NEWS INDEX Archives 2004 December

Gift-book guide focuses on best books for those 18 years of age and younger

Andrea Lynn, Humanities Editor
217-333-2177; andreal@uiuc.edu

12/7/04

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A lazy fat cat, a fragrant but soulful garbage truck and sin – in many of its incarnations – are just three of the intriguing subjects explored in the 2004 edition of the “Guide Book to Gift Books,” an annual annotated list of recommended books for children.

Published to coincide with the winter gift-giving/gift-receiving holidays, but useful all year round, the guide delivers pertinent information on more than 250 of the best titles – fiction and non-fiction – recently published for children, birth to age 18. Children’s literature experts at the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books compiled the guide based on their book reviews over the past couple of years. Each book listed includes a brief review, and information on its author, title, publisher and current list price.

Now expanded to 20 pages in length, the guide includes more than 100 books published in 2004.

“We believe we’ve produced an up-to-date, easy-to-use tool to help consumers navigate the wilderness of shiny new children’s books,” said Deborah Stevenson, the editor of the guide book and of the Bulletin, and a professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where the Bulletin and the Center are based. Every year some 5,000 children’s books are published in the United States.

All of the books in this year’s guide, designed by Jennifer DeBaillie, were recommended in full Bulletin reviews and all titles are in print, Stevenson said. Copies of the guide book can be purchased for $3.50 and downloaded at http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/giftbooks/.

As the experts see it, it’s hard to imagine better gifts than books.

“In addition to offering enjoyment, knowledge and artistic stimulation, books are gifts that keep on giving without requiring any upkeep or cleanup, they’re a cinch to wrap and they’re easily sent through the mail,” Stevenson said.

“Guide Book” entries, written by Timnah Card, Hope Morrison and Stevenson, are in categories arranged by grade level and age group: picture books; books for young readers grades one through three, 6 to 8 years of age; books for middle readers, grades four though six, 9 to 11 years; and books for older readers, grades seven though 12, 12 to 18 years. Entries for picture books include:

• Cooper, Elisha, “Magic Thinks Big” (Greenwillow, 2004), $14.99, 4-7 years. “A big, solid cat contemplates a variety of activities in this wry, amusing look at feline lassitude.”

• McMullan, Kate, “I Stink!” (HarperCollins, 2002), $15.95, 3-7 years. “A garbage truck fragrantly describes the raw, rubbish-crunching details of its early-morning duties; illustrations by Jim McMullan pack the protagonist with personality as well as refuse.”

Books for young readers:

• Cline-Ransome, Lesa, “Satchel Paige” (Simon, 2000), $16.95, Grades two to four. “This picture-book biography illustrated by James Ransome debunks enticing baseball myth with even more fascinating baseball truth about the legendary ball player.”

• Leedy, Loreen, “Look at My Book: How Kids Can Write & Illustrate Terrific Books” (Holiday House, 2004), $16.95, Grades two to four. “This thorough, clear, suggestion-crammed volume explains to children how to compose and produce their own books.”

• Tait, Chris, “How to Be a Kid” (Sterling, 2003), $6.95, Grades three to six. “This gleefully goofy title illustrated by Jim Paillot offers advice on a multitude of important and cheerfully anti-social kid skills from shooting spitballs to cannonballing into a pool.”

Books for middle readers:

• Galloway, Priscilla, “Archers, Alchemists, and 98 Other Medieval Jobs You Might Have Loved or Loathed” (Annick, 2003), $14.95, Grades four to eight. “Informative and humorous caricatures of folklife add spice to this breezy, entertaining overview of medieval occupations illustrated by Martha Newbigging.”

• Macaulay, David, “Mosque” (Lorraine/Houghton, 2003), $18.00, Grades five to 10. “Macaulay’s latest architectural tour-de-force covers the monumental construction of an Ottoman Empire mosque. As with previous works, a spare line of fiction upholds the remarkably descriptive details and illustrations of the building itself.”

Books for older readers:

• Cart, Michael, editor, “Rush Hour: A Journal of Contemporary Voices, Volume I: Sin” (Delacorte, 2004), $9.95, Grades seven to 12. “Sin is the subject of the first volume of this unusual project in publishing for young adults – a print literary journal, including artwork, fiction, poetry, essays, and excerpts from novels.”

• Rosoff, Meg, “How I Live Now” (Lamb, 2004), $16.95, Grades nine to 12. “In this surprisingly humorous, startlingly original novel, a transplanted New York teenager tells of her first intimate relationship and her discovery of herself during an enemy occupation of contemporary England.”

• Werlin, Nancy, “Double Helix” (Dial, 2004), $15.99, Grades seven and up. “The gripping story of a young man delving into the attractions and dangers of genetic manipulation.”

Founded in 1945, the Bulletin is published 11 times a year by Illinois’ Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Annually, it reviews more than 900 books, primarily for school and public librarians, and is considered one of the most prestigious critical review journals of literature for children and young adults.

The Center for Children’s Books houses a research collection of more than 14,000 books for and about children and young adults. In addition, the collection includes more than 800 professional and reference books on children’s literature.

The collection is non-circulating, but is available for examination by scholars, teachers, librarians, students and other educators.

More information is available by e-mailing bccb@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu or by calling 217-265-6391