15. Recommend a textbook that you think will help students in this course

Theory of Elasticity by Landau and Lifshitz.

http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Elasticity-Third-Theoretical-Physics/dp/075062633X

content:
1 fundamental equations
2 the equilibrium of rods and plates
3 elastic waves
4 dislocations
5 thermal conduction and viscosity in solids
6 mechanics of liquid crystals

"Landau's book is a collection of ideas." This is a comment from amazon. I think it is very suitable appraisement for landau's theoretical physics books.
This volume about elastic theory is hard to read since it contains too much formulas, but you can also find some topics which are not usually contained in other similar books. Moreover, this book is very thin, so it's easy to take it with you.