Live Writing: Breathing Life into Your Words by Ralph Fletcher
Reading level: Ages 9-12

This book is based on the simple idea that every writer has a "tool box." Instead of awls and hammers, a writer's toolbox contains words, imagination, a love of books, a sense of story, and ideas for how to make the writing live and breathe. I wrote this book to give you some practical strategies to throw into your toolbox. I hope you'll try them, because these are ideas that can make you a better writer.

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Time for Kids Almanac 2003 with Information by Holly Hartman (Editor)
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Look out! TIME FOR KIDS magazine, the classroom publication of TIME magazine, and Information Please have pooled together their vast resources to create a comprehensive, groundbreaking almanac. This one-of-a-kind collection provides students in grades 3-7 (and their curious parents) with a wealth of fascinating facts about Space, Dinosaurs, Presidents, Inventions and much, much more. The photo-filled "Who's News" chapter gives the up-to-date skinny on kids' favorite actors, singers, authors, musicians, leaders, and more.

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Oops!: The Manners Guide for Girls by Nancy Holyoke, Debbie Tilley (Illustrator)

Nancy Holyoke's user-friendly guide to manners, brought to you by the beloved American Girl Library, is for girls who are "getting older, going new places, and doing new things." The introduction explains that "Manners can help. Manners are a common-sense guide to getting along with other people. They prevent you from being selfish or annoying. They remind you to be kind. They make you better company--and a better person."

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National Geographic Dinosaurs by Paul M. Barrett, Kevin Padian (Introduction), Raul Martin (Introduction)

Here is everything young readers want to know about dinosaurs and their world—in one magnificently illustrated, up-to-date family reference. Through dramatic graphics and age-appropriate text, this authoritative volume charts the discovery of all the main types of dinosaurs and reveals the latest details on how these creatures most likely looked, behaved, defended themselves, found food, cared for their young, and interacted.

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The Kid's Cookbook: A Great Book for Kids Who Love to Cook! by Abigail Johnson Dodge, Chuck Williams (Editor), Leigh Beisch (Photographer)
Reading level: Ages 9 and up

Designed especially for kids ages 9 and up, The Kids Cookbook is packed with kid-friendly recipes-and great photos to match. Each recipe includes an equipment list and all instruction young cooks need to have a great time whipping up something delicious. (Super-easy recipes are flagged, so kids can choose their challenges.

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The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay (Author), David Macaulay (Contributor)
Reading level: All Ages

"Is it a fact--or have I dreamt it--that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?" If you, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, are kept up at night wondering about how things work--from electricity to can openers--then you and your favorite kids shouldn't be a moment longer without David Macaulay's The New Way Things Work. The award-winning author-illustrator--a former architect and junior high school teacher--is perfectly poised to be the Great Explainer of the whirrings and whizzings of the world of machines, a talent that landed the 1988 version of The Way Things Work on the New York Times bestsellers list for 50 weeks. Grouping machines together by the principles that govern their actions rather than by their uses, Macaulay helps us understand in a heavily visual, humorous, unerringly precise way what gadgets such as a toilet, a carburetor, and a fire extinguisher have in common.

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A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Reading level: Young Adult

Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, this revised and updated edition of A People's History of the United States turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.

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The Smart Girl's Guide to College: A Serious Book Written by Women in College to Help You Make the Perfect College Choice by Cristina Page (Editor), Christina Page (Editor)
Reading level: Young Adult

"I know what you're going through," is how The Smart Girl's Guide to College begins, and throughout this witty and honest book the same sympathetic, big-sisterly voice prevails. Editor Cristina Page proceeds from the assumption that (as she herself experienced) most college-bound students can't make an informed decision because they don't know the right questions to ask. To that end, she includes a handy questionnaire to fill out when considering a college, plus a list of resources for more information.

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Organizing from the Inside Out for Teenagers by Julie Morgenstern (Author), Jessi Morgenstern-Col�³n (Author)
Reading level: Young Adult

Today's teens are busier than ever. Figuring out how to balance schoolwork, friends, and extracurricular activities can often feel as difficult as performing a high-wire act without a net. And many teens become even more frustrated by the remedies the adults in their lives prescribe: even if teens would like to see their floors or finish their homework occasionally, they don't want to do that by throwing away their stuff or spending less time with their friends. Instead, they want to figure out a way to make the most of their space and time -- which is precisely what Julie Morgenstern and her teenage daughter, Jessi Morgenstern-Colón, offer.

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