The Betty A. McDonald Children's Collection is full of children's literature for a wide-variety of reading levels and audiences. Use the resources below to find titles of books for various reading levels, and then come back and search for them in our catalog. If our library doesn’t have a particular item, we can request the item for you through Documents on Demand.
Speak by
The critically acclaimed, award-winning, modern classicSpeak is now a stunning graphic novel. "Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless--an outcast--because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. Through her work on an art project, she is finally able to face what really happened that night: She was raped by an upperclassman, a guy whostill attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. With powerful illustrations by Emily Carroll, Laurie Halse Anderson'sSpeak: The Graphic Novelcomes alive for new audiences and fans of the classic novel. This title has Common Core connections.
Hey, Kiddo by
A National Book Award Finalist! In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along. Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what's going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father. Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.