Central Kansas Library System

In the most ambitious one-volume American history in decades, award-winning historian Jill Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation. The American experiment rests on three ideas? “these truths," Jefferson called them, political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. And it rests, too, "on a dedication to inquiry, fearless and unflinching," writes Jill Lepore in a groundbreaking investigation...

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America, she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private. A deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily...

America's most celebrated astrophysicist invites young readers to explore the mysteries of the universe.

Using the image of uniforms and equipment hanging on a clothesline, the text invites children to identify the sport played by each child.

Everything young explorers needs to know to travel in space, covering what life in zero gravity is like, how to find your way around the solar system, and the all-important question of how to pee in a spacesuit! Unique illustrations take kids to the heart of the action and amazing photos show what the universe is really like. Incredible stories of real-life space exploration for kids aged 8 and up, by author and astrobiologist Professor Mark Brake....

Con texto organizado cuidadosamente en niveles y fotografias frescas y vibrantes captamos la atención de los jóvenes lectores para que aprendan sobre las tradiciones y celebraciones de Navidad. Además de contar con un glosario de imágenes, ayudamos a desarrollar habilidades de lectura informativa con preguntas de pensamiento crítico apropiadas para esta edad. Carefully leveled text and fresh, vibrant photos engage young readers in learning about...

With winds that can reach speeds of three hundred miles an hour and funnel clouds that can measure a mile in diameter, tornadoes leave enormous damage in their wake. Now Seymour Simon examines these twisting columns of air and destruction. Simon explains how tornadoes are formed, why and when they are most likely to occur, how scientists classify and track them -- and what to do if one touches down. Full-color photographs show this powerful phenomenon...

"Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and...

What is it like to learn that your ordinary, loving father is a serial killer? In 2005, Kerri Rawson heard a knock on the door of her apartment. When she opened it, an FBI agent informed her that her father had been arrested for murdering ten people, including two children. It was then that she learned her father was the notorious serial killer known as BTK, a name he'd given himself that described the horrific way he committed his crimes: bind, torture,...

"Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after girl scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with the on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends that turn out to be not so friendly. Raina's story...