Our Choices -- Fall 2007
New, Old, Traditional, Unusual ...
Early Reader Best Pick
Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog
An unusual and hilarious book told from the dog's point of view. An interesting perspective of frogs, garbage and itches. Try the other "dog" sequels and related books about cats..
by Sara Swan Miller
Middle Reader Best Pick
The Trouble According to Humphrey
The fourth book in a wonderfully compassionate series about a creative, thoughtful hamster who tells of his observations and exploits as a classroom pet, including barely passing class spelling tests and helping a shy girl learn to speak.
by Betty Birney
Young Adult Reader Best Pick
Spells & Sleeping Bags
Good teen fun! And well written, though the coming-of-age concepts are definitely for twelve years and up. Add to the modern tone some magical mischief and even a dark moment or two, and you've got a series (yes, there are two prior books) that will both unwind your tense teenager and give them a challenging moment or two.
by Sara Mlynowski
Picture Book Best Pick
Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti
Looking for a soothing, family-oriented picture book for bedtime? Choose anything by this writer. But this book in particular repeats a bedtime routine that is sure to comfort and encourage children from 3 to 4. Also try Once Upon a Morning Storybook by Anne Rockwell. Both books ought to be at your local library.
by Anna Grossnickle Hines
Our Choices -- Winter Holiday 2007
Snowy, Lacy, Gifts and Salt ...
Early Reader Best Holiday Picks
Waiting-for-Christmas Stories
A lovely collection of holiday stories involving a family's preparations for Christmas. They encounter a talking box who laments never knowing his contents, a hopping Christmas stocking, and a slew of kitchen tools that spring into song as mother bakes christmas cookies. Though the writer is active, the book seems hard to find in stores; try your local library.
by Bethany Roberts
Middle Reader Best Holiday Pick
The Christmas Doll
Young orphan sisters leave a dreadful orphanage to escape an epidemic, only to find themselves coping with life on the streets in turn-of-the-century London. No money, no food, no lodging to escape the icy blast. Utter despair was approaching and then they came across a doll...
by Elvira Woodruff
Young Adult Reader Best Holiday Pick
O. Henry's Gift of the Magi
O.Henry is known for droll yet dazzling word plays and inventive twisty plots surely to be enjoyed by any well-read teenager. Read any one of his stories, but this holiday don't miss his "The Gift of the Magi." Anybody know what the “O” stands for?
by O. Henry
Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger
Picture Book Best Holiday Pick
Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat
A beautifully illustrated take on the familiar story, also found in the popular Strega Nona books, of when a poor family falls upon a magical kitchen tool that supplies never-ending food. A happy development -- at first.
Our Choices -- Winter 2008
Cows, Tunnels, Intrigue...
Early Reader/Picture Book Best Pick
Dooby, Dooby, Moo
The cows and sheep concentrate on their singing while the pigs work on interpretive dance. The suspicious farmer confuses all this noise with routine snoring in this hilarious book.
by Doreen Cronin
Middle Reader Best Pick
Tunnels
When 14-year-old Will Burrows's odd archaeolgist father disappears, the boy embarks on a quest to find him, unearthing the unbelievable: a subterranean society that time forgot.
by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Young Adult Reader Best Pick
Sweet Far Thing
Young lady Gemma Doyle arrives at the foreboding Spence Academy with burdens, and depends on an unsuspected strength and her new-found ability to be able to travel to an enchanted world called the Realms.
by Libba Bray
