The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Author: Brian Selznick
Illustrator: Brian Selznick


Comments:
What a captivating masterpiece! The Invention of Hugo Cabret is part picturebook, part novel. As the work is inspired by the film maker, Georges Méliès, the illustrations serve as shots, for action or close-up, which usually require pages of words to fully describe. Selznick's sketches can be as closely analyzed as his prose, and the alternating of illustrations and text gives the book its flow.

Copyright: Scholastic Press, 2007
Age level: 9-12
Format: Chapterbook, Picturebook
Genre: Historical Fiction, Wordless
Multicultural/International: French
Award: 2008 Caldecott Award
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * * *

The Phantom Tollbooth

Author: Norton Jester
Illustrator: Jules Feiffer


Comments:
The Phantom Tollbooth is a like a book-length riddle. It's full of word play, puns, and brain teasers. At time, in "The Lands Beyond," things seem so logical that they become ridiculous. The Kings of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis have banished Rhyme and Reason and nothing seem to run smoothly any more. It's up to Milo, who has been mysterious transported to this world by "the phantom tollbooth," Tock the Watchdog and Humbug to rescue the two princesses from the Castle in the Air.

Copyright: Random House, 1961
Age level: 9-12
Format: Chapter book
Genre: Fantasy and Science Fiction
Multicultural/International: No
Award: WINNER 1963 - Kansas William White Master List
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * *

Walk Two Moons

Author: Sharon Creech


Comments:
By telling the story of her friend Phoebe, Sal discovers the mystery behind her mother's disappearance and her father's sudden move. Sal's story is interrupted with details of the trip she is taking with her grandparents to see her mother. Along this journey she not only learns to deal with loss but also that things are not always what they seem.

Copyright: HarperCollins Publishers (September 1996)
Age level: 12 and up
Format: Chapter book
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fictiotn
Multicultural/International: Native American
Award: Newbery Medal, Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts (NCTE), Bulletin Blue Ribbon (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books), School Library Journal Best Book, ALA Notable Children's Book, Sequoyah Young Adult Book Award (Oklahoma)
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * *

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Author: Gennifer Choldenko


Comments:
It's 1935, and Moose and his family are moving... to Alcatraz. Aside from learning the ropes of his new neighborhood, Moose feels responsible to keep an eye on his sister, who has autism. The move is not the only change the family will experience as each member is challenged and grows throughout the novel. Through the engaging voice of Moose, Choldenko gives us a glimpse into a family dealing with disability, their stresses, joys, hopes, and frustrations.

Copyright: Penguin Group (USA) April 2006
Age level: 10-12
Format: Chapterbook
Genre: Historical Fiction
Multicultural/International: No
Award: Newbery Honor Book, ALA Notable Book, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Junior Library Guild Selection, Kirkus Editor's Choice
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * * *

The Tale of Despereaux

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Illustrator: Timothy Basil Ering


Comments:
DiCamillo weaves a contemporary fairy tale about Despereaux, a very atypical mouse who loves to read and can't learn to cower. Each section of the book is told from a different character's perspective. Despereaux seeks for true love and questions whether he will ever get his "happily ever after." This book is just as much about dark and evil as light and good; they intertwine to create a unique adventure.

Copyright: Candlewick, 2003
Age level: 9-12
Format: Chapterbook
Genre: Fantasy
Multicultural/International: French
Award: Newbery Medal
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * * *

Clementine

Author: Sara Pennypacker
Illustrator: Marla Frazee

Comments:
Clementine reminds me a lot of Anne of Green Gables. She has the best intentions but makes terrible mistakes. The themes of friendship, forgiveness, problem-solving, and perseverance run through this book. Clementine is easy to relate to and a girl you end up cheering for.

Copyright: Random House Children's Books, 2004
Age level: 7-10
Format: Chapter Book
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Multicultural/International: No
Award: Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2006
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * * *

Bud, Not Buddy

Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

Comments:
Despite his terrible circumstances as an orphan, Bud is an engaging character, especially with all his rules. You get a real feel about the impact of the Great Depression, especially on African Americans. The story also include an example of how African American art seems to thrive during times of difficulty.

Copyright: Random House Children's Books, 2004
Age level: 9-12
Format: Chapter Book
Genre: Historical Fiction
Multicultural/International: African American
Award: Coretta Scott King Award
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * * *

Crickwing

Author: Janell Cannon
Illustrator: Janell Cannon

Comments:
Janell Cannon has created another unforgetable character like Stellaluna and Verdi. A cockroach does not seem an initially appealing protagonist. In fact Cannon drew inspiration from David G. Gordon's The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (and Least Understood) Creature on Earth. After playing a heart-warming, supporting role in Disney's Wall-E, cockroaches are making a comeback.

In addition to being a cockroach living in the rainforest, he is injured by a hungry toad and nicknamed Crickwing, which he finds so painful that he withdraws from the other creatures. He enjoys making scultpures out of his food, but other preditors steal it away from him before he has a chance to enjoy it. After enduring this bullying, Crickwing finds some insects small enough for him to pick on, some leaf-cutter ants. Unfortunately, the whole colony teams up to defend themselves against Crickwing. Little did they know that he has a secret talent that could relieve the leaf-cutters from the tyranny of the army ants.

There is so much depth to Cannon's stories. Crickwing emphasizes the value and uniqueness of each live, even those that are deemed less valuable. It also portraying the dangerous cycle of bitterness and bullying halted only by mercy and forgiveness.

After the story, Cannon includes scientific notes about Cockroaches and Ants.

Copyright: Harcourt, 2000
Age level: 6-9
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Fantasy
Multicultural/International: No
Award: Janell Cannon is the award-winning author of Stellaluna.
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * * *

A Fine, Fine School

Author: Sharon Creech
Illustrator: Harry Bliss

Comments:
What if your principal loved school so much that he canceled weekends, holidays, and summer break? That's what this picture book by Sharon Creech explores. Teachers can relate to wanting more time to learn more, but this books reminds kids, adults, and college students alike that a lot of learning happens outside the classroom, too!

Copyright: HarperTrophy, 2003
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Multicultural/International: No
Award: Sharon Creech is an award-winning author of children's novels.
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * *

Ouch! A Tale from Grimm

Author: Natalie Babbit
Illustrator: Fred Marcellino


Comments:
Natalie Babbitt retells Grimm's fairytale, "The Devil with Three Golden Hairs." A king does everything he can to get rid of a boy destined to marry his daughter, but each of his plans backfire. In addition to her award-winning novel, Tuck Everlasting, Babbitt has also penned more tales about the Devil in her books, The Devil's Storybook and The Devils Other Storybook.

Copyright: Harper Collins Publishers, 1998
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Folklore/Fairytales
Multicultural/International: No
Awards: Natalie Babbitt is an award-winning children's book author.
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * *

Anne Frank

Author: Josephine Poole
Illustrator: Angela Barrett
Comments:
The Diary of Anne Frank was one of my favorite books as a girl. This picturebook puts Anne's diary in context, and would be a good read aloud for even a middle school classroom preparing to read her diary. This book can help readers understand some of the causes of WWII and series of actions that lead to the holocaust. Ultimately, it makes historical events accessible to children because the book is based on Anne's perspectice.

Copyright: Red Fox, 2007
Format: Picture Book
Age Level: 10 and up
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
Multicultural/International: Jewish
Awards: Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2005
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * * *

Albert

Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Illustrator: Jim LaMarche


Comments:
Albert learns to take in the good and the bad sounds in life as well as nature itself when a family of birds choose his arm as their perch. This books shows what you can learn from nature and how it can enhance your life if embraced. I'm also interested in reading some of her young adult novel like Smile and Beast.

Copyright: Voyager Books, 2005
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Multicultural/International: No
Awards: Napoli is an award-winning children's book author. Albert specifically has won the Kentucky Bluegrass Award winner, New York Public Library Children’s Books 2001, New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books 2001.
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * *

Hoops

Author: Robert Burleigh
Illustrator: Stephen T. Johnson

Comments:
In this free verse jam about basketball, the illustrations express just as much of the action as the stanzas. The pick-up game is transformed into a body of water, a fox, a hawk, and a thicket through Burleigh's figurative language. Even middle-schoolers studying poetry would enjoy this picture book.

Copyright: Laurel Leaf, 1983
Age level: Young Adult
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Poetry and Verse
Multicultural/International: Urban, African American
Awards: An ALA Notable Children's Book, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, A New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * *

The Watertower

Author: Gary Crew
Illustrator: Steven Woolman
Comments:
Watertower experiments with formatting and illustrating multiple perspectives. The book shifts from landscape to portrait orientation and you end up rotating the book as you read. This spiral motif is incorporated into the illustrations. However, the story itself seems to lack that appeal. Two boys go swimming in a water tower, and one loses his pants, so the other runs home to get them. The theme that emerges is more illustrated than verbal: fear of the unknown and the anxiety of waiting.

Copyright: Crocodile Books (September 1999)
Age level: 9-12
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Multicultural/International: Australian
Awards: The Children's Book Council of Australia: Picture Book of the Year
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * *

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

Author: Laura Amy Schultz
Illustrator: Robert Byrd


Comments:
This book of miniature plays include 19 monologues and 2 dialogues for students to perform in a reader's theatre. The dramas are of different lengths and formats so that they can be matched to the reading ability. Schlitz wrote these plays for her students which working as a librarian. The drama is set in an English manor in the year 1255. The characters range from about 10-15 years of age and include nobility and paupers who has similar adolescent experiences but in different contexts. For example, Hugo, the Lord's nephew, must overcome his fear of his harsh uncle during a coming of age challenge. Taggot, the blacksmith's daughter, deals with body image issue and young love.

Copyright: Candlewick, 2008
Age level: 9-12
Format: Picture Book, Drama
Genre: Historical Fiction, Poetry and Verse, Drama
Multicultural/International: No
Awards: The Newbery Award
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * *

One Leaf Rides the Wind

Author: Celeste Davidson Mannis
Illustrator: Susan Kathleen Hartung


Comments:

"The Japanese garden is a restful place removed from the cares and worries of everyday life."

This is a counting book that takes the form of haikus. A note of Japanese gardens and Haiku poetry is included at the end, and Hartung says that in English the Japanese form was not strictly followed, which seems to be the current trend in American's Haiku. Hartung also notes that Haiku should be recited in a single breath, which add to the restful vibe of the Japanese garden.

Aside from teaching counting and Haiku, the poems also include footnotes about cultural aspects such as the Shinto and Buddhist religions, shih tzu guard dogs, padoga and teahouses. The illustrations, oil paint glases on sealed paper, enhance this sense of culture. Each Haiku and accompanying illustration guides your through the garden, and the collection ends with a bird's eye view of where you have been.

Copyright: Puffin, 2005
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Poetry and Verse (Haiku, Counting)
Multicultural/International: Japanese
Awards: IRA Children's Book Awards
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * * *

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson


Comments:
Weatherford weaves three voices throughout Moses: the narrator, Harriet Tubman, and God. Weatherford used Harriet's own narrative to learn about the kinds of prayers that sustained her throughout her journey along the underground railroad. The change in typeface denotes these changes in voice, and the book can turn into a reader's theatre or choral reading.

Definitely worthy of the Caldecott award, Nelson's illustrations capture the darkness and anguish of the journey north. The sculpted facial expressions of Harriet Tubman speak volumes and conveys the yearning of her spirit.

Copyright: Hyperion Book, 2006
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Poetry and Verse, Historical Fiction, Biography
Multicultural/International: African American
Awards: Caldecott Honor & 2007 Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration; A New York Times Bestseller; NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * * *

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: Carole Boston Weatherford

Comments:
What began a Weatherford's graduate photo essay has now become a poetic textbook in African American history for children. The more Weatherford researched and discovered photographs and artwork, the more inspired she was to commit that history into poems. The sense of history and culture to be gleans from this collection is so rich! Weatherford's message for her young readers is "Remember!"

"The bridge is men and women,
famous and unknown,
leaving paths of memories,
timeless stephhing stones."

Copyright: Philomel, 2002
Age level: 9-12
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Poetry and Verse, Historical
Multicultural/International: African American
Awards: North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award; Teachers' Choices, International Reading Association; Notable Book, National Council for the Social Studies; Notable Book of the English Language Arts; Bank Street College Best Children's Books of 2003
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * * *

Dear Mr. Rosenwald

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie


Comments:
Weatherford learned about Rosenwald schools from her parents who experienced them first hand. Julius Rosenwald, second-generation American and president of Sears, donated millions so African American communities could build their own schools. In a series of poems, from the perspective of the student Ovella, Weatherford shows how the project of building these schools strengthened the community and gave generations young and old a hope for a better tomorrow. Historically, Weatherford communicates well the African American experience during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War and Emancipation. R. Gregory Christie's folk art emphasizes the sense of culture that the poems seek to instill.

Copyright: Scholastic, 2006
Age level: 7-10
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Historical Fiction, Poetry and Verse
Multicultural/International: African American
Awards: SCBWI Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Text, NAACP Image Award Finalist, IRA Notable Books for a Global Society, Notable Book: National Council for the Social Studies
Location: Personal Collection
Rating: * * * *

The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard

Author: Gregory Rogers
Illustrator: Gregory Rogers
Comments:
When a boy visits the Globe theatre in London and puts on a special cape, he's transported back in time. Unfortunately, he interrupts one of Shakespeare's performances and the chase ensues and embroils a bear and a baron. This is a wordless book with a graphic novel form. The sequence of events can be scanned quickly or closely analyzed.

Copyright: Roaring Brook Press, 2004
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Historical Fiction / Science Fiction
Multicultural/International: Set in London, England
Awards: Longlisted 2005: Quill Awards (US) in the best Children's Book of the Year Category;
Shortlisted 2005 : Children's Book Council Awards, Younger Readers;
Shortlisted 2005: 53rd APA Book Design Award Best Designed Children's Picture Book A
Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * * * *