Best books of 1997

Chosen annually by our editors, Fanfare is The Horn Book Magazine’s selection of the best children’s and young adult books of the year.

Picture Books
Baboon written by Kate Banks, illustrated by Georg Hallensleben (Foster/Farrar)
A Small Miracle written and illustrated by Peter Collington (Knopf)
Noah Makes a Boat written by Pippa Goodhart, illustrated by Bernard Lodge (Lorraine/Houghton)
Seven Brave Women written by Betsy Hearn, illustrated by Bethanne Andersen (Greenwillow)
Watch William Walk written and illustrated by Ann Jonas (Greenwillow)
Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression written by Kate Lied, illustrated by Lisa Campbell Ernst (National Geographic)
Mysterious Thelonious written and illustrated by Chris Raschka (Orchard)
Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party written and illustrated by Bernard Waber (Lorraine/Houghton)

Fiction
Tangerine by Edward Bloor (Harcourt)
Ant Plays Bear written by Betsy Byars, illustrated by Marc Simont (Viking)
The Window by Michael Dorris (Hyperion)
Uncle Ronald by Brian Doyle (Groundwood)
The Fat Man by Maurice Gee (Simon)
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (Knopf)
Wringer by Jerry Spinelli (Cotler/HarperCollins)

Folklore
The Emperor’s New Clothes written by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Naomi Lewis; illustrated by Angela Barrett (Candlewick)
The Dancing Fox: Arctic Folktales edited by John Bierhorst, illustrated by Mary K. Okheena (Morrow)
Rapunzel retold and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Dutton)

Nonfiction
Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man written by David A. Adler, illustrated by Terry Widener (Gulliver/Harcourt)
Outside and Inside Bats by Sandra Markle (Atheneum)
Leon’s Story written by Leon Walter Tillage, illustrated by Susan L. Roth (Farrar)
A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder written and illustrated with photographs by Walter Wick (Scholastic Press)