Cañon City Public Library

A koala hopes to restore his theater to its former glory by producing a singing competition.

Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane collects sounds. She records the Louisiana crickets chirping, Momma strumming her guitar, their broken trailer door squeaking. But the crown jewel of her collection is a sound she didn't collect herself: an old recording of her daddy's warm-sunshine laugh, saved on an old phone's voicemail. It's the only thing she has of his, and the only thing she knows about him. Until the day she hears that laugh--his laugh--pouring...

A koala impresario stages a grand singing competition for the world's animals in order to save his elegant theater and bring it back to its former glory.

When their singing coach dies unexpectedly before a big contest, a motley group of singers from a small English village must overcome their respective challenges if they are ever going to succeed. Reading-group guide available.

Lifted is the story of Henry, a middle school student in Alabama, who finds refuge in music from the challenges of his surroundings: a drug addicted mother, a Reservist father recalled to active service in Afghanistan, the financial stress of a Reservist's pay, a racist, redneck grandfather, and bullying schoolmates. A singing competition provides Henry the vehicle for his personal triumph.

In 2009, an 18-year-old son of Haitian immigrants burst onto Billboard music charts with the instant #1 song, “Whatcha Say,” which sampled a surprising hook and opened with what would prove to be one of the catchiest lines in pop music history – the artist’s own name, sung out loud. Defying every possible odd, Jason Derulo cemented himself again and again, hit after hit, as one of the hardest working singers, dancers, and performers in the...