Take 10: Children’s books

What happens when Daisy’s ball is destroyed? When all the lights go out? When a family must flee their homeland? Adventure happens, that’s what – and so does discovery, learning and joy. Buy a child and book and ask to share an hour. Here, a few of the recent best, for tots, teens and you. 

A Ball for Daisy
by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011) $16.99 Caldecott Medal

Blackout
by John Rocco (Disney Hyperion Books, 2011) $16.99 Caldecott Honor

Where Things Come Back
by John Corey Waley (Atheneum, 2012) $8.99 Printz Award

Grandpa Green
by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook Press, 2011) $16.99 Caldecott Honor

Dead End in Norvelt
by Jack Gantos (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011) $15.99 Newbery Medal

Breaking Stalin’s Nose
by Eugene Yelchin (Henry Holt and Co., 2011) $15.99 Newbery Honor

Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2011) $16.99 Newbery Honor

Rotters, the audio book
written by Daniel Kraus, narrated by Kirby Heyborne (Random House audio, 2011) $35 Odyssey Award

The Notorious Benedict Arnold
by Steve Sheinkin (Flash Point, 2010) $19.99 YALSA Award for young adult nonfiction

Me! Jane
by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown and Co., 2011) $15.99 Caldecott Honor

This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2012.