Central Kansas Library System

"Simon Watson, a young librarian on the verge of losing his job, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home--a house, perched on the edge of a bluff, that is slowly crumbling toward the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards, and seldom calls. On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious package from...

After seeing a green-speckled reptile hatch from an egg one day after storytime, young Max tries to convince someone that there is a dragon in the library, growing ever larger as it eats books, but no one believes him.

It started the summer of 2002, when the Springfield librarian, Molly McGrew, by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo. In this rollicking rhymed story, Molly introduces birds and beasts to this new something called reading, finding the perfect book for each animal - tall books for giraffes, small books for crickets, joke books for the hyenas. "She even found waterproof books for the otter, who never went swimming without 'Harry Potter'." In no...

"St. Peter's Square, Rome. White smoke signals that a new Pope has been chosen. Is it possible that the new Pope is a woman? The world is watching as historic crowds gather in Rome, waiting for news of a new Pope, one who promises to be unlike any other in the Church's history. Some followers are ecstatic, but the leading candidate has made a legion of powerful enemies. From a difficult childhood with drug addled parents, to a career as a doctor on...

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. It's just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus...

Polly loves words, writing, and telling stories, so when she finds a fancy book on her doorstep labeled "Special Delivery from the Writing and Spelling Department for Polly Diamond" she is thrilled; and when she finds that anything she writes in it actually happens she is really excited--but Polly soon realizes that she has to be very careful what she writes because that kind of power can be dangerous.

Tedd Arnold's hilarious HI! FLY GUY, originally published in 2005, is now available in paperback with foil on the cover! Boy and fly meet and so begins a beautiful friendship. Er, and so begins a very funny friendship. Using hyperbole, puns, slapstick, and silly drawings, bestselling author/illustrator Tedd Arnold creates an easy reader that is full of fun. This book is a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor book!

In the latest installment of Tedd Arnold's NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Fly Guy series, Fly Guy puts on a show with all the new tricks that Buzz taught him. But when Fly Guy shows off The Backstroke, The Dizzy Doozie, and The Big Booger at dinner-time, Buzz tells Fly Guy only to do the tricks on command. The tricks come in handy when an annoying kid starts picking on Buzz and Fly Guy--and by the time Fly Guy pulls off The Big Booger, he runs away. Even...

The New York Times-bestselling Fly Guy series goes on an action-packed adventure by boat, train, plane, and beyond! Dad takes Fly Guy and Buzz for a car ride, but in a funny and wacky turn of events, Fly Guy is blown out of the car window and into a passing truck, where he lands in the driver's mouth! The driver spits him out, and Fly Guy tumbles onto a boat. Fly Guy then winds up on a circus train with an elephant and then an airplane ... and he...

The gorilla in the story is an unobservant zookeeper is followed home by all the animals he thinks he has left behind in the zoo.