This document provides a summary of notable children's fiction and picture books from 2009 and 2010. It describes 20 picture books and 3 novels for children, giving brief descriptions of the plot or theme of each work. Some of the highlighted picture books include Shark vs. Train, The Fox and the Hen, Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t), and The Boss Baby. The highlighted novels include Cosmic, The Night Fairy, and One Crazy Summer. The document was compiled by a children's librarian to recommend new children's literature selections from those years.

1. Some of the Best Children’s Fiction of 2009 and 2010
Books and Brunch
October 1, 2010
Compiled by: Jennie Dunn M/RCPL Children’s Assistant
Picture Books:
Barton, Chris. Shark vs. Train (JE Bar)
Illustrated by: Tom Lichtenheld
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010 ISBN 9780316007627
A shark and a train compete in a series of contests on a seesaw, in
hot air balloons, bowling, shooting baskets, playing hide-and-seek,
and more.
Battut, Eric. The Fox and the Hen (JE Bat)
Boxer Books Limited : New York : Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by
Sterling Publishing Co., 2010. ISBN 9781907152023
"Crafty Red Fox has taken Henrietta Hen's beautiful egg. Now
Henrietta and her friends must come up with a cunning plan to trick
Red Fox into giving it back"
Bottner, Barbara. Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t ) (JE Bot)
Illustrated by: Michael Emberley
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. ISBN 9780375846823
A first-grade girl who does not like to read stubbornly resists her
school librarian's efforts to convince her to love books until she finds
one that might change her mind.
Braun, Sebastien. Back to Bed, Ed! (JE Bra)
Atlanta : Peachtree Publishers, 2010. ISBN 9781561455188
Ed the mouse will not sleep in his own bed, until eventually his
exasperated and tired parents find a way to keep him from joining
them in the middle of the night.
Cousins, Lucy. I’m the Best (JE Cou)
Somerville : Candlewick Press, 2010. ISBN 9780763646844
When Dog's constant boasting makes his friends sad, they find a
way to teach him what it means to be a good friend.

2. Fleming, Candace. Clever Jack takes the Cake (JE Fle)
Illustrated by: G. Brian Karas
New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, 2010. ISBN 9780375849794
A poor boy named Jack struggles to deliver a birthday present
worthy of the princess.
Frazee, Marla. The Boss Baby (JE Fra)
New York : Beach Lane Books, 2010. ISBN 9781442401679
From the moment he arrives, it is obvious that the new baby is boss
and he gets whatever he wants, from drinks made-to-order around
the clock to his executive gym.
French, Vivian. Yucky Worms (JE Fre)
Illustrated by: Jessica Ahlberg
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2010 ISBN 9780763644468
While helping Grandma in the garden, a child learns about the
important role of the earthworm in helping plants grow.
Gravett, Emily. Dogs (JE Gra)
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010
ISBN 9781416987031
Big dogs, small dogs, stripy dogs, spotty dogs. There are so many
different kinds of dogs. How can anyone pick one type of dog to
love the most?
Guiberson, Brenda Z. Moon Bear (JE Gui)
Illustrated by: Ed Young
New York : Holt, c2010. ISBN 9780805089776
Moon bears, or Asiatic black bears, are becoming increasingly rare
in the wild. Follow one moon bear in the wild as she eats, plays,
hibernates, and wakes up again in the spring.
Henkes, Kevin. My Garden (JE Hen)
New York : Greenwillow Books, 2010. ISBN 9780061715174
After helping her mother weed, water, and chase the rabbits from
their garden, a young girl imagines her dream garden complete
with jellybean bushes, chocolate rabbits, and tomatoes the size of
beach balls.

3. Kerley, Barbara. The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) (JE Ker)
Illustrated by: Edwin Fotheringham
New York : Scholastic Press, 2010. ISBN 9780545125086
Thirteen-year-old Susy Clemens wants the world to know that her
papa, Mark Twain, is more than just a humorist and sets out to write a
comprehensive biography of the American icon.
McCarty, Peter. Henry in Love (JE McC)
New York : Balzer & Bray, 2010. ISBN 9780061142888
On the first day of school, Henry the cat vies for the attention of the
most amazing girl in class, Chloe Rabbit.
McCully, Emily Arnold. Wonder Horse [the True Story of the World’s Smartest
Horse] (JE McC)
New York : Henry Holt, 2010. ISBN 9780805087932
fictionalized account of Bill "Doc" Key, a former slave who became a
veterinarian, trained his horse, Jim Key, to recognize letters and
numbers and to perform in skits around the country, and moved the
nation toward a belief in treating animals humanely.
Proimos, James. Todd’s TV (JE Pro)
New York : Katherine Tegen Books, 2010. ISBN 9780061709852
When Todd's parents are too busy to take care of him, his television
steps in to handle the parenting.
Rostoker-Gruber, Karen. Bandit’s Surprise (JE Ros)
Illustrated by: Vincent Nguyen
New York : Marshall Cavendish, 2010. ISBN 9780761456230
When Michelle brings home a new kitten, her cat Bandit is not at all
pleased to share his home and water dish, and absolutely refuses to
share his favorite toy mouse.
Samuels, Barbara. The Trucker (JE Sam)
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. ISBN 9780374378042
A boy who loves trucks is disappointed when he receives a cat
named Lola instead of a toy fire truck, but Lola proves to be a
"trucker" after all.

4. Schoenherr, Ian. Don’t Spill the Beans (JE Sch)
New York : Greenwillow Books, 2010. ISBN 9780061724572
A bear tries hard to keep a birthday surprise a secret.
Shea, Bob. Oh, Daddy! (JE She)
New York : Balzer & Bray, 2010. ISBN 9780061730801
A young hippopotamus shows his father the right way to do things,
such as getting dressed, watering the flowers, and especially giving
big hugs.
Williams, Karen Lynn. A Beach Tail (JE Wil)
Honesdale, Pa. : Boyds Mills Press, 2010. ISBN 9781590787120
When his father tells him not to leave the lion he is drawing on the
beach, a little boy starts making a very, very long tail--and a trail to
follow back.
Thomson, Bill. Chalk (JE Tho)
New York : Marshall Cavendish, 2010. ISBN 9780761455264
A wordless picture book about three children who go to a park on a
rainy day, find some chalk, and draw pictures that come to life.
Voake, Steve. Insect Detective (JE Voa)
Illustrated by: Charlotte Voake
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2010. ISBN 9780763644475
All around you there are thousands of strange and wonderful insects.
Become an insect detective and find out just what the insects around
you are up to!
Willems, Mo. City Dog, Country Frog (JE Wil)
Illustrated by: Jon J. Muth
New York : Hyperion Books for Children, c2010.ISBN 9781423103004
Through the seasons, whenever City Dog visits the country he runs
straight for Country Frog's rock to play games with him, but during the
winter things change for them both.
Winter, Jonah. Here Comes the Garbage Barge! (JE Win)
Illustrated by: Red Nose Studio
New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, 2010. ISBN 9780375852183

5. In the spring of 1987, the town of Islip, New York, with no place for its
3,168 tons of garbage, loads it on a barge that sets out on a 162-day
journey along the east coast, around the Gulf of Mexico, down to
Belize, and back again, in search of a place willing to accept and
dispose of its very smelly cargo.
Wiviott, Meg. Benno and the Night of Broken Glass (JE Wiv)
Illustrated by: Josée Bisaillon
Minneapolis : Kar-Ben Pub., 2010. ISBN 9780822599296
In 1938 Berlin, Germany, a cat sees Rosenstrasse change from a
peaceful neighborhood of Jews and Gentiles to an unfriendly place
where, one November night, men in brown shirts destroy Jewish-
owned businesses and arrest or kill Jewish people. Includes facts
about Kristallnacht and a list of related books and web resources.
Fiction:
Cottrell Boyce, Frank. Cosmic (J C851)
New York, NY : Walden Pond Press, 2010. ISBN 9780061836831
12-year old Liam looks like he's thirty. Sometimes it's not bad; for
example on the first day of school the principal mistakes Liam for a
teacher or when he convinces a car dealer to let him test drive a
Porsche. So feeling like he's stuck between two worlds, Liam cons his
way into being the adult chaperone on the first space ship to take
civilians into space. But when the ship is stuck 230,000 miles from
home, being mistaken for an adult is not good.
Schlitz, Laura Amy. The Night Fairy (J S344)
Illustrated by: Angela Barrett
Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2010. ISBN 9780763636746
When Flory the night fairy's wings are accidentally broken and she
cannot fly, she has to learn to do everything differently.
Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer (J W721)
New York : HarperCollins, 2010. ISBN 9780060760885
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland,
California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know,
eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold
welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and
printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to
attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.