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My Favorite Books for Young Readers 2007, Part One

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I’m always getting requests from friends who are looking for fun YA and kidlit fare to read. After quite a bit of deliberation, I chose my personal favorites from last year, took them down to my Secret Chamber of Bibliophilia, and asked the Elven Book-smiths to forge them into one powerful gleaming Super List of reading pleasure.

First off, if you haven’t done so before, take a gander at the ALA Youth Media Winners and the National Book Award winner*. They’d be on this list, if it weren’t such a gimme. It isn’t always that I look at these big-award winners and say, “Yeah, those are the books that deserved the awards.” But this time around, they did. Here are my favorites out of all the winners:

  • Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Newbery Winner) — Yup. Probably the best contribution to children’s theater in, like, ever.
  • The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Newbery Honor) — It’s like reading a really long episode of The Wonder Years. With Shakespeare.
  • Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Newbery Honor) — Where did ecaping slaves go once they got off the Underground Railroad? A funny, heartbreaking tale of a boy growing up in a settlement of ecapees.
  • Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (Newbery Honor) — The legendary Book That Cannot Be Described. Is that enough of a pitch for ya?

  • The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis (Siebert Winner AND a Caldecott Honor) — How many picture books can YOU name about Communism, Art, and the Beach Boys? Eh? Eh?
  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Caldecott Winner) — The only novel to ever win this award (it traditionally goes to picture books), and my #1 most-recommended book of last year. Heck, it was a featured part of the family Christmas letter.
  • Let It Shine: Three Spirituals by Ashley Bryan (King Illustrator Winner) — Rainbow-riffic pics; great songs. “He’s got the whoooooole wor-ld / In his haaaaands!

  • Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop (Siebert Honor) — Nic Bishop’s photography chops can make anything look swimsuit-calendar-worthy, even hairy spiders. The arachnids look GOR-GE-OUS.
  • The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean (Printz Winner) — Take note: Antarctica will kill you. Especially if you’re taking a pleasure-trip there with your mad, mad uncle. And your imaginary boyfriend. (Beware: this book merits a serious PG-13 rating. Read it in July, where the cold can’t find you.)

*Those of you who stumble across this page from The Brookeshelf, please keep in mind that I am creating this list for my friends and family, most of whom are not kidlit geeks like you and me. Many are not aware of who won the big book awards of the year. In fact, a few of them probably do not even know they have been given out (gasp!). So don’t roll your eyes about how this is Old News. That’s right, I saw you do it.

Sunny Side Up

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smiley-blankie.jpgThe latest news from Ella-land:

Lately she’s in full revolt against the idea of toilet training. “I’ll wear underwear when I’m three,” she says airily. If I try setting her on the toilet, she stiffens her body and screams. If I show her the fancy-shmancy underwear, she throws it across the room. And screams. We’ll get there someday . . . someday. . . someday.

I put a denim jumper on her last week, and she peered at it curiously. “It’s my jumping dress!” she later exclaimed, and gave a demonstration across the room.

Skipping is one of her favorite things to do, especially when holding my hand as we walk along the sidewalk. “Skip, Mama,” she’ll urge, only it comes out sounding more like “Dip, Mama!” Oh, how she loves it when I skip with her! Oh, how I’m afraid of falling right on my face in the parking lot!

Last week, Ella’s blankie took a trip through the washing machine and dryer. (It had been getting a bit, shall we say, “musky.”) Little did I know that a little felt sticker had been put in the wash too — a little orange and yellow felt smiling sun. The sticker fell apart, but the little yellow circle with the smiley face somehow got fused onto the blankie. It won’t come off, but we don’t much mind. Now Eleanor’s blankie is always happy to see her. Although, if the blankie knew what fate lay in store for it — if it saw the shredded, over-loved remains of its predecessor — it would probably be running for its fuzzy little life. That’s why Blankie the First remains under Lock and Key. And by lock and key, I mean In The Highest Bureau Drawer I Can Find.

Speaking of Blankies:

owen.jpg

Owen by Kevin Henkes is probably the cream of the blankie-oriented crop.  Little Owen is practically joined at the hip to his little yellow blanket.  Nosy next-door-neighbor Mrs. Tweezers is trying to convince his parents that it’s time to let go of his ol’ pal.  Owen manages to thwart Mrs. Tweezer’s various blankie-removal advice, until his mother comes up with an ingenious compromise that keeps Owen with his buddy and saves face around the neighbors of the world.  My personal favorite of Henkes’ mouse books.

    Looking Forward

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    On Friday night, I was reading some poetry to Eleanor, and we came across a poem which contained the word “April” in the title. As soon as I read it, she became very excited.

    “April!” she squealed. “That’s where my birthday lives!”

    I don’t know why, but the idea that certain special times “live” within the calendar is so appealing to me . . .

    Just as a side note, this is the book we were reading:

    heres-a-little-poem.jpg

    Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry — probably the best poetry anthology published last year, in my opinion. Jane Yolen + Polly Dunbar = Fabulous.

    Guess What I Am

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    question-mark.jpg“Guess What I Am” was my family’s favorite after-dinner game when I was a child.  It’s a simplified version of Charades — family members take turns pretending to be various things, and everyone else guesses who they are.  It’s great to pass on this game to my kids, although now I realize just how appealing the game was for my parents: not only does it allow the kids to beam out adorableness from every pore, but it can be played while lounging on the couch.  Yes!

    This, of course, lead to my mom’s infamous “Lincoln Memorial” impersonation (she sat there and did nothing) and also her interptetation of “Windshield Wipers” (she waved her arms back and forth).  We teased her about her these for years — but this evening, I found myself sitting on the couch, nursing a babe under one arm while flapping the other and quacking — quite possibly the lamest impression of a duck, ever.

    Here’s what you would have overheard in our game tonight:

    Jeffrey: Bsssszt, bsssszt, bsssszt, bsssszt!

    Me: Are you a robot?

    Jeffrey:  No.

    Me: A spaceship?

    Jeffrey: No.

    Me: A bulldozer?

    Jeffrey: No!

    Me: What are you, then?

    Jeffrey: [looking put out] I’m one of those Star Wars guys!

    Me: Which one?

    Jeffrey: You know — the one that goes “bsssszt, bsssszt, bsssszt!”

    Ah.  Naturally.  Why on earth couldn’t I make the connection?  But at least Jeffrey had a concrete thing in mind when pretending.  Eleanor, on the other hand . . .

    Ella: Growwwwr!

    Me:  Are you a tiger?

    Ella: Growwwwr!

    Me: A bear?

    Ella: Growwwwr!

    Me: Ella, what are you?

    Ella:  . . . I don’t know. . .

    Me: Were you a lion?

    Ella: Why?

    Playing games with Eleanor always gives way to something that sounds like faux-Zen dialogue from a bad Kung-fu movie.

    When you guess what I am, young Grasshopper, then you will be ready . . .