Are You Prepared? Survival Stories

September is Disaster Preparedness Month.  So this week, we are sharing survival chapter books.  Here's a few of our favorites . . . .

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

After an October blizzard, Laura's family moves from the claim shanty into town for the winter, a winter that has been predicted will be seven months of bad weather.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Storm Blown by Nick Courage

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Alejandro worries about his great-uncle while helping guests at a resort, and in New Orleans, Emily worries about her sick brother, as a major hurricane rages, changing both their lives forever.

More Books --

Denali Storm by Michael Spradlin

Hurricane by Terry Trueman

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

Hurricane Katrina Rescue by Kate Messenger

Lacey's Story by W. Bruce Cameron

Me and Sam-Sam Handle the Apocalypse by Susan Vaught

Racing Storm Mountain by Trent Reedy

Skylark and Wallcreeper by Anne Carelli

The Storm Before Atlanta by Karen Schwabach

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

Survival in the Storm by Katelan Jenke

Tornado Hits by Hilde Lysiak

Stories from the Farm

I have found that even though we are located in a semi-rural area, that a lot of children that visit our library are unfamiliar with farms and farm life.  So this week, I am sharing some children's books about life on a farm . . . .

Chicken Feathers by Joy Cowley
Relates the story of the summer Josh spends while his mother is in the hospital awaiting the birth of his baby sister, and his pet chicken Semolina, who talks but only to him, is almost killed by a red fox.

Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friends
When her parents swap urban life in Minneapolis for rural life on a farm 100 miles away, twelve-year-old Taylor feels as if she is living on another planet.

Out of the Dust by  Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

The Golden Goose by Dick King-Smith
Farmer Skint and his family on Woebegone Farm have fallen on hard times, but their luck changes with the arrival of a special golden goose.

Alida's Song by Gary Paulsen
A fourteen-year-old boy who has been neglected by irresponsible parents spends a wonderful summer on a farm where his grandmother cooks for two elderly brothers.


More Farm Stories --
Anna on the Farm by Mary Downing Hahn
The Barn by Avi
The Beef Princess of Practical County by Michelle Houts
Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen
Dragonsdale by Salamanda Drake
Drizzle by Katherine Van Cleve
Fat & Bones by Larissa Theule
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriett Gillem Robinet
A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos
Jimmy Dabble by Frans Vischer
McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm by Sid Fleischman
R My Name is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff
Simeon's Fire by Cathryn Clinton
A Tough Nut to Crack by Tom Birdseye
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through June 16, 2017.

Wacky Weather

Spring is known for its wacky weather.  Just this past weekend, there was massive flooding in Texas, a snowstorm that dropped four feet of snow in Colorado, and beautiful 80 degree sunshine in Missouri.  You never know from one day to the next what the weather will be.  So, here are some of my favorite weather books for your children . . . .

Bear in Sunshine by Stella Blackstone
Bear likes to play in all kinds of weather.

Hello, Sun! by Dayle Ann Doods
A young child must change clothes many times as the weather goes from sunny to cloudy to rainy to snowy.

Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse
A young girl eagerly awaits a coming rainstorm to bring relief from the oppresive summer heat.

Snow Day! by Lester Laminack
Two siblings imagine all the fun things they will do the next day when the big predicted snowfall cancels school, but when the morning comes, no snow has fallen, and it turns out someone else wanted a snow day even more than they did.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
A man made of leaves blows away, traveling wherever the wind may take him.


More Weather Picture Books --
Blizzard by John Rocco
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Dinosaur Thunder by Marion Dane Bauer
Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root
Heat Wave at Mud Flat by James Stevenson
Kite Day: A Bear and Mole Story by Will Hillenbrand
Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack
One Rainy Day by Valeria Gorbachev
Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman
Snow by Uri Shulevitz
The Snowy Day by Jack Ezra Keats
The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow
Straight to the Pole by Kevin O'Malley
Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle
When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan
Winter Woes by Marty Kelley

Check out these and more weather picture books on display at the Arnold Branch through May 6, 2016.

Weather Gone Wild!

This November, the country's weather is being affected by El Nino.  We're experiencing above normal temperatures for the month.  Weather is a topic that continually interesting -- whether talking about the day's weather, freak storms from the past, or upcoming possible snow storms that will cancel school.  Today I'm sharing chapter books featuring wild weather . . .

The Storm Makers by Jennifer E. Smith
Twelve-year-olds Ruby and Simon have been growing apart since their parents moved them to a Wisconsin farm, but weird weather events that seem tied to Simon's emotions bring a stranger into their lives who introduces them to the Makers of Storms Society,strengthening the bond between the twins.

Blizzard's Wake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
In March of 1941, when a severe blizzard suddenly hits Bismarck, North Dakota, a girl trying to save her stranded father and brother inadvertently helps the man who killed her mother four years before.

Ninth Ward by Jewell Rhodes
In New Orleans' Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see spirits, and her adopted grandmother have no choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane Katrina bears down upon them.

The Lightning Catcher by Anne Cameron
When eleven-year-old Angus McFangus learns that he is a storm prophet, someone who can predict and control catastrophic weather, he must stop the villainous Scabious Dankhart from unleashing an unending storm and achieving world domination.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.


More Wild Weather Stories --
Anna's Blizzard by Alison Hart
Blown Away! by Joan Harlow
The Book of Storms by Ruth Hatfield
The Buddha's Diamonds by Carolyn Marsden
Hurricane by Terry Trueman
The Maloney's Magical Weatherbox by Nigel Quinlan
Saint Louis Armstrong Beach by Brenda Woods
Treasures in the Dust by Tracey Porter
The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen
Where the Four Winds Blow by Dan Yaccrino


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through November 20, 2015.