Social Studies

presents the ingenious, devoted, and indefatigable builders who perfected the medieval cathedral as a stone prayer to God and a place of community pride. Though again treading on the heels of David Macaulay, MacDonald and James hold their own, pointing out the religious significance of a bishop's seat, describing pilgrims' routes to other cathedrals, depicting the daily life of both workers and the religious community, and showing the variety of arts and crafts necessary to construction.

Step inside a medieval castle and discover for yourself what it was like to live and work inside its massive walls. Superb illustrations and thoroughly researched information provide a vivid and intimate look at every aspect of castle life. You will see the craftsmen and builders at work, witness a great dinner in the main hall, learn about the life of the lord and lady, learn how a page became a knight, and more.

Nothing can stop John Henry — no boulder, no mountain, and definitely no steam drill. Newbery Honor winner Julius Lester writes with such power that this African-American folk hero becomes as awesome as a natural phenomenon. Jerry Pinkney received a Caldecott Honor for his exuberant, glowing watercolor paintings of the hero. The book, celebrating its tenth year in print, was also a Boston Globe — Horn Book Award winner, a Parents Magazine Best Book, and an ALA Notable Book, among other honors.

Caldecott Medalist Allen Say presents a stunning graphic novel chronicling his journey as an artist during WWII, when he apprenticed under Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist

Before the Little Rock Nine, before Rosa Parks, before Martin Luther King Jr. and his March on Washington, there was Barbara Rose Johns, a teenager who used nonviolent civil disobedience to draw attention to her cause. In 1951, witnessing the unfair conditions in her racially segregated high school, Barbara Johns led a walkout—the first public protest of its kind demanding racial equality in the U.S.—jumpstarting the American civil rights movement.

In 2008, Professor Lee Berger--with the help of his curious 9-year-old son--discovered two remarkably well preserved, two-million-year-old fossils of an adult female and young male, known as Australopithecus sediba; a previously unknown species of ape-like creatures that may have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. This discovery of has been hailed as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. The fossils reveal what may be one of humankind's oldest ancestors.