How can you choose the best longer books from the thousands published in 2004? Rely on the Wilde Awards!
Best First Novels:
The Fish in Room 11 (Scholastic, $15.95, ages 6-9) by Heather Dyer
Toby, a poor foundling in a rich hotel, meets a family of mermaids and turns them into guests. The plot mingles fantasy with the predictably happy ending new readers love.
The Secret Identity of Shredderman (Knopf, $12.95, ages 7-10) by Wendelin Van Draanen
Nolan Byrd is a brainy fifth grader, is terrorized by Bubba Bixby, the bully. Driven by the revenge and brilliance he comes up with a plan to undo Bubba and transform himself into the conquering hero, Shredderman!
Best Verse Novel:
Heartbeat (HarperCollins, $15.99; ages 10 and up) by Sharon Creech
Once again Creech captures a younger voice in verse-novels, managing to be authentic, lyrical, and respectfully leave room for her audience to grasp the subtleties of her writing. Her word-loving, life-loving protaganist is twelve-year-old Annie who loves barefoot running, making art, her baby brother and the live-in grandfather who is losing his memory.
Most Unique Novel:
Regarding the Sink (Harcourt, $15.00, ages 10 and up) by Kate Klise
A literary collage of letters, memos, emails, newspaper articles, drawings and more describe a mystery faced by sixth grade students who are seeking the help and whereabouts of the inventive Florence Waters. Humor and word play fill the pages of this visually-addictive story.
Best Page Turner:
Jude (Simon and Schuster, $16.95, ages 11 and up) by Kate Morgenroth
In gripping beginning chapters we watch 15 year-old Jude suffer abuse from his drug-selling father, stare down the gun of the hit man who kills his father, and learn that he's been kidnapped at 4 months from his mother, the DA. The plot continues with twists and turns until the very end!
Best New Voice:
Sheila P. Moses the author of The Legend of Buddy Bush (Simon and Schuster, $15.95; ages 11 and up)
Moses combines personal family history with the historical figure "Buddy Bush", a real man who narrowly escaped a lynching in 1947 Rich Square, North Carolina. Moses' poetic dialect and dialogue steep her story in so much you'll savor every word.
Best Retellings:
An Earthly Knight (HarperCollins, $15.99; ages 11 and up) by Janet McNaughton
The author links two centuries-old ballads to tell the story of two strong young women from 1162 who have been raised motherless by a lenient father. Folklorist, McNaughton, combines fantasy with historical research and accuracy that make customs, settings, and fears and personalities believable!
Tales from Shakespeare (Scholastic, $24.95, ages 9 and up) by Tina Packer
The President and artistic director of peformance group,Shakespeare & Coclearly has a passion for ten plays and accompanying art by some of children's book bests makes this an elegant volume.
Novel Most Likely to Become a Classic:
The Sea of Trolls (Simon and Schuster, $17.95; ages 10-13) by Nancy Farmer
Eleven-year-old Jack, the Saxon son of a crippled father, is happily apprenticed to a magician when he and his sister are captured by Olaf One-Brow and his crew of pillaging Northmen. Three-time Newbery honor author may be destined for another medal with this 400-plus page novel weds adventure, myth, history, both magical and realistic characters you care about, cinematic settings with a perfect sense of timing!
Best Book to Lose Yourself in:
The Star of Kazan (Dutton, $16.99, ages 10 and up)
Longing for that old-fashion kind of novel that immerses you in its world so much you have to keep turning the pages and lose your present? Enter the world of foundling Annika who lives happily in "the heyday of Vienna" the Austrian emperor rules, pastries abound, Lippazani stallions fascinate all, and Annika's happy. Until her mysterious missing mother shows up and carries her off to a crumbling castle in Germany.
Best New Non-Fiction:
DK Biography Series ($4.99 each, ages 9 and up)
These 120 page biographies are short, inexpensive, well-written and jam-packed with more than 100 photographs that give a strong sense of Anne Frank, John F. Kennedy, Helen Keller, and Martin Luther King, Jr
Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930's (Clarion, $15.00; ages 9 and up) by Michael Cooper
Cooper draws on lots of personal stories and many pictures to tell of those who suffered loss of land and home to find poverty and mistreatment in California where they came to survive.
Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became An American Boy (FSG, $17.00, ages 10 and up)
Early in his young life, Long faced the horrors of war. His mother, briefly happy with his American father, committed suicide and his mother took him to live in the poverty of Saigon. Both his mother and grandmother gave him up so he could live a better life and he only narrowly escaped death during Operation Babylift which sent Amerasain orphans to America before they could be destroyed! It took growing up with a loving American family and finally revisiting his country of orign before Long, renamed Matt, could come to grips with his mother and grandmother's sacrafice
A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement From 1954-1968 (Scholastic, $19.95,ages 10 and up) by Diane McWhorter
McWhorter recalls the days of Civil Rights as only one who's lived through them can. The text is both clear and involving while olored boxes give colorful pictures of the major players and events. A plentitude of photos don't hurt either, nor does the author's occasional personal contextual inserts!
The Voice That Challenged a Nation:Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights (Clarion, $18.00; ages 11 and up) by Russell Freedman
Award-winning biographer Freedman does it again. He turns history into a story and shows her struggle without being shrill!
Best Contemporary Issue Novels:
Becoming Naomi Leon (Scholastic, $16.95, ages 9-12) by Pam Munoz Ryan
Naomi's been laughed at for her shyness and her eccentric, disabled younger brother, but real troubles start when her selfish, alcoholic mother turns up. Finding a loving father she didn't think cared, acknowledgement of her artistic gift, and understanding of her Mexican heritage, Naomi learns to speak up for what's important!
Finding Miracles (Random House, $15.95, ages 11 and up) by Julia Alvarez
Ninth-grade Milly has always avoided the issue of her Central American adoption until Pablo comes to her New England town and recognizes her as a countryman. Discomfort leads to curiousity leads to learning about the country's suffering under dictatorship and eventually to understanding more about who she is and what family means.
Best Historical Fiction:
The Vanishing Point (Houghton, $17.00; ages 11 and up) by Louise Hawes
Little recorded information leaves the author room to invent a believable life for remarkable female Renaissance painter, Lavinia ("Vini") Fontana. A pompous father, comforts her mother in a loveless marriage, survives a blindness brought by measles, and experiences the stirrings of first love. All these with fine brush strokes of language that make period and person evocative for today's readers.
A House of Tailors (Random House, $15.95 ages 10 and up) by Patricia Reilly Giff
The popular author shows her versatility with her first historical fiction, based on her great grandmother, Dina. When 13 year old seamstress Dina emigrates to New York in 1871, she struggles to find a new sense of family and self amid poverty, smallpox and fire.
The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts (Dial $16.99, ages 10 and up) by Richard Peck.
It's 1904 and Russell Culver had great hopes for running away from his country home to an industrialized city, until his sister Tansy takes over as schoolmarm. Peck writes another sophistocated humorous tale like the ones which have previously won him Newbery awards.
Funniest YA Novel:
Worst Villian and Best Underdog in a YA Novel:
"The Sarge" in Bucking the Sarge (Random House, $15.95, ages 10 and up) by Christopher Paul Curtis
"The Sarge" has her son Luther driving at 13 so he can run the slum nursing home, or her "Evil Empire". Luther's determined to escape her clutches and get even. Curtis handles this situation with more laughter than whining, making you laugh and root for Luther right to the ending.
Best Book by Adult Writers:
Peter and the Starcatchers (Hyperion, $17.99,ages 8 and up) by Dave Barry and Ridley Person
This prequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan fills in all the blanks with great characterizations, lots of adventure, and enough magic to please Potter fans! Brought to you by adult writers who've finally got it right and the Disney folk who will surely turn it into a movie!
Best New Fantasy Book
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (Scholastic, $12.95,ages 8-11)
Funke's third fantasy will appeal to a slightly younger audience and still please her already devoted fans. Firedrake, a dragon, searches for a place where dragons can live in peace and is joined on his quest by an attitudinal brownie, an anxious little man-made man, and a human boy looking for a home.
Best Fantasy Sequels
The Golem's Eye: Book 2 in The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (Hyperion, $17.95, ages 10 and up)
Two years have passed and boy-magician Nathaniel is cockier and his dijnni more disgusted. He needs nerve as he faces a golem and a feisty human female resistance fighter. The series grows in complexity and social commentary, but there's enough adventure to keep younger readers going.
Enna Burning (Bloomsbury, $17.95. ages 10 and up) by Shannon Hale
Hale's last book retold The Goose Girl and now she tells of her best friend, Enna, whose gift of controlling fire is limited enough to pose a dangerous threat to her kingdom and herself. The quest for understanding of control and of love is make this fairy tale fantasy engrossing.
Best Series Finale:
Arthur: King of the Middle March (Scholastic, $17.95,ages 10 and up) by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Third and last in the last in the trilogy which meshes stories of a thirteenth century Arthur who watches glimpses of Arthur of the Round Table in a seeing stone given to him by Merlin. The satisfying ending explains much and the series grows in darkness and depth in a way that won't upset age-spans of readers.
Best New Audios
Cornelia Funke, Dragon Rider read by Brendan Fraser (Listening Library, $33.00, unabridged, 7 casssettes, 111/2hours)
See book description above. Fraser makes each personality vivid with his amazing range of voices and strong sense of how each would communicate. Every single character's voice seems totally on target and he brings out the humor and drama of the story.
The Golem's Eye read by Simon Jones (Listening Library, $39.95; 10 cassettes, 16 hours, ages 10 and up)
See book description above. Jones' rich voice and eloquent reading really brings alive the intelligence, word play, and wit of this book. His performances of the fantastical creatures are the best part of the dramatization.
King of Middle March read by Michael Maloney (Listening Library, $30.00, unabridged, 6 cassettes, 9 hours)
The crisp, regal voice of Maloey leads us through the plethora of characters who bridge time and also perfectly measures our hero's many emotions.
Best Audio for those hungry for the voice behind Harry Potter:
Jim Dale who won fame for his Harry Potter voices records, he records Peter and the Star Catchers (Brilliance Audio, $29.95, unabridged, 7 Cds, 9 hours)
Book Most Likely to Be Best-Loved By Adults:
B for Buster (Delacorte, $15.95, 12 and up)by Ian Lawrence
Lawrence takes the award again this year with a stirring coming of age story set during WWII when sixteen-year-old Kak enlists in the Canadian Air Force to discover the horrors of war with England's Bomber Command. The novel moves slowly, as if the author knows the poignant tension he creates gives you almost more tension than you can take at one sitting.
2004 was a year that slowed the economy didn't seem to put a huge dent in the quantity of new children's books. Quality? Well, that's a different matter. Let the 2004 Wilde Picture Book awards help you choose enduring picture books for all ages.
Best Book for Babies:
Goodnight, Goodnight Sleepy Head (Harper Collins, $15.99, ages 1-3) by Ruth Krauss,
This reissue has the same comforting slow-down bed prep when baby says good night to everything around her. It gains strength with warm illustrations by Jane Dyer.
Best Early Concept Book:
Whose Nose and Toes? (Viking, $10.99, ages 2-4) by John Butler
Cunning illustrations and the repeated title help young learners go from part to whole to identify animals.
Best Noise Book:
The Noisy Farm (Bloomsbury, $15.95, ages 2-5) by Marni McGee
Following a farmer through his sound-filled day leaves lots of room for children to become the sound-track!
Best Treatment of a Young Issue:
Marc Just Couldn't Sleep (Kane/Miller, $15.95, age 3-5) by Gabriela Keselman
Marc has typical complaints to delay bedtime, but his mother has the most dreamy, imaginative cures and the most patient manner you'll ever see in a book on this issue.
I am Too Absolutely small for School (Candlewick, $16.99, ages 5-8) by Lauren Child
Lola has a quirky take on why she shouldn't go to school, but her older sibling Charlie out-imagines her. The author-illustrator has one of the wackiest visual-literary style around.
Knuffle Bunny (Hyperion, $15.99, ages 3-6) by Mo Willems
The Emmy-award winning writer hits pay dirt again in the story of an exuberant, preverbal heroine who loses her beloved bunny. Comic illustrations set against photographed realistic images show this bald smiling baby's joie de vivre and frustration.
Best Read Alouds for Young Listeners:
The Snail and the Whale (Dial, $16.99, ages 3-6) by Julia Donaldson
Great reworking of the "House that Jack Built" pattern tells the story of a tiny snail who becomes the friend (and savior) of a huge whale. Rhythm, rhyme and story shine!
What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile? (Harcourt, $16.00, ages 3-6) by Judy Sierra
Remember playing this tag game in elementary school? Now it's a wonderful rhythmic story of a crocodile who plans a monkey menu then decides he'd rather have friends than food.
Most Loved Monster (Dial, $16.99, ages 5-8) by Lynn Downey
Even monster children wonder who mama loves best! Their slimy and disgusting ways of showing love will delight child listeners and the reassurance appeal to all ages and species.
Get Busy, Beaver! (Scholastic, $15.95, ages 4-8)
Staccato choruses and repeats contrast with lyrical writing are the perfect vehicle to tell the story of a busy family of beavers and their dreamy , artistic son Thelonious.
What's That Awful Smell? (Dial, $15.99; ages 4-7) by Heather Tekavec
Dog leads all the farm animals in sniffing and wrongly accusing an innocent little piglet of stinking up the barn. Lots of places for young children to join in the telling and a satisfying surprise ending!
Most Improved Celebrity Writer:
Madonna! For Yakov and the Seven Thieves (Callaway, $19.95, ages 5-8)
Wisely Madonna stayed closer to a retelling and finally she writes a successful book! Incredible illustrations by Gennady Spirin help immensely!
Best Young Non-Fiction:
Actual Size (Houghton, $16.00, ages 4-8) by Steve Jenkins
Amazing paper cut collages and simple accompanying text wow readers with the actual sizes of everything from the teeth of a great white shark to a giant squid's eyeball. Short size-based profiles give more information.
Next Stop Neptune (Houghton, $16.00, ages 5-8) by Alvin and Steve Jenkins
Jenkins successfully collaborates with his father, a professor of physics and astronomy, to give children a sense of what it would feel like to visit different planets.
Wolves, Great White Sharks (both from Carolrhoda, ages 7 and up) by Sandra Markle
Two titles in her Animal Predator series finds Markle up to her usual greatness-fascinating subject, fabulous photographs and clear writing!
Forces of Nature (National Geographic, $17.95, ages 8 and up) by Catherine O'Neill Grace
Grace's writing is thorough and clear. Photographs reveal the beauty and horror of volcanoes, earthquakes, and tornadoes.
Closest Miss:
The Friend (FSG, $16.00, ages 6-9) by Sarah Stewart and David Small
Such a pity, some of the season's best pictures, but the unmeasured meters ruin a book that could have been a remarkable story of a poor, little rich girl and her loving maid.
Best Retellings:
Manana Iguana (Holiday House, $16.95, ages 4-8) by Ann Whitford Paul
This retelling of The Little Red Hen weaves togther Spanish and English into a refrain children will love to repeat.
Sleeping Beauty (Orchard, $18.95, ages 6 and up) retold by Adele Geras
This fairy tale finds new enchantment and novel length with magical words and romantic illustrations.
Best Original Fairy Tale:
The Snow Princess (Little Brown, $16.99, ages 8 and up)
The daughter of Father Frost and Mother Spring will die if she lets a human into her heart, but fear of death is eclipsed by her love for Sergei. Sanderson's fanciful words and illustrations pull readers into her magical world.
Best Books for Parent-Child Sharing:
You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales To Read Together (Little Brown, $16.95, ages reading 5 and up) by Mary Ann Hoberman
Parents and children have reading parts that blend beautiful for a shared retelling.
Emeril's There's A Chef in My Family! (HarperCollins, $22.99) by Emeril Lagasse
Vivid and clear explanations, a wide range of recipes, and bright photos and illustrations make this a family cookbook that kicks it up a notch!
Best Picture Book Biographies:
Knockin' On Wood: Starring Peg Leg Bates (Lee and Low, $16.95, ages 7-10) by Lynne Barasch
Passion for performance got 20th century tap-dancing great, Clayton Bates beyond everything from his mother's displeasure to amputation. The author's passion for words are apparent.
John's Secret Dreams: The Life of John Lennon (Hyperion, $16.99, ages 9 to adult)
The winning team of artist Doreen Rappaport and illustrator Bryan Collier provide a magical mystery tour of John's life, beliefs, and songs!
Squirrel and John Muir (FSG, $16.00, ages 7 and up) by Emily Arnold McCully
Muir's poetic, observant, discovery of the Yosemite Valley is seen through the eyes of Floy Hutchings, a feisty little girl who was the first white chld born in the valley.
Best Collections:
A Pride of African Tales (HarperCollins, $16.99, ages 6-10) retold by Donna Washington
Collection of six stories represent differing African cultures, story types, ache to be read aloud! Illustrations by Ransome increase the colorfulness of stories!
The Bremen Town Musicians and Other Animal Tales From Grimm (Roaring Brook, $18.95, ages 6-10) by Doris Orgel
Orgel, a passionate reteller and excellent translator, revisits her childhood and German heritage to bring Grimm stories to America. Illustrations by Bert Kitchen add story texture.
Best Blend in an Older Picture Book:
Science Verse (Viking, $16.99, ages 7 and up) by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
The winning team that brought us Math Curse is back for another literary romp uniting poetry, science and humor in a way that sometimes makes you want to burst into song as well as laughter.
Best Older Fiction:
Pinduli (Harcourt, $16.00, ages 6-10) by Janell Cannon
Beautiful illustrations carry an overlong story of a small hyena who makes big changes in her animal community to end the bullying.
Gonna Roll the Bones (Simon and Schuster, $16.95, ages 7 and up David Wiesner
Two time Caldecott winner, Wiesner's pencil sketches accompany an award-winning Fritz Leiber story about a bored man who plays a ghostly game of dice.
Books Most Sure to Provoke Emotions:
A Good Night for Freedom (Holiday House, $16.95, ages 9 and up) by Barbara Morrow
It's 1839 and Hallie, newly moved to Indiana, discovers escaped slaves in the home of Quakers. Choosing between her pa's advice to not meddle and her conscience makes for compelling reading and great discussion.
The Harmonica (Charlesbridge, $15.95, ages 9 and up) by Tony Johnston
A young Jewish boy in a concentration camp is horrific when he's ordered to play Schubert for a commandant who wears "ugliness and death upon his shoulders like epaulets"-until he learns he's comforting fellow prisoners. Illustrations by Ron Mazellan are dark and poignant as the story.
The Cats in Krasinski Square (Scholastic, $16.95, ages 9 and up) by Karen Hesse
Award-winning novelist's simple words give powers this complex story of a young Jewish girl who's escaped the Warsaw Ghetto determined to feed those who suffer behind its walls.
Missisppi Morning (Eerdmans, $16.00, ages 9 and up) by Ruth Vander Zee
1933 Mississippi finds James Williams, a young boy devoted to his family, living a comfortable life until he finds out about the KKK and his father's involvement. Most powerful ending I read this season.
Best Books for Adults:
See the City: the journey of Manhattan unfurled (Knopf, $15.95) By Matteo Pericoli
The artist comments on his amazing mission as he draws every building of the Manhattan skyline.
God Bless the Child (HarperCollins, $16.99)
Billie Holiday's classic makes a stunning picture book translation with the talents of award-winning artist Jerry Pinkey. The book comes with a CD.
Old Coyote (Candlewick Press, $16.99) by Nancy Wood
An aging coyote says his goodbyes to an earth and creatures he has loved. Illustrations by Max Grafe are soft and mystical.