Children's Choices for 2004: A Project of the International Reading Association and the Children's Book Council

What is the Children's Choices project?

Each year 10,000 schoolchildren from different regions of the United States read and vote on the newly published children's and young adults' trade books that they like best. The Children's Choices for 2004 list is the 30th in a series that first appeared as “Classroom Choices” in the November 1975 issue of The Reading Teacher (RT), a peer-reviewed journal for preschool, primary, and elementary levels published eight times a year by the International Reading Association (IRA). This list is designed for use not only by teachers, librarians, administrators, and booksellers, but also by parents, grandparents, caregivers, and everyone who wishes to encourage young people to read for pleasure.

Children's Choices is a project of a joint committee supported by IRA and the Children's Book Council (CBC). IRA is a nonprofit educational organization whose members include classroom and reading teachers, school administrators and supervisors, parents, college/university faculty, and others who are dedicated to improving reading instruction and promoting literacy worldwide.

The Children's Book Council is the nonprofit professional association of U.S. publishers and packagers of books for young people. It encourages childhood literacy through sponsorship of national programs including Young People's Poetry Week and the 95-year-old annual observance of Children's Book Week, as well as working cooperatively with other professional associations.

In 1969, IRA and CBC formed a liaison committee to explore areas of mutual interest to reading teachers and publishers. Among the committee's initial charges was the development of a core selection of trade books for the classroom. This list of Children's Choices has remained an important activity of the committee, which each year produces this child-selected bibliography identifying titles that can be used successfully in reading programs, can be related to the classroom curricula, and are known to engage children.

How are books selected and annotated?

More than 650 books were evaluated by children for Children's Choices for 2004. The books tested were selected by publishers from the books they published in 2003 and were sent to five review teams located in different regions of the United States. Each team consisted of a children's literature specialist plus one or more classroom teachers who in turn worked with other classroom teachers, school librarians, and more than 2,000 children. Throughout the school year the books were in classrooms, being read to or by children.

Children's votes were tabulated in March, and the top 99 titles for 2004 were announced at the annual International Reading Association Convention in May. The review teams provided an annotation for each title on the list.

What bibliographic information is provided?

Books selected for the Children's Choices list have been grouped by reading levels:

• Beginning and young readers (grades K–2)

• Intermediate readers (grades 3–4)

• Advanced readers (grades 5–6)

Users should note that many books read easily by beginning readers are also enjoyed by more advanced readers, and many titles for advanced readers are accessible to younger readers or can be read aloud in the classroom.

The title, author, illustrator, publisher, ISBN (International Standard Book Number), and price are provided for each book as well as a brief annotation prepared by a review team. All books listed are hardcover unless otherwise noted. Prices are accurate as of late spring 2004; they are subject to change without notice. These abbreviations are provided for easy reference:

All books on this list should be available through your local library or a local bookseller.

Beginning and young readers

Albert's Impossible Toothache. Barbara Williams. Ill. Doug Cushman.

Despite his family's disbelief, Albert Turtle insists he has a toothache. Grandmother Turtle, however, has just the solution. Readers who have ever been misunderstood by their families will relate to Albert's situation. (Team 3)

Candlewick Press. 40 pp. ISBN 0-7636-1723-7 (trade). US$15.99. CAN$22.99.

Annie Was Warned. Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Ill. by the author.

On Halloween night, Annie is warned about going to the haunted old mansion. However, Annie is not scared at all. After all, she was born on Halloween, wasn't she? The ending is sure to astonish and delight readers. (Team 3)

Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House Children's Books. 30 pp. ISBN 0-375-81567-8 (trade). US$15.95. CAN$23.95.

Baby Food. Saxton Freyman. Ill. Joost Elffers.

There's one surefire way to get kids to eat their fruits and veggies: Transform them into baby animals. Lemons become bear cubs, potatoes become ducklings, and pears become chicks—nutrition never looked so colorful and downright cute. (Team 2)