A "Little Bit of Heaven"
in 2011

Grades K-2

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith.
Roaring Brook (9781596436077)
A topiary garden illustrates the events of an older man's life.

Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator by Mo Willems.
HarperCollins (9780062004000)
6 1/2 surprising stories tell the truth about a friendship between a child and
her special toy.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.
Candlewick (9780763655983)
Bear has lost his hat, and the animals (watch out for rabbit) have not seen it.

Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell.
Little, Brown (9780316045469)
Young Jane Goodall observes nature, reads Tarzan books, and dreams of
helping animals in Africa.

Nursery Rhyme Comics by various illustrators.
First Second (9781596436008)
50 cartoonists retell 50 timeless rhymes. "Not your mother's Mother
Goose."

Perfect Square by Michael Hall.
Greenwillow (9780061915130)
A square can quickly and easily become so many things.

Press Here by Hervé Tullet.
Chronicle Books (9780811879545)
Press, push, rub, blow to move the dots in this interactive book that uses
the imagination.

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw.
Illustrated by Eugene Yelchin.
Holt (9780805089950)
Haiku tells about the cat who moved from a shelter into the heart of her
new owner.

Grades 3-5

E-Mergency by Tom Lichtenheld.
Illustrated by Ezra Fields-Meyer.
Chronicle (9780811878982)
When the letter, E, is injured, the others letters try to take its place.

Everything On It by Shel Silverstein.
HarperCollins (9780061998171)
Poems funny and serious explore the many difficulties and joys of being young and growing up.

The Flint Heart by Katherine and John Paterson.
Candlewick (9780763647124)
When a farmer finds the flint heart that brings power and despair, his children try to change its magic.

The House That Baba Built by Ed Young and Liby Koponen.
Little, Brown (9780316076289)
A portrait of an artist growing up in China who acknowledges the wisdom of his father.

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall.
Knopf (9780375858512)
Most of the Penderwicks spend the summer with Aunt Claire in Maine, along with their old friend, Jeffrey.

PIE by Sarah Weeks.
Scholastic (9780545270113)
Alice's beloved Aunt Polly taught her about pie, giving and happiness in life.

Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling.
Tricycle (9781582464381)
Sylvia, who must go to the Mexican school, and Aki, moved to a Japanese internment camp, tell how their race affected their lives.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick.
Scholastic (9780545027892)
Two hearing-impaired children, living 50 years apart, resolve their personal dilemmas in the American Museum of Natural History.

Grades 5-8

Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming.
Random (9780375841989)
The life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Farrar (978037437993)
Jack is grounded except to help an elderly neighbor who sends him on one adventure after another.

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
Knopf (9780375968709)
Time travel sends three kids back to when the town was held captive by an evil witch.

Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson.
HarperCollins (9780061730740)
The story of America and African Americans from its proudest moments to its most shameful.

How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg.
Walker (9780802798176)
A description of the fatal maladies that ended the lives of 19 historical figures.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai.
HarperCollins (9780061962783)
Poetic verses tell of a family's flight from Saigon and its few few months in the United States.

Never Forgotten by Patricia McKissack.
Random (9780375843846)
What the Africans who were left behind remembered about those who were taken to be slaves.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.
Clarion (9780547152608)
Doug makes a quirky friend, is introduced to Audubon's birds, and finds his true self in spite of his father.

Wildwood by Colin Meloy.
Illustrated by Carson Ellis.
HarperCollins
When her brother is abducted by crows, Prue must enter the Impassable Wilderness to save him.