These lists of favorites, compiled by children's literature experts from across the country, will keep your children busy and engaged all year long.
1996 Newbery Honorees
(for outstanding children's fiction)
Medalist
Cushman, Karen. "Midwife's Apprentice." An earthy view of life in the Middle Ages (for older students).
Honor Books
Murphy, Jim. "The Great Fire." Child abuse as seen through the eyes of Jamie, as he, his mother and her baby leave an abusive situation.
Fenner, Carol. "Yolanda's Genius." Overweight fifth-grader helps her younger brother express himself in music.
1996 Caldecott Honorees
(for outstanding illustrated books)
Medalist
Rathman, Gloria. "Officer Buckle and Gloria." A policeman and a dog visit schools and give safety tips.
Honor Books
Johnson, Stephen. "Alphabet City." Finding alphabet on signs in the city.
Stevens, J. "Tops and Bottoms." Southern folk tale about Bear and Rabbit.
San Souci, Robert. "The Faithful Friend." Two friends who try to protect each other against voodoo in Martinique.
Moss, Lloyd. "Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin." Information about instruments in a rhyming story.
Recommended Titles: Grades K-3
Compiled by Mary Lou Boettchei Mesa Education Association, from among books selected as favorites by children through a program of the Arizona Library Association:
Cutler, Jane. "Darcy and Gran Don't Like Babies." After Darcy gives her reasons for not liking babies, she goes to the park with Gran and changes her mind.
Irbinskas, Heather. "How Jackrabbit Got His Very Long Ears." Jackrabbit listens only part of the time to the Great Spirit. He therefore tells three animals the wrong reasons for their differences. It is then his ears become long.
Rhee, Nami. "Magic Spring." A folk tale of Korea.
James, Betsy. "Mary Ann." After her best friend moves Amy's father helps her to find a new friend -- a praying mantis.
Ehlert, Lois. "Moon Rope." A tiger and a mole try to reach the moon. What happens to each is explained.
Aylesworth, Jim. "Old Black Fly." Alphabet book in rhyme which shows what happens to the fly.
Mazer, Ana. "Salamander Room." How a boy's room changes so he can keep a pet salamander.
Baylor, Byrd. "The Table Where Rich People Sit." An Arizona author who describes the desert in poetic fashion and why a family is rich even though they have little money.
Houston, Gloria. "My Great Aunt Arizona." A bio-graphical setting of an early teacher based on facts.
Trivizas, Eugene. "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig." A take off on the story of the three little pigs.
Carle, Eric. "The Very Lonely Firefly." Looks for other fireflies who are like him.
Polacco, Patricia. "Chicken Sunday." Tells of two friends and spending Sunday together.
Harris, Marian. "Goose and the Mountain Lion." Pioneer family tries many "watch" animals. The goose is the one that scares the mountain lion away.
Hafner, Marylin. "Mommies Don't Get Sick." Tells of a day when Mommy is sick and what happens at the home.
Recommended Titles: Grades 3-6
Bunting, Eve. "Hideout." A boy runs away from home, hides in very fancy hotel room and finds consequences for himself and his family.
Coville, Bruce. "Aliens Ate My Homework." Typical Coville book of how a boy tries to place blame on outer space.
Heese, Karen. "Letters From Rifka." With humor, story of World War II as seen by a child.
MacLachlan, Patricia. "Baby." Baby left at doorstep and family who cares for it.
Park, Barbara. "Junie B. Jones and Stupid Smelly Bus." Junie B. is a larger-than-life kindergartener who has many adventures.
Polacco, Patricia. "Pink and Say." A story of Civil War when an Afro-American and Anglo become friends and try to save each other.
Spinelli, Jerry. "Fourth Grade Rats." Story of students in fourth grade and mischief they can have.
Namioka, Lensey. "Yang, the Youngest and His Terrible Ear." A Japanese-American boy from a musical family discovers he has other talents and an Anglo-American discovers that music is for him.
Paterson, Katherine. "Flip Flop Girl." A story of a girl who is staying with her grandmother and can't understand why a new classmate who wears flip-flops is always in trouble.
Hahn, Mary Downing. "Time for Andrew." A story of a boy visiting his aunt in Missouri who is a time visitor.
Park, Barbara. "Nick Harte Was Here." Another story of school children by an Arizona Author.
Thomas, Jane Resh. "The Princess in the Pig Pen." A princess from the 17th century finds that she is in the 20th century at a farm in Iowa. Her adventures make an exciting, unusual story.
Conly, Jane Leslie. "Crazy Lady." Two boys become friends despite the fact that one is retarded. They become students of a retired teacher in the neighbor-hood. Excellent character study.
Recommended Titles: Grades 7-9
Compiled by Joanne Sutton, Moscow Elementary School, Moscow, Idaho:
Avi. "Blue Heron." Maggie, who believes in magic, finds a mysterious bird, a puzzling friend and a secret hiding place.
Bennett, Jay. "Skinhead." When a Seattle police detective calls Jonathan Atwood to tell him that an anonymous man's dying wish is to meet Jonathan, Jonathan is caught up in a racist conspiracy. Jay Bennett is a good author for readers who want to get into the action from page one.
Coville, Bruce. "Aliens Ate My Homework." Rod's brain said, "Run, you fool! Run!" But his body just shakes as a two-inch high creature steps out of the space craft.
Lowery, Lois. "Number the Stars." Annemarie must find a way to saver her Jewish friend and her family from being taken by the Nazis during the Holocaust. A dangerous journey in the dark night could cost all of them their lives.
Mikaelsen, Ben. "Sparrow Hawk Red." Thirteen-year-old Ricky, the Mexican-American son of a former Drug Enforcement Agency officer, tries to avenge his mother's murder by crossing over into Mexico to steal a high--tech radar plane from drug smugglers.
Paulson, Gary. "The River." Brian, hero of Newbery Honor book Hatchet, again has his life pitted against the northern wilderness.
Rinaldi, Ann. "Wolf by the Ears."Harriet Hemings, rumored to be the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, one of his black slaves, struggles with the problems facing her-her life at Monticello is pleas-ant, but if she stays she will be a slave.
Sherlock, Patti. "Four of a Kind." This Idaho author weaves an exciting story of 12-year-old Andy and his ream of winning a horse-pulling contest with twin Percherons.
Taylor, Theodore. "The Cay." After a shipwreck in the Caribbean, only a black West Indian can save Phillip's life. These two are the only survivors on the island and blind Phillip must accept help from Timothy whom he as always looked down on.
Van der Rol, Ruud and Rian Verhoeven. "Anne Frank. Beyond the Diary." Students who have read Anne Frank's diary will appreciate these photographs of Anne's early life and of the secret annex. The story of how the diary came to be published is also interesting.
Voigt, Cynthia. "Izzy, Willy-Nilly." Izzy has everything: friends, cheerleading, and a date with Marco. But her life is changed forever when Marco's drunk driving cripples her for life.
Yolen, Jane. "The Devil's Arithmetic." Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel aces her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Recommended Titles: Grades 9-12
Anderson, William C. "Lady Bluebeard." Idaho's first and most famous serial killer, Lyda Southard, is aptly portrayed in this biography. Not only did she kill her husbands with arsenic, she escaped from the Idaho State Penitentiary as well.
Carter, Peter. "The Hunted." September 1943: Italian troops are fleeing German-occupied France when a car crash changes Corporal Vito Salvani's retreat plans. He now is in charge of a Jewish orphan, Judah, and both of them are being hunted by a crazy Nazi agent.
Crutcher, Chris. "Ironman." Hot off the press! Bo Brewster is suspended from high school for calling his coach a name. His upset father sides with the coach. Meanwhile, Bo must attend Anger Management where a group of peers reveal their abused lives and end up helping Bo prepare for his dream-the triathlon.
Dorris, Michael. "A Yellow Raft on Blue Water." Rayona, Christina, and Aunt Ida, whose lives are connected by love, hate, secrets, and misunderstandings tell a story of three generations of proud American Indian women trying to find their places in the world.
Fromm, Pete. "Indian Creek Chronicles." A college stu-dent is hired to tend salmon eggs in the Selway--Bitterroot wilderness and live in a tent from October to June. He has no idea what he is in store for, figuring he will be like the mountain men he has read about; but it doesn't work that way.
Klass, David. "California Blue." Seventeen-year-old John Rodgers discovers a new species of butterfly on lumbermill property. As he tries to protect the insect, he and his ailing millworker father are forced to take opposite sides.
Koller, Jackie French. "The Primrose Way." Set in Massachusetts in the 1600's, Rebekah comes from England to join her father in the Puritan settlement. Chastised many times for her "unwomanly" behavior, Rebekah questions her religious beliefs and falls in love with the Pawtuckett tribe's holy man.
Pice, Sue. "The Last Oasis." Phoenix and Madonna are teenagers living in environmentally decimated Portland, Oregon. Determined to escape an almost certain sentence of labor in toxic waste dumps, they tempt a daring escape to the last green spot on the continent - a hydroponics lab in Idaho.
Sebestyn, Ouida. "Out of Nowhere." Four engaging characters (and one dog) are brought together as a result of abandonment and desertion. Each one has been hurt deeply and must battle anger and distrust in order to learn to love again.
Tolan, Stephanie. "Plague Year." Bran Slocum is an immediate target for bullies when he moves to Ridgewood. When the town finds out that his father is serial killer, the adults join in the harassment. Violence and tragedy can't be avoided, even when his one friend in town, Molly Pepper, tries to help.