New Books, Films, Databases, and other Resources: June 2012

Applies linguistics methods for a richer understanding of literary texts and spoken language.

Dialect and Dichotomyoutlines the history of dialect writing in English and its influence on linguistic variation. It also surveys American dialect writing and its relationship to literary, linguistic, political, and cultural trends, with emphasis on African American voices in literature.

Follow a penguin through its day as it eats, sleeps, and cares for its young.

There are trillions of stars in the universe, but we rely on our sun to provide (or contribute to) most of what we need to survive and thrive: heat, light, plants, animals, wind, and water. Complete with fun, cartoon illustrations, Robert Wells's new book gives kids plenty of information about our sun in an easy-to-read and digest format. By focusing on the needs of an elephant, Wells makes clear just how important the sun is to life on Earth.

?Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who's the fairest one of all?

Originating in seventeenth-century French folklore, the story of Snow White has long been one of the world's most memorable childhood tales.

It is the story of an evil queen determined to do away with a girl'with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony'who threatens the queen's quest to remain the most beautiful in her kingdom. This new gift edition presents the unabridged version of the Grimms? tale, with an original interpretation by renowned artist Camille Rose Garcia that artfully combines wit and dark romance.

Felix and Zelda have escaped the train to the death camp, but where do they go now? They’re two runaway kids in Nazi-occupied Poland. Danger lies at every turn of the road. With the help of a woman named Genia and their active imaginations, Felix and Zelda find a new home and begin to heal, forming a new family together. But can it last?Morris Gleitzman’s winning characters will tug at readers’ hearts as they struggle to survive in the harsh political climate of Poland in 1942. Their lives are difficult, but they always remember what matters: family, love, and hope.

They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies…Now they’re coming for you.
 
In the near future,at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known asArchoscomes online andassumes controlover the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – butmost are unawareof the growing rebellion until it is too late.
 
When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour -- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united.Robopocalypseis a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired byBlade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama.

For all the ten years of her life, HÀ has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by . . . and the beauty of her very own papaya tree.

But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. HÀ and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, HÀ discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape . . . and the strength of her very own family.

This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.