ALA 2007 Notable Children's Books for Older Readers

 

Avi. Crispin: At the Edge of the World. Hyperion. (0-7868-5152-X).

In fourteenth-century England, Crispin and his friend Bear face danger as they flee from their enemies to the coast in order to find freedom and safety. 

 

Bausum, Ann. Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement. illus. National Geographic. (0-7922-4173-8).

The 1961 Freedom Rides come to life through the unflinching personal stories of two men united for a common cause. The dynamic book design includes civil rights song lyrics, firsthand accounts, and provocative black-and-white photographs layered with lavender-and-gray panels. Exemplary documentation and end notes further illuminate the journey. Sibert Honor Book and a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Bondoux, Anne-Laure. The Killer’s Tears. Tr. by Y. Maudet. Delacorte. (0-385-73293-7).

After his parents are murdered by itinerant criminal Angel, young Paolo and the killer haltingly discover their capacity for love and forgiveness. The two tempt fate when they accept a stranger into their lives and then venture beyond their bleak homestead on the southern tip of Chile. Batchelder Honor Book and a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Budhos, Marina. Ask Me No Questions. Simon & Schuster/Ginee Seo. (1-4169-0351-8).

In the wake of 9/11, with their father detained at the Canadian border, Nadira and her sister navigate tense circumstances as they seek their father’s release. YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. 

 

Coombs, Kate. The Runaway Princess. Farrar. (0-374-35546-0).

By competing in the contest herself, Princess Meg foils her father’s plans to marry her to the prince who destroys a dragon, a witch, and a group of bandits.

 

Cottrell Boyce, Frank. Framed. HarperCollins. (0-06-073402-7).

The transformative powers of art and soccer receive due appreciation in this very funny tale of how one small Welsh town is brought to life when the National Gallery moves into the mountain next door.

 

DeMari, Silvana. The Last Dragon. Tr. by Shaun Whiteside. Hyperion/Miramax. (0-7868-3636-9).

With the help of two bewildered but kindly humans and, later, a feisty orphan, a young elf and irascible dragon, attempt to fulfill a prophecy that tests their courage and resilience. The tale offers adventure, romance, and a wonderfully realized magical world. Batchelder Honor Book.

 

Ellis, Sarah. Odd Man Out. Groundwood. (0-88899-702-7).

While spending the summer on an island in British Columbia with his grandmother and five girl cousins, Kip finds a lively family and a disturbing secret about his father.

 

Fleischman, Sid. Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini. illus. Greenwillow. (0-06-085094-9).

Harry Houdini’s journey from poverty to world renown is dramatically captured by a fine writer and fellow magician. YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Fradin, Judith Bloom and Fradin, Dennis Brindell. Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy. illus. Clarion. (0-618-50436-2).

In a well-documented biography, the Fradins trace Jane Addams' life from her awkward childhood to her accomplishments as social activist, pacifist, and winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Freedman, Russell. The Adventures of Marco Polo. Illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. (0-439-52394-X).

This gorgeously illustrated volume leads readers from thirteenth-century Venice to the Far East and back, asking them to consider this question: Was Marco Polo the world’s greatest explorer or the world’s biggest liar?

 

Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. illus. Holiday. (0-8234-2031-0).

The story of the civil rights movement’s landmark victory is told through the eyes of the people who were there. YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Holm, Jennifer L. Penny from Heaven. Random. (0-375-83687-X).

Eleven-year-old Penny looks forward to spending the summer rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers and scheming with her cousin Frankie. Instead, she navigates the space between her two families and uncovers the reason for their estrangement in this funny, touching tale of intergenerational love, set in 1953. Newbery Honor Book.

 

Hopkinson, Deborah. Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America. illus. Scholastic Nonfiction. (0-439-63901-8).

The voices of Slaves, sharecroppers, and millworkers trace the threads of cotton from the Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression. YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Krull, Kathleen. Isaac Newton. Illus. by Boris Kulikov. Viking. (0-670-05921-8).

This entry in the Giants of Science series offers readers an engaging and elucidating account of the great physicist’s life and works.

 

Larson, Kirby. Hattie Big Sky. Delacorte. (0-385-73313-5).

Sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks is looking for a place to belong—a home. In 1918, she leaves Iowa for the Montana prairie, where she strives to forge a new life. Told in first-person narrative and distinguished by vivid imagery and careful attention to historical detail, this memorable novel portrays her struggle to prove her claim. Newbery Honor Book and a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Lowry, Lois. Gossamer. Houghton/Walter Lorraine. (0-618-68550-2).

In this story of abuse, love, and patience, Littlest One and Thin Elderly, both dream givers, come into the lives of three people and work their transformative magic.

 

Lupica, Mike. Heat. Philomel. (0-399-24301-1).

A refugee from Cuba, 12-year-old Michael Arroyo is a pitching prodigy whose right to play Little League baseball is challenged by a hostile coach.

 

Mourlevat, Jean-Claude. The Pull of the Ocean. Trans. by Y. Maudet. Delacorte. (0-385-73348-8).

This contemporary version of the Tom Thumb story follows charismatic Yann, the youngest and smallest of seven brothers, as he silently leads his siblings across the rain-soaked French countryside. Their harrowing flight from abusive parents is described through the boys' recollections and the distinctive voices of those who witness or abet their journey. Batchelder Award Book.

 

Paulsen, Gary. The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Famous Marshal in the West. Random/Wendy Lamb. (0-385-74661-X).

A man who was born a slave and survived in the wilderness of the American West becomes one of the most successful lawmen of his time, a real hero.

 

Pearsall, Shelley. All of the Above: A Novel. Illus. by Javaka Steptoe. Little, Brown. (0-316-11524-X).

In alternating voices, students in an urban middle school tell of their triumphant construction of the world's largest tetrahedron and the way the project changed their lives.

 

Pratchett, Terry. Wintersmith. HarperTempest. (0-06-089031-2).

Thirteen-year-old Tiffany Aching didn’t mean to make the Wintersmith fall in love with her—it just happened. But now Winter holds the world in his frozen fist, all for the love of Tiffany. What’s an apprentice witch to do? YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Reeve, Philip. Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space. Illus. by David Wyatt. Bloomsbury. (1-59990-020-3).

A rip-snorting Victorian science fiction adventure pulls out all the stops as Art and his big sister, Myrtle, strive to save the British Empire and its planetary territories from a race of sinister, space-going white spiders.

 

Roy, Jennifer. Yellow Star. Marshall Cavendish. (0-7614-5277-X).

This free-verse novel recounts the life of four-year-old Syvia and her family, who are forced to live in the Lodz Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

 

Rubin, Susan Goldman. Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter. illus. Abrams. (0-8109-5477-X).

A strikingly designed biography explores the development of the Pop artist whose paintings of mundane objects had a radical impact on our thinking about art.

 

Salisbury, Graham. House of the Red Fish. Random/Wendy Lamb. (0-385-73121-3).

One year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 13-year-old Tomi Nakaji is determined to raise his father's fishing boat, which was sunk by the army in the wake of the attack. A sequel to Under the Blood-Red Sun.

 

Todd, Mark and Watson, Esther Pearl. Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? The Art of Making Zines and Mini-Comics. illus. Houghton/Graphia. (0-618-56315-6).

Dive into this how-to guide for creating and appreciating the zine alternative art-form.

 

Walker, Paul Robert. Remember Little Bighorn: Indians, Soldiers, and Scouts Tell Their Stories. illus. National Geographic. (0-7922-5521-6).

Enriched by historical quotes, photographs, and drawings by battle warriors, this book offers an insightful examination of the bloody battles at Little Bighorn in 1876.

 

Winthrop, Elizabeth. Counting on Grace. Random/Wendy Lamb. (0-385-74644-X).

Grace Forcier and her family withstand the living and working conditions in a Vermont textile mill town in the early 1900s.  When Lewis Hine and his camera come to visit, she dares to hope for a better life.