Each year Children's Literature looks at the work of its reviewers to determine the 150 best out of the more than 3,000 books we receive for review. For the past two years, the first cut has yielded about 300 titles; however this year it was only 250. There is a message here. The quality overall may not be as high, but we are still very pleased with our final choices.
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
| Children's Literature Choice List 1998 | |||
| Books for Children 3 and Under | |||
| Big Fat Hen | Keith Baker | Harcourt | $ 5.95 |
| Big Little Lion & Big Little Otter | Lillian Hoban | HarperFestival | $ 5.95 |
| Bunny Cakes | Rosemary Wells | Dial | $13.99 |
| I Smell Honey | Andrea Pinkney | Harcourt | $ 4.95 |
| Miss Spider's Tea Party: The Counting Book | David Kirk | Scholastic | $15.95 |
| Owl and the Pussycat, The | Edward Lear | Scholastic | $ 7.95 |
| Picture Books for Children Ages 4 to 8 | |||
| Ali: Child of the Desert | Jonathan London | Lothrop | $16.00 |
| Anansi Does the Impossible | Retold by Verna Aardema | Coward McCann | $16.00 |
| Bantam of the Opera | Mary Jane Auch | Holiday | $16.95 |
| December | Eve Bunting | Harcourt | $15.00 |
| Edward and the Pirates | David McPhail | Little, Brown | $15.95 |
| Fair! | Ted Lewin | Lothrop | $16.00 |
| Friend for Minerva Louise, A | Janet Morgan Stoeke | Dutton | $12.99 |
| Gabriella's Song | Candace Fleming | Atheneum | $16.00 |
| Gardener, The | Sarah Stewart | Farrar Strauss Giroux | $15.00 |
| Ginger | Charlotte Voake | Candlewick | $16.99 |
| Gingerbread Boy, The | Richard Egielski | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Heat Wave at Mud Flat | James Stevenson | Greenwillow | $15.00 |
| Hunterman and the Crocodile, The | Baba Wague Diakite | Scholastic | $15.95 |
| If I Were Queen of the World | Fred Hiatt | McElderry Books | $16.00 |
| In Daddy's Arms I am Tall | Javaka Steptoe | Lee & Low | $15.95 |
| Is That You, Winter? | Stephen Gammell | Silver Whistle | $16.00 |
| Library Lil | Suzanne Williams | Dial | $14.99 |
| Little Oh | Laura Krauss Melmed | Lothrop | $16.00 |
| Little Red Cowboy Hat | Susan Lowell | Holt | $14.95 |
| McDuff Moves In | Rosemary Wells | Hyperion | $12.95 |
| Mouse Mess | Linnea Riley | Blue Sky | $15.95 |
| Nim and the War Effort | Milly Lee | Frances Foster | $16.00 |
| Noisy Nora | Rosemary Wells | Dial | $11.99 |
| Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud | Lynn Plourde | Blue Sky | $15.95 |
| Puddle Pail, The | Elisa Kleven | Dutton | $14.95 |
| Queenie, One of the Family | Bob Graham | Candlewick | $15.99 |
| Rikki-Tikki-Tavi | Rudyard Kipling | Morrow | $11.99 |
| Shrinking Mouse | Pat Hutchinson | Greenwillow | $17.00 |
| Snail Started It! | Katja Reider | North-South Books | $15.95 |
| Snapshots from the Wedding | Gary Soto | Putnam | $15.95 |
| To Market, To Market | Anne Miranda | Harcourt | $16.00 |
| Verdi | Janell Cannon | Harcourt | $16.00 |
| Why Did We Have to Move Here? | Sally J. K. Davies | Carolrodah | $14.95 |
| Willy's Silly Grandma | Cynthia DeFelice | Orchard | $15.95 |
| Short Books or Picture Books with More Text Than Usual for Younger Readers (Children 5 to 10) | |||
| Archaeologist Dig for Clues | Kate Duke | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Bearskin | Howard Pyle | Books of Wonder | $16.00 |
| Best Vacation Ever, The | Stuart J. Murphy | HarperTrophy | $14.95 |
| Cabbages and Kings | Elizabeth Seabrook | Viking | $15.99 |
| Day of the Dead | Tony Johnston | Harcourt | $14.00 |
| Days of the Blackbird | Tomie dePaola | Putnam | $15.95 |
| Disappearing Lake | Debbie S. Miller | Walker | $15.95 |
| Echoes of the Elders | Chief Lelookska | DK Ink | $24.95 |
| Emperor's New Clothes, The | Hans Christian Andersen | Candlewick | $15.99 |
| Etcher's Studio, The | Arthur Geisert | Houghton | $15.95 |
| Hosni the Dreamer | Ehud Ben-Ezer | Farrar | $16.00 |
| I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert | Eve Bunting | Harcourt | $15.00 |
| I Have a Dream | Dr. Martin Luther King | Scholastic | $16.00 |
| Little Ships, The | Louise Borden | McElderry | $15.00 |
| Macbeth | Retold by Bruce Coville | Dial | $16.99 |
| Marven of the Great North Woods | Kathryn Lasky | Harcourt | $16.00 |
| Marvin's Best Christmas Present Ever | Katherine Paterson | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Mean Margaret | Tor Seidler | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Mr. Semolina-Semolinus | Anthony L. Manna and Christodoula Mitakidon | Atheneum | $15.00 |
| Musicians of the Sun | Gerald McDermott | Simon & Schuster | $17.00 |
| My Name is York | Elizabeth Van Steenwyk | Rising moon | $14.95 |
| Nicholas Pipe | Robert D. San Souci | Dial | $14.99 |
| One Grain of Rice | Demi | Scholastic | $19.95 |
| Only a Pigeon | Jane and Christopher Kurtz | Simon & Schuster | $16.00 |
| Orcas Around Me: My Alaska Summer | Debra Page | Albert Whitman | $15.95 |
| Over the Top of the World | Will Steger and Jon Bowermaster | Scholastic | $17.95 |
| Passage to Freedom | Ken Mochizuki | Lee & Low | $15.95 |
| Rapunzel | Paul O. Zelinsky | Dutton | $15.95 |
| Ring of Tricksters, A | Virginia Hamilton | Scholastic | $19.95 |
| Rockin' Reptiles | Stephanie Calmenson and Joanna Cole | Morrow | $15.00 |
| Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter | Diane Stanley | Morrow | $15.00 |
| Sea King's Daughter, The | Aaron Shepard | Simon & Schuster | $17.00 |
| Shooting Star: Annie Oakley, the Legend | Debbie Dadey | Walker | $15.95 |
| Sky Pioneer: A Photobiography of Amelia Earhart | Corinne Szabo | National Geographic | $16.00 |
| Take a Look, It's in a Book | Ronnie Krauss | Walker | $15.95 |
| When Jessie Came Across the Sea | Amy Hest | Candlewick | $16.99 |
| Longer Books with More Sophisticated Themes for Middle Readers (Children 8 to 12) | |||
| Adventures of Odysseus, The | Retold by Neil Phillip | Orchard | $17.95 |
| Author: A True Story | Helen Lester | Houghton | $10.95 |
| Boggart and the Monster, The | Susan Cooper | Simon & Schuster | $16.00 |
| Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero | James Cross Giblin | Clarion | $20.00 |
| Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts | Penny Colman | Holt | $17.95 |
| Drop of Water, A | Walter Wick | Scholastic | $16.95 |
| Drummer Boy of Vicksburg, The | G. Clifton Wisler | Lodestar | $15.99 |
| Elephant Woman: Exploring the World of Elephants | Laurence Pringle | Atheneum | $16.00 |
| Ella Enchanted | Gail Carson Levine | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Five Sisters, The | Margaret Mahy | Viking | $13.99 |
| Growing Up in Coal Country | Susan Campbell Bartoletti | Houghton | $16.95 |
| I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly | Joyce Hansen | Scholastic | $ 9.95 |
| Jack London: A Biography | Daniel Dyer | Scholastic | $17.95 |
| Last Payback, The | James VanOosting | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Mississippi Mud | Ann Turner | HarperCollins | $15.95 |
| My Palace of Leaves in Sarajevo | Marybeth Lorbiecki | Dial | $14.99 |
| My Sister the Sausage Roll | Barbara Ware Holmes | Hyperion | $ 3.95 |
| Mysterious Visitor, The | Nina Jaffe | Scholastic | $19.95 |
| Mythical Birds and Beasts from Many Lands | Margaret Mayo | Dutton | $19.99 |
| Octopus, The | Mary M. Cerullo | Cobblehill | $16.99 |
| Out of the Dust | Karen Hesse | Scholastic | $15.95 |
| Outrageously Alice | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | Atheneum | $15.00 |
| Pearls of Lutra | Brian Jacques | Philomel | $19.95 |
| Planet Hunters, The | Dennis Brindell Fradin | McElderry | $19.95 |
| Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution | Ji Li Jiang | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| Robber and Me, The | Josef Holub | Holt | $16.95 |
| Secrets of Animal Flight, The | Nic Bishop | Houghton | $14.95 |
| Skull of Truth, The | Bruce Coville | Harcourt | $17.00 |
| Stonehenge Revealed | David Souden | Facts On File | $29.95 |
| Sun & Spoon | Kevin Henkes | Greenwillow | $15.00 |
| Tales from the Homeplace | Harriet Burandt and Shelley Dale | Holt | $14.99 |
| Treehouse Tales | Anne Isaacs | Dutton | $14.99 |
| True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson, The | Carol Lynch Williams | Delacorte | $14.95 |
| Tulip Touch, The | Anne Fine | Little, Brown | $15.95 |
| Watching Water Birds | Jim Arnosky | National Geographic | $16.00 |
| Water Buffalo Days | Huynh Quang Nhuong | HarperCollins | $13.95 |
| Well Wished | Fanny Billingsley | Atheneum | $16.00 |
| Wicked Witch is at it Again, The | Hanna Kraan | Front Street | $14.95 |
| Wish Me Luck | James Heneghan | Farrar | $16.00 |
| Wringer | Jerry Spinelli | HarperCollins | $13.95 |
| Wind at Work, The | Gretchen Woelfe | Chicago Review Press | $14.95 |
| Young Adult (Generally Children 12 and Up) | |||
| Beautiful Days of My Youth | Ana Novac | Holt | $15.95 |
| Black Legacy | William Loren Katz | Atheneum | $19.00 |
| Blood and Chocolate | Annette Curtis Klause | Delacorte | $13.45 |
| Braving the Frozen Frontier | Rebecca L. Johnson | Lerner | $23.93 |
| Bull Catcher | Alden R. Carter | Scholastic | $15.95 |
| Dancing on the Edge | Han Nolan | Harcourt | $16.00 |
| Dark Side of Nowhere, The | Neal Shusterman | Little Brown | $15.95 |
| Elizabeth Blackwell: A Doctor's Triumph | Nancy Kline | Conari | $ 6.95 |
| Empires Lost and Won | Albert Marrin | Atheneum | $19.00 |
| Going Through the Gate | Janet S. Anderson | Dutton | $15.99 |
| In a Sacred Manner I Live | Edited by Neil Philip | Clarion | $20.00 |
| Inside the Walls of Troy | Clemence McLaren | Atheneum | $16.00 |
| Kennedy Assassinated! | Wilborn Hampton | Candlewick | $17.99 |
| Leaving Fishers | Margaret Peterson Haddix | Simon & Schuster | $17.00 |
| Leaving Home: Stories | Selected by Hazel Rochman & Darlene Z. McCampbell | HarperCollins | $16.95 |
| Lightning Time | Douglas Rees | DK Ink | $15.95 |
| Necessary Roughness | Marie Lee | HarperCollins | $14.95 |
| North Star to Freedom | Gena K. Gorrell | Delacorte | $17.95 |
| Painting the Black | Carl Deuker | Houghton | $14.95 |
| Rose Daughter | Robin McKinley | Greenwillow | $15.00 |
| Shade's Children | Garth Nix | HarperCollins | $15.95 |
| Shared Heart, The | Photographs by Adam Mastoon | Morrow | $25.00 |
| Slave Day | Rob Thomas | Simon & Schuster | $16.00 |
| Stones in Water | Donna Jo Napoli | Dutton | $14.99 |
| Stranded in Harmony | Barbara Shoup | Hyperion | $17.95 |
| Tangerine | Edward Bloor | Harcourt | $17.00 |
| Virtual War | Gloria Skurzynski | Simon & Schuster | $16.00 |
| Poetry | |||
| Beauty of the Beast, The | Selected by Jack Prelutsky | Knopf | $25.00 |
| Bone Poems | Jeff Moss | Workman | $14.95 |
| Great Frog Race, The | Kristine O'Connell George | Clarion | $14.95 |
| Harlem | Walter Dean Myers | Scholastic | $16.95 |
| Hoops | Robert Burleigh | Silver Whistle | $16.00 |
| Jump Ball | Mel Glenn | Lodestar | $15.99 |
Added 04/01/99
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If you're interested in reviewing children's and young adult books, then send a resume and writing sample to marilyn@childrenslit.com.