Children's Literature Choice List 2003



Books for Children 3 and Under
Picture Books for Children Ages 4 to 8
Short Books or Picture Books with More Text Than Usual for Younger Readers (Children 5 to 10)
Longer Books with More Sophisticated Themes for Middle Readers (Children 8 to 12)
Young Adult (Generally Children 12 and Up)
Poetry

Click here for a printable version of the awards list.

Books for Children 3 and Under
Title Author Publisher ISBN Price

Animal Train

Jane Yolen

Little Simon/Simon and Schuster

0-689-84838-2

8.99

Benny and the Binky

Barbro Lindgren

R&S Books/Farrar Straus Giroux

91-29-65497-1

15.00

Get to Work Trucks!

Don Carter

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-2518-2

 

Gossie/Gossie and Gertie

Oliver Dunrea

Houghton Mifflin Company

0-618-17674-8

0-618-17676-4

9.95

Kitten and Friends

St. Martin’s Press

St. Martins Press

0-312-49024-0

6.95

Olivia Counts/Olivia’s Opposites

Ian Falconer

Anne Schwartz/Atheneum/Simon & Schuster

0-689-85087-5

0-689-85088-3

6.99

Owen’s Marshmallow Chick

Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow/HarperCollins

0-06-001012-6

6.95

Where Are My Chicks?

Sally Grindley

Phyllis Fogelman Books/Penguin Putnam

0-8037-2497-7

9.99

Picture Books for Children Ages 4 to 8
Title Author Publisher ISBN Price

All About Frogs

Jim Arnosky

Scholastic Press

0-590-48164-9

15.95

Alphabet Under Construction

Denise Fleming

Henry Holt

0-8050-6848-1

16.95

Atlantic

G. Brian Karas

Putnam

0-399-23632-5

15.99

Barkus, Sly and the Golden Egg

Angela McAllister

Bloomsbury Children's Books/ St.Martins Press

1-58234-764-6

15.95

Billywise

Judith Nicholls

Bloomsbury Children's Books/St.Martins Press

1-58234-778-6

16.95

Bubba and Beau: Best Friends

Kathi Appelt

Harcourt

0-15-202060-8

16.00

Dahlia

Barbara McClintock

Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-31678-3

16.00

Dog Eared

Amanda Harvey

Doubleday/Random House

0-385-72911-1

0-385-90845-8

15.95

Duck on a Bike

David Shannon

Blue Sky Press/Scholastic

0-439-05023-5

15.95

Epossumondas

Coleen Salley

Harcourt

0-15-216758-X

16.00

Farfallina & Marcel

Holly Keller

Greenwillow/HarperCollins

0-06-623932-X

0-06-623933-8

15.99

Frog Hunt

Sandra Jordan

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-1592-6

0-7613-2652-9

15.95

Giggle, Giggle, Quack

Doreen Cronin

Simon & Schuster

0-689-84506-5

15.95

Goose’s Story

Cari Best

Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-32750-5

16.00

Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia

Retold by Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert

Henry Holt

0-8050-6570-9

16.95

Hondo & Fabian

Peter McCarty

Henry Holt

0-8050-6352-8

16.95

I Stink!

Kate & Jim McMullan

Joanne Cotler Books/HarperCollins

0-06-029848-0

15.95

Jack Outwits the Giants

Paul Brett Johnson

Margaret McElderry/Simon & Schuster

0-689-83902-2

16.00

Jazzy in the Jungle

Lucy Cousins

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1903-5

14.99

Little Pig Is Capable

Denis Roche

Houghton

0-395-91368-3

15.00

My Friend Rabbit

Eric Rohmann

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-2420-8

22.90

No More Kissing!

Emma Chichester Clark

Doubleday/Random House

0-385-74619-9

0-385-90843-1

15.95

Noah’s Ark

Jerry Pinkney

SeaStar Books/North-South

1-5871-7201-1

1-5871-7202-X

15.95

Pearl’s Passover: A Family Celebration through Stories, Recipes, Crafts, and Songs

Jane Breskin Zalben

Simon & Schuster

0-689-81487-9

16.00

Picture a Letter

Brad Sneed

Phyllis Fogelman Books/Penguin Putnam

0-8037-2613-9

15.99

Rap-A-Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles - Think of That

Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon

Blue Sky Press/Scholastic

0-590-47883-4

15.95

Saturday Escape, The

Daniel J. Mahoney

Clarion Books/Houghton

0-618-13326-7

14.00

Snow

Manya Stojic

Alfred A. Knopf

0-375-82348-4

0-375-92348-9

15.95

17.99

Spider and the Fly, The

Tony DiTerlizzi

Simon & Schuster

0-689-85289-4

16.95

Tanya and the Red Shoes

Patricia Lee Gauch

Philomel/Penguin Putnam

0-399-23314-8

16.99

That Pesky Rat

Lauren Child

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1873-X

15.99

This is the House That Jack Built

Simms Taback

Putnam

0-399-23488-8

15.99

Three Silly Girls Grubb, The

John Hassett and Ann Hassett

Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton

0-618-14183-9

15.00

Tom Mouse

Ursula K. Le Guin

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-1599-3

0-7613-2663-4

15.95

22.90

What About Me?

Ed Young

Philomel/Penguin Putnam

0-399-23624-4

16.99

Short Books or Picture Books with More Text Than Usual for Younger Readers (Children 5 to 10)
Title Author Publisher ISBN Price

7 x 9 = Trouble!

Claudia Mills

Farrar Straus Giroux

0-374-36746-9

15.00

Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Clarion/Houghton

0-395-91415-9

18.00

Berta: A Remarkable Dog

Celia Barker Lottridge

Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre

0-88899-461-3

0-88899-469-9

4.95

Bug Scientists, The

Donna M. Jackson

Houghton

0-618-10868-8

16.00

Butterflies in the Garden

Carol Lerner

HarperCollins

0-688-17478-7

16.95

Declaration of Independence, The

Sam Fink

Scholastic Reference

0-439-40700-1

19.95

Earth From Above; for Young Readers

Robert Burleigh

Harry N. Abrams

0-8109-3486-8

12.95

Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey

Maira Kalman

Putnam

0-399-23953-7

16.99

Get Well, Good Knight

Shelley Moore Thomas

Picture by Jennifer Plecas

Dutton/Penguin Putnam

0-525-46914-1

13.99

Gooney Bird Greene

Lois Lowry

Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton

0-618-23848-4

15.00

Gus and Grandpa and the Halloween Costume

Claudia Mills

Farrar Straus Giroux

0-374-32816-1

15.00

I pledge allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance: with Commentary

Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1648-6

15.99

Ice Cream

Elisha Cooper

Greenwillow/HarperCollins

0-06-001423-7

0-06-001424-5

15.95

If the Shoe Fits

Gary Soto

Putnam

0-399-23420-9

15.99

Iris and Walter: The Sleepover

Elissa Haden Guest

Gulliver/Harcourt

0-15-216487-1

14.00

Jethro Byrd, Fairy Child

Bob Graham

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1772-5

15.99

King Midas: The Golden Touch

Demi

Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster

0-689-83297-4

19.95

Lapin Plays Possum

Sharon Arms Doucet

Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-34328-4

18.00

Mole and the Baby Bird

Marjorie Newman

Bloomsbury Children's Books/St.Martins Press

1-58234-784-0

16.95

Moonbeams, Dumplings, & Dragon Boats

Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, & The Children’s Museum

Gulliver/Harcourt

0-15-201983-9

20.00

New York’s Bravest

Mary Pope Osborne

Alfred A. Knopf

0-375-82196-1

0-375-92196-6

15.95

Paisano, Roadrunner, The

Jennifer Owings Dewey

Millbrook Press

0-7613-1250-1

23.90

Penguin Chick

Betty Tatham

HarperCollins

0-06-028594-X

0-06-028595-8

0-06-445206-9

15.95

 

4.95

Pond

Gordon Morrison

Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin

0-618-10271-X

16.00

Pot That Juan Built, The

Nancy Andrews-Goebel

Lee & Low Books

1-58430-038-8

16.95

Puss in Cowboy Boots

Jan & Phil Huling

Simon & Schuster

0-689-83119-6

16.00

Robert and the Weird & Wacky Facts

Barbara Seuling

Cricket Books

0-8126-2653-2

15.95

Salmon Creek

Annette LeBox and Karen Reczuch

Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre

0-88899-458-3

16.95

Seymour Simon’s Book of Trains

Seymour Simon

HarperCollins

0-06-028475-7

0-06-028476-5

16.95

Slim and Jim

Richard Egielski

Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins

0-06-028352-1

15.95

Talkin’ About Bessie

Nikki Grimes

Orchard Books/Scholastic

0-439-35243-6

16.95

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids

Gail Gibbons

Little Brown & Co

0-316-30903-6

15.95

Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving

Laurie Halse Anderson

Simon & Schuster

0-689-84787-4

16.95

Three Questions, The

Jon J. Muth

Scholastic Press

0-439-19996-4

16.95

To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers

Wendie Old

Clarion/Houghton

0-618-13347-X

16.00

When Marian Sang

Pam Muñoz Ryan

Scholastic Press

0-439-26967-9

16.95

World Team

Tim Vyner

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-1497-0

0-7613-2409-7

 

22.90

Longer Books with More Sophisticated Themes for Middle Readers (Children 8 to 12)
Title Author Publisher ISBN Price

Action Jackson

Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-1682-5

0-7613-2770-3

16.95

22.90

Blizzard’s Wake

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Atheneum Books/Simon & Schuster

0-689-85220-7

16.95

Bury the Dead

Christopher Sloan

National Geographic Society

0-7922-7192-0

18.95

Confucius: The Golden Rule

Russell Freedman

Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic

0-439-13957-0

15.95

Coraline

Neil Gaiman

HarperCollins

0-380-97778-8

0-06-623744-0

15.99

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Avi

Hyperion Press

0-7868-0828-4

15.99

Darby

Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1417-3

15.99

Dillon Dillon

Kate Banks

Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-31786-0

16.00

Feed the Children First: Irish Memories of the Great Hunger

Mary E. Lyons

Atheneum/Simon & Schuster

0-689-84226-0

17.00

Flood

James Heneghan

Frances Foster Books/Farrar,Straus and Giroux

0-374-35057-4

16.00

Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth

Sally M. Walker

Carolrhoda Books/Lerner

1-57505-536-8

17.95

Girl in a Cage

Jane Yolen

Philomel/Penguin Putnam

0-399-23627-9

18.99

If the World Were A Village: A Book about the World’s People

David J. Smith

Kids Can

1-55074-779-7

15.95

Kite Rider, The

Geraldine McCaughrean

HarperCollins

0-06-623874-9

0-06-623875-7

15.95

Laura Secord: A Story of Courage

Janet Lunn

Tundra Books

0-88776-538-6

16.95

Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution

Steve Jenkins

Houghton

0-618-16476-6

16.00

Loser

Jerry Spinelli

Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins

0-06-000193-3

15.99

No More!  Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance

Doreen Rappaport

Candlewick Press

0-7636-0984-6

17.99

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science

John Fleishman

Houghton

0-618-05252-6

16.00

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Patricia Reilly Giff

Wendy Lamb Books/Random House

0-385-32655-6

15.95

Ruby Holler

Sharon Creech

Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins

0-06-027732-7

0-06-027733-5

16.99

Saffy’s Angel

Hilary McKay

Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster

0-689-84933-8

16.00

Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam

Diane Stanley

HarperCollins

0-688-17135-4

16.99

Same Stuff as Stars, The

Katherine Paterson

Clarion/Houghton

0-618-24744-0

15.00

Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes

Wendelin Van Draanen

Alfred A. Knopf

0-375-81175-3

15.95

Stone in My Hand, A

Cathryn Clinton

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1388-6

15.99

Straydog

Kathe Koja

Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-37278-0

16.00

Surviving the Applewhites

Stephanie S. Tolan

Harper Collins

0-06-623602-9

0-06-623603-7

15.99

Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America

Tonya Bolden

Harry N. Abrams

0-8109-4496-0

24.95

Thief Lord, The

Cornelia Junke

The Chicken House/Scholastic

0-439-40437-1

16.95

Thieves of Ostia, The A Roman Mystery

Caroline Lawrence

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-1582-9

15.95

Time Stops for No Mouse

Michael Hoeye

Putnam

0-399-23878-6

14.99

What Would Joey Do?

Jack Gantos

Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-39986-7

16.00

When My Name was Keoko

Linda Sue Park

Clarion/Houghton

0-618-13335-6

16.00

Winter People, The

Joseph Bruchac

Dial/Penguin Putnam

0-8037-2694-5

16.99

Zulu Dog

Anton Ferreira

Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux

0-374-39223-4

16.00

Young Adult (Generally Children 12 and Up)
Title Author Publisher ISBN Price

Ashes of Roses

Mary Jane Auch

Henry Holt

0-8050-6686-1

16.95

Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

Joyce Carol Oates

HarperCollins

0-06-623756-4

0-06-623758-0

16.99

Born Confused

Tanuja Desai Hidier

Scholastic Press

0-439-35762-4

16.95

Bronx Masquerade

Nikki Grimes

Dial/Penguin Putnam

0-8037-2569-8

16.99

Catalyst

Laurie Halse Anderson

Viking/Penguin Putnam

0-670-03566-1

17.99

Corner of the Universe, A

Ann M. Martin

Scholastic Press

0-439-38880-5

15.95

David Livingstone

Frances Freedman

World Almanac

0-8368-5015-7

0-8368-5175-7

26.60

Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster

Albert Marrin

Dutton/Penguin Putnam

0-525-46922-2

17.99

Gingerbread

Rachel Cohn

Simon & Schuster

0-689-84337-2

15.95

Hole in My Life

Jack Gantos

Farrar Straus Giroux

0-374-39988-3

16.00

House of the Scorpion, The

Nancy Farmer

Atheneum/Simon & Schuster

0-689-85222-3

17.95

Hush

Jacqueline Woodson

Putnam

0-399-23114-5

15.99

Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas: Further, Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson

Louise Rennison

HarperCollins

0-06-623656-8

0-06-623695-9

 

15.99

 

Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, The

James Cross Giblin

Clarion/Houghton

0-395-90371-8

21.00

Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Ellen Jackson

Houghton

0-618-12894-8

16.00

Looking for Red

Angela Johnson

Simon & Schuster

0-689-83253-2

15.95

Mississippi Trial, 1955

Chris Crowe

Phyllis Fogelman Books/Penguin Putnam

0-8037-2745-3

17.99

My Heartbeat

Garret Freymann-Weyr

Houghton

0-618-14181-2

15.00

Patrol

Walter Dean Myers

HarperCollins

0-06-028363-7

16.95

Postcards from No Man's Land

Aidan Chambers

Dutton/Penguin Putnam

0-525-46863-3

19.99

Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex

Nathaniel Philbrick

Putnam

0-399-23795-X

16.99

Shattering Glass

Gail Giles

Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook

0-7613-1581-0

0-7613-2601-4

15.95

Six Days in October

Karen Blumenthal

Atheneum/Simon & Schuster

0-689-84276-7

17.95

Sonny’s War

Valerie Hobbs

Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus and Giroux

0-374-37136-9

16.00

Stoner & Spaz

Ron Koertge

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1608-7

15.95

This Land was Made for You and Me

Elizabeth Partridge

Viking/Penguin Putnam

0-670-03535-1

21.99

Thursday's Child

Sonya Hartnett

Candlewick Press

0-7636-1620-6

15.99

Wild Man Island

Will Hobbs

HarperCollins

0-688-17473-6

15.95

Poetry
Title Author Publisher ISBN Price

Body Eclectic. The

Patrice Vecchione

Henry Holt

0-8050-6935-6

16.95

Love to Langston

Tony Medina

Lee & Low Books

1-58430-041-8

16.95

Peacock and Other Poems

Valerie Worth

Farrar Straus Giroux

0-374-35766-8

15.00

Scranimals

Jack Prelutsky

Greenwillow/HarperCollins

0-688-17819-7

0-688-17820-0

16.99

Summersaults

Douglas Florian

Greenwillow/HarperCollins

0-06-029267-9

15.95

Wild Wings: Poems for Young People

Jane Yolen

Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press

1-56397-904-7

17.95

Wings on the Wind: Bird Poems

Kate Kiesler

Clarion/Houghton

0-618-13333-X

14.00

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East

Naomi Shihab Nye

Greenwillow/HarperCollins

0-06-009765-5

16.95