Best of 2003

JP Juvenile Picture Books

(Read Aloud Stories)

Andreasen, Dan. With a Little Help from Daddy. Margaret K. McElderry. A darling duo goes through an elephant's day.

Appelt, Kathi. Incredible Me! Harper Collins. A red head extraordinaire that is not like any other person alive.

Ashman, Linda. Babies on the Go. Harcourt. Charming watercolors accompany rhyming text of baby animals' travels.

Bannerman, Helen. The Story of Little Black Sambo. Harper Collins. Originally published in 1889, is updated with extraordinary illustrations and includes historic sidebar notes.

Battle-Lavert, Gwendolyn. Papa's Mark. Holiday House. A young boy helps his father learn to write so he can vote, together changing history for Black Americans.

Bauer, Marion Dane. My Mother Is Mine. Simon & Schuster. Delightful animal toddlers share special mommy qualities.

Browne, Anthony. The Shape Game. Farrar Straus & Giroux. Part autobiographical, part silly family fun at an art museum.

Bunting, Eve. Little Bear's Little Boat. Clarion. A bear learns to share when he outgrows his baby boat.

Carle, Eric and Iwamura, Kazuo. Where Are You Going? To See My Friend. Orchard Books. A book in two languages, English and Japanese, from two acclaimed author-illustrators.

Chandra, Deborah & Comora, Madeleine. George Washington's Teeth. Farrar Straus & Giroux. Ever wonder why George's jaw was square? He wore wooden dentures.

Cullen, Catherine Ann. Thirsty Baby. Little Brown. A little tot wants more and more to drink, then even still some more.

Dodds, Dayle Ann. Where's Pup? Dial. A circus clown has lost his dog. A whimsical search ensues with a surprise ending.

Dunrea, Olivier. Ollie The Stomper. Houghton Mifflin. Gossie & Gertie are goslings with boots; Ollie wants boots too.

Fisher, Valorie. My Big Brother. My Big Sister. Atheneum. Large, luscious photographs chronicle an older sibling's day from the younger point-of-view, from the ground (sneakers), on up to the nose.

Fleischman, Paul. The Animal Hedge. Candlewick. Originally published in 1983, a timeless tale of a farmer wanting the best for his three sons even during hard times.

French, Jackie. Diary of a Wombat. Clarion. A roly-poly marsupial tumbles through a day.

Gay, Marie-Louise. Goodnight Sam. Groundwood. Sam's older sister helps to find Fred, the family dog. Look closely — he's hiding on each page.

Gay, Michel. Zee. Houghton Mifflin. An adorable zebra toddler makes a toddler-sized breakfast-in-bed for his parents.

CALDECOTT AWARD WINNER

Gerstein, Mordicai. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. Roaring Brook Press. The famous tightrope performer Philippe Petit remembers his connection between the now-lost World Trade Twin Towers.

Isadora, Rachel. On Your Toes: A Ballet ABC. Greenwillow. Beautiful pastels of a young ballet class set the stage for a ballet company performance.

Laden, Nina. Grow Up! Chronicle Books. Cute peek holes help toddlers guess what a baby animal will be all grown up.

Laing, Kate. Best Kind of Baby. Dial. The imaginings of a sister waiting for her new baby to be— a mouse, a monkey?

Newman, Leslea. Cats, Cats, Cats. Simon & Schuster. Rhyming text full of cats, a little old woman, each purrfect.

O'Garden, Irene. The Scrubbly-Bubbly Car Wash. Harper Collins. A family outing told in rhyme of a muddy car and a bright, bubbly bath at the journey's end.

Recorvits, Helen. My Name Is Yoon. Margaret K. McElderry. A young girl makes the transition from Korean to English.

Reynolds, Peter H. The Dot. Candlewick. Vashtisat will not draw until her teacher helps her make a mark and encourages her drawing to grow.

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. The Hidden Alphabet. Roaring Brook Press. A tour-de-force of visual alphabet clues bound in a thick book - a graphic masterpiece.

Smalls, Irene. Don't Say Ain't. Charlesbridge. In 1957, three friends are divided when one goes to an advanced school away from her neighborhood. Poignant, timeless and inspirational.

Spinelli, Eileen. Bath Time. Cavendish. Penquin loves to take a bath with all the right toys. A rhyming bath time tale.

Steinberg, Laya. Thesaurus Rex. Barefoot Books. Using words with similar meanings creates adventures for a dinosaur.

Thompson, Lauren. Little Quack. Simon & Schuster. Five duckies into the pond help toddlers learn to add on 1 + 4 = 5.

Ward, Helen. The Rooster and the Fox. Millbrook Press. (older readers) A tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Willems, Mo. Time to Pee! Hyperion. An encouraging instruction for toilet training includes a mouse cheerleader.

Yee, Wong Herbert. Tracks in the Snow. Henry Holt. Come play with me in the snow; someone has, but who?

Zemach, Kaethe. Just Enough and Not Too Much. Arthur A. Levine. A fiddler wants more until he misses his simple life.

Zolotow, Charlotte. Hold My Hand: A Collection of Stories and Poems. Hyperion. Simple slice-of-life tales of love and family just right for small children.

JE Juvenile Easy Readers (Beginning Reader)
JYR Juvenile Young Readers (1st — 2nd Grade Reader)
J Juvenile Fiction (Novels / Stories 3rd Grade & Higher)

J Blackwood, Gary. Shakespeare's Spy. Dutton. Thespian apprentice Widge uses his skills to catch thieves of plays. A historically accurate, highly adventurous sequel to: The Shakespeare Stealer, and Shakespeare's Scribe.

JYR Buchanan, Jane. The Berry-Picking Man. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Meggie's mother befriends a smelly old man who embarrasses her until he gets truly sick during Christmas.

J Byng, Georgia. Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism. Harper Collins. An orphan left to the torments of Hardwick House stumbles upon an old book of hypnosis and knows just how to use it.

JE Cazet, Denys. Minnie and Moo: The Night of The Living Bed. Harper Collins. The great pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch and takes the cows on an evening journey.

J Creech, Sharon. Granny Torrelli Makes Soup. Harper Collins. Written like a recipe; a friendship between Rose and Bailey, who is blind, rises with the smells of grandma's brews.

J Cushman, Karen. Rodzina. Houghton Mifflin. A pre-teen Polish girl rides the orphan train bound for a new family.

J Denslow, Sharon. All Their Names Were Courage. Greenwillow. During the Civil War, who cared for the terrified horses? Who were these brave stallions of the battle field?

NEWBERY AWARD WINNER

J DiCamillo, Kate. The Tale of Despereaux. Candlewick. Being the story of a mouse, a princess, honor and love. Then, being the tale of a bowl of soup and an angry, revengeful rat. Followed by a tale of a princess-obsessed, big-eared, 12 year old girl. Three episodes, each story connected to the next, each character's fate dependent on the other.

J DiTerlizzi, Tony. Spiderwick Chronicles. Simon & Schuster

• Book 1: The Field Guide
• Book 2: The Seeing Stone
• Book 3: Lucinda's Secret

At Aunt Lucinda's the three Grace children open a guide book to magical adventures. DiTerlizzi's illustrations breath life into the unusual creatures and experiences collaborator Holly Black helped to create. More chronicles are sure to follow.

J Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. The Conch Bearer. Roaring Press. A mystical shell in the hands of 12-year-old Anand needs to be brought to its home of origin in the Himalayas.

JYR Fenner, Carol. Snowed In with Grandmother Silk. Dial. Ruddy's grandmother is very formal and cold. But when she and Ruddy are snowed in together, she begins to “thaw.”

J Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart. Scholastic. Characters from a book come to life causing some suspenseful turn of events. Author of the widely popular The Thief Lord.

J Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Barons. Simon & Schuster. Sequel to: Among the Hidden, Among the Imposters, Among the Betrayed. Luke, hiding as Lee, must meet his fake brother Smits and live among his enemies the secretive utilitarian government and deceitful rich.

NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER

J Henkes, Kevin. Olive's Ocean. Greenwillow. Secretly, Olive hopes to become friends with Martha. Olive's fatal accident, a note found in a journal and first love deeply affect Martha in this compelling and insightful coming-of-age story.

J Hesse, Karen. Aleutian Sparrow. Margaret K. McElderry. When the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands all Aleuts were evacuated to mainland Alaska, 1942. This is Vera's story.

JE Hopkins, Lee Bennett. A Pet for Me: Poems. Harper Collins. Various animals and youngsters depicted in simple poetic text for beginning readers.

J Horvath, Polly. The Canning Season. Farrar Straus and Giroux. Wacky parents, eccentric aunts, a girl named Ratchet, and a friend named Harper add up to a bizarre comedy for older readers.

J Hurst, Carol Otis. A Killing in Plymouth Colony. Houghton Mifflin. Using historic facts from America's first long term community, three youngsters learn that not everyone is perfect in this seemingly harmonious colony.

J Johnson, Angela. A Cool Moonlight. Dial. Lila has a dangerous allergy to sun, a rare disease where only the moon is her light. A slight yet powerful story of courage, love & family.

JYR King-Smith, Dick. The Nine Lives of Aristotle. Candlewick. Does going to live with a witch bring any luck to a rascally kitten always on the edge of disaster? Simply adorable.

J Lowry, Lois. The Silent Boy. Houghton. When Katy was young, when it was 1908, when horses were driven, when her dreams of being a doctor like her father were made richer because of a retarded boy named Jacob.

J Martin, Ann. The Meanest Doll in the World. Hyperion. Move over Toy Story, here is Mimi, a doll to be reckoned with.

MILDRED L. BATCHELDER AWARD FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRANSLATION

J Orlev, Uri. Run, Boy, Run. Houghton Mifflin. Escaping Warsaw, Srulik learns to survive in the forest through treacherous adventures and encounters. Based on the authors own childhood Holocaust experiences.

JYR Sepulveda, Luis. The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly. Scholastic. An injured gull is befriended, by all things, a cat. Adorable tale of true friendship.

J Stauffacher, Sue. Donuthead. Knopf. Franklin, a true oddity, learns to see life a little less clean + orderly = perfect.

J Wilson, Jacqueline. The Worry Web Site. Delacorte. Kids type in their concerns to a class Internet site where their teacher, Mr. Speed is moderator. Funny and uplifting.

JNF Juvenile Non-Fiction
(Books on Different Subjects)

J 342.73 F Freedman, Russell. In Defense of Liberty. Holiday House. The history of America's Bill of Rights.

J 398.2 B Baumgartner, Barbara. Crocodile! Crocodile! Stories Told Around the World. Dorling Kindersley. Wonderful folktales, simple format surrounded by felt images.

J 398.2 Y Yolen, Jane. Mightier Than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys. Harcourt. Fabulous tales which emulate young lads discovering their inner strengths.

CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD WINNER

J 398.2 Africa B Bryan, Ashley. Beautiful Blackbird. Atheneum. A Zambian folktale from the Ila people of tolerance, radiance and rhythm. Color shared among us all.

J 398.2 China M Muth, Jon J. Stone Soup. Scholastic. A well-loved French folktale revisited through three Monks seeking a village that knows happiness.

J 398.2 Jewish F Fowles, Shelley. The Bachelor and the Bean. Fararr, Straus and Giroux. A genie gives a grumpy old man magical objects to make his dreams come true. Folktale.

J 398.2 United States G Goble, Paul. Mystic Horse. Harper Collins. A Pawnee tale of a young warrior's first lesson in trust.

J 510 T Tang, Greg. Math Appeal. Scholastic. Mind-stretching math riddles with poems and pictures make solving equations appealing and tons of fun!

CALDECOTT HONOR AWARD WINNER

J 573.87 J Jenkins, Steve. What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? Houghton Mifflin. Cut paper collage of various animal anatomy, explain unique features and usage for each.

J 590.73 L Lyon, George Ella. Mother to Tigers. Atheneum. In 1944 the first zoo nursery was started by Helen at the Bronx Zoo, also the first woman zoo keeper.

NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER

J 614.541 M Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Clarion. Murphy, who brought us the book, Blizzard!

J 636.7 C Crisp, Marty. Everything Dog: What Kids Really Want to Know about Dogs. North World Press. Questions kids would ask like, “dog food looks and smells pretty gross, so why do dogs like it?” Cut-and-paste photographs with fascinating facts to keep all dog lovers interested for hours.

J 641.5 B Bull, Jane. The Cooking Book: 50 Mouthwatering Meals and Sensational Snacks. Dorling Kindersley. Hilarious photographs, curious culinary questions and tantalizing treats.

J 811.54 F Franco, Betsy. Mathematickles! Margaret K. McElderry. Fun poems to tickle and twist your wits. “Red, orange, gold + brown = crunchy rainbow on the ground.”

J 822.33 D Davidson, Rebecca Piatt. All the World's a Stage. Using cumulative rhyme to match lines taken from famous Shakespeare plays then brilliantly illustrated by award-winning Anita Lobel, all can enjoy this homage to the Bard.

J 929.73 C Cheney, Lynne. A for Abigail Adams: An Almanac of Amazing American Women. Simon & Schuster. Each letter of the alphabet represents an important woman of American history.

J 940.53 R Rubin, Susan Goldman. Searching for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam To Iowa. Abrams. Anne's letters to American pen pal Juanita combined with historical data during the second world war, bring a new perspective to the famous Anne Frank story.

J 940.531 V Vander Zee, Ruth. Erika's Story. Creative Editions. Erika thinks about her parents' Holocaust ordeal, never knowing them because they tossed her from a train.

J 973.7 M McKissak, Patricia & Fredrick. Days of Jubilee. Scholastic. The end of slavery in the United States.

J BIOGRAPHY

J B Franklin F Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of The Good Gentleman's Life. Atheneum. Composed as a scrap book of Franklin's life.

J B Kahlo F Frith, Margaret. Frida Kahlo: The Artist Who Painted Herself. Grosset & Dunlap. A direct glimpse of Frida's life includes famous photographs, unusual facts with illustrations by Tomie de Paola.

J B Kennedy H Heiligman, Deborah. High Hopes. National Geographic. Mixed with famous black & white photographs is a candid look at Kennedy's boyhood through his presidency.

J B King F Farris, Christine King. My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Simon & Schuster. A sincere look at young Dr. King's life and legacy without focusing on his assassination.

J B Tryszynska M As told to Michelle R. McCana by Luba Tryszynska-Frederick. Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen. Tricycle Press. Beautiful collage oil paintings of Luba's heroic efforts to secretly keep over 50 children alive during the Holocaust. Luba and her “children” are all alive today.

J B Wright C Collins, Mary. Airborne: A Photo Biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright. National Geographic. Fantastic black & white photographs surround the life of the famous aviation brother team, now 100 years after their historic flight at Kitty Hawk.