Chasing Lincoln's Killer James L. Swanson

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is a non-fiction book that is focused on the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the many tiring days to come for the assassin. Everyone knows the story of the assassination of Abe Lincoln. But does everyone know what happened before and after the assassination? Booth had planned to kidnap Lincoln about 4 months before the actual assassination. Then, at Lincoln’s second inaugural speech Booth watched from the balcony of his hotel room. Booth had a clear shot at Lincoln, but he did not have strong enough firepower to shoot him. Days later Booth went to pick up his mail from Ford’s Theater and learned Lincoln and his wife would be attending that night’s performance. Booth told his accomplices his plan and made plans to assassinate more than just President Lincoln. Does Booth succeed in his wrong doings? Read Chasing Lincoln’s Killer to find out.

Kyle D.

Woodridge School

The Scary States of America by Mike Teitelbaum

In The Scary States of America you go through all the states and find all the paranormal in it. You can read about The Beast of Bray Road and the Vampires of Exeter. The few main characters are Jason Specter and his online pals who are with him throughout the book. As the book says "you take a journey around the states and learn the weird and scary. Some ghost/aliens don't mean to hurt anyone, but some of them do." If you like scary books, give this one a try!

By Renny L.

Woodridge School

Isaac Newton by Kathleen Krull

Many of us have enjoyed Kathleen Krull's Lives of the Presidents, Lives of the Athletes, and so on. Isaac Newton is the second book in the new series, Giants of Science, and a marvelous book it is!

We meet Isaac Newton the man, with all his hatreds, fears, and idiosyncrasies, as we read about his investigations of light, motion, and matter. Fascinated and frustrated with alchemy, Newton was in some ways a Harry Potter. Cambridge University, where Newton was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, was not unlike Hogwarts in atmosphere. Here the similarities end. Seventeenth century England was a place where the temperamental Newton verbally sparred with Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, and Edmund Halley. It was Newton who bridged the gap from a mysterious natural world to modern science based on observation and hypothesis. His laws of motion form the basis for classical physics. 

Check out other biographies in the series, including the soon to be published biography of Albert Einstein,  who called Newton the greatest genius of all time:

http://www.kathleenkrull.com/science.html