Incidentally, A.C.M. closed her November column of 1938 with a reproof I like: “May we no longer indulge in blind publishing of pretty-pretty, half-baked, or poorly edited books for children. They do not fit the times in which we live. We confidently hope to see a reduction in number and a measurable improvement in quality of children’s books published in 1939.” How many times can we say this?

The post We’ve always known how to pick ‘em appeared first on The Horn Book.

Over at Read Roger you’ll find our selection of the best books of 2012. An expanded version of the list with glowing annotations of the titles will be sent to Notes subscribers next Wednesday. Sign up here.

And now you can take a stroll through Horn Book history by browsing Fanfare lists back to 1938. (Many thanks to Lolly and  interns Kiona and Marisa!)

The post Sound the horn! Fanfare is here appeared first on The Horn Book.

Picture Books

Extra Yarn; written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins). Review 1/12

Z Is for Moose; written by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Greenwillow). Review 3/12

Jimmy the Greatest!; written by Jairo Buitrago, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng, translated from the Spanish by Elisa Amado (Groundwood). Review 7/12

Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic; written and illustrated by Mônica Carnesi (Paulsen/Penguin). Review 1/12

And Then It’s Spring; written by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (Porter/Roaring Brook). Review 1/12

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building; written and illustrated by Christy Hale (Lee & Low). Review 1/13

This Is Not My Hat; written and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick). Review 9/12

Green; written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Porter/Roaring Brook). Review 3/12

A Home for Bird; written and illustrated by Philip C. Stead (Porter/Roaring Brook). Review 7/12

Fiction

Chickadee [Birchbark House]; written and illustrated by Louise Erdrich (Harper/HarperCollins). Review 9/12

The Fault in Our Stars; written by John Green (Dutton). Review 3/12

Penny and Her Doll; written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow). Review 9/12

A Certain October; written by Angela Johnson (Simon). Review 9/12

The Brides of Rollrock Island; written by Margo Lanagan (Knopf). Review 9/12

My Book of Life by Angel; written by Martine Leavitt (Ferguson/Farrar). Review 11/12

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China; written by Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez, illustrated by Andrés Vera Martínez (Graphic Universe/Lerner). Review 9/12

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller; written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Carolrhoda LAB). Review 3/12

Dodger; written by Terry Pratchett (Harper/HarperCollins). Review 11/12

Splendors and Glooms; written by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick). Review 9/12

Liar & Spy; written by Rebecca Stead (Lamb/Random). Review 9/12

Code Name Verity; written by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion). Review 5/12

Nonfiction

Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin; written and illustrated by Robert Byrd (Dial). Review 11/12

Island: A Story of the Galápagos; written and illustrated by Jason Chin (Porter/Roaring Brook). Review 9/12

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95; written by Phillip Hoose (Farrar). Review 7/12

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster; written by Deborah Hopkinson (Scholastic). Review 3/12

The Fairy Ring: Or, Elsie and Frances Fool the World; written by Mary Losure (Candlewick) Review 3/12

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon; written by Steve Sheinkin (Flash Point/Roaring Brook). Review 11/12

The post Horn Book Fanfare 2012 appeared first on The Horn Book.

At a time when so many books are being published, it is perhaps paradoxical to insist that they need help. Not all books: lots of them do just fine without professional attention, even flourishing exactly because the grownups don’t approve. (I worry sometimes that our generally admirable laissez-faire attitude toward children’s reading choices as well as the current adult enthusiasm for YA have had the unfortunate side effect of giving young readers less room to rebel.) Then there are the books kids and adults read with equal enjoyment—did you catch Phil and Claire talking about The Book Thief on Modern Family?

But let us here consider the books in need—those books for youth that make librarians both happy and industrious. When I look at our 2011 Fanfare list, beginning on page 10, I see an array of thirty books whose fortunes will largely depend on you. Yes, some of the choices have already established themselves (Press Here and I Want My Hat Back are on this week’s New York Times bestsellers list), and good for them. But most of the books on our Fanfare list will need your attention first if they hope to find the attention of young readers.

Take Breaking Stalin’s Nose. Yes, take it, read it, and do something to bring it to the attention of another reader. Chapter books about ten-year-old boys confronting the cruelty and cynicism of Stalin’s Soviet Union do not read themselves, after all, nor do they fly off the shelves. It needed one person—me—to bring it to the Fanfare table; much debate and discussion later, it needs another person—you—to help it flourish. Or maybe Breaking Stalin’s Nose is not the book for you; there are twenty-nine other titles that merit attention and dissemination. Pick one or several and go forth.

The selections on this list range from books for the youngest (A Ball for Daisy, Where’s Walrus?) to those for the oldest (Life: An Exploded Diagram, Feynman); and on subjects including dogs, bears, ghosts, fairy horses, history, families, artists, scientists, and bloody noses. Beyond being within the parameter of books published in 2011 for children and teens, they have only one thing in common. Someone on our review or editorial staff loved a book enough and was so convinced of its potential worth to others that she or he kept insisting the rest of us read it. Again, if necessary. The Fanfare list includes those thirty titles (out of some five hundred reviewed by the Magazine this year) for which one reader’s enthusiasm (and powers of persuasion) successfully created a fellowship of like-minded souls. Your turn.

The post In Which We’ve Done Only Half the Work appeared first on The Horn Book.

Welcome to Fanfare, the Horn Book’s selection for the best books published for children and teens in 2011. Publishing trends being what they are, the editors make no attempt to provide a balanced list (where’s the folklore?), but you will find the thirty choices fairly evenly divided among picture books, fiction, and nonfiction. Do note crossovers: many of the books are suggested for a range of ages, and several straddle genres: is Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes’s beautiful Swirl By Swirl nonfiction, picture book, or poetry?

The Fanfare books are selected by the reviewers and editors of The Horn Book Magazine from the more than five hundred books we review each year. For more information about subscribing to The Horn Book Magazine, please visit our subscription page. ROGER SUTTON

Picture Books

Naamah and the Ark at Night
written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, illustrated by Holly Meade; Candlewick
(Preschool, Primary)
Aboard the ark, Noah’s wife sings a lullaby while the storm slowly abates and the sea’s rhythm rocks the animals to sleep. Meade’s lush, dramatic, almost tactile watercolor collages are a fine complement to Bartoletti’s quiet yet propulsive verse, modeled on an ancient Arabic poetic form. A warmly affectionate and gorgeous book. Review 7/11.

The Money We’ll Save
written and illustrated by Brock Cole; Ferguson/Farrar
(Primary)
Pa brings home a live turkey to fatten up for Christmas (“Think of the money we’ll save!”). His plan proves ill-advised as the bird overruns the family’s already-crowded tenement. Cole’s blithe, just-this-side-of-chaotic illustrations set this entertaining holiday story in nineteenth-century New York City. The ending of this highly original tale—a brilliant solution to the problem—is entirely satisfying. Review 11/11.

I Want My Hat Back
written and illustrated by Jon Klassen; Candlewick
(Primary)
The title’s seemingly simple premise cleverly evolves, with a minimalist text, expert pacing, and a mordant ending, as a bear encounters a series of animals while looking for his missing hat. Klassen uses different colored typefaces (matching the illustrations’ palette) and subtle facial expressions to define each character in this sardonically humorous offering. Review 11/11.

A Ball for Daisy
written and illustrated by Chris Raschka; Schwartz & Wade/Random
(Preschool, Primary)
Dog gets (red) ball; dog loses ball; dog gets (blue) ball. Raschka’s wordless take on an age-old story is fresh and wholly engaging: Daisy’s emotions, which range from joy to sadness and back again, are captured in every squiggly, impressionistic line. Notable both for the ingenuity of its artistry and the depth of its child appeal. Review 9/11.

Bone Dog
written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann; Roaring Brook
(Preschool, Primary)
Trick-or-treater Gus is protected by the ghost of his beloved dog Ella when skeletons emerge from a nearby cemetery. Their triumph over the (more goofy than scary) skeletons is depicted across several wordless spreads in strong-lined relief prints. Poignant, parallel illustrations of boy and dog’s friendship frame their Halloween adventure and make this book satisfying all year long. Review 7/11.

Subway Story
written and illustrated by Julia Sarcone-Roach; Knopf
(Primary)
In 2001, after a half-century of cheerful service, subway car Jessie is unceremoniously dismantled and dumped into the ocean. She finds new purpose in her second career as an artificial reef, home to many sea creatures. Cozy illustrations move the distinctly nondidactic recycling tale—based on real events—along to its affecting conclusion. Review 11/11.

Where’s Walrus?
written and illustrated by Stephen Savage; Scholastic
(Preschool)
In this wordless hide-and-seek romp, an escaped walrus hides in plain sight, eluding a zookeeper. Savage’s simple, graphically elegant art uses bold shapes, computer-aided repetition of forms, and plenty of white space. The illustrations have just the right amount of complexity to allow toddlers to stay one step ahead of the zookeeper—and rooting for the walrus. Review 3/11.

Press Here
written and illustrated by Hervé Tullet; Handprint/Chronicle
(Preschool, Primary)
Here is an interactive book that doesn’t need tabs, flaps, or apps. Tullet asks the reader to press, tilt, blow, and clap in order to change the color, shape, and order of his simply painted dots. Each page turn reveals the seemingly magic results, perfectly geared toward preschoolers—though older children and adults are also likely to suspend disbelief. Review 7/11.

Fiction

Good Luck, Anna Hibiscus!
written by Atinuke, illustrated by Lauren Tobia; Kane Miller
(Primary, Intermediate)
In this third entry in a remarkable early chapter book series set in Africa, Anna hatches a plan to help her neighbors in need after a drought. As usual, Anna and her sprawling, contemporary family are relatable, while Atinuke’s focus on the everyday and her spot-on dialogue mesh flawlessly with Tobia’s lively illustrations. Review 5/11.

Chime
written by Franny Billingsley; Dial
(Middle School, High School)
Seventeen-year-old Briony blames herself for injuries to her twin sister and their stepmother; she believes she’s a witch and lives in fear of being caught and hanged. Vivid, vigorous prose tells a gripping, intricately plotted tale of magic, mystery, murder, romance, family drama, and sisterly love. Review 3/11.

Anya’s Ghost
written and illustrated by Vera Brosgol; First Second/Roaring Brook
(Middle School, High School)
In this graphic novel with true teen appeal, discontented Russian-immigrant Anya, desperate to fit in, is befriended by ghost Emily. At first, having a spectral BFF is great—until Emily’s supernatural powers grow to frightening proportions. This wryly hilarious (yet hair-raising) story of self-acceptance is told through perfectly timed, personality-filled sequential art. Review 7/11.

Dead End in Norvelt
written by Jack Gantos; Farrar
(Intermediate, Middle School)
Who knew that being grounded might afford Jack his richest summer yet? Gantos’s portrait of a real time and place (small-town Norvelt, Pennsylvania, in 1962) is shot through with loopy and unabashedly gross comedy but also conveys provocative meditations on history, coming of age, and community. Review 9/11.

Paper Covers Rock
written by Jenny Hubbard; Delacorte
(High School)
Within the pages of his journal, Alex chronicles the drowning death of his classmate and the guilt of his own involvement. Suspenseful pacing, intriguing characters with complex relationships, and a richly detailed 1980s boys’ boarding school setting stand out in this intense exploration of the ambiguity of honor. Review 7/11.

Life:
An Exploded Diagram
written by Mal Peet; Candlewick
(High School)
In Norfolk, England, the lives of working-class Clem and landowner’s daughter Frankie artfully converge against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as their clandestine romance takes shape under an illusory umbrella of safety. Life respects teen appreciation for more adult fare, with Peet’s layered narrative building toward its inexorable climax. Review 11/11.

Bluefish
written by Pat Schmatz; Candlewick
(Middle School)
“Stupid bluefish” Travis Roberts and “lowlife trailer-trash loser” Vida “Velveeta” Wojciehowski star in an understated yet powerful novel. Both young teens are suffering from recent losses, and both have weighty secrets to protect. Schmatz has crafted a story of friendship that is subtle and poignant, believable and rewarding. Review 11/11.

The Scorpio Races
written by Maggie Stiefvater; Scholastic
(Middle School, High School)
Celtic legends about vicious, flesh-eating fairy horses underpin this brilliant novel: a fantasy with a vividly and realistically evoked island setting, rich in sensory detail; a thriller that’s also a love story. The alternating voices of Sean and Kate, both desperate to win Thisby’s deadly annual horse race, combine to take readers on an unforgettable, exhilarating ride. Review 11/11.

The Watch That Ends the Night:
Voices from the Titanic
written by Allan Wolf; Candlewick
(High School)
This moving verse novel chronicles the Titanic’s fateful 1912 voyage. Leaving melodrama at the dock, Wolf masterfully plays with poetic form, depicting this compelling journey through myriad distinct historical and fictional voices, providing the personal stories of wealthy and poor passengers, the crew, the undertaker, and even the iceberg. Review 9/11.

Blink & Caution
written by Tim Wynne-Jones; Candlewick
(Middle School, High School)
Running from family trauma, two street kids in Toronto meet and find themselves caught up in dangerous situations involving a faked kidnapping and a sadistic drug dealer out for revenge. Written in meticulous prose, this terrifying crime-drama is both intensely suspenseful and deeply affecting. Review 3/11.

Breaking Stalin’s Nose
written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin; Holt
(Intermediate)
Yelchin presents a briskly paced, chilling portrait of 1950s Stalinist oppression with believable narration by ten-year-old Sasha Zaichik, whose naive illusions about life devoted to the Soviet Communist party unravel over two days. The ominous tone of the sinister-looking illustrations perfectly complements the story’s exposure of that political system’s cynical essence. Review 9/11.

Nonfiction

America Is Under Attack:
September 11, 2001: The Day the Towers Fell
written and illustrated by Don Brown; Flash Point/Roaring Brook
(Primary, Intermediate)
Partnered by watercolor illustrations that convey the drama and tragedy of 9/11 without sensationalizing, this minute-by-minute account of that terrible morning has journalistic immediacy and commemorates both victims and heroes. Review 11/11.

Amelia Lost:
The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
written by Candace Fleming; Schwartz & Wade/Random
(Intermediate, Middle School)
Fleming’s gripping narrative begins the day the Coast Guard lost radio contact with Amelia Earhart on her doomed flight around the world; by the time the author begins her chronological account of Earhart’s life, readers are hooked. Taut, cinematic, immediate, and dramatic; an exemplary biography adventure. Review 3/11.

Can We Save the Tiger?
written by Martin Jenkins, illustrated by Vicky White; Candlewick
(Primary, Intermediate)
This gracefully organized and beautiful overview of endangered animals is an eloquent appeal and consciousness raiser. Engaging conversational text conveys information lucidly; pencil and oil paint illustrations, mostly black and white with occasional color, fill the large pages with creatures whose expressive eyes bespeak their kinship with us all. Review 5/11.

Me…Jane
written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell; Little, Brown
(Preschool, Primary)
An inspired choice, to convey the nature and scope of Jane Goodall’s vocation by showing us the childhood from which it sprouted, leaving Jane’s adult life to a final spectacular page turn. Drawings and writings from the young Jane’s hand companionably find space in McDonnell’s humble pen-and-watercolor pictures. Review 3/11.

Heart and Soul:
The Story of America and African Americans
written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson; Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
(Intermediate)
Majestic oil paintings bring passion and dignity to this ambitious survey of African American history, focused through the storytelling of a distinct voice. Nelson seamlessly moves from the Colonial era through to the election of Obama, with portraits of the great and unknown alike giving faces to the history. Review 11/11.

Orani:
My Father’s Village
written and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola; Foster/Farrar
(Primary, Intermediate)
Nivola provides a lovingly evoked remembrance of her childhood visits to the small Sardinian town where her father was born. The tight-knit, traditional community comes to life in child-friendly, remarkably unsentimental prose and finely detailed watercolor and gouache paintings that include both expansive and intimate scenes. Review 9/11.

Feynman
written by Jim Ottaviani, illustrated by Leland Myrick, color by Hilary Sycamore; First Second/Roaring Brook
(High School)
A biography presented in graphic-novel form, told in the first person—an unusual treatment that’s spectacularly successful in presenting its equally unusual subject, Nobel Prize–winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. Ottaviani and Myrick expertly employ the format to capture personality, reveal thought processes, and even explain complex physics. Review 9/11.

Drawing from Memory
written and illustrated by Allen Say; Scholastic
(Intermediate, Middle School, High School)
Part memoir, part graphic novel, part narrative history, this harmoniously designed book uses text, photos, drawings, and paintings to take a fascinating look at the relationship between the young Say and Noro Shinpei, the popular Japanese cartoonist who took him on as an apprentice when Say was only twelve. Review 9/11.

Swirl by Swirl:
Spirals in Nature
written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes; Houghton
(Preschool, Primary)
“A spiral is a snuggling shape. It fits neatly in small places. Coiled tight, warm and safe, it waits…for a chance to expand.” A simple, poetic text explores spirals in nature while exquisite full-bleed scratchboard illustrations suffuse every spread with shape, color, and movement. An elegantly constructed book in which form and subject merge completely. Review 9/11.

Balloons over Broadway:
The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade
written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet; Houghton
(Primary, Intermediate)
An early love of figuring out “how to make things move” propelled Tony Sarg’s career with marionettes, before his eventual invention of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s famous giant balloons. Sweet’s economically told story, combined with her mixed-media collage illustrations emulating his whimsical creations, is an effervescent depiction of Sarg’s belief that work and play should mix. Review 11/11.

Meadowlands:
A Wetlands Survival Story
written and illustrated by Thomas F. Yezerski; Farrar
(Primary)
The New Jersey Meadowlands might seem an unpromising focus for an ecological primer, but author-artist Yezerski buoys solid scientific writing with expansive and detailed pen-and-watercolor spreads of the changing fortunes of the region. Thumbnail portraits of denizens (from fish to pesticide to mobsters) add interest and humor. Review 3/11.

The post Horn Book Fanfare 2011 appeared first on The Horn Book.

The December Notes is available online at the Horn Book website, but make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on upcoming issues.

The post December Notes: all Fanfare, all the time appeared first on The Horn Book.

Also, Anita Burkam reviews (the movie)  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Sounds good!

The post Notes from the Horn Book, Fanfare edition appeared first on The Horn Book.

Picture Books

• Mirror, written and illustrated by Jeannie Baker (Candlewick)
• Me and You, written and illustrated by Anthony Browne (Farrar)
• I Know Here, written by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James (Groundwood)
• April and Esme, Tooth Fairies, written and illustrated by Bob Graham (Candlewick)
• The Village Garage, written and illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Ottaviano/Holt)
• Nini Lost and Found, written and illustrated by Anita Lobel (Knopf)

Fiction

• Forge, by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum)
• Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher (Dial)
• Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley, by Stephanie Greene (Clarion)
• Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! written and illustrated by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)
• The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson (Dial)
• Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce (HarperCollins)
• As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth, written and illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow)
• The Dreamer, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sís (Scholastic)
• Revolver, by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook)
• The White Horse Trick, by Kate Thompson (Greenwillow)
• A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
• One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins)

Folklore

• Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, written and illustrated by Salley Mavor (Houghton)

Poetry

• Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen (Houghton)
• Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse, written by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josée Masse (Dutton)

Nonfiction

• They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Houghton)
• The War to End All Wars: World War I, by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
• Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca (Porter/Flash Point/Roaring Brook)
• Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot [Scientists in the Field], written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop (Houghton)
• The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery, written by Steve Sheinkin (Flash Point/Roaring Brook)

Read more about each of these excellent titles — plus an interview with honoree Megan Whalen Turner — in the December Notes from the Horn Book, coming next week. Sign up for the newsletter and view Fanfare lists since 1938 on our website.

The post Drumroll, please! appeared first on The Horn Book.

The post >Fanfare 2010 appeared first on The Horn Book.

Now all you Jerry of Seven-Mile Creek fans, lemme have it.

The post >More Fanfare appeared first on The Horn Book.