The Fox and the Star

by Coralie Bickford-Smith

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I'm not really sure that this is a kids' book at all. Will little readers or big ones most appreciate its simple fable of courage and friendship and its intricate, exquisite illustrations? "Illustrations" doesn't seem sufficient to describe the beautiful, Victorian-inspired prints that fill each page with a filigree of leaves, stars, and soil, with bright splashes of color that appear like visitations from another dimension. It's an object you have to hold it in your hands to fully appreciate. (3 and up) —Tom
 

The War That Saved My Life

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

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In this heart-wrenching, pulse-pounding story of a brother and sister evacuated from London to the countryside during World War II, Bradley's storytelling is pitch-perfect: she reveals Ada's feelings, as she masters her physical disability and battles with the complex emotions she has about her abusive mother, in a way that is intense but understandable for middle readers, and her exploration of the larger war around her is serious but always suspenseful. There's also humor and uplift, but thankfully no sentimentality. It's an ideal book for any young horse lover, junior WWII buff, or budding Anglophile. And don't be scared away by the difficult topics. Kids never are. (Age 9 to 12—and up) —Liz

Home

by Carson Ellis

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You don't need to know that Carson Ellis is the hip Portland illustrator for the Wildwood series and the band the Decembrists to appreciate her delightful solo picture book debut. Beginning with the most everyday of examples, a home in the country and one in the city, her tour quickly whirls away to more fanciful locales, while always remaining grounded in the shared elements of domesticity. After all, even such bizarre creatures as a Norse god, a Slovakian duchess, a bee, and an artist need somewhere to live. (4 to 8) —Tom

Shackleton's Journey

by William Grill

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Well, here's a book unlike any other. Ernest Shackleton's heroic failure to cross Antarctica has drawn many chroniclers, but none like William Grill, a young illustrator who just won the Greenaway Medal (the British equivalent of the Caldecott) for this dazzlingly drawn account of the expedition. With well-chosen facts and a mastery of both large and small scales—one colored-pencil spread features a tiny rescue boat on a vast and rough sea, while another portrays and names all of the crew's 69 dogs—it's a picture book, but one that older readers and lovers of adventure will get lost in for hours and hours. (Ages 6 and up) —Tom

Indi Surfs

by Chris Gorman

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Wow, this book just jumps off the shelf! The Day-Glo realism of surf-dad Gorman's illustrations explode his simple, boldface story of paddling, falling, and persevering into something unlike anything else in our picture-book section. It's a tribute to his intrepid daughter that will charm grownups and mesmerize little readers with its bravery, awe, and beauty. (Ages 2 to 5) —Tom

The Underground Abductor (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales)

by Nathan Hale

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With all their magic wonderlands and scary dystopias, I sometimes despair that my kids will ever be interested in actual History. So I'm a little obsessed with Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, a series of graphic books in which the Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale stalls for time on the gallows by regaling his captors with stories from his encyclopedic knowledge of history. After covering the Civil War, World War I, and the Donner Party, Hale turns in this book to American slavery in the story of Harriet Tubman. As always, Hale (the author and artist, who shares his name with his hero) streamlines but never softens the facts and adds just enough goofy middle-grade humor to focus attention on, instead of distracting from, each thrilling episode. Kids learn what happened, what it meant, and why it matters ... IN REAL LIFE! (Ages 8 to 12) —Liz

Little Kunoichi: The Ninja Girl

by Sanae Ishida

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Our Phinney neighbor Sanae Ishida's debut picture book stars a little ninja so adorable she might almost be a Teletubby. But that doesn't mean she can't wield a throwing star or nunchucks once she learns the power of shugyo, or "training like crazy." With lovely, wittily detailed watercolors and a goofy but powerful story, Little Kunoichi shows that oddball imagination and a warrior's discipline can fit together perfectly. (Age 3 to 7) —Tom

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files_01)

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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This is not your typical YA dystopian sci-fi romance novel. (I should know, I read enough of them.) This is the first book of any type to grab me and not let go in way too long a time. Told in hacked documents, it reads faster than I wanted it to, and wayfaster than a 599-page book should. It can take a bit of getting used to the jumping from one character to the next, but it's well worth the effort. That it's unlike anything I've ever read is a bonus. Don't plan on getting anything else done once you pick it up. Just pick it up soon. (12 and up) —Steph

We Dig Worms!

by Kevin McCloskey

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There's no shortage of fact books on animals for kids—especially yucky and/or scary animals—but there's something about We Dig Worms! that stands out. Maybe it's the kids'-eye view, asking the things a curious young investigator wants to know ("Mister Worm? Why do you come out after the rain?") and then answering them in simple, memorable ways that will make sense to little readers and might surprise older ones. Maybe it's the clear and charming illustrations, painted on recycled grocery bags in tribute to one of nature's great recyclers. Or maybe it's just that an earthworm, going about its humble daily business, makes for a very appealing hero. (Ages 3 to 6) —Tom

The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars

by Jean Merrill and Ronni Solbert

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The title of this 1964 picture book (just brought back into print by—of course—NYRB Classics) may be the greatest in the history of publishing—how could you not want to read about its hero's oddly specific compulsion?—and the story inside is just as straightforward and action-filled as you could hope. Merrill was best known for The Pushcart War, but this little fable of hers, written and illustrated with a simple, deadpan pleasure that matches the elephant's destructive glee, deserves to live forever, or at least as long as there are elephants and small cars—and big cars too (not to spoil the story). —Tom

The Hired Girl

by Laura Amy Schlitz

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As a former bookish girl who loved to read about other bookish girls, I hereby nominate Joan Skraggs a worthy successor to literary heroines Anne Shirley and Francie Nolan. In her newly acquired diary, Joan relates her escape from her father's farm to Baltimore, where she is taken in by the wealthy Rosenbach family as a "hired girl." As her horizons open, the "refined" writing style learned from her old schoolmarm begins to crackle and nap with Joan's natural sensitivity, fierceness, and humor—as well as all the emotional highs and lows of 14-year-old girls throughout the ages. Newbery Award winner Schlitz addresses issues of class and religion and art to provide some meaty fare for thoughtful young readers, and all of her characters are fully embraceable creations. The book ends with a rousing twist on the Cinderella story that will have you misting up before you shout, "Hooray!" (Ages 12 to 16) —Liz

Goodbye Stranger

by Rebecca Stead

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The first rule of Bridge, Tab, and Em's club: no fighting. But as they enter seventh grade, Em has developed curvy new curves, Tab has a newfound interest in social justice, and Bridge has a pair of fuzzy cat ears she can't seem not to wear. Their story of friendship and forgiveness is hardly earth-shattering, but it's told with the kind of funny subtlety and sensitivity that few writers possess. As warm, finely observed, and intricately orchestrated as Stead's award-sweeping When You Reach Me, Goodbye Stranger is the kind of novel that parents might elbow their middle-schoolers aside to read. (10 and up) —Tom