Notable Children’s Books Nominees — Summer 2016 #alaac16

The ALSC Notable Children’s Books committee is charged with identifying the best of the best in children’s books. According to the Notables Criteria, “notable” is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children’s books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children’s interests in exemplary ways.

Almost as much as I love sitting in on the discussions, I love getting a chance to look at the list of books which will be discussed. Here they are!  The books which will discussed at the upcoming Annual Conference in Orlando:

Picture Books

• The Airport Book by Lisa Brown. Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press/ A Neal Porter Book

• Are We There Yet? by Dan Santat. Hachette Book Group/ Little Brown Books for Young Readers

• Ballet Cat Dance! Dance! Underpants! by Bob Shea. Disney Book Group/ Hyperion

• The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers/ Clarion Books

• Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group / Nancy Paulsen Books

• Don’t Call Me Grandma by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. Lerner Publishing Group/ Carolrhoda Books

• Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McClintock. Scholastic Press

• Finding Wild by Megan Wagner Lloyd. Illustrated by Abigail Halpin. Penguin Random House: Random House Children’s Books/ Knopf Books for Young Readers

• Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer . Albert Whitman & Company

• Have You Seen Elephant? by David Barrow. Lerner Publishing Group/ Gecko Press

• Hippopotamister by John Patrick Green. Macmillan/ First Second

• Hoot and Peep by Lita Judge. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group/ Dial Books

 • Horrible Bear by Ame Dyckman illustrated by Zachariah OHora. Hachette / Book Group/ Little Brown Books for Young Readers

A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins. Simon & Schuster/ Atheneum Books for Young Readers

• I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch and Taste It, Too!) by Rachel Isadora. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group / Nancy Paulsen Books

• Ideas Are All Around by Philip C. Stead. Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press/ A Neal Porter Book

• Little Red by Bethan Woollvin. Peachtree Publishers

• Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell. Illustrated by Rafael Lopez. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers

• My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith. Orca Book Publishers

• The Night Gardener by Eric Fan and Terry Fan. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

• Olinguito, de La A a la Z!/Olinguito, from A to Z! by LuLu Delacre. Lee & Low Books/ Children’s Book Press

• One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom. Illustrated by Brendan Wenzel / HarperCollins Children’s/ Katherine Tegen Books

• The Quickest Kid in Clarksville by Pat Zietlow Miller. Illustrated by Frank Morrison / Chronicle Books

• The Secret Subway by Shana Corey. Penguin Random House: Random House Children’s Books / Schwartz & Wade Books

• Swatch by Julia Denos. HarperCollins/ Balzer + Bray

• Tell Me a Tattoo Story by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler. Chronicle Books

• There is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith. Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press

• Thunder Boy, Jr. by Sherman Alexie. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales. Hachette Book Group/ Little Brown Books for Young Readers

• Treat by Mary Sullivan. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers

• Twenty Yawns by Jane Smiley illustrated by Lauren Castillo. Amazon Publishing/ Two Lions

• The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart, illustrated by Sydney Smith. Groundwood Books/ House of Anansi Press

• Yaks Yak by Linda Sue Park. Illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers/ Clarion Books

Fiction

• All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor. HarperCollins Children’s/ Katherine Tegen Books

• As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds. Simon & Schuster/ Atheneum/ Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

• Booked by Kwame Alexander. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers

• The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group / Viking Children’s Books

• The Door by the Staircase Katherine Marsh, illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Disney Book Group/ Hyperion

• Free Verse by Sarah Dooley. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group / G.P. Putnam’s Sons

• The Goblin’s Puzzle: Being the Adventures of a Boy with No Name and Two Girls Called Alice by Andrew S. Chilton. Illustrated by Jensine Eckwall. Penguin Random House: Random House Children’s Books/ Knopf Books for Young Readers

• The Great Pet Escape by Victoria Jamieson. Macmillan/ Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

• Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar. Candlewick Press

• It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers/ Clarion Books

• The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly. Harper Collins Children’s/ Greenwillow Books

• The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge. Harry N. Abrams/ Amulet Books

• Maybe a Fox by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee. Simon & Schuster/ Atheneum/ Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

• The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks and Jordie Bellaire. Macmillan/ First Second

• Once Was a Time by Leila Sales . Chronicle Books

• Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban. Macmillan/ Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers/ Margaret Ferguson Books

• Pax by Sara Pennypacker. Illustrated by Jon Klassen. HarperCollins/ Balzer + Bray

• Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo. Candlewick Press

• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group/ Philomel Books

• Summerlost by Ally Condie . Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group/ Dutton Books for Young Readers

• Weekends with Max and His Dad by Linda Urban, illustrated by Katie Kath. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers

• When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Reders

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. Hachette Book Group/ Little Brown Books for Young Readers

• Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group/ Dutton Books for Young Readers

Nonfiction

• Anything but Ordinary Addie: The True Story of Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic by Mara Rockliff. Illustrated by Iacopo Bruno. Candlewick Press

• The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller. Penguin Random House: Random House Children’s Books / Schwartz & Wade Books

• Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport. Illustrated by Matt Faulkner. Disney Book Group/ Hyperion

• The Extraordinary Suzy Wright: A Colonial Woman on the Frontier by Teri Kanefield. Harry N. Abrams

• Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Bonnier Publishing Group/ Little Bee Books

• Glow: Animals with Their Own Night-Lights by W. H. Beck. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers

• The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins by Sandra Markle. Lerner Publishing Group/ Millbrook Press

• I Am Pan! by Mordicai Gerstein. Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press

• Pink Is For Blobfish: Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals by Jess Keating, illustrated by David DeGrand. Penguin Random House: Random House Children’s Books/ Knopf Books for Young Readers

• Platypus by Sue Whiting. Illustrated by Mark Jackson. Candlewick Press

• Salamander Dance by David FitzSimmons. Illustrated by Michael DiGiorgio. Wild Iris Publishing

• Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/ Paula Wiseman Books

• Ten Days A Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original “Girl” Reporter, Nellie Bly by Deborah Noyes . Penguin Random House: Penguin Young Readers Group / Viking Children’s Books

• This Land Is Our Land: A History of American Immigration by Linda Barret Osborne. Harry N. Abrams

• We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement that Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers/ Clarion Books

• Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton. Illustrated by Don Tate / Charlesbridge Publishing

Poetry

• Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph by Roxane Orgill. Illustrated by Francis Vallejo. Candlewick Press

• Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems by Bob Raczka. Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press

• When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano, pictures by Julie Morstad. Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press/ A Neal Porter Book

• You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford. Simon & Schuster/ Atheneum Books for Young Readers

(You might also be interested in checking out this Prezi of all the titles to be discussed.)

The Notable Children’s Books committee will be meeting Saturday, Sunday, and Monday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 during the ALA Conference in Orlando. The discussions will take place in Room W306 of the Orange County Convention Center.

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Interested in the Notable Children’s Recordings nominees which will be discussed at Annual? Click here.