UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Among the many children’s books published last year, 13 were chosen by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book to form 2018’s "A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy." The annual booklist, celebrating its 15th edition this year, is compiled by a panel of children’s literature experts who choose from among the many children’s books published in each calendar year.
Titles for the 2018 list include:
- “Bulldozer Helps Out,” by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann (Atheneum/Simon)
- “The Carpenter,” by Bruna Barros (Gibbs Smith)
- “Charlotte and the Rock,” by Stephen W. Martin, illustrated by Samantha Cotterill (Dial/Penguin Random)
- “Different? Same!” by Heather Tekavec, illustrated by Pippa Curnick (Kids Can)
- “I Want That Nut!” by Madeline Valentine (Knopf/Random)
- “Jabari Jumps,” by Gaia Cornwall (Candlewick)
- “No Kimchi for Me!” by Aram Kim (Holiday)
- “A Perfect Day,” by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook)
- “Plankton is Pushy,” by Jonathan Fenske (Scholastic)
- “Still Stuck,” by Shinsuke Yoshitake (Abrams)
- “Trio: The Tale of a Three-legged Cat,” by Andrea Wisnewski (Godine)
- “Who Am I? An Animal Guessing Game,” by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (Houghton)
- “Whose Poop is That?” by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Kelsey Oseid (Charlesbridge)
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book assesses hundreds of new children’s books each year and prepares book lists, activities and curriculum materials. Working with its youngest audience, preschool children, the Baker’s Dozen list complements the center’s family literacy activities to help parents and caregivers create and nurture lifelong readers. Tips for using the books with children and families, previous years’ selections, annotations, selection criteria and more are available at A Baker’s Dozen website: https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/awards-contests/bakers-dozen.
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, encourages Pennsylvania’s citizens and residents to study, honor, celebrate and promote books, reading, libraries and literacy. In addition to A Baker’s Dozen, it also administers the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, the Public Poetry Project, Letters About Literature; Poems from Life; and the interactive Literary & Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania.
For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Center for the Book website or contact Caroline Wermuth, outreach coordinator, at cvw1@psu.edu or 814-863-5472.