The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore

A true classic that never goes out of style, this splendorous picture book is a must-have read during the holidays, which puts it on the New York Times Bess Sellers list for Children's Picture Books every year.  The only book that comes close is the Polar Express, which didn't make it on the top ten list this year.  With its vividly bright primary colors and larger-than-life figures done by various illustrators, I've never seen a "bad" copy of this book.  I personally recommend the versions illustrated by Mary Engelbreit and Douglas Gorsline.  Engelbreit offers more vivid, bolder colors and characters, while Gorsline offers more subtle, softer, often candlelit, scenes.

It's a Book by Lane Smith

This book reminds me so much of It's Not a Box with its tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.  And what a great way to remind young readers of the wonderful freedom real paper books provide us.  No need to charge batteries, or to know how to scroll up and down...just simply turning the page, and being absorbed in our quiet world of reading.  Ahhhh....

Num8ers by Rachel Ward

Jem's story is frighteningly depressing, but once you start reading this YA sensation, you can't put it down until you've finished it.  The good news is that the sequel, The Chaos, has just been released.  Jem has been cursed by seeing numbers in people's eyes, and she thinks it's not unusual, that everyone can see them.  Until her mum dies, and she realizes when the coroner announces the date of death, that the numbers she's been seeing are death dates.  Horrifying, but solveable...just don't ever make eye contact again, right?  Not so easy.  She's quickly labeled "different" and a "problem-child" so she begins skipping school and skipping out on life.  And then she meets Spider, a smelly, skinny classmate who just won't leave her alone.  Unfortunately, he only as a couple of months to live, according to the numbers Jem sees in his eyes.  Or does he?  Can she change the numbers, or are they inevitable?  It's an answer she must get in order to live her life.  Set in London and its surrounding countryside, Num8ers is a fast-paced, intense read that is full of modern British/Cockney-like slang, making it even more interesting to many students.    

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Jennifer L. Holm's Turtle in Paradise reads like a Flannery O'Connor novel for elementary students.  It has the flavor of the south...in this case the Florida Keys.  It has the bigger-than-life characters with distinct, colorful personalities that remind you of someone and no one in particular.  And it has the slimy swindler who takes advantage of the dreamer who just wants to be taken care of.  What stands this story apart from the tragic O'Connor style is the great family support system in place for Turtle and her mama. This is a funny little story that gives the reader a little insight into what it was like to be poor during the beginnings of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

This multi-media YA book is full of historical pictures and propaganda and brief biographies or descriptions of historical events--all set amid the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War, which is the setting for this novel.  Franny, our protagonist, is in the early, and utterly confusing stages of early adolescence.  To compound this trying time, her best friend betrays her, publicly, her sister moves out of the house to stay with her college friends, and her crazy uncle has a complete and total melt down in the front yard.  Oh, and did I mention that her teacher keeps skipping over her during reading aloud time, and she skins her knee and breaks her favorite head band during a nuclear bomb drill at school the first day we meet her?  This is a delightful story that is full of historically accurate details, allowing readers to see what it was like to be young during the days of "imminent" nuclear holocaust.  Wiles use of primary sources makes this much more than just a coming-of-age story of a young girl, but a coming-of-age story for an entire generation, and nation.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama and Loren Long

This New York Times bestseller children's book is a dramatically scripted and illustrated tribute to our nation's inspirational leaders in a variety of areas of expertise.  Social activists such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez are represented, as well as great minds and designers such as Albert Einstein and Mia Lin (the winning design for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D. C.).  The illustrations are symbol of each person's strengths and contributions, as well as their own innocent childhoods on facing pages.  This is a book that offers inspiration and hope, reminiscent of the author's presidential campaign message of 2008.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King

This tongue-in-cheek laugh-fest of a book will also keep you in suspense as you read to find out just what great secret our protagonist, Vera Dietz, knows about the death of her once-best friend and next-door neighbor, Charlie.  Vera is a combination of such Hollywood characters as Juno's older-than-her years cynicism and Easy A's Olive and her secretive plotting ways.  While dealing with such issues as dying too young, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and abandonment, this YA novel offers a hopeful message of forgiveness, letting go, and moving on.  With the support of her parsimonious and constantly self-improving dad, Vera finally comes to terms with herself, Charlie, and life as a roller-coaster land of  adventure.