The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, first
given in 1957, is co-sponsored by the Vermont State PTA and the Vermont
Department of Libraries.
Dorothy
Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award
Master
List 2009 – 2010
AUTHOR
TITLE PUBLISHER GRADE
Abrahams, Peter Into the Dark
HarperCollins 5 up
Aguilar, David 11 Planets National
Geographic 4 up
Balliett, Blue The Calder Game Scholastic
5 up
Bradbury, Jennifer Shift Atheneum 7 up
Broach, Elise Masterpiece Holt 4 up
Collins, Suzanne The Hunger Games
Scholastic 7 up
Daley, Michael Rat Trap Holiday House 4 up
Dowell, Frances O’Roark Shooting the Moon
Atheneum 5 up
Farr, Richard Emperors of the Ice FSG 6 up
Feldman, Jody The Gollywhopper Games
Greenwillow 4 up
Frost, Helen Diamond Willow FSG 5 up
Gaiman, Neil The Graveyard Book
HarperCollins 6 up
George, Jessica Day Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow
Bloomsbury 6 up
Goodman, Allegra The Other Side of the Island
Razorbill 6 up
Greenberg, Jan & Sandra Jordan Christo and
Jeanne-Claude Roaring Brook 4 up
Haddix, Margaret Peterson Found S & S 5 up
Hale, Shannon & Dean Hale Rapunzel’s Revenge
Bloomsbury 4 up
Herlong, M.H. The Great Wide Sea Viking 6
up
Law, Ingrid Savvy Dial 5 up
Napoli, Donna Jo Mogo, the Third Warthog
Hyperion 4 up
Nuzum, K.A. The Leanin’ Dog HarperCollins
5 up
O’Connor, Barbara Greetings from Nowhere
FSG 5 up
Pearson, Ridley Steel Trapp: The Challenge
Disney 5 up
Qamar, Amjed Beneath My Mother’s Feet
Atheneum 6 up
Rutkoski, Marie The Cabinet of Wonders FSG
5 up
Scieszka, Jon Knucklehead Viking 4 up
Shusterman, Neal Antsy Does Time Dutton 6
up
Soo, Kean Jellaby Hyperion 5 up
Spradlin, Michael P. Keeper of the Grail
Putnam 6 up
Vande Velde, Vivian Stolen Marshall
Cavendish 5 up
These books, to be read during the 2009-2010
school year, comprise the master list for the award to be
made in 2010. Voting forms will be made available
to all Vermont schools and public libraries in spring,
2010, so children can vote for their favorite
book. The master list titles have been selected to satisfy the
reading interests of children in grades 4-8. Please note grade level before ordering the books.
The
grades listed should be regarded more as maturity
levels than reading levels.
MASTERLIST OF ANNOTATIONS
Abrahams, Peter. Into the Dark. $16.99.
978-0-0607-3708-5. Thirteen-year-old Sherlock
Holmes aficionado Ingrid Levin-Hill tries to
clear her grandfather’s name when he is
accused of murdering an environmental activist
found dead on his farm.
Aguilar, David.
11 Planets. National
Geographic. $16.95. 978-1-4263-0236-7. Brilliant photorealistic
illustrations and fascinating facts straight from
the latest astronomy news bring a
comprehensive look at our solar system as we’ve
never seen it before.
Balliett, Blue.
The Calder Game.
Scholastic. $17.99. 978-0-4398-5207-4. When seventhgrader
Calder Pillay disappears from a remote English
village--along with an Alexander
Calder sculpture to which he has felt strangely
drawn--his friends Petra and Tommy fly
from Chicago to help his father find him.
Bradbury, Jennifer.
Shift. Atheneum.
$16.99. 978-1-4169-4732-5. When best friends Chris and
Win go on a cross country bicycle trek the summer
after graduating from high school and
only one returns, the FBI wants to know what
happened.
Broach, Elise.
Masterpiece. Holt.
$16.95. ISBN 978-0-8050-8270-8. After Marvin, a beetle,
makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday
gift for James, a human with whom he
shares a house, the two new friends work together
to help recover an Albrecht Dürer
drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art.
Collins, Suzanne.
The Hunger Games.
Scholastic. $17.99. 978-0-4390-2348-1. In a future
North America, where the rulers of Panem conduct
an annual televised survival
competition pitting young people from each of the
twelve districts against one another,
sixteen-year-old Katniss’s skills are put to the
test when she volunteers to take her
younger sister’s place.
Daley, Michael.
Rat Trap. Holiday
House. $6.95. 978-0-8234-2093-3. Bioengineered Rat and
her twelve-year-old human companion, Jeff, stand
together when Dr. Vivexian, who
considers Rat his masterpiece, arrives at the
space station to capture her.
Dowell, Frances O’Roark.
Shooting the Moon.
Atheneum. $16.99. 978-1-4169-2690-0. When
her brother is sent to fight in Vietnam,
twelve-year-old Jamie begins to reconsider the
army world in which she has grown up.
Farr, Richard.
Emperors of the Ice.
FSG. $19.95. 978-0-3743-1975-5. Apsley "Cherry"
Cherry-Garrard shares his adventures as the
youngest member of Robert Scott’s
expedition to Antarctica in 1910, during which he
and Edward Wilson try to learn the
evolutionary history of emperor penguins, nearly
dying in the attempt.
Feldman, Jody.
The Gollywhopper Games.
Greenwillow. $16.99. 978-0-0612-1450-9.
Twelve-year-old Gil Goodson competes against
thousands of other children at
extraordinary puzzles, stunts, and more in hopes
of a fresh start for his family, which has
been ostracized since his father was falsely
accused of embezzling from Golly Toy and
Game Company.
Frost, Helen.
Diamond Willow. FSG.
$16.00. 978-0-3743-1776-8. In a remote area of Alaska,
twelve-year-old Willow helps her father with
their sled dogs when she is not at school, all
the while unaware that the animals surrounding
her carry the spirits of ancestors and
friends who care for her.
Gaiman, Neil.
The Graveyard Book.
HarperCollins. $17.99. 978-0-0605-3092-1. Nobody
Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been
raised by ghosts and other denizens of the
graveyard.
George, Jessica Day.
Sun and Moon, Ice and
Snow. Bloomsbury. $16.95. 978-1-5999-0109-1.
A girl travels east of the sun and west of the
moon to free her beloved prince from a
magic spell.
Goodman, Allegra.
The Other Side of the
Island. Razorbill. $16.99. 978-1-5951-4195-8. Born
in the eighteenth year of Enclosure, ten-year-old
Honor lives in a highly regulated colony
with her defiant parents, but when they have an
illegal second child and are taken away, it
is up to Honor and her friend Helix, another
"unpredictable," to uncover a terrible secret
about their island and the corporation that runs
everything.
Greenberg, Jan & Sandra Jordan.
Christo and
Jeanne-Claude. Roaring Brook. $19.95. 978-1-
5964-3071-6. This biography of contemporary
artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude is a
story of the power of collaboration and vision,
and of the creation of the spectacular
Gates in New York’s
Central Park and other incredible installation artworks.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Found. S & S.
$15.99. 978-1-4169-5417-0. When thirteen-yearolds
Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they
were discovered on a plane that
appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no
adults on board, they realize that they
have uncovered a mystery involving time travel
and two opposing forces, each trying to
Applegate, Katherine.
Home of the Brave. $16.95.
978-0-3123-6765-7.
Kek, an African
refugee, is confronted by many strange
things at the Minneapolis
home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in
his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his
missing mother, but finds comfort in the
company of a cow and her owner.
Avi.
The Traitors’
Gate. $17.99. 978-0-689-85335-7. When
his father is arrested as a debtor in 1849
London,
fourteen-year-old John Huffman must take on
unexpected responsibilities, from asking a
distant relative for help to determining why
people are spying on him and his family.
Babbitt, Natalie.
Jack Plank Tells Tales. $15.95.
978-0-545-00496-1.
Pirate Jack Plank
is unable to get a job and he spends his
evenings telling stories to the other
boarders at Mrs. DeFresno boarding house.
Barakat, Ibtisam.
Tasting the Sky. $16.00.
978-0-3743-5733-7.
A memoir of a
Palestinian woman's childhood experiences
during the Six-Day War and its aftermath.
Burns, Loree Griffin.
Tracking Trash. $18.00.
978-0-618-58131-3. Describes the work of a
man who tracks trash as it travels great
distances by way of ocean currents.
Clements, Andrew.
No
Talking. $15.99. 978-1-4169-0983-5. The
noisy fifth-grade boys of
LaketonElementary
School challenge
the equally loud fifth-grade girls to a “no
talking” contest.
Curtis, Christopher
Paul. Elijah of Buxton. $16.99.
978-0-439-02344-3. In 1860, eleven-year-old
Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in
Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves
fleeing the American south, uses his wits
and skills to try to bring to justice the
lying preacher who has stolen money that was
to be used to buy a family’s freedom.
Freedman, Russell.
Who Was First?. $19.00.
978-0-6186-6391-0. Examines the debate over
who really discovered
America, looking
at Columbus, the Vikings, the Chinese and
the native peoples who came many thousands
of years earlier.
Grandits, John.
Blue
Lipstick. $5.95. 978-0-6188-5132-4
(pap.); $15.00. 978-0-618-56860-4. A teenaged girl
named Jessie voices typical and not so
typical teenage concerns in this unique,
hilarious collection of concrete poems.
Haas, Jessie.
Chase.
$17.89. 978-0-06-112851-6 (PLB). In the
coal mining region of mid-nineteenth-century
eastern
Pennsylvania, Phin witnesses a
murder and runs for his life, pursued by a
mysterious man and a horse with the
instincts of a bloodhound.
Hale, Shannon.
Book
of a Thousand Days. $17.95.
978-1-59990-051-3. Fifteen-year-old Dashti,
sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress,
the Lady Saren, shares Saren’s years of
punishment locked in a tower, then brings
her safely to the lands of her true love,
where both Dashti and Saren must hide their
identities as they work as kitchen maids.
Hill, Kirkpatrick.
Do NotPass
Go. $15.99. 978-1-4169-1400-6. When
Deet’s father is jailed for using drugs,
Deet learns that prison is not what he
expected, nor are other people necessarily
the way he thought they were.
Holm, Jennifer.
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf. $12.99. 978-0-689-85281-7.
Ginny’s first year of middle school is told
through “stuff”: IMs, notes, appointment
cards, cartoons and report cards.
Hulme, John & Michael
Wexler. TheSeems: the Glitch in
Sleep. $16.95. 978-1-59990-129-9. When
twelve-year-old Becker Drane is recruited by
The Seems, a parallel universe that runs
everything in The World, he must fix a
disastrous glitch in the Department of Sleep
that threatens the ability of everyone to
ever fall asleep again.
Jonell, Lynne.
Emmy
and the Incredible Shrinking Rat. $17.95. 978-0-8050-8150-3.
When Emmy discovers that she and her
formerly loving parents are being drugged by
their evil nanny, who has access to rodent
potions that can change people in
frightening ways, she and some new friends
must try everything possible to return
things to normal.
Kadohata, Cynthia.
Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam.
$16.99. 978-1-4169-0637-7. A young soldier in
Vietnam bonds
with his German Shepherd whom he trains to
sniff out booby traps.
Kinney, Jeff.
Diary
of a Wimpy Kid. $12.95.
978-0-8109-9313-6. Greg records his
experiences in a middle school where he and
his best friend, Rowley, undersized
weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice
daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley
grows more popular Greg must take drastic
measures to save their friendship.
Korman, Gordon.
Schooled. $15.99. 978-0-7868-5692-3.
Home schooled by his hippie grandmother,
Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never watched
television, tasted a pizza, or even heard of
a wedgie. But when his grandmother lands in
the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with
a social worker and attend the local middle
school. While Cap knows a lot about
tie-dyeing and Zen Buddhism, no education
could prepare him for the politics of public
school.
Rex, Adam.
TheTrue Meaning of Smekday. $16.99.
978-0-7868-4900-0. When her mother is
abducted by aliens on Christmas Eve (or "Smekday"
Eve since the Boov invasion), 11 year-old
Tip hops in the family car and heads south
to find her and meets an alien Boov mechanic
who agrees to help her and save the planet
from disaster.
Rumford, James.
Beowulf. $17.00. 978-0-618-75637-7. An
illustrated retelling of the exploits of the
Anglo-Saxon warrior, Beowulf, and how he
came to defeat the monster Grendel,
Grendel’s mother, and a dragon that
threatened the kingdom.
Schlitz, Laura Amy.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!. $19.99.
978-0-7636-1578-9. A collection of short
one-person plays featuring characters
between ten and fifteen years old who live
in or near a thirteenth-century English
manor.
Schmidt,
Gary. TheWednesday Wars. $16.00.
978-0-6187-2783-3. During the 1967 school
year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his
classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew
school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood
stays in Mrs. Baker’s classroom where they
read the plays of William Shakespeare and
Holling learns much of value about the world
he lives in.
Selznick, Brian.
The
Invention of Hugo Cabret. $22.99.
978-0-439-81378-5. When twelve-year-old
Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks
within the walls of a Paris train station in
1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his
goddaughter, his undercover life and his
biggest secret are jeopardized.
Smith, Roland.
Elephant Run. $15.99. 978-1-4231-0402-5.
Nick endures servitude, beatings, and more
after his British father’s plantation in
Burma is invaded by the Japanese in 1941,
and when his father and others are taken
prisoner and Nick is stranded with his
friend Mya, they plan a daring escape on
elephants, risking their lives to save
Nick’s father and Mya’s brother from a
Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Sturm, James & Rich
Tommaso. Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim
Crow. $16.99. 978-0-7868-3900-1. A
graphic novel telling of how Satchel Paige,
one of the greatest baseball players who
ever lived, inspired other African Americans
to believe they could make a difference.
Thomson, Sarah L.
Dragon’s Egg. $16.99. 978-0-0612-8848-7.
Mella, a young girl trained as a dragon
keeper, learns that the legends of old are
true when she is entrusted with carrying a
dragon’s egg to the fabled Hatching Grounds,
a dangerous journey on which she is assisted
by a knight’s squire.
Urban, Linda.
ACrooked Kind of Perfect. $16.00.
978-0-15-206007-7. Ten-year-old Zoe Elias,
who longs to play the piano but must resign
herself to learning the organ, instead,
finds that her musicianship has a positive
impact on her workaholic mother, her jittery
father, and her school social life.
Varon, Sara.
Robot
Dreams. $16.95. 978-1-59643-108-9. A dog
and a robot search for friendship in this
wordless graphic novel.
Wells, Rosemary.
Red
Moon at Sharpsburg.
$16.99. 978-0-6700-3638-7. As the Civil
War breaks out,
India, a young
Southern girl, summons her sharp
intelligence and the courage she didn’t know
she had to survive the war that threatens to
destroy her family, her
Virginia home, and the only life
she has ever known.
White, Ruth.
Way
Down Deep. $16.00. 978-0-3743-8251-3. In
the West Virginia town of
Way Down Deep in the 1950s, a
foundling called Ruby June is happily living
with Miss Arbutus at the local boarding
house when suddenly, after the arrival of a
family of outsiders, the mystery of Ruby’s
past begins to unravel.
MASTER LIST 2007-08
Books Listed in Alphabetical Order by Author
Click here for the
Annotated
List of DCF Books for 2007-2008
The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, first
given in 1957, is co-sponsored by the Vermont State PTA and the Vermont
Department of Libraries.
These books, to be read during the 2005-2006 school year,
comprise the master list for the award to be made in 2006. Voting forms will
be made available to all Vermont schools and public libraries in spring,
2006, so children can vote for their favorite book. The master list titles
have been selected to satisfy the reading interests of children in grades
4-8. Please note grade level before ordering the books. The
grades listed should be regarded more as maturity levels than reading
levels.
AUTHOR
TITLE
PUBLISHER
GRADE
Barry, Dave
Peter and the Starcatchers
Hyperion
4 up
Bruchac, Joseph
Hidden Roots
Scholastic
6 up
Choldenko, Gennifer
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Putnam
5 up
Coman, Carolyn
The Big House
Front Street
4 up
Creech, Sharon
Heartbeat
HarperCollins
5 up
De Guzman, Michael
Beekman's Big Deal
FSG
5 up
Freedman, Russell
The Voice That Challenged a Nation
Clarion
5 up
Giff, Patricia Reilly
A House of Tailors
Putnam
5 up
Grover, Lorie Ann
On Pointe
McElderry
6 up
Hahn, Mary Downing
The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story
Clarion
5 up
Hautman, Pete
Godless
S&S
7 up
Kadohata, Cynthia
Kira Kira
Atheneum
5 up
LeGuin, Ursula
Gifts
Harcourt
6 up
Marsden, Carolyn
Silk Umbrellas
Candlewick
4 up
Martin, Ann
Here Today
Scholastic
6 up
McMullan, Margaret
How I Found the Strong
Houghton
5 up
Montgomery, Sy
The Tarantula Scientist
Houghton
4 up
Morris, Gerald
Princess, Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight
Houghton
5 up
Napoli, Donna Jo
Bound
Atheneum
6 up
Peck, Richard
The Teacher's Funeral
Dial
5 up
Philbrick, Rodman
The Young Man and the Sea
Blue Sky
5 up
Pinkwater, Daniel
Looking for Bobowicz
HarperCollins
5 up
Prelutsky, Jack
If Not for the Cat
HarperCollins
4 up
Ryan, Pam Munoz
Becoming Naomi Leon
Scholastic
4 up
Schmidt, Gary
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Clarion
6 up
Scieszka, Jon
Science Verse
Viking
4 up
Shusterman, Neal
The Schwa Was Here
Dutton
6 up
VanLeeuwen, Jean
Cabin on Trouble Creek
Dial
5 up
Warren, Andrea
Escape from Saigon
FSG
6 up
Whelan, Gloria
Chu Ju's House
HarperCollins
5 up
Barry, Dave and Ridley Pearson. Peter and the Starcatcher.
Soon after Peter, an orphan, sets sail from England on the ship Never Land,
he befriends and assists Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to
guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native
inhabitants. $17.99. ISBN 2-004-05527-5.
Bruchac, Joseph. Hidden Roots. Although he is
uncertain why his father is so angry and what secret his mother is keeping
from him, eleven-year-old Sonny knows that he is different from his
classmates in their small New York town. $16.95. ISBN 0-4393-5358-0.
Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. A
twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when
guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his
extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
$15.99. ISBN 0-3992-3861-1.
Coman, Carolyn. The Big House. When Ivy and Ray's
parents are sent to jail, and left in the custody of their parents'
accusers, they decide to look for evidence that will "spring"
their parents.
$16.95. ISBN 1-9324-2509-8.
Creech, Sharon. Heartbeat. Twelve-year-old Annie
ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomes pregnant,
her grandfather begins faltering, and her best friend (and running partner)
becomes distant. $15.99. ISBN 0-060-54022-2.
De Guzman, Michael. Beekman's Big Deal. Tired of the
frequent moves that he and his father must make, twelve-year-old Beekman
begins to make connections with neighbors and classmates after settling in a
small, unusual New York City neighborhood. $16.00. ISBN 0-3743-0672-9.
Freedman, Russell. The Voice That Challenged a Nation:
Marion Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights. Traces Anderson's
career from childhood when her amazing voice was discovered, through
international fame to the ground-breaking concert in 1939 at the Lincoln
Memorial. $18.00. ISBN 0-618-15976-2.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. A House of Tailors. When
thirteen-year-old Dina emigrates from Germany to America in 1871, her only
wish is to return home as soon as she can, but as the months pass and she
survives a multitude of hardships living with her uncle and his young wife
and baby, she finds herself thinking of Brooklyn as her home. $15.95. ISBN
0-3857-3066-7.
Grover, Lorie Ann. On Pointe. In this novel written
in free verse, Clare and her grandfather must deal with changes in their
lives when Clare's summer growth spurt threatens to end her dream of
becoming a ballet dancer and her grandfather suffers a stroke. $16.95. ISBN
0-689-86525-2.
Hahn, Mary Downing. The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story.
Tired of the rules that have bound them ever since "the bad thing
happened," twelve-year-old Diana ignores her brother's warnings and
befriends the daughter of the new caretaker, setting in motion events that
lead to the release of the spirit of an old crazy woman who once ruled the
old Willis place. $15.00. ISBN 0-6184-3018-0.
Hautman, Pete. Godless. When sixteen-year-old Jason
Bock and his friends create their own religion to worship the town's water
tower, what started out as a joke begins to take on a power of its own.
$15.95. ISBN 0-6898-6278-4.
Kadohata, Cynthia. Kira Kira. Chronicles the close
friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia
during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister
becomes terminally ill. $16.95. ISBN 0-6898-5639-3.
LeGuin, Ursula. Gifts. When a young man in the
Uplands blinds himself rather than use his gift of "unmaking" - a
violent talent shared by members of his family - he upsets the precarious
balance of power among rival, feuding families, each of which has a strange
and deadly talent of its own. $17.00. ISBN 0-1520-5123-6.
Marsden, Carolyn. Silk Umbrellas. Eleven-year-old Noi
worries that she will have to stop painting the silk umbrellas her family
sells at the market near their Thai village and be forced to join her older
sister in difficult work at a local factory instead. $15.99. ISBN
0-7636-2257-5.
Martin, Ann. Here Today. In 1963, when her flamboyant
mother abandons the family to pursue her dream of becoming an actress,
eleven-year-old Ellie Dingman takes charge of her younger siblings, while
also trying to deal with her outcast status in school and frightening acts
of prejudice toward the "misfits" that live on her street. $16.95.
ISBN 0-439-57944-9.
McMullan, Margaret. How I Found the Strong. Frank
Russell, known as Shanks, wishes he could have gone with his father and
brother to fight for Mississippi and the Confederacy, but his experiences
with the war and his changing relationship with the family slave, Buck,
change his thinking. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-35008-X.
Montgomery, Sy. The Tarantula Scientist. Describes
the research that Samuel Marshall and his students are doing on tarantulas,
including the largest spider on earth, the Goliath birdeating tarantula.
$18.00. ISBN 0-618-14799-3.
Morris, Gerald. The Princess, The Crone, and the
Dung-Cart Knight. Determined to find the knight responsible for the
terrible deaths of her mother and the Jewish peddler who had given them a
home, thirteen-year-old Sarah is helped in her quest by a strange old woman,
a magical sword, a young faery, and an unkempt knight with little armor and
no horse. $16.00. ISBN 0-618-37823-5.
Napoli, Donna Jo. Bound. In a novel based on Chinese
Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of
neglect and servitude, as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child's
feet so that she alone might marry well. $16.95. ISBN 0-6898-6175-3.
Peck, Richard. The Teacher's Funeral. In rural
Indiana in 1904, fifteen-year-old Russell's dreams of quitting school and
joining a wheat threshing crew are disrupted when his older sister takes
over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse after mean, old Myrt Arbuckle.
$16.99. ISBN 0-8037-2736-4.
Philbrick, Rodman. The Young Man and the Sea.
After
his mother's death, twelve-year-old Skiff Beaman decides that it is up to
him to earn money to take care of himself and his father, so he undertakes a
dangerous trip alone out on the ocean off the coast of Maine to try to catch
a huge bluefin tuna. $16.99. ISBN 0-4393-6829-4.
Pinkwater, Daniel. Looking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken
Chicken Story. Upon moving to Hoboken, New Jersey, a boy convinces his
two new friends to help him track down the mysterious phantom who stole his
bicycle, as well as Arthur Bobowicz, owner of a giant chicken that once
terrorized local citizens. $15.99. ISBN 0-060-53554-7.
Prelutsky, Jack. If Not for the Cat. Haiku-like poems
describe a variety of animals. $17.89. ISBN 0-060-59678-3.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Becoming Naomi Leon. When Naomi's
absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her
great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father. $16.95. ISBN
0-439-26969-5.
Schmidt, Gary. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but
things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor,
nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers - and
Turner's - want to change into a tourist spot. $15.00. ISBN 0-6184-3929-3.
Scieszka, Jon. Science Verse. When the teacher tells
his class that they can hear the poetry of science in everything, a student
is struck with a curse and begins hearing nothing but science verses that
sound very much like some well-known poems. $16.99. ISBN 0-6709-1057-0.
Shusterman, Neal. The Schwa Was Here. A Brooklyn
eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish"
boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by
nearly everyone. $15.99. ISBN 0-5254-7182-0.
Van Leeuwen, Jean. Cabin on Trouble Creek. In 1803 in
Ohio, two young brothers are left to finish the log cabin and guard the land
while their father goes back to Pennsylvania to fetch their mother and
younger siblings. $16.99. ISBN 0-8037-2548-5.
Warren, Andrea. Escape from Saigon. Chronicles the
experiences of an orphaned Amerasian boy from his birth and early childhood
in Saigon through his departure from Vietnam in the 1975 Operation Babylift
and his subsequent life as the adopted son of an American family in Ohio.
$17.00. ISBN 0-3743-2224-4.
Whelan, Gloria. Chu Ju's House. In order to save her
baby sister, fourteen-year-old Chu Ju leaves her rural home in modern China
and earns food and shelter by working on a sampan, tending silk worms, and
planting rice seedlings, while wondering if she will ever see her family
again. $15.99. ISBN 0-060-50724-1.
2004-2005
Anderson, M.T. Strange Mr. Satie. Introduces the life of the French composer,
Erik Satie, who spent his entire career challenging established conventions
in music. $16.99. ISBN 0-670-03637-4. Gr. 4 up.
Arrington,
Frances. Prairie Whispers. Only twelve-year-old Colleen knows
that her baby sister died just after she was born and that Colleen put
another baby in her place, until the baby's father shows up and makes
trouble for her and her family on the South Dakota prairie in the 1860s.
$17.99. ISBN 0-399-23975-8. Gr. 5 up.
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. For
Freedom: The Story of a French Spy. Despite the horrors of World
War II, a French teenager pursues her
dream of becoming an opera singer, which takes her to places where she gains
information about what the Nazis are doing - information that the French
Resistance needs. $17.99. ISBN 0-385-90087-2 (PLB); $15.95.
ISBN 0-385-72961-8 (Tr.). Gr. 6 up.
Cameron, Ann.
Colibri. Kidnapped when she was very young by an
unscrupulous man who has forced her to lie and beg to get money, a
twelve-year-old Mayan girl endures an abusive life, always wishing she could
return to the parents she can hardly remember. $17.00. ISBN 0-374-3
1519-1. Gr. 6 up.
Christensen,
Bonnie. The Daring Nellie Bly: America's Star Reporter. Introduces
the life of Nellie Bly, who, as a "stunt reporter" for the New
York World newspaper in the late 1800s, championed women's rights and
traveled around the world faster than anyone ever had. $18.99. ISBN
0375-91568-0 (PLB); $16.95. ISBN 0-375-81568-6 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up.
Codell, Esme
Raji. Sahara Special.Struggling
with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh
start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the
individuality of each of her classmates. $16.49. ISBN
0-7868-2627-4 (PLB); $15.99. ISBN 0-7868-0793-8 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up.
Collins,
Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander. When eleven-year-old
Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground
world, they trigger an epic battle involving people, bats, rats,
cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.
$16.95. ISBN 0-439-43536-6. Gr. 4 up.
Cushman,
Karen. Rodzina. A twelve-year-old Polish American girl
boards an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and
a life of unpaid slavery. $16.00. ISBN 0-618-13351-8. Gr. 5 up.
DiCamillo,
Kate. The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a
Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. The adventures of
Despereaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he
loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat
determined to bring them all to ruin. $17.99. ISBN
0-7636-1722-9. Gr. 4 up.
Divakaruni,
Chitra B. The Conch Bearer. In
India, a healer invites twelve-year-old Anand to join him on a quest to
return a magical conch to its safe and rightful home, high in the Himalayan
mountains.$16.95.ISBN 0761319352.Gr. 5
up.
DuPrau,
Jeanne. The City of Ember. In the year 241,
twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a messenger, to run
to new places in her beloved but decaying city, perhaps even to glimpse
Unknown Regions. $17.99. ISBN 0-375-92274-1 (PLB); $15.95.
ISBN 0-375-82273-9 (Tr.). Gr. 5 up.
Franklin,
Kristine L. Grape Thief. In 1925, in a small Washington
State community made up of families from different ethnic backgrounds,
twelve-year-old Cuss tries to stay in school as he watches those around him
struggle with various financial difficulties. $16.99. ISBN
0-7636-1325-8. Gr. 5 up.
Freedman,
Russell. In Defense of Liberty. Describes the origins,
applications of, and challenges to the ten amendments to the United States
Constitution that comprise the Bill of Rights. $17.47. ISBN
0-8234-1585-6. Gr. 6 up.
Greenberg,
Jan. Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois. Introduces
the life of renowned modern artist Louise Bourgeois, who is known primarily
for her sculptures. $19.95. ISBN 0-8109-4237-2. Gr. 7 up.
Hahn, Mary
Downing. Hear the Wind Blow. With their mother dead and
their home burned, a thirteen-year-old boy and his little sister set out
across Virginia in search of relatives during the final days of the Civil
War. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-18190-3. Gr. 6 up.
Henkes, Kevin.
Olive's Ocean. On a summer visit to her grandmother's
cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death
of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings
for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer. $16.89. ISBN
0-06-053544-X (PLB); $15.99. ISBN 0-06-053543-1 (Tr.). Gr.
5 up.
Kinsey-Warnock,
Natalie. Gifts from the Sea. Quila and her father, living
alone in a remote Maine lighthouse in the 1850s, find their lives profoundly
changed when a baby washes ashore and they decide to keep her as part of
their family. $16.99. ISBN 0-375-92257-1 (PLB); $14.95.
ISBN 0-375-82257-7 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up.
Koertge, Ron.
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. When a fourteen-year-old
baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal
and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps
him deal with life, love, and loss. $15.99. ISBN 0-7636-2116-1.
Gr. 7 up.
Lekuton,
Joseph Lemasolai. Facing the Lion: Growing up Maasai on the African
Savanna. A member of the Maasai people describes his life as he
grew up in a northern Kenya village and traveled to America to attend
college. $15.95. ISBN 0-7922-5125-3. Gr. 6 up.
McCaffrey,
Laura Williams. Alia Waking. Alia and her best
friend Kay long to join the Keentens, a sisterhood of warrior women, but
after a punishment caring for captives, Alia begins to question everything
that once was certain in her life. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-19461-4.
Gr. 5 up.
Morris,
Gerald. The Ballad of Sir Dinadan. Though he would rather
pursue his talent as a musician, eighteen-year-old Dinadan is forced to
follow his older brother Tristram's path and become a knight. Set at the
time of King Arthur. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-19099-6. Gr. 6 up.
O'Dell,
Kathleen. Agnes Parker...Girl in Progress. As she starts
sixth grade, Agnes faces challenges with her old best friend, a wonderful
new friend, a longtime bully, and herself. $16.99. ISBN 0-8037-2648-1.
Gr. 4 up.
Paulsen, Gary.
How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales About
Extreme Sports. Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth
in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s,
such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel.
$14.99. ISBN 0-385-90090-2 (PLB); $12.95. ISBN
0-385-72949-9 (Tr.). Gr. 5 up.
Peck, Richard.
The River Between Us. During the early days of the Civil
War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled
New Orleans to come north to Illinois. $16.99. ISBN 0-8037-2735-6.
Gr. 7 up.
Seidler, Tor.
Brainboy and the DeathMaster. When Darryl, a
twelve-year-old orphan, is adopted by a technology genius, he finds himself
the star of his very own life-threatening video game. $17.89. ISBN
0-06-019182-6; $16.99. ISBN 0-06-029181-8 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up.
Swinburne,
Stephen R. The Woods Scientist. A devoted nature lover
and animal tracker, Sue Morse shares her knowledge and love of some of the
creatures that inhabit America's woodlands. $16.00. ISBN
0-618-04602-X. Gr. 4 up.
White, Ruth.
Tadpole. In rural Kentucky in 1955, Serilda Collins,
single mother of four lively girls, discovers that her orphaned nephew is
being subjected to brutality. $16.00. ISBN 0-374-31002-5. Gr.
5 up.
Wong, Janet S.
Minn and Jake. Fifth-grader Minn, the tallest girl in
school, begins a rocky friendship with Jake, a new student who is not only
very short, but is also afraid of the worms and lizards that Minn likes to
collect. $16.00. ISBN 0-374-34987-8. Gr. 4 up.
Woodson,
Jacqueline. Locomotion. In a series of poems,
eleven-year-old Lonnie writes about his life after the death of his parents,
separated from his younger sister, living in a foster home, and finding his
poetic voice at school. $15.99. ISBN 0-399-23115-3. Gr. 5
up.
Yolen, Jane.
Sword of the Rightful King. Merlinnus the magician
devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful King of England
- pulling a sword from a stone, but trouble arises when someone else removes
the sword first. $17.00. ISBN 0152025278. Gr. 7 up.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Books for
2003-2004
Alexander, Lloyd. THE ROPE TRICK.
Motivated by her quest to learn a legendary rope trick, the magician
Princess Lidi and her troupe embark on a journey through Renaissance Italy
that intertwines adventure, love, and mystery. $16.99. ISBN 0-525-47020-4.
Gr. 5 up.
Alvarez, Julia. BEFORE WE WERE FREE. In the early 1960’s in the
Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved
in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General
Trujillo. $17.99. ISBN 0-375-91544-3 (PLB). $15.95. ISBN 0-375-81544-9 (Tr.)
Gr. 7 up.
Avi. CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD. Falsely accused of theft and murder,
an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and
meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. $16.49. ISBN
0-7868-2647-9 (PLB); $15.99. ISBN 0-7868-0828-4 (Tr.). Gr. 6 up.
Bauer, Marion Dane. RUNT: A NOVEL. Runt, the smallest wolf cub in the
litter, seeks to prove himself to his father, King, and the rest of the pack
and to earn a new name. $14.00. ISBN 0-618-21261-2. Gr. 4 up.
Byars, Betsy. KEEPER OF THE DOVES. In the late 1800’s in Kentucky,
Amen McBee and her four sisters both fear and torment the reclusive and
seemingly sinister Mr. Tominski, but their father continues to provide for
his needs. $14.99. ISBN 0-670-03576-9. Gr. 4 up.
Clinton, Cathryn. A STONE IN MY HAND. 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. $15.99. ISBN 0-7636-1388-6. Gr. 6 up.
Davies, Jacqueline. WHERE THE GROUND MEETS THE SKY. During World War
II, a twelve-year-old girl is uprooted from her quiet, East coast life and
moved to a secluded army post in the New Mexico desert where her father and
other scientists are working on a top secret project. $14.95. ISBN
0-7614-5105-6. Gr. 5 up.
Farmer, Nancy. THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION. In a future where humans
despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron,
the 140-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and
the United States. $17.95. ISBN 0-689-85222-3. Gr. 6 up.
Ferris, Jean. ONCE UPON A MARIGOLD. A young man with a mysterious
past and a penchant for inventing things leaves the troll who raised him,
meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot
against her and her father. $17.00. ISBN 0-15-216791-9. Gr. 5 up.
Fleischman, John. PHINEAS GAGE: A GRUESOME BUT TRUE STORY ABOUT BRAIN
SCIENCE. In 1848 in Cavendish, Vermont, Phineas Gage had a 13-pound iron
rod shot through his brain. He lived 11 _ years more, but with a totally
changed personality. A fascinating study for scientists. $16.00. ISBN
0-618-05252-6. Gr. 5 up.
Gaiman, Neil. CORALINE. Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures
through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly
different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order
to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others. $17.89. ISBN
0-06-623744-0 (PLB); $15.99 ISBN 0-380-97778-8 (Tr.). Gr. 5 up.
Gantos, Jack. WHAT WOULD JOEY DO? Joey tries to keep his life from
degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled
with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and
his grandmother is dying of emphysema. $16.00. ISBN 0-374-39986-7. Gr. 5 up.
George, Kristine O’Connell. SWIMMING UPSTREAM: MIDDLE SCHOOL POEMS.
A collection of poems capture the feelings and experiences of a girl in
middle school. $14.00. ISBN 0-618-15250-4. Gr. 5 up.
Green, Michelle Y. A STRONG RIGHT ARM: THE STORY OF MAMIE “PEANUT”
JOHNSON. One of only three women to play for the Negro leagues, Peanut
Johnson was a powerhouse, although only 5’2” and 98 pounds. $15.99. ISBN
0-8037-2661-9. Gr. 4 up.
Hiaasen, Carl. HOOT. Roy, who is new to his small Florida community,
becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing
owls from a proposed construction site. $17.99. ISBN 0-375-92181-8 (PLB);
$15.95. ISBN 0-375-82181-3 (Tr.). Gr. 6 up.
Howe, James. IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE BED: TALES FROM THE HOUSE OF
BUNNICULA. With help from his Uncle Harold, who wrote books about
Bunnicula, Howie the wire-haired dachshund writes a story in which he saves
the world from a science experiment gone wrong. $9.95. ISBN 0-689-83947-2.
Gr. 4 up.
. Lowry, Lois. GOONEY BIRD GREENE.
A most unusual new student who loves
to be the center of attention entertains her teacher and fellow
second-graders by telling absolutely true stories about herself, including
how she got her name. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-23848-4. Gr. 4 up.
Marsden, Carolyn. THE GOLD-THREADED DRESS. When Oy and her
Thai-American family move to a new neighborhood, her fourth-grade classmates
tease and exclude her because she is different. $13.99. ISBN 0-7636-1569-2.
Gr. 4 up.
Martin, Ann M. A CORNER OF THE UNIVERSE. Sure of her place in her
family and the world, twelve-year-old Hattie has her life turned upside down
when an uncle she had never heard of returns from his residential school.
$15.95. ISBN 0-439-38880-5. Gr. 5 up.
Meyer, L.A. BLOODY JACK: BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE CURIOUS ADVENTURES OF
MARY “JACKY” FABER, SHIP’S BOY. Reduced to begging and thievery in
the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy
and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in
search of pirates. $17.00. ISBN 0-15-216731-5. Gr. 6 up.
Myers, Walter Dean. PATROL: AN AMERICAN SOLDIER IN VIETNAM. A
frightened American soldier faces combat in the lush forests of Vietnam.
$16.89. ISBN 0-06-028364-5 (PLB); $16.95. ISBN 0-06-028363-7 (Tr.). Gr. 4
up.
Napoli, Donna Jo. DAUGHTER OF VENICE. Frustrated with the
restrictions her gender imposes on her life, fourteen-year-old Donata,
disguised as a boy, sneaks out of her noble family’s house to roam the
streets of late sixteenth-century Venice and then must confront the
repercussions of her actions. $18.99. ISBN 0-385-90036-8 (PLB); $16.95. ISBN
0-385-32780-3 (Tr.). Gr. 6 up.
Park, Linda Sue. WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO. With national pride and
occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive
occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to
suppress Korean culture entirely. $16.00. ISBN 0-618-13335-6. Gr. 6 up.
Partridge, Elizabeth. THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME: THE LIFE AND
SONGS OF WOODY GUTHRIE. A biography of Woody Guthrie, a singer who wrote
over 3,000 folk songs and ballads as he traveled around the United States,
including “This Land is Your Land” and “So Long, It’s Been Good to
Know Yuh.” $21.99. ISBN 0-670-03535-1. Gr. 6 up.
Paterson, Katherine. THE SAME STUFF AS STARS. When Angel’s
self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their poor
great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl 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.
$15.00. ISBN 0-618-24744-0. Gr. 5 up. Spinelli, Jerry. LOSER. Even though his classmates from first grade on have
considered him strange and 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. $15.89. ISBN 0-06-000483-5 (PLB); $15.95. ISBN
0-06-000193-3 (Tr.). Gr. 5 up.
Tolan, Stephanie S. SURVIVING THE APPLEWHITES. Jake, a budding
juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric
Applewhite family’s Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and
interests he never knew he had. $17.89. ISBN 0-06-623603-7 (PLB); $15.99.
ISBN 0-06-623602-9 (Tr.). Gr. 5 up.
Vande Velde, Vivian. HEIR APPARENT. While playing a total immersion
virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine
learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is
connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself. $17.00.
ISBN 0-15-204560-0. Gr. 6 up. Walker, Sally M. FOSSIL FISH FOUND ALIVE: DISCOVERING THE COELACANTH..
Describes the 1938 discovery of the coelacanth, a fish previously believed
to be extinct, and subsequent research about it. $17.95. ISBN 1-57505-536-8.
Gr. 5 up.
Woodson, Jacqueline. HUSH. Thirteen-year-old Toswiah finds her life
changed when her family enters the witness protection program. $15.99. ISBN
0-399-23114-5. Gr. 6 up.
The
RedClover Award is given annually to one of ten picture books
nominated by a committee comprised of teachers and librarians and
voted on by Vermont children. Its purpose is to “help children to
develop an appreciation for excellence in writing and illustrations
that will stay with them all of their lives.” The
RedClover Children's Choice Picture Book Award promotes the reading
and discussion of the best of contemporary picture books in most of
Vermont's elementary schools. Each year over 23,000 K-4 students
read or have read to them the 10 nominated books.
Written by
Mélanie Watt and published by
Kids Can Press, Scaredy
Squirrel is the winner of this year's Red Clover Award. Over 24,000
K-4 children voted for their favorite.
Let us know if you'd
like a full vote tally.
2009-2010 List
A
Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: a Tall, Thin Tale by Deborah Hopkins
Finding Home by Sandra Markle
How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham
Owney, the Mail Pouch Pooch by Mary Kerby
Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman
Sandy's Circus: a Story about Alexander Calder
Silent Music: a Story of Baghdad by James Rumford
The Chicken of the Family by Mary Amato
Wangari's Trees of Peace by Jeannette Winter
The Nominees for the
2009 Red Clover Book Awards:
Dadblamed Union Army Cow
Fred Stays with Me!
Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide
Cinderella
Henry's Freedom Box
Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend
Sky Sweeper
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything
White Owl, Barn Owl
Wind Flyers
Red Clover Winners:
2009:
Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend
2008: Flotsam by Wiesner,
David
2007: The Great
Fuzz Frenzy by Stevens, Janet and Susan Stevens Crummel
2006: Knuffle
Bunny by Willems, Mo
2005:
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Willems, Mo
2004: I Stink! by McMullan, Kate
and Jim
2003: Baloney (Henry P.) by Scieszka,
Jon
2002: Click, Clack, Moo Cows That
Type by Cronin, Doreen
2001: Bark, George by Feiffer,
Jules
Past Nominees:
Fleming,
Candace, illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen. Boxes for Katje.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. ISBN 0374309221. After a young Dutch girl writes to her new American friend in thanks for
the care package sent after World War II, she begins to receive
increasingly larger boxes.
Gerstein, Mordicai. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.
Millbrook Press, 2003. ISBN 0761328688. An account of French aerialist Philippe Petit's 1974 performance of
high-wire tricks on a tightrope strung between the two towers of the World
Trade Center.
Hopkinson, Deborah, illustrated by Terry Widener. Girl Wonder: A
Baseball Story in Nine Innings. Atheneum Books for Young Readers,
2003. ISBN 0689833008. In the early 1900s, Alta Weiss, a young woman who knows from an early age
that she loves baseball, finds a way that she can play, even though she's
a girl.
Jenkins, Steve, and Robin Page. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Houghton Mifflin, 2003. ISBN 0618256288. Explore the many amazing things animals can do with their ears, eyes,
mouths, noses, feet, and tails.
Long, Melinda, illustrated by David Shannon.
How I Became a Pirate.
Harcourt Brace, 2003. ISBN 0152018484. When Jeremy Jacob sets off on a pirate adventure, he loves doing
everything the pirates do—but then he finds out what they don't
do.
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs, illustrated by Linda S. Wingerter.
The Water
Gift and the Pig of the Pig. Houghton Mifflin, 2003. ISBN 0618074368. An orphan girl discovers that she shares her grandfather's gift for
finding things when their clever pig disappears.
Siebert, Diane, illustrated by David Frampton.
Rhyolite: The True Story
of a Ghost Town. Clarion, 2003. ISBN 0618096736. A poem describing the rise and fall of Rhyolite, a southwestern Nevada
desert town which grew from one gold claim to a town of 10,000 people,
then was deserted just a few years later.
Recorvits, Helen, illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska.
My Name is Yoon.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. ISBN 0374351147. Korean-born Yoon, or "shining wisdom," dislikes her name as
written in English and refers to herself as "cat,"
"bird," and "cupcake," as a way to feel more
comfortable in her new school and country.
U'Ren, Andrea. Mary Smith. Farrar, Straus and Grioux, 2003. ISBN
0374348421. Early in the morning Mary Smith walks through the town, waking people up
by shooting at their windows with her peashooter.
Willems, Mo. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Hyperion Books for
Children, 2003. ISBN 078681988X. When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer
jumps to take his place—a pigeon!
2003-2004 Red Clover Award nominees are:
Gerstein, Mordicai. What Charlie Heard. FSG, 2002. Gerstein's pictures turn the audible into the visible in this story of the
composer Charles Ives.
Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker.
Action
Jackson. Roaring Book Press, 2002. A unique picture book about a great painter (Jackson Pollock) and the way
in which he worked.
Kalman, Maira. Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey.
Putnam, 2002. In this inspiring true story, Kalman brings a New York City icon to life
and proves that old heroes never die.
Karas, G. Brian. Atlantic. Putnam, 2002. The story of the mighty Atlantic Ocean, reflected in sparkling text and
pictured in paintings that seem a natural extension of the ocean's
narrative.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie, illustrated by Mary Azarian. From Dawn Till
Dusk. Houghton Mifflin, 2002. A love of life and a love of place shine through in this tale of life on
the farm in the North.
McMullan, Kate and Jim. I Stink! HarperCollins, 2002. And
you thought nighttime was just for sleeping! When the lights go
out, a truck spends its time eating your garbage and loving every stinky
second of it.
Paye, Won-Ldy and Margaret Lippert, illustrated by Julie Paschkis. Head,
Body, Legs. Henry Holt, 2002. "Long ago, Head was all by himself," begins this African
creation story about how the human anatomy came to be. The action plays
out against a background so saturated with citrus colors that the spreads
resemble African fabrics in their beauty and fluidity.
Ryan, Pam Munoz, pictures by Brian Selznick.
When Marian Sang.
Scholastic, 2002. Best known for her historic concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
in 1939, that's just a small part of her story. Marian Anderson was a role
model of courage in the face of enormous obstacles.
Shannon, David.
Duck on a Bike. Blue Sky Press, 2002. Everyone in the barnyard has something to say about Duck's zany
idea.
Tchana, Katrin, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. Sense Pass King: A
Story From Cameroon. Holiday House, 2002. When news of an extraordinary child's existence reaches the jealous king,
a fierce battle between power and wits erupts, determining the girl's fate
and the kingdom's future.
Village Square Booksellers
