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Best in New Books 2004-2007
Bonnie Campbell Hill & Laura Benson

BEST SCHOOL TALES (PICTURE BOOKS)
I Am Too Absolutely Small for School by Lauren Child
The Dot and Ish by Peter Reynolds
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, illustrations by Marc Brown
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter
My Librarian Is a Camel by Margriet Ruurs

BEST SCHOOL TALES (NOVELS)
The Worry Web Site by Jacqueline Wilson
The Cheat by Amy Goldman Koss
Lunch Money and The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
Story Time by Edward Bloor
Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell
The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck

BEST NUMERACY/MATH BOOKS
G is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book ~ David Schwartz
Grapes of Math ~ G. Tang
A Million ~ Andrew Clements

BEST CULTURAL CONNECTIONS BOOKS
Am I a Color Too? ~ Heidi Cole & Nancy Vogl
Is There a Human Race? ~ Jamie Lee Curtis
Keep Climbing, Girls ~ Beah Richards

NONFICITON
Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an Adjective? ~ Brian Cleary
It’s Raining Cats & Dogs ~ Spencer Christian
What a Great Idea! Inventions That Changed Our Lives
On Earth ~ Brian Karas


BEST FAIRY TALE/TALL TALE/MYTH/LEGEND
Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale by Lynn Roberts, illustrated by David Roberts
Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen, illustrations by Kadir Nelson
Stone Soup by Jon Muth
Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast by Jane Yolen and Robert Harris
Quicksilver by Stephanie Spinner
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

BEST FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (2003 Newbery Award)
High Rhulain by Brian Jacques
Ptolemy’s Gate by Jonathan Stroud
The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
The Supernaturalist and The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
Pay the Piper by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini
East by Edith Pattou
The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth by J. V. Hart, ill by Brett Helquist
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (2005 Newbery Honor Award)

BEST NEW PICTURE BOOKS
Carmine: A Little More Read by Melissa Sweet
No Dogs Allowed! by Sonia Manzano, illustrated by Jon Muth
The Pickle Patch Bathtub by Frances Kennedy, illustrated by Sheila Aldridge
Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent by Lauren Child
How Much? Visiting Markets Around the World by Ted Lewin
Letter From a Desperate Dog by Eileen Christelow

BEST NEW FICTION (NOVELS)
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech
Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Here Today by Ann Martin
Bindi Babes and Bollywood Babes by Narinder Dhami
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (Newbery Honor 2004)
Jackie’s Wild Seattle and Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs
Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen
How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Pirates! by Celia Rees
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E. L. Konigsburg
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt (Newbery Honor 2004)
Scrib by David Ives
The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Couloumbis
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park
Replay by Sharon Creech
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Silverfin by Charlie Higson
Small Steps by Louis Sachar
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION AND BIOGRAPHIES (PICTURE BOOKS)
Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd
Hallelujah Handel by Edouglas Cowling, illustrated by Jason Walker
Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America by Sharon Robinson
John’s Secret Dreams by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott

BEST UNTOLD TALES
Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist by Lesa Cline-Ransome, ill by James Ransome
A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet by Kathryn Lasky,
illustrated by Paul Lee
If the Walls Could Talk by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Gary Hovland
The Darling Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter by Bonnie Christensen
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
Luba, The Angel of Bergen-Belsen, told to Michelle McCann by Luba Tryszynska-
Frederick, illustrated by Ann Marshall
Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Tsunami: Helping Each Other by Ann Morris and Heidi Larson
Owen and Mzee by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff and Paula Kahumbu, photographs by Peter Greste
The Milestone Project, photographs by Richard Steckel and Michele Steckel

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION (including contemporary issues in other countries)
Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer
Shakespeare’s Spy by Gary Blackwood
The Trial by Jen Bryant
Boston Jane: The Claim by Jennifer Holm
The River Between Us by Richard Peck
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Mud City by Deborah Ellis
Under the Sun by Arthur Dorros
Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton (Prinz Honor)
Our Secret, Siri Aang by Cristina Kessler
Napoleon and Josephine by Gerald and Loretta Hausman
Betsy and the Emperor by Staton Rabin
The Vanishing Point by Louise Hawes
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff
Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer
Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples
The Diary of Ma Yan by Ma Yan
Troy and Ithaka by Adele Geras

BEST POETRY
Wonderful Words by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Karen Barbour
In the Land of Words by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early Spring by Ralph Fletcher
A Writing Kind of Day: Poems for Young Poets by Ralph Fletcher
Least Things: Poems About Small Natures by Jane Yolen, photos Jason Stemple
Definitions by Sara Holbrook
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Coretta Scott King Honor)
A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms selected by Paul Janeczko, illustrated by Chris Raschka
Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Lauren Stringer

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
A Heart Divided by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld
The Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper (Coretta Scott King Honor)
Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman
Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner
Boy 2 Girl by Terence Blacker
After by Francine Prose
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson (Coretta Scott King Award and Prinz)
The Geography Club and The Order of the Poison Oak by Brent Hartinger
Boy Meets Boy and The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan
Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins
Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going (Prinz Honor)
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (Prinz)
Fat Boy Swim by Catherine Forde
The Flip Side by Andrew Matthews
Breakout by Paul Fleischman
Last Chance Texaco by Brent Hartinger
Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson
Pictures in the Dark by Patricia McCord
Inside Out by Terry Trueman
So B. It by Sarah Weeks
The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O’Roark Dowell
One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
The Legend of the Wandering King by Laura Gallego Garcia
Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer
Totally Joe by James Howe
The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher
Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks
Wild Roses by Deb Caletti

BEST ADULT BOOKS
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses by Indu Sundaresan
Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
Naked in Baghdad by Anne Garrels
True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid’s Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Me and Emma by Elizabeth Flock
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

New "Best Books" for 2008 coming soon!