Children/Young Adult Book Awards: 2006-2009

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Piggie can't wait to go play in the sunshine. But will a rainy day ruin all the fun?

Earl and Pearl are planting pumpkins. Chicken wants to help. But it seems like the only thing Chicken is good at is getting in the way.
Then grasshoppers invade the pumpkin patch, and Earl and Pearl can do nothing to stop them. Suddenly it's up to Chicken to save the day!
This funny and satisfying book is a delightful treat for children just starting to read.

A CLASSIC IN THE MAKING FROM THE 2008 CALDECOTT HONOR WINNERONE BOY is a perfect example of why Kirkus Reviews calls Laura Vaccaro Seeger the "emerging master of the concept book"-a die-cut book exploring counting and words-withinwords, and the power of art and imagination. At the start, readers see a sad boy surrounded by empty, lonely chairs. At his feet is a bag with paint brushes peeking out. The text reads "ONE boy" which-with a turn of the page and a look through a cleverly cut hole-turns into "all alONE." Page after page, the book becomes populated with seals, apes, and monkeys, all examples of words-within-words. Finally, we come back to "ONE boy" who is "all dONE," and we discover where all the characters came from. One Boy is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Stinky is a monster who loves pickles and possums but is terrified of people. When a new kid enters his swamp, this adorable little monster comes up with all sorts of crazy plans to scare him away. But Stinky quickly learns to conquer his fear, as he realizes that bats, rats, and toads aren’t the only friends you can find in the swamp.
This hilarious and heart-warming story by ferociously talented newcomer Eleanor Davis proves that even monsters can make new friends…warts and all!

The wolfsnail hunts its prey: other snails. This true tale of horror begins in the leaf litter beside a quaint porch in Jackson, Mississippi. The wolfsnail is on the prowl. Big, strong, and fast (for a snail), the wolfsnail has a taste for meat. In some areas, it is called the cannibal snail. It has earned the name. Soon, the predator finds the slime trail of a smaller snail and follows the path toward its prey. When the chase ends and the dramatic feast is done, nothing remains of the smaller snail but an empty shell. This photographic story, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, of a day in the life of a wolfsnail offers a unique and dramatic introduction to the food chain. Young readers will be fascinated by this little-known predator and the impact it has had on habitats where it does not belong.

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In There Is a Bird On My Head!, Gerald discovers that there is something worse than a bird on your head—two birds on your head! Can Piggie help her best friend?

WHICH CAME FIRST? The chicken or the egg? Simple die-cuts magically present transformation - from seed to flower, tadpole to frog, caterpillar to butterfly. The acclaimed author of Black? White! Day? Night!and Lemons Are Not Redgives an entirely fresh and memorable presentation to the concepts of transformation and creatiity. Seed becomes flower, paint becomes picture, word becomes story - and the commonplace becomes extraordinary as children look through and turn the pages of this novel and winning book.

My name is Bumblebee Bat.
I may be small,
but I'm a great flyer.
I live in a secret cave with my brothers and sisters.
Want to know more? Then open this book and fly with Bumblebee Bat into the night.
A series of questions and answers introduce children to the life and habitat of the exotic and endangered Bumblebee Bat. Scientifically accurate illustrations make these exotic animals accessible to young readers.
Back matter includes additional child-friendly facts.

With a simple clap of hands, an itty-bitty beboppin' baby gets his whole family singing and dancing. Sister's hands snap. Granny sings scat. Uncle soft-shoes--and Baby keeps the groove. Things start to wind down when Mama and Daddy sing blues so sweet. Now a perfectly drowsy baby sleeps deep, deep, deep. Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie pair up for a celebration of music, imagination, and big families--but they know that even a jazz baby needs to snooze. Oh yeah.

Turkey vultures soar on the balmy air, looking for their next stinky feast. These birds don't hunt - they like their food to be already dead, and their eating habits serve a very important ecological role. Vultures are part of nature's clean-up crew.

The fabulous fox sisters return in three fresh, funny stories perfect for beginning readers. Whether Zelda and Ivy are combating the injustice of cucumber sandwiches for lunch, deciding what to leave the children of the future in their time capsule, or solving Zelda's writer's block, they are sure to tickle the funny bones of both new and returning fans.

Mr. and Mrs. Watson's porcine wonder, Mercy, loves nothing more than a ride in the car. It takes a fair amount of nudging and bribing and a "You are such a good sport, darling" to get the portly pig out of the driver's seat, but once the convertible is on the road, Mercy loves the feel of the wind tickling her ears and the sun on her snout. One day the Watsons' motoring ritual takes an unexpected turn, however, when their elderly neighbor Baby Lincoln pops up in the backseat in hopes of some "folly and adventure" — and in the chaos that ensues, an exuberant Mercy ends up behind the wheel! Soon there's a policeman on her tail, a struggle for the brake, and a blissfully airborne Mercy. Of course, it's nothing that an extra helping of buttered toast can't fix!

It's raining cats and dogs! Good thing Rover is snuggled safe and dry inside his doghouse--until, one by one, a soggy menagerie of creatures shows up looking for a cozy place to sit out the storm. But who's the very unwelcome surprise visitor? Skunk, of course. Suddenly that doghouse isn't quite so crowded after all!

A box is just a box . . . unless it's not a box. From mountain to rocket ship, a small rabbit shows that a box will go as far as the imagination allows.
Inspired by a memory of sitting in a box on her driveway with her sister, Antoinette Portis captures the thrill when pretend feels so real that it actually becomes real-when the imagination takes over and inside a cardboard box, a child is transported to a world where anything is possible.

Since its creation in 1987, the Henry and Mudge series has grown into one of the most beloved and acclaimed beginning-reading series ever. With more than two million copies sold, the American Library Association, the Library of Congress, Parents' Choice,The Horn Book Magazine,the International Reading Association, the American Booksellers Association, and most importantly, the thousands of children who belong to the Henry and Mudge fan club have recommended these wonderful books.

The boy and fly meet and so begins a beautiful friendship. Er, and so begins a very funny friendship. Using hyperbole, puns, slapstick, and silly drawings, bestselling author/illustrator Tedd Arnold creates an easy reader that is full of fun. With an eye-catching holographic cover. This is the first in a series of four.

Bear wants to read and write and think. Goose wants to talk and talk and talk. Can Bear and Goose be friends? Suzanne Bloom's picture book says volumes about friendship with a few select words and charming illustrations in this Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book .

Hold on to your hats! Two new pals have arrived on the scene: Cowgirl Kate and her stubborn, but devoted cowhorse, Cocoa. Together they count the herd, ride the range, and, of course, argue till the cows come home--as only best friends can do.

Amanda Pig and her family and friends try to find different ways to beat the heat.