CCBC Choices 2008

CCBC Choices 2008 Kathleen T. Horning Merri V. Lindgren Megan Schliesman with Tessa Michaelson Denise Aulik Hollis Rudiger Tana Elias Cooperative Children’s Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin–Madison Copyright ©2008, Friends of the CCBC, Inc. ISBN–10: 0–931641–18–7 ISBN–13: 978–0–931641–18–3 CCBC Choices 2008 was produced by University Communications, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Cover design: Lois Ehlert This publication was created by librarians at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Funding for the production and printing was provided by the Friends of the CCBC, Inc. For more information, see the Appendices, or go to www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ Contents Acknowledgments . 4 Introduction ��5 Organization of CCBC Choices 2008 . 6 The Charlotte Zolotow Award ��8 Publishing in 2007 ��10 The Choices The Natural World . 18 Seasons and Celebrations ��22 Folklore, Mythology, and Traditional Literature. 26 Historical People, Places, and Events ��28 Biography and Autobiography ��32 Contemporary People, Places, and Events ��37 Issues in Today’s World . 38 Understanding Oneself and Others ��39 The Arts . 42 Poetry . 44 Concept Books . 48 Picture Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers ��49 Picture Books for School-Aged Children ��61 Books for Beginning Readers ��75 Books for Newly Independent Readers . 77 Fiction for Children ��80 Fiction for Young Adults . 97 Appendices Appendix I: The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) . 124 Appendix II: Obtaining CCBC Publications ��130 Appendix III: The Compilers of CCBC Choices 2008 . 131 Appendix IV: The Friends of the CCBC, Inc. ��134 Author/Title Index ��137 Subject Index . 146 4 CCBC Choices 2008 Acknowledgments The Friends of the CCBC underwrites the publication of CCBC Choices each year, making Choices available free of charge to Wisconsin librarians, teachers, and others in the state. (For more information about the Friends of the CCBC, see Appendix IV.) Thank you to the current Friends board of directors for their support of this year’s edition of CCBC Choices. Membership in the Friends of the CCBC makes Choices possible, and for that we thank Friends members near and far. Friends member Tana Elias has created the index for CCBC Choices as a volunteer for thirteen years. She continues to make Choices a more professional and more user–friendly publication each year and we thank her for her skillful work. Librarian Hollis Rudiger, who left the CCBC at the end of June, shared opinions and reading suggestions throughout the first half of the year. Librarian Denise Aulik worked at the CCBC throughout the fall, contributing ideas and insights on many books, and writing annotations. We appreciate the perspectives each of them brought to our work. A number of individuals with specialized interests and expertise evaluated one or more books at our request, or volunteered their comments for this edition of Choices. Thank you to Anne Altshuler, Joan Houston Hall, Margaret Jensen, Ginny Moore Kruse, Augustino Ting M. Mayai, Fumiko Osada, Sharon Potrykus, and Toni Pressley-Sanon for contributing to our work in this way. We greatly value the insights and perspectives shared during CCBC book discussions in 2007. Participants in CCBC monthly book discussions gave valuable feedback on a number of the books published throughout the year. Conversations on CCBC-Net, our online book discussion community, were also beneficial. Thank you for thoughts shared both in-person and online. Thanks to the staff in the Creative Services Office of University Communications, whose work transforms Choices from word-processed document into eye-catching publication. The CCBC’s friendly and accomplished student staff not only helps the library function all year long but also makes it possible for us to focus almost exclusively on writing Choices in the frenzied days before deadline. We thank them along with our families—partners and assorted children—who support our work throughout the year. Kathleen T. Horning, Merri V. Lindgren, Tessa Michaelson, and Megan Schliesman CCBC Choices 2008 5 Introduction CCBC Choices is created by librarians at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC), a library of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin– Madison (see Appendix I for more about the CCBC). The CCBC receives review copies of about 3,000 new books for children and young adults annually, including most of the trade books published in English by corporate publishers in the United States. Our goal in creating CCBC Choices is to highlight some of the outstanding titles published for children and young adults among the 3,000 or more we receive. In choosing titles, we look for books that are well-written and that will appeal to the needs and reading interests of children and teenagers. We also seek to identify titles that hold the same appeal for teachers, librarians, and others who use books with children and teens. It is a highly subjective process in many respects. As we look for books that are accurate, interesting, and engaging, we often agree on titles to include. But sometimes we disagree. We talk about our differences and determine where consensus lies. Choices is a reflection of that consensus. After Choices goes to press, we’re likely to find a handful of titles we overlooked—books we would have included in Choices had we known about them in time. This may happen because we just didn’t have the book in hand. There are always some gaps in what we receive from publishers, no matter how hard we— and they—try to avoid them. Other times, we simply miss some terrific reads. We make an effort to draw attention to these books as we find them in other ways. And we are comforted when we see one or more of these titles on one of the other annual best-of-the-year lists that offer perspectives on excellence in publishing. We are confident that the 279 titles we have singled out for inclusion in CCBC Choices 2008 will offer contemporary readers entertaining, enlightening, challenging, and stimulating choices. We know that not every book in Choices will be suitable for every child or teen. But we also know that librarians, teachers, parents, caregivers, and others face an enormous challenge in navigating the thousands of new books available for purchase each year, and an enormous challenge in meeting the diverse reading needs and interests of children and teens today. We have created CCBC Choices keeping that challenge in mind, and are confident that it offers something for everyone. 6 CCBC Choices 2008 Organization of CCBC Choices 2008 The organization of the books in CCBC Choices into thematic and format categories has been developed over the years to help teachers, school and public librarians, and others who work with children quickly find books that meet their needs. We often make refinements from year to year in the organization, in part due to our ever-growing understanding of what our colleagues who work directly with children want and need, and in part to reflect the books we have chosen in a particular year. Books have been placed into one of the following thematic categories when appropriate: • The Natural World • Seasons and Celebrations • Historical People, Places, and Events • Contemporary People, Places, and Events • Issues in Today’s World • Understanding Oneself and Others The remaining books have been placed into one of the following genre or format categories: • Folklore, Mythology, and Traditional Literature • Biography and Autobiography • Poetry • Concept Books • Picture Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers • Picture Books for School-Aged Children • Books for Beginning Readers • Books for Newly Independent Readers • Fiction for Children • Fiction for Young Adults Picture books about people who actually lived have been placed in the Historical People, Places, and Events section or the Biography and Autobiography section. Novels set in the past have been placed in one of the Fiction categories. Graphic novels are assessed individually based on content and placed in the category that best suits each individual title. The subject index can be used to find books across all of the categories about specific topics and in specific genres and formats (“Graphic Novels,” “Historical Fiction,” “Fantasy,” etc.). CCBC Choices 2008 Organization of CCBC Choices 2008 7 Age Recommendations We provide suggested age ranges for each title. These are meant to be general guidelines based on appeal and age-appropriateness of the content. We know that some children and teens are ready for and will

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