What's New in Children's Literature 2009

Stephanie Horal, Woodward Park

Noted children’s literature expert and librarian, Dr. Peggy Sharp, presented an annual Bureau of Education & Research workshop in Fresno on January 21, 2009. The workshop is an excellent introduction to the best in children’s literature published in 2008. Over 9,000 children’s books were published in 2008, and Dr. Sharp highlighted the best books in her workshop and selected the ten best for her “Best of 2008” list. Participants were given a resource handbook, which gives a survey of new books, selection strategies, ideas to promote good books to readers, and strategies for using new books in programs. Sharp said many new good books have been published on Abraham Lincoln because of the bicentennial of his birth. Electronic resources were given for children’s book blogs, author/illustrator websites, and booktitle/series websites. The workshop is always entertaining and informative. For more information about the workshop contact Stephanie Horal, Woodward Park Library.

Peggy Sharp’s “Ten Best for 2008”:

Picture Book
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, a Tall Thin Tale by Deborah Hopkinson
Black Book of Colors by Menena Cotton
One, Two Buckle My Shoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines
Turtle’s Penguin Day by Valeri Gorbachev

Fiction
Gully’s Travels by Tor Seidler
London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
Masterpiece by Elise Broach

Nonfiction
Lady Liberty: a Biography by Doreen Rappaport
We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson

Graphic Novel
Into the Volcano by Don Woods