BOOKS TO BORROW

"14 Cows for America" by Carmen Agra Deedy in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez, Peachtree, 40 pages

Read aloud: age 6 to 10

Read yourself: age 8 to 10

Kimeli is a Maasai tribesman and Stanford University student. He hasn't been home in a very long time, but in June of 2002, he returns to his Kenyan village. Kimeli knows his fellow Maasai will be eager for stories, and when they ask him if he has any to share, he nods, then relates the true story of what he witnessed when visiting NYC on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Maasai are stunned, for they are "easily moved to kindness when they hear of suffering or injustice." Reacting to the sorrow and suffering of Americans half a world away, the Maasai offer the greatest gift they have - 14 cows for America.

LIBRARIAN'S CHOICE

Library: Raymond Library, 832 Raymond Hill Rd., Oakdale

Library Director: Joanne Westkamper

Choices this week: "Do Like a Duck Does" by Judy Hindley; "McDuff Moves In" by Rosemary Wells; "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey

AT THE BOOKSTORE

"The Warrior's Heart: Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage" by Eric Greitens, Navy SEAL, Houghton Mifflin, 266 pages, $16.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 11, 12 and older

Read yourself: age 12 and older

Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, author of the best-seller "The Heart and the Fist," has adapted that book for a teen audience. More than a memoir, Greitens challenges teens to expand their minds, develop courage and compassion and to make good choices.

Readers join Greitens on his journeys through life that shaped and changed him, from his experiences in China, Rwanda, Bosnia and Bolivia, to his training as a Navy SEAL and the creation of his nonprofit organization, The Mission Continues.

"Stolen into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man" by Judith Fradin and Dennis Fradin, National Geographic, 2012, 120 pages, $18.95 hardcover

Read aloud: age 8, 9 and older.Read yourself: age 10 and older.

In 1841, Solomon Northup woke up in the middle of the night to find his feet chained to the floor in a dark dungeon. The black man had been born free, he was educated, and he had a wife and family in upstate New York. He thought surely this was a mistake, but as Solomon soon realized, he had been stolen and sold illegally into slavery where he would spend the next 12 years of his life.

A gripping story of courage and perseverance, this true story is one readers won't soon forget.

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