11/23: New at the library this week

Books

• Callahan Cousins: Summer Begins/Elizabeth Doyle Carey (Grade 3-6) - In this first book in the series, the 12-year-old Callahan cousins all converge on their beloved grandmother for a summer of excitement.
• Callahan Cousins: Home Sweet Home/Elizabeth Doyle Carey (Grade 4-6) - Continuing the summer saga of four 12-year-old cousins running loose and free on Gull Island, this installment finds the girls redecorating a house on their grandma's property.
• Akimbo and the Elephants/Alexander McCall Smith (Grade 2-3) - This beginning chapter book series features a young African boy fiercely devoted to the conservation of his animal friends.
• Akimbo and the Lions/Alexander McCall Smith (Grade 3-5) - By a well-known author of adult books, this story featuring a young boy, Akimbo, who lives "in the heart of Africa," conveys appreciation and respect for the African landscape, culture, and people, as well as a sense of the importance of wildlife conservation.
• Seldovia Sam and the Blueberry Bear/Susan Woodward Springer (Ages 9-12) - This exciting series continues with Sam dreading the looming first day of school where he fears his annual back to school essay about his summer's activities will not be as impressive as the know-it-all Melody Chambers'.
• Eldest/Christopher Paolini (Grade 5 Up) - The land of Alagaesia is suffering under the Empire of the wicked Galbatorix, and Eragon and his dragon Saphira, last of the Riders, are the only hope.
• The Penultimate Peril/Lemony Snicket (Ages 9-12) - Lemony Snicket has captured the hearts of childen and adults alike with the hilariously gloomy series that began, of course, with The Bad Beginning.
• Flush/Carl Hiaasen (Grade 5-8) – Noah and his sister, Abbey, are more understanding of their volatile dad's latest arrest than their mother, who begins talking of divorce. Dad sank the Coral Queen, a casino boat on a Florida Key because, he alleges, its owner, Dusty Muleman, has been illegally dumping raw sewage into the local waters.
• At First Sight/Nicholas Sparks - The relationship between journalist Jeremy Marsh and librarian Lexie Darnell that began in True Believer (2005) has now progressed. Jeremy is moving from New York to Boone Creek, North Carolina, as they plan for their wedding and the birth of their child.
• Skeleton Man/Tony Hillerman - Joe Leaphorn, former Navajo tribal police lieutenant, is not a happy retiree. So when his successor asks him to look into how a young Hopi named Billy Tuve came by a valuable diamond the boy tried to pawn for a fraction of its worth, Joe finds himself involved in a five decade old mystery.
• Iron Orchid/Stuart Woods - Having ditched her Orchid Beach, Fla., police chief post, returning supersleuth Holly Barker opts for a CIA career in Woods's by-the-numbers thriller, the fourth in the Barker series.
• Delectable Mountains/Earlene Fowler - At the start of Fowler's topnotch 12th cozy to feature the quilter and amateur sleuth, Benni stumbles on the body of church handyman Walt Adams, who's oozing blood onto the sanctuary's new carpeting.
• Remains Silent/Michael Baden and Linda Kenney - Married couple Baden, former New York City medical examiner, and Kenney, legal commentator for CNN and Court TV, team up for this debut thriller starring a romantic and professional pair with job titles remarkably similar to their own.
• Mrs. Mike and the Search for Joyful/Benedict & Nancy Freedman - More than 50 years after the publication of the popular Mrs. Mike, which told of Mary O'Fallon's journey from Boston to Alberta and her marriage to RCMP Sgt. Mike Flanagan, the story continues during WWII with one of Mary's adopted children, Kathy Forquet.

Videos:

• An Everlasting Piece
• Dinner with Friends

DVDs:

• Because of Winn-Dixie
• The Polar Express
• Vintage Mickey
• Twelfth Night
• Dead Cert
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory