High

Digital Commons Network

Icon: 
Web resource icon

The Digital Commons Network brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, the Network includes a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work.

The Story of Buildings

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

We spend most of our lives in buildings. We make our homes in them, go to school in them, and work in them. We're surrounded by buildings practically every moment of our lives! But why and how did people start making buildings? How did they learn to make them stronger, bigger, and more comfortable? And why did they start to decorate them in different ways?

Lexile: 
1060L
The Story of Buildings

Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

In 1964, Mississippi civil rights groups banded together to fight Jim Crow laws in a state where only 6.4 percent of eligible black voters were registered. Testing a bold new strategy, they recruited students from across the United States. That summer these young volunteers defied segregation by living with local black hosts, opening Freedom Schools to educate disenfranchised adults and their children, and canvassing door-to-door to register voters.

Lexile: 
980L
Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

How the Beatles Changed the World

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

Fifty years after the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, it remains the most-watched television event in history. When the Beatles burst onto the scene, they charmed the public with their mop-top haircuts, their playful wit, and their sweetly romantic rock songs—igniting Beatlemania, an intense fandom unlike any before.

Lexile: 
1160L
How the Beatles Changed the World

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

Icon: 
Book icon
Icon: 
Teacher's Guide icon
Copies: 1

It's 1793, and there's an invisible killer roaming the streets of Philadelphia. The city's residents are fleeing in fear. This killer has a name—yellow fever—but everything else about it is a mystery. Its cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

Author: 
Lexile: 
1130L

How the States Got Their Shapes

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 1

Learn about how our state borders were created and what is behind their definitions. This historical novel is an engaging and informative look at the geography of the United States of America.

Find the companion DVD here: How the States Got Their Shapes DVD

Author: 
How the States Got Their Shapes

The Breadwinner

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 5

Parvana felt the shadow before she saw it, as the man moved between her and the sun. Turning her head, she saw the dark turban that was the uniform of the Taliban. A rifle was slung across his chest as casually as her father's shoulder bag had been slung across hers...

The Talib kept looking down at her. Then he put his hand inside his vest. Keeping his eyes on Parvana, he drew something out of his vest pocket.

Parvana was about to squish her eyes shut and wait to be shot when she saw that the Talib had taken out a letter.

He sat down beside her on the blanket.

Author: 
Lexile: 
630L
The Breadwinner

The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

The Bronte sisters were the most extraordinary of literary siblings. In the nineteenth century, when women were discouraged from writing and publishing books, all three produced one or more novels now considered masterpieces. In "The Bronte Sisters," award-winning author Catherine Reef explores the turbulent lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne and offers insights into their passionate and timeless work.

Lexile: 
1080L
The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne

Stronger than Steel

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

They have a touch so feather-light, it can barely be felt on human skin. The vividly gold and black colored golden orb weaver spider is the largest web-making spider on the planet. These elegant and efficient arachnids can weave impressive webs up to three feet wide in less than an hour. And these spiders' silk-spinning abilities could have far-reaching implications for science and medicine.

Author: 
Lexile: 
860L
Stronger than Steel

Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

After more than a century of peaceful dormancy, the volcano Nevado del Ruiz in Columbia, South America, erupted. Blistering clouds of searing volcanic gases and ash flash-melted huge amounts of snow, launching a towering wall of hot mud toward the village of Armero. People ran - but they couldn't outrun the onslaught, and 23,000 perished.

Lexile: 
1000L
Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives

Pages