Younger Readers

The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book by Sarah Gershman.

Older Readers

The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman.

Teen Readers

Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin.

Honor books and notable book lists are also listed. 

Hey Mr. Choo-Choo, Where Are You Going? by Susan Wickberg, illustrated by Yumi Heo.

Get ready for a rollicking rhythmic read in this picture book that will have every small train-crazed boy asking for it to be read again.  Again!  And again!  You have been warned.

Each new page starts with the chorus of

Hey Mr. Choo-choo,

Red, white, and blue-choo,

Hey Mr. Choo-choo,

And then asks a question that the rest of the page answers.  So it can be what the train is pulling, where it's going, etc.  And it is all done with a sense of fun, joy and just pure spunk.  You can't read this book without smiling (at least for the first five times.)

The illustrations are wonderful.  Big, colorful, friendly and a little zany.  Train enthusiasts will want to name the types of cars, but that isn't focused on in the text.  It is much more about the rhythm, rhyme and movement.  I encourage you to get the kids doing the chorus with you each time, though that will naturally happen anyway.  Perhaps with movements?

Recommended for reading to toddlers and preschoolers ages 2-4.  Highly recommended as part of a toddler story time on trains.  "I'm saying bye-bye-bye with my bell-bell-bell!"

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola.

This picture book tells the true story of Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.  When she was growing up in Kenya, the country was covered in green hills, trees, and crops.  But when she returned back home after college, she discovered that the greenery was gone, people were struggling and starving and the trees had been chopped down.  The entire country had moved from small family farms to large agricultural plantations.  So she went to work to restore her homeland and bring back the trees, the clean water, and the food supply.  Change did not come quickly, but by getting the women of Kenya to start making small changes at home, they began to plant trees and change Kenya forever.

Nivola's language is what really makes this book work.  She simultaneously moves the book along at a brisk pace but also allows the words and images to linger momentarily.  So as we learn about how Kenya used to be, we are given this gem of writing:

In the stream near her homestead where she went to collect water for her mother, she played with glistening frogs' eggs, trying to gather them like beads into necklaces, though they slipped through her fingers back into the clear water. 

This isn't a lecture on how healthy ecosystems should be.  Rather it is a moment, a captured image, a time when things were so right that they didn't need explanation.  Readers, especially children, will know that intuitively.  If you have the wonder of frog eggs, you have clean water and a healthy ecosystem.  Also notice Nivola's grace with phrasing.  Her words beg to be read aloud and when they are, they glide smoothly and tell the story effortlessly.

Her art is also winning.  Featuring primarily large vistas of Kenya, they demonstrate just as much as the words the damage done to the environment.  Again and again we are shown Wangari Maathai as part of that expanse, part of the community, one of many workers, never alone, isolated or individual.  Nivola manages with her art to set her message in stone about the power of change, of heart, of womanhood.

Highly recommended for classroom use in grades 3-5.   The perfect book to take out for Arbor Day, Earth Day, or any day when vistas, trees and hard work are needed.  It works well as a read-aloud for older children who will start to ask themselves about the clearing of land in our own country and the damage it may be doing.

Even better, you can't catch any of my germs via this medium, so you don't have to shrink away from me like the people here on the library staff seem to when I approach.  :)

Best Juvenile:  The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh

Best Young Adult: Rat Life by Tedd Arnold

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall.

Return to the charming world of the Penderwick sisters as they return home to Gardam Street after their summer adventures.  Mr. Penderwick's sister delivers a letter from his dead wife, telling him to start dating again, and horribly he does!  Rosalind is terribly scared of having a stepmother and brings her sisters together to form the Save-Daddy plan.  Meanwhile, Jane and Skye do one another's homework which leads to a web of deceit, Batty tries to warn everyone of a stranger lurking around the neighborhood, and Hound develops a fondness for a new cat next door.  Just normal life around Gardam Street.

Birdsall certainly didn't suffer from the Sophomore Slump with this second novel.  In fact, I enjoyed it even more than the first.  The sisters are all unique and interesting characters facing normal life crises.  It is the writing itself that charms, creating a book filed with the warmth, confusion, love and mess of real life.  There is still that old-fashioned feel to the series, as if a book from your childhood has moved forward to modern day but maintained the same sense of safety and a rightness with the world.  Refreshing yet reminiscent.

If you enjoyed the first book, make sure to check out the second.  Another great read-aloud for classrooms and a must-purchase for libraries.  Highly recommended for ages 10-14.

Stuck in the Mud by Jane Clarke, illustrated by Garry Parsons.

Early one morning, a hen notices that one of her chicks is stuck in the mud.  She pushes and shoves, but can't get the chick out and then finds herself stuck too!  One by one, more animals join them stuck all together in the mud.  All push and strain to get unstuck, but all are trapped.  All except one!  The little chick who started the mess!

The art here is so funny and inviting.  Done in a cartoon style that will make small children right at home, it is perfectly paired with the zany text that will have children even more at home.   The text is pitch perfect, reading aloud so easily that it fairly skips along.  This is the perfect book for a toddler story time where children will love to shout out the animal names and join in the straining to push and pull the animals out of the mud.

Highly recommended for ages 3-6.  Have a muddy good time!

Forever Rose by Hilary McKay.

Return once again to the Casson family as they verge on disaster but always pull together as a family by the end of the story.  Rose is being left alone more and more as her sister Caddy has left, Saffy is busy with friends and school, Indigo is into his music, her father is away living in London, and her mother is in her shed feeling ill.  But maybe it's worse when one of Indigo's friends moves his drum set in and ruins her latest painting.  Certainly it is worse when she finally realizes what she has agreed to do with her friends at the zoo!  But it is far too late to back out by then.

McKay has such a deft hand with characters.  They are constantly surprising but true to themselves.  She is particularly wonderful at creating people with true flaws, but also making sure they are not only lovable but loved.  While one doesn't wish to move in with the family, one would love to know them and be part of their world. 

Once again, a Casson novel that triumphs.  Highly recommended for readers ages 10-14, but only if they have read the rest of the series!

Clementine's Letter by Sara Pennypacker.

Every time a new Clementine book comes out, my toes wiggle with glee.  I know that between those pages, I will find moments to laugh aloud, discover myself as a small child again, recognize my children, and simply sink into a wonderful book.  They never disappoint.

This third Clementine book has her bonding with her third grade teacher until he is nominated to go on a trip to Egypt.  Now Clementine has to cope with a new teacher who doesn't seem to have the same rules while desperately trying to keep her old teacher from winning the award and leaving.  Clementine also has to try to do something extra nice for her mother because she is writing a story with her father.  It's only fair to do things equally according to her friend Margaret. 

Once again I was charmed not only by the effervescent Clementine who walks her own walk and sees the world through her own special lens, but by her parents who love her simply for being herself.  Other adults are equally well drawn and complete as are the children around Clementine.  Add to that Frazee's line art which constantly shows the field of chaos around Clementine as she moves through life, and you have such a believable and vibrant book that it is hard to put down.  In fact, I recommend having all three at hand, because you are going to want to start the entire series once again just to spend some more time with them.

Highly recommended as a readaloud, or for parents of children who don't conform to what the world seems to expect, or for children themselves who have a good sense of humor and love to laugh.  Hey, it's great for everyone.  Enjoy!

Here are the 2008 Winners:

The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington's Slave Finds Freedom by Emily Arnold McCully.

We Are One:  The Story of Bayard Rustin by Larry Dane Brimmer.

And the honors:

One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II by Lita Judge.

Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins.

Eljah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford.

Take a look at the list.  It is a pdf file and may require patience to load.

Here are ones I am glad to see on the list:

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke (I wish this had been a Cybil nominee!)

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Yes!  The best of the year!)

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (Hurrah!  Love this one!)

The Chaos King by Laura Ruby

But there are so many I didn't read and so many that were never on our list to consider for the Cybils!  Any other must-reads on the list?  Some of my favorites are missing.  Where is Epic?  Where is Wildwood Dancing?  Any others that should be on such a lengthy list?

Gatty's Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Ruby Red by Linzi Alex Glass

Crusade by Elizabeth Laird

Apache by Tanya Landman

Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve

What I Was by Meg Rosoff

Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine (published in the U.S. as Me, the Missing and the Dead)

Remember, this is a British award, so some of the books aren't released in the U.S. yet.

Has anyone got any favorites?  I haven't read any of these!

My Friend the Starfinder by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Stephen Gammell.

Ready yourself for a true story that defies belief.  A girl meets am old man who tells her amazing stories.  He starts by telling her of seeing a star fall and then heading into the fields to where it landed.  He picked up the star and took it home.  Then there was the time he found himself at the end of a rainbow, doused in colors.  Readers at this point will think they are in the middle of a magical picture book story, but in the author's note, Lyon tells us that she knew this man.  What a perfect way for it all to end.  In truth.

Lyon's language here is gorgeous and often breathtaking.  She starts out with plain and simple wording that gets caught in the story and expands, filling the book with metaphor and wonder.  And to make it even more wonderful, she does it a second time and readers will feel just as captured and amazed as the first time.

Pair her deft language with Gammell's art and you get a book that fairly sings with color and story.  Gammell uses his loose art to perfectly capture the connections between people and the singular moments we find ourselves in. 

Highly recommended, this picture book is a welcome addition to any library collection.  It should be shared with children and then they should be given time to hear your stories of wonders that have happened to you and to share their own.  A chance to share and connect is the perfect ending to this book.

Peeled by Joan Bauer.

Bauer does it again with this engaging story of a young journalist who faces off against her own hometown paper.  Hildy Biddle knows how to stand up for the truth.  Her father was a newspaperman before he died and she has grown up to be very like him.  When a house in their community is declared one of the most haunted places in the state, all sorts of strange things start happening, all attributed to the ghosts.  Hildy and her friends on the high school paper refuse to accept the tales being told in the local newspaper and continue to ask questions.  But how will she reveal the truth once the high school paper is shut down?  Can the truth be heard?

Hildy is a grand female character, gutsy, funny, smart and determined.  Best of all, she is not the stereotypical smart-girl who lacks romance.  Instead Hildy has a string of ex-boyfriends and a boy she has her eye on.  This adds to her believability and strength as a character.  Additionally, the secondary characters are well-written and complete. 

Bauer also uses her ability as a writer to present readers with tough situations through clear language and a thoughtful approach.  As Hildy grabbles with the ethical dilemmas of revealing truth, so does the reader.  Bauer allows the reader to learn, question and think on their own.

Highly recommended for teens, this book contains no sexual content and could easily be used in classrooms with teens. 

Saga by Conor Kostick.

This is the sequel to Epic, one of my favorite science fiction novels from last year.  While Erik and his character appear in the story, it is really much more about the cyberpunk world of Saga, a video game that has evolved from being a simple game to really being a world populated with living entities.   Ghost woke up six years ago with no memories of her previous life, now she lives outside of the world of colored cards and status that make up the society of Saga.  She is virtually invisible except that situations keep pushing her to the fore.  When people around her begin arriving and then disappearing, she and her friends begin to realize that they are living in a game.  The Dark Queen, ruler of Saga, begins to use the human visitors to her own ends, working against the changes that Ghost would like to see in the society and worsening the conditions of most of the population.  It may take working together with the unknown humans against her own kind to solve both the problems of Saga and the questions of her own identity.

Another thrilling ride of a book, taking on a genre of video games with the skill of a master.  Just as he captured the spirit of fantasy gaming in Epic, Kostick has created the feel of a vivid cyberpunk world here.  The writing is crisp and accessible, welcoming readers into the world.  The characterizations are multidimensional and fascinating.  The heroes have dark sides and the villains have softness.  Even in his Dark Queen, Kostick has created a true villain but someone with depth and logic. 

Readers who loved Epic will be jumping to read Saga.  It will not disappoint those video game players in your library.  In fact, if you circulate computer games or have gaming programs, I'd advise hand-selling these in those spots.  The kids will thank you.