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1996 Holiday Book List

This list of books for holiday giving was compiled by Leda Schubert of the Vermont Department of Education and published as a community service by the Vermont-National Education Association. These books are some of the most outstanding published in 1996. Books with an * are by Vermont authors!

Picture Books

• Buehner, Caralyn. FANNY'S DREAM. Dial. Fanny Agnes is a sturdy farm girl who dreams of marrying a prince, but when her fairy godmother doesn't show up, she decides on a local farmer instead.
• Henkes, Kevin. LILLY'S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE. Greenwillow. Lilly loves everything about school, especially her teacher, but when he asks her to wait a little while before showing her new purse, she does something for which she is very sorry later.
• Hest, Amy. BABY DUCK AND THE BAD EYEGLASSES. Candlewick. Baby Duck is unhappy about the new eyeglasses she has to wear, until Grandpa Duck helps her realize that they are not so bad after all. A sequel to IN THE RAIN WITH BABY DUCK.
• Ray, Jane, reteller. THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES. Dutton. This retelling of a classic Grimm tale has sumptuous, intricate illustrations.

Primary Grades

• * Amosky, Jim. ALL ABOUT DEER. Scholastic. An inviting nature book with lots of information about one of Vermont's more common species.
• Cooney, Barbara. ELEANOR. Viking. Cooney presents the often poignant childhood of Eleanor Roosevelt, who married a president of the United States and became known as a great humanitarian.
• * Haas, Jesse. BE WELL, BEWARE. Greenwillow. Lily is frightened when her beloved horse Beware gets sick and exhibits peculiar behavior. The third book about Lily and Beware.
• Hamilton, Virginia. WHEN BIRDS COULD TALK AND BATS COULD SING. Scholastic. A collection of stories featuring sparrows, jays, buzzards, and bats, based on African-American tales originally written down by Martha Young on her father's plantation after the Civil War.

Middle Grades

• Gauthier, Gail. MY LIFE AMONG THE ALIENS. Putnam. Will and Robby, who are two ordinary kids, keep having mysterious encounters with aliens in this funny chapter book. The aliens just might be after their mother's health-food baking. A great read-aloud.
• * Hesse, Karen. THE MUSIC OF DOLPHINS. Scholastic. In this wrenching novel, an adolescent girl has been raised by dolphins until she is "rescued." She becomes a subject of scientific study, and Hesse thoughtfully explores what matters and what it means to be human.
• * Paterson, Katherine. JIP: HIS STORY. Dutton. Jip, an abandoned child, learns the secret of his parentage in this gripping, moving story set in Vermont in the 1850s. Once you know Jip, you won't forget him.
• Prelutsky, Jack. A PIZZA THE SIZE OF THE SUN. Greenwillow. A delightful anthology of light verse with poems for all tastes, from gross to witty.

Fiction for Older Readers

• Freeman, Suzanne. THE CUCKOO'S CHILD. Greenwillow. Mia's parents have been lost at sea, so she has come from Lebanon to live with her sisters and aunt in Tennessee. Though Mia has longed for a typical American childhood, she gets something quite different.
• Konigsburg, E.L. THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY. Atheneum. Four sixth graders form a special bond with each other and with their paraplegic teacher, who chooses them to represent their class in an Academic Bowl competition. Like an interlocking puzzle, this novel reveals itself as much more than the sum of its pieces.
• Pullman, Philip. THE GOLDEN COMPASS. Knopf. Book one of a grand new fantasy trilogy. This is set in a parallel world very much like Victorian England, and involves a child of powerful parentage raised as an orphan, as well as cosmic battles, companions called daemons, armoured bears, treachery, adventure, and heroism.

All Ages

• Opie, Iona. MY VERY FIRST MOTHER GOOSE. Candlewick. Every child should own this wonderful new edition of Mother Goose rhymes, with its imaginative, witty, and cozy illustrations.
• Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. GRANDMOTHER BRYANT'S POCKET. Suffering from nightmares after her dog is killed in a fire, a young girl in 18th century Maine goes to live with her grandparents.
• Philip, Neil, compiler. AMERICAN FAIRY TALES: FROM RIP VAN WINKLE TO THE ROOTABAGA STORIES. Hyperion. Though often influenced by European tales, American writers developed their own unique stories, reflecting a progressive and independent spirit. Selections from Carl Sandburg, Louisia May Alcott, L. Frank Baum and others are dramatically illustrated by Michael McCurdy's woodcuts.
• Fleischman, Sid. THE ABRACADABRA KID: A WRITER'S LIFE. Greenwillow. The autobiography of the Newbery award-winning children's author who set out from childhood to be a magician.

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