The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  •  Mark Twain LITERATURE •  1985 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS An enormously influential American book, Twain's masterpiece of boyhood adventure is as much about America's growing pains as it is about Huck's coming of age. As crises of adolescence go, Huck's dawning awareness of the slave Jim's humanity is about as big as they come. Ages 12 and up. (USS41, $7.00)
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird  •  Phillip Hoose NATURAL HISTORY •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 208 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) An engaging and well-researched history of the ivory-billed woodpecker, and the struggles surrounding its survival. It's a suspenseful and entertaining book about modern conservation and environmental issues for middle-school readers, featuring John James Audubon and others. The bird, only recently rediscovered, once ranged across the southeastern United States. With black-and-white photographs throughout. (BRD30, $21.00)
Stories from Where We Live, The Gulf Coast  •  Sara St. Antoine  •  Trudy Nicholson  •  Paul Mirocha LITERATURE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) An anthology of writings about coastal Texas, Florida and Louisiana -- wonderfully useful as a young person's guide to people, nature and place. It includes Native American myths, poems and songs, historical accounts and modern short stories, as well as black-and-white drawings and maps. Ages 9 to 14. (USS248, $10.95)
To Kill a Mockingbird  •  Harper Lee LITERATURE •  1960 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS Mandatory reading in most American classrooms, this affecting novel-of-conscience remains a humane portrait of the black and white denizens of the American south. It's set in Alabama. (USS254, $7.99)