August 2026: Truth & Wonder
Make a discovery with August's Year in Reading challenge to explore science fiction and science books! "The very nature of science is discoveries, and the best of those discoveries are the ones you don't expect." - Neil deGrasse Tyson
Explore more science related topics by using the library's databases: the Science Reference Center or Britannica Online School Edition!
Author(s):
Claybourne, Anna
Gamba, Daniela,
Description:
Young readers can explore biology, physics, and chemistry through illustrated mind maps and interconnected topics that encourage curiosity and discovery. Covers subjects including the human body, space, chemical reactions, and other scientific concepts in an accessible visual format.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 503 Cla
Author(s):
Underwood, Deborah
Hunt, Meg,
Description:
In this version of Sleeping Beauty, told in verse, the Princess is threatened with a curse which will start with a paper cut; devastated that all her books have been taken away, she sets out with her dog, Prince, to find the fairy who cast the curse and make her reverse it.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
E Und
Author(s):
Halpern, Sydney A. (Sydney Ann)
Faste, Trygve,
Description:
"Recounts the experiences of World War II conscientious objectors who volunteered for US government hepatitis experiments, combining archival research and volunteer David Miller's cartoons to examine the human costs, ethical dilemmas, and moral courage of these participants"-- Provided by publisher.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
174.28 Hal
Author(s):
Description:
Demeter, an interstellar ship that shuttles humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri, keeps having her passengers murdered. It all started when an ancient and nasty vampire decided to come along for the ride. To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must stop this vampire and she joins forces with her own team of monsters: a werewolf, an engineer built from the dead, a pharaoh with otherworldly powers, and more. But will they be enough to defeat Dracula?
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Tru
Author(s):
Wood, Matthew Brenden
Casteel, Tom,
Description:
Uncovers the real science behind classic and modern science fiction stories, exploring such topics as time travel, cloning, artificial intelligence, and life on other planets.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA 500 Woo
Author(s):
Greig, Louise
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de,
Description:
Antoine de Saint-Exupery's tender and magical classic fable has been adapted for picture book readers for the very first time!
Format:
Book
Call Number:
E Gre
Author(s):
Description:
This educational resource examines how the brain processes spoken and written language and how these processes support the development of reading skills. Drawing on research in the Science of Reading, the book discusses language development, connections between oral language and print, and common challenges encountered when learning to read. The text introduces the Reading Rope model to explain the relationship between word recognition and language comprehension. It addresses key components of reading instruction, including phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, sight word recognition, fluency, and comprehension, as well as topics such as dyslexia and reading development stages. Written by multiple contributors with expertise in literacy education, the book is intended for educators, caregivers, and readers interested in evidence-based approaches to reading instruction.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
372.41 Sci
Author(s):
Description:
Amy lives on a colony in deep space, but when her father loses his job the family moves back to Earth, where she has to adapt to heavier gravity, a new school, and a strange boy with no flavor.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC McC
Author(s):
Description:
Bill Nye is on a mission to help kids understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Featuring a range of subjects--physics, chemistry, geology, biology, astronomy, and lobal warming--this illustrated book covers the basic principles of each science, key discoveries, recent revolutionary advances, and the problems that science still needs to solve for our Earth. Nye and coauthor Gregory Mone present the most difficult theories and facts in an easy-to-comprehend, humorous way. They interviewed numerous specialists from around the world, in each of the fields discussed, whose insights are included throughout. Also included are experiments kids can do themselves to bring science to life!
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA 500 Nye
Author(s):
Chu, John (Writer of science fiction)
Description:
"This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics. Ellie's universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it's supposed to. Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks-one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day. If she can confront her mother's legacy and overcome her family's generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister...but digging into her family's past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself"-- Provided by publisher.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Chu
Author(s):
Description:
A deep-dive into nature and the many groundbreaking human inventions inspired by the wild. When astronomers wanted a telescope that could capture X-rays from celestial bodies, they looked to the lobster. When doctors wanted a medication that could stabilize Type II diabetic patients, they found their muse in a lizard. When scientists wanted to drastically reduce emissions in cement manufacturing, they observed how corals construct their skeletons in the sea. This is biomimicry in action: taking inspiration from nature to tackle human challenges. Kristy Hamilton goes behind the scenes of some of our most unexpected innovations, traveling far and wide to introduce us to the animals and plants that have inspired everything from cargo routing systems to non-toxic glues, and the men and women who followed that first spark of "I wonder" all the way to its conclusion, sometimes against all odds. This book is also a love letter to nature--with a deep message of conservation: If we are to continue learning from the creatures around us, we must protect their untamed homelands.--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
600 Ham
Author(s):
Description:
Set in 1950s Texas, Pineda Matlage hides an alien in his family's barn, and with the help of friends and townspeople, tries to reunite her with her family despite the disruptive presence of soldiers using the town for a covert operation to capture and study aliens.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Cue
Author(s):
Description:
"When eighteen-year-old Keller Hartman is recruited into the Legion's most prestigious galactic unit, it's a dream come true. He's worked hard for this. He's ready to prove himself. The problem? His new partner--the beautiful, no-nonsense pilot Lament Bringer--wants nothing to do with him. Forced to work together under Legion orders, Keller and Lament team up with a motley crew of specialists to investigate a mysterious visionary who can predict catastrophes. As they begin to peel back layers, however, they realize there's more to the story than meets the eye. With threats mounting and secrets unfolding, Keller and Lament will need to trust one another in order to stop the dangers at play. But with trust comes other feelings--ones neither of them is prepared for. With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the only thing worse than failing their mission might just be losing each other."--Page 2 of cover.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Pri
Author(s):
Palmer, Suzanne (Science fiction writer)
Description:
Forty years ago, the world nearly ended. Be is an old robot who was there, and doesn't want to think about what happened, or what role they played in that conflict. They have settled into a life of isolation in the abandoned ruins of an old mill in the former New York Botanical Gardens, disinterested in what has happened in the outside world since they stepped away from the war. Someone out there, though, has not forgotten about them, and when they are attacked, their person vandalized, and one of their leg stolen, they set out to find the thief accompanied by a cyborg dog and a human mechanic. The world has changed, but the recovery from the war is uneven and faltering, and Be begins to suspect a malicious hand trying to rekindle the old conflict and finish what was started.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Pal
Author(s):
Description:
Seventeen-year-old self-proclaimed Goth and aspiring writer Julieta Villarreal is drowning. She’s grieving her twin sister who died in a hit-and-run, her Florida home is crumbling under the weight of climate disaster, and she isn’t sure how much longer she can stand to stay in a place that doesn’t seem to have room for her. Then, Juli is recruited by Cometa, a private space program enlisting high-aptitude New American teens for a high-stakes mission to establish humanity’s first extraterrestrial settlement. Cometa pitches this as an opportunity for Juli to give back to her adopted country; Juli sees it as her only chance to do something big with her life. Juli begins her training, convinced Cometa is her path to freedom. But her senior year is full of surprises, including new friendships, roller skating, and first love. And through her small but poignant acts of environmentalism, Juli begins to find hope in unexpected places. As her world collapses from the ramifications of the climate crisis, Juli must decide if she’ll carry her loss together with her community or leave it all behind.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Mun
Author(s):
Tyson, Neil deGrasse
Tyson, Stephen J.,
Description:
Merlin, a fictional timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed firsthand many of the major scientific events of Earth's history. In this journey through the cosmos, Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
520 Tys 2024
Author(s):
Martin, Stephen W., 1981-
Li, Cornelia,
Description:
"A circular tale of time travel in a picture book! Max and her dog Boomer accidentally break a vase, a treasured family heirloom-the only thing that Max's great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother managed to save when her houseboat sank. Instead of coming clean, they decide to do the next most logical thing: Build a time machine, travel back to her great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother's home, and smash the vase then so that they can't smash it later! What could possibly go wrong?"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
E Mar
Author(s):
Beaty, Andrea
Roberts, David,
Description:
Ada Twist is a very curious girl who shows perseverance by asking questions and performing experiments to find things out and understand the world.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
E Bea
Author(s):
Description:
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 600 How
Author(s):
Description:
Ishara Ming, the sole survivor of her crew's destruction by the sentient spacecraft Ballena, becomes obsessed with revenge and assembles a misfit crew with Quinn, her trusted first mate, and Augustus, a member with his own reasons for vengeance, forcing her to choose between revenge, loyalty, and her own unraveling before she loses everything again.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Cha
Author(s):
Description:
Ari's life takes a chaotic turn when his mad scientist mom devises a portal to tackle their overwhelming laundry crisis, leading to much bigger problems when they accidentally travel 70 million years back in time.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Ler
Author(s):
Amos, Ruth
Thomas, Stacey
Description:
"Step inside the inventor's workshop to see how one creative spark leads to another . . . until an invention is born. Find out how, when, and why these ingenious breakthroughs happened, and learn about all the people who created them. Discover how Ada Lovelace's code inspired Charles Babbage's work on the first modern computer; see how Lewis Latimer's technology made Thomas Edison's light bulb possible; and much more. "--Amazon.ca.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 600 Amo
Author(s):
Description:
"Fen's world is crumbling. Newearth, a once-promising planet gifted by the all-powerful alien Makers, now suffers from failed terraforming, leaving its people on the brink of collapse. Fen has spent her life working as a mercenary bodyguard for a cunning magistrate, entangled in the politics of the empire that shattered her family. But then her fathers--her last remaining tether to hope--are executed by the ruthless Sovereign, who marks Fen for the same fate. With nothing left to lose, Fen escapes with a single map and an old quarterstaff, embarking on a dangerous quest to seek out the last remnants of her parents' rebellion. But the underground insurgents she finds may be even more dangerous than the Sovereign's army. At the center of it all stands Alekhai, the Sovereign's heir--a brutal, power-hungry force of destruction. Though he embodies everything Fen despises, his dangerous plans might be the empire's last chance at survival...or the final push to its doom"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Ash
Author(s):
Description:
"Covering how science is done, why some people want to trick others, and why false information can be dangerous, this book empowers readers to know which sources to trust and which to dismiss as deceit"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA 500 Zim
Author(s):
Description:
"Next door to the notorious Area 51 sits Area 53, the underground lab where the government secretly holds "the anomalies." These are the Earth-born mythical and magical creatures--fairies, wyverns, manticores, and more--that have been captured and brought in for careful study. It's also where eleven-year-old Ollie Robles and his best (and only) friend, Garen Jackson, the kids of Area 53's lead researchers, have grown up. They've lived safely within these cement-and-steel halls their whole lives... that is, until the day that Ollie and Garen accidentally free six anomalies: two sprites, a wyvern, a baby manticore, a llamacorn, and a golem named Henry. Now it's up to Ollie and Garen to chase down the anomalies and bring them back home"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Cer
