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Children’s books for holiday gifts 2002

This list of children’s books was compiled by Leda Schubert, library-media consultant for the Vermont Department of Education. These books are some of the best published in 2002. Bookstores are usually happy to order titles not in stock. Names followed by * are Vermonters!

Preschool to Kindergarten
Doyle, Malachy. SLEEPY PENDOODLE. Candlewick, $12.99. A little girl tries to follow her uncle’s instructions for getting her puppy, Pendoodle, to open his eyes. Fun to read aloud.
Henkes, Kevin. OWEN’S MARSHMALLOW CHICK. Greenwillow, $6.95. A great board book for the youngest.
Lawrence, John. THIS LITTLE CHICK. Candlewick, $15.99. A little chick shows that he can make the sounds of the animals in his neighborhood.
Lindgren, Barbro. BENNY AND THE BINKY. FSG, $15.00. Benny, a preschool pig, gets the baby brother he’s always wanted, but the charm soon wears thin.
McMullan, Kate. I STINK. HarperCollins, $15.89. A big city garbage truck makes its rounds, consuming everything from apple cores and banana peels to leftover ziti with zucchini.
Pearson, Tracey Campbell.* BOB. FSG, $16.00. While looking for someone to teach him how to crow, a rooster learns to sound like many different animals and finds that his new skills come in handy.

Picture Books and Easy Readers for Grades K-4
Bang-Campbell, Monika. LITTLE RAT SETS SAIL. Harcourt, $14.00. With a little courage and a lot of practice, Little Rat overcomes her fear of sailing.
George, Kristine O’Connell. LITTLE DOG AND DUNCAN. Clarion, $12.00. A collection of poems about little dog and his big visitor, an Irish Wolfhound who comes to spend the night.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie.* FROM DAWN TO DUSK. HMCo, $16.00. This look at life on a family farm is based on the author’s own memories and is splendidly illustrated by Mary Azarian.
* Kitamura, Satoshi. COMIC ADVENTURES OF BOOTS. FSG, $16.00. Boots the cat stars in three hilarious adventures in this comic-strip picture book. Adults will enjoy it as much as young readers.
Osborne, Mary Pope. THE BRAVE LITTLE SEAMSTRESS. Atheneum, $16.00. This clever retelling of “Seven In One Blow” features a courageous seamstress who battles flies and giants.
Thomas, Shelly Moore. GET WELL, GOOD KNIGHT. Dutton, $13.99. The characters from Good Night, Good Knight return in another easy reader. The baby dragons are sick in bed and need the good knight’s help once again.
Salley, Coleen. EPOSSUMONDAS. Harcourt, $16.00. A lively retelling of a classic tale in which a well-intentioned young possum continually takes his mother’s instructions much too literally.
Young, Ed. WHAT ABOUT ME? Philomel, $16.99. A boy follows the instructions of a Grand Master in the hope of gaining knowledge, only to be surprised how he acquires it.

For Readers in Grades 3-6
Agee, Jon. PALINDROMANIA. FSG, $15.51. More funny word play in this collection of illustrated palindromes by a master.
Clinton, Cathryn. A STONE IN MY HAND. Candlewick, $15.99. Eleven-year-old Malaak and her family are touched by the violence in Gaza between Jews and Palestinians when first her father disappears and then her older brother is drawn to a radical group.
Fleischman, John. PHINEAS GAGE: A GRUESOME BUT TRUE STORY ABOUT BRAIN SCIENCE. HMCo, $16.00. In 1848 Phineas Gage, a construction foreman near Cavendish, VT, was struck by a thirteen pound iron rod that shot through his brain. He became a textbook case which still astonishes doctors today.
Kalman, Maira. FIREBOAT: THE HEROIC ADVENTURES OF THE JOHN J. HARVEY. Putnam, $16.99. A fireboat, first launched in 1931 and retired after many years of fighting fires along the Hudson River, is called into service again on September 11, 2001. A true story about heroism.
Marsden, Carolyn. THE GOLD-THREADED DRESS. Candlewick, $13.99. When Oy and her Thai-American family move to a new neighborhood, her fourth-grade classmates tease and exclude her because she is different.
McKay, Hilary. SAFFY’S ANGEL. McElderry, $16.00. After learning that she was adopted, thirteen-year-old Saffron’s relationship with her eccentric artistic family changes, until they help her go back to Italy to find a special memento of her past.
Prelutsky, Jack. SCRANIMALS. Greenwillow. A collection of poems about mysteriously scrambled creatures.

For Grades 7 up
Martin, Ann M. A CORNER OF THE UNIVERSE. Scholastic, $15.95. The summer she turns twelve, Hattie’s life is turned upside down in unpredictable ways.
Spinelli, Jerry. LOSER. HarperCollins, $15.89. Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him a loser, Donald Zinkoff’s optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.
Oates, Joyce Carol. BIG MOUTH AND UGLY GIRL. HarperCollins, $16.95. When sixteen-year-old Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid.
Partridge, Elizabeth. THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME. Viking, 2002. A superb biography of Woody Guthrie, perhaps the greatest folk poet of the 20th century.
Hartnett, Sonya. THURSDAY’S CHILD. Candlewick, $15.99. A young woman looking back on her childhood recounts her family’s poverty, her father’s cowardice, and her younger brother’s obsession for digging tunnels and living underground. Set in Australia during the Great Depression.
Janeczko, Paul. SEEING THE BLUE BETWEEN: ADVICE AND INSPIRATION FOR YOUNG POETS. HarperCollins, $15.89.Letters of advice and support written by thirty-two renowned poets.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. THE KITE RIDER. HarperCollins, $15.95. Set in thirteenth century China After trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.
Paterson, Katherine.* THE SAME STUFF AS STARS. Clarion, $15.00. When Angel’s self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their great-grandmother, Angel worries not only about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, and the frail old woman, but also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.

For Family Sharing
Brooks, Walter R. FREDDY THE DETECTIVE. Puffin, $6.99. Freddy the pig does some detective work in order to solve the mystery of a missing toy train. A reissue of one of the classic Freddy books from the 1930s. Other Freddy books are also now available.
Freymann, Saxton and Joost Elffers. DOG FOOD. Levine/Scholastic, $12.95. Playing with food has never been so much fun. In their latest, the authors play with words as well, using fruits and vegetables to create all kinds of dogs. Make up your own!
HARPERCOLLINS TREASURY OF PICTURE BOOK CLASSICS. HarperCollins, $24.99. Twelve full-sized reproductions of classic picture books accompanied by background information.
Keats, Ezra Jack. KEATS’S NEIGHBORHOOD: AN EZRA JACK KEATS TREASURY. Viking, $25.00. Ten of Keats’ best-loved stories reissued, with commentary from artists and writers.
Wells, Rosemary. GETTING TO KNOW YOU. HarperCollins, $19.99. Verses from sixteen of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical treasures are illustrated by Wells; a songbook is included to inspire a family sing-along.
Zelinsky, Paul. KNICK-KNACK PADDYWHACK! Putnam, $18.99. The familiar song receives royal treatment in this true marvel of paper-engineering.

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