UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Among the many children’s books published last year, 13 were chosen by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book to form the 2019 "A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy." The annual booklist, celebrating its 16th edition this year, is compiled by a panel of children’s literature experts who choose from among the many children’s books published in the previous calendar year.
Titles for 2019 include:
- “A Big Mooncake for Little Sister” by Grace Lin (Little)
- “The Case of the Missing Chalk Drawings” by Richard Byrne (Holt)
- “Dave’s Cave” by Frann Preston-Gannon (Nosy Crow/Candlewick)
- “Fox + Chick: The Party and Other Stories” by Sergio Ruzzier (Chronicle)
- “Good Dog” by Cori Doerrfeld (HarperCollins)
- “Hello, Door” by Alastair Heim, illustrated by Alisa Coburn (Little Bee/Bonnier)
- “The Little Red Fort” by Brenda Maier, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez (Scholastic)
- “Night Job” by Karen Hesse, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Candlewick)
- “Roar: A Dinosaur Tour” by Michael Paul (Crown/Random)
- “Saturday Is Swimming Day” by Hyewon Yum (Candlewick)
- “Something Smells!” by Blake Liliane Hellman, illustrated by Steven Henry (Atheneum)
- “Teddy’s Favorite Toy” by Christian Trimmer, illustrated by Madeline Valentine (Atheneum)
- “Who Eats Orange?” by Dianne White, illustrated by Robin Page (Beach Lane/Simon)
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. Selection criteria, annotations, tips for using the books 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; Words of Art; 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.