystery of Jamie's death.

A graphic novel collection of girl-centered fantasy stories, based on Indonesian traditional tales.

Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous game maker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles to escape.

Stacey is so excited! Her friends from The Baby-sitters Club are coming to New York City for a long weekend. It's going to be perfect -- a party and a sleepover on Friday night, a big babysitting job on Saturday, and lots of sightseeing throughout. But it turns out that the babysitters are way out of place in the big city. With ten kids to babysit and a full schedule of activities, how will Stacey keep the weekend from becoming a complete disaster?

A new Midnight Society gathers around the campfire to share urban legends, folklores, and all manner of spooky stories. These three terrifying tales feature haunted buses, monstrous creatures, and spine-chilling mysteries guaranteed to have you reaching for the light switch! In "The Tale of the Witch's Wings," a young boy with a habit of bullying meets his match when an ancient witch sets her eyes on him. In "The Tale of the Haunting of Bus #13," a young girl finds herself potentially trapped on a bus haunted by more than just ghosts! In "The Tale of the Stray Comet," two siblings bring home a stray dog that is much more monstrous than they could ever imagine! Are you afraid of the dark? You will be!

Descended from a long line of adventurers and monster hunters, a gentle pig who prefers poetry writing to catching dangerous creatures reluctantly sets out on his first assignment, to hunt a dangerous vampire.

Ham Helsing and his crew are back to fight more monsters at mysterious Camp Fish Head Lake.

Twelve-year-old Evie gets trapped 65 million years in the past and must learn to survive with only her wits--and the pterosaur she befriends.

Truly's parents are arguing all the time, so they've dropped her off with her aunt and uncle. Her cousin Kaz has a big imagination but he's not the best at making friends. Maximo Skulldigg gets bullied by his older brother--and now he has to conquer Kaz and Truly's home planet. It's a good thing Kaz and Truly just uncovered a family secret. After the cousins find a hideout full of strange treasures near Kaz's house, they slip on wristbands that summon a space knight named Trinn Cyclo. Soon, he may be Earth's only hope!

First-generation Filipino siblings, JJ and Althea, struggle to belong at school. JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is. But between the leftover Filipino food their mom packs for their lunches to having a last name that nobody can pronounce, any sense of belonging seems like a long shot. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck, dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh! Their parents are always drawing parallels between their poor work ethic and lazy characters from Filipino folklore -- stories they've heard again and again. But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories appear in their town and threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the myths their parents have always told them may be more real than they'd suspected. Can JJ and Althea embrace who they are and save their family?

One day, a little girl picks an unusual flower from an unusual bush in the forest. Overnight, the flower blooms and turns into a magical creature: a rose wolf, missing a leg just like she is missing an arm. Together, the new friends must go on a journey to find where they belong.

Famous founding father Benjamin Franklin was a proud subject of the British Empire--until he wasn't. It took nearly seventy years and seven not-so-easy steps to turn Benjamin Franklin from a loyal British subject to a British traitor--and a fired-up American revolutionary. In this light, whimsical narrative, young readers learn how Franklin came to be a rebel, beginning with his childhood lesson in street smarts when he buys a whistle at an inflated price. Franklin is a rebellious boy who runs away from his apprenticeship, and while he becomes a deep thinker, a brilliant scientist, and a persuasive writer when he grows up, he never loses that spark. As a community leader who tried his best to promote peace and unity both between the colonies and with Great Britain, he became more and more convinced that independence for the American colonies is the way forward. Illustrated throughout with art by noted New Yorker illustrator John O'Brien and sprinkled with quotations from Franklin, this unfamiliar story of a familiar figure in American history will surprise and delight young readers.

Biography of the first Native American to become a cabinet secretary.

Starting in the 1960s, John Lewis began his activism alongside civil rights legend and good friend Martin Luther King Jr. He participated in many now-historic events, including the 1963 March on Washington, the Freedom Rides, and the Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. John continued his impactful career when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1986. He went on to serve seventeen terms until he died in 2020. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, John Lewis is considered an American hero and an icon of the civil rights movement.

In 1841, a quiet, curious boy who stuttered when nervous committed to becoming a surgeon--a profession then more feared than respected. Through study, persistence, and careful research, Joseph Lister proved that unsanitary conditions contribute to infections. Despite others scoffing at his ideas, Lister slowly changed the way all surgeons work, saving countless lives.

Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost didn't set out to make history. But when these three Black first graders stepped into the all-white McDonogh No. 19 Public School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, that's exactly what they did. They integrated their school just ten minutes before Ruby Bridges walked into her school, also in New Orleans. Like Ruby, the trio faced crowds of protestors fighting against public school desegregation efforts and relied on US Marshals to keep them safe. Their teacher protected them every step of the way, and the girls formed a close bond, becoming friends for life. Award-winning author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson conducted extensive interviews to bring this little-known story from the Civil Rights Movement to a broad audience. Vivid illustrations by fine artist Alex Bostic highlight the girls' strength, courage, and determination.

This never-before-told story of Black sprinter and long-jumper Willye B. White chronicles her journey to competing in and winning the 1956 and 1964 Olympics, showing how her mantra, "I believe in me," helped her overcome obstacles and the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement.

In this blast-from-the-past adventure, you'll discover hundreds of the most mind-blowing facts from history. Hidden tombs, ghostly ships, boiled vipers, samurai warriors, snow machines, pet lions, hidden pyramids, secret codes, flaming fireballs, wooden bathing suits, sparkling jewels, and many more are all woven together in this ingenious web of connected facts. And there isn't just one trail through these facts. Sometimes your path branches, and you can choose to fast forward or rewind to a completely different (but still connected) part of history. Where will your curiosity take you?

This practical guide combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness methods with simple activities to help your child develop the skills that help your child feel comfortable and confident in social settings where they may have the opportunity to make new friends and acquaintances. It's aimed at children ages 6 to 10 because a lot happens in these years that can impact a child's emotional well-being, not just now but for years to come.

Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary is geared towards students ages 8-11. This full-color reference contains more than 36,000 entries as well as hundreds of illustrations, photographs, and diagrams. The book includes paragraphs about word histories, word roots, and synonyms; quotations from children's literature; maps and Geographical Names; and guides to Capitalization and Punctuation.

Become an eyewitness to outer space and beyond in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of the universe. Children will see how past, present, and future space exploration has helped our understanding of the Sun, our Solar System, rocky planets, gas giants, and explosive stars. This guide for kids aged 9+ gives an insight into far-off galaxies and out-of-this-world objects captured by powerful space telescopes. Striking photographs and detailed illustrations help you learn the secrets of pulsars and black holes, and how they are created by dead stars.

Become an eyewitness to the natural treasures found in rocks in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of all things fossils. Children will [examine] the bones, teeth, and plants from long ago that have all been turned to rock. This ... guide for kids aged 9+ gives an insight into how paleontologists learn about ancient life forms. Striking photographs, detailed diagrams, and lots of examples of fossils help you to learn what can be discovered around the world and why some fossils lead to new discoveries about the past.

Crows that recognize human faces. Octopuses that make themselves look like other animals to avoid predators. Goats that can solve puzzles. No, these aren't scenes from a science fiction movie -- they're real behaviors of these very smart creatures! Humans think we're pretty smart -- maybe the smartest species on the planet. But are we really? It turns out there are tons of other animals challenging us for the prize. Electric fish send signals to each other to communicate, ants use algorithms to work together, and elephants grieve when another elephant dies. These are just some of the wildly smart animals readers will learn about in this book. Covering four broad categories of intelligence (communication, social learning and cooperation, problem-solving and memory, and emotional intelligence), Think Like a Goat explains and celebrates all how different animals intelligently navigate the world. Along the way, readers will learn about essential STEM concepts such as evolution and natural selection, ethology, and instinct vs. learning, all investigated through accessible, fun text and quirky illustrations full of personality. We can learn a lot from all kinds of animals. Yes, even goats!

Become an eyewitness to how reptiles sense the world, move, and use camouflage in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of these scaly creatures. Children will examine the many different types of reptile species, from small pets to large crocodiles. This guide for kids aged 9+ gives an insight into how crocodiles look after their young, how lizards store fat in their tails, and how chameleons swivel their eyes. Using ... full-color photographs of snakes, crocodiles, lizards, and turtles, this book offers a unique eyewitness view of these creatures.

Explores one of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century ... Become an eyewitness to the first conflict fought on a global scale in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of World War One. Made in collaboration with The Imperial War Museum.