Remind Me

Publishers Weekly has come out with their Best Children's Books of 2009 list. This year seems to have been a particularly good year,and here is a sample of the ones that excite me most.

Picture Books:

• The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tony Persiani. The unlikely subjects of this fascinating picture book biography exemplify ingenuity and dedication to chasing one's dreams.


• The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. With humour and some showstopping spreads, Brown offers a green fable about the rebirth of a city, without a hint of preachiness.


• Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales by Lucy Cousins. Moving beyond the geniality of Maisy, Cousins expertly draws out the primitive emotions at the core of Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, and six other beloved stories.


• The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. Not a single word from Aesop's fable of friendship appears in Pinkney's version, set in the Serengeti. This isn't a problem since the lovingly detailed interplay between the protagonists says it all.


• Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. A simple, fixed design and two combative, off-screen voices make this book and its central optical illusion - is that animal a duck or a rabbit - a delight.

Fiction:

• Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. A powerful exploration of anorexia, dysfunction and death, Anderson's story of a friendship ripped apart is moving and haunting.


• Going Bovine by Libba Bray. An angel, a dwarf, cults, wormholes and mad cow disease all factor into the surreal cross-country road trip that teenage Cameron takes, in a satirical story that's as memorable as it is funny.


• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Lyrical and thoughtful, this paranormal romance between a girl and a werewolf offers wit, an intriguing mythology, and dual (but equally honest and compelling) narratives.


• The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones. In this thriller about a college student uncovering twisted family secrets, Wynne-Jones expertly draws his characters and setting while ramping up the tension and the creepiness.