With few exceptions, books for young readers are filtered through much older readers. Adults write, edit, sell and recommend children's books. They also assign them in school.
I worry about that. A children's book can speak to me, but who cares? If the intended audience doesn't get it, isn't moved to laugh or cry, learns nothing, then is it a good children's book? Each year, some brilliant books produced by children's publishers that win awards and accolades hold little appeal for actual children.
The picture book memoir, The Wall by Peter Sis, about growing up in Czechoslovakia, gave me chills. But the kids I read it to didn't get it.
Luckily, the kid readers in my household aren't shy about offering their opinions. In selecting 2007's Best Books of the Year, I consulted them early and often and -- surprise -- we did not always agree.
There was some overlap. My 13-year-old and I agree that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie is raw, funny and fabulous. We both loved Roland Smith's mountain-climbing adventure, Peak. Liam, 10, has single-handedly made me a graphic novel fan. (He reads every one I get.) We both loved Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We both thought Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret -- a unique meld of novel and picture book -- was the easiest 500-plus page book we've ever read in a single sitting.
But, they are boys, and their willingness to read what mom recommends ends when the book has a girl on the cover, is pink, or is judged ''lame.'' Every other best-of-2007 list I've seen so far includes The Arrival, a wordless picture book by the Australian illustrator, Shaun Tan. Conor used this book for an English assignment about The Worst Book You've Ever Read. ( The Arrival is actually quite brilliant. But I'm not sure many kids will understand why.)
So here are The Miami Herald's Best Children's Books of 2007. I think I read like a kid -- I need plot, some laughs, and get bored with a lot of scene setting and long expository passages.
If you want to go directly to the experts, this year Conor and Liam made up their own lists -- the best books of the year for kids, by kids. (See story this page.)
Enjoy!
TEENS
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown, $16.99, ages 12 and up). Winner of the 2007 National Book Award in young people's literature, this semi-autobiographical novel chronicles the life of Arnold Spirit, a nearsighted, encephalitic Spokane Indian who reluctantly leaves the rez to get a better education and, miraculously, not only lives to tell about it, but thrives.
Hush by Donna Jo Napoli (Atheneum, $16.99, ages 12 and up). In 10th century Ireland, Russian slavers capture two sisters who take a vow of silence to disguise their real value to their kidnappers: The girls are princesses whose mission in this tense, absorbing story is to escape.
Peak by Roland Smith (Harcourt, $17, ages 12 and up). After his arrest for scaling Manhattan's Woolworth Building to graffiti his ''tag'' atop it, 14-year-old Peak Marcello -- dubbed ''Spider Boy'' by the New York press -- is whisked off to Nepal with his mountain-climbing dad, rather than serve time in juvie hall. A gripping adventure ensues as Peak tries to become the youngest person ever to reach Everest's summit.
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray (Delacorte, $17.99, ages 12 and up). The conclusion to the trilogy begun with A Great and Terrible Beauty is the best of the three, a huge book that melds high fantasy with historical fiction, in a story full of magic and hefty questions about power, femininity, friendship and desire.
A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd (David Fickling Books, $16.99, ages 12 and up). Loosely based on an unsolved crime that rocked Ireland in 1984, this beautifully realized account of a teen girl's loss of innocence -- and her recovery -- is both an introspective examination of grief and loss and a mystery with the momentum of a great thriller. The main character's story ends on a hopeful note; but, tragically, the author died of breast cancer at 47, six months after her novel debuted in America.
TWEENS
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis (Dial, $16.99, ages 9 to 12). Brainy Emma Jean is a keen observer of everything but her own effect on people. An oddball, she finally finds a niche for herself at school with a few brilliantly executed forgery schemes. A spot-on examination of middle school dynamics. The audio book, (Listening Library, $27), read by Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter), is delightful, and the perfect length for the ride from say, Fort Lauderdale to Orlando.
I Am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos (FSG, $16, ages 9 to 12). This fourth installment has our hyperactive hero reunited with his ''no-good, squinty-eyed bad dad,'' who's won a hunk of cash in the lottery. His parents remarry but act no better than they did during their first go-round.
Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (Bloomsbury, $14.95, ages 9-13). Full disclosure: I read an early draft and dithered all year about whether I loved the final version so much because I had seen it go from sprout to full blossom, or whether it was truly as stellar as I thought it to be. I re-read it again last week. This novel in verse about 13-year-old Josie, who has cerebral palsy but is determined not to let it define who she is, is just as good the second time around -- exquisitely written, heartfelt, moving, funny, poignant.
Taken by Edward Bloor (Knopf, $16.99, ages 10-up). This high-tension kidnapping story set in a not-too-distant Florida is edge-of-your-seat exciting, and a thought-provoking meditation on race, class and the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt (Clarion, $16, ages 10 to 14). In Vietnam-era Long Island, a seventh-grader with the unlikely name of Holling Hoodhood makes enemies with his teacher, his father and his sister before redeeming himself with two of the three, mostly through his exploits in Shakespearean theater and cross-country running.
YOUNG CHILDREN
A Box Full of Kittens by Sonia Manzano, illustrated by Matt Phelan (Atheneum, $16.99, ages 4 to 8). ''Maria'' of Sesame Street delivers a winner about an easily distractible heroine whose superpowers include her heart of gold.
Casey Back at Bat by Dan Gutman, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher (HarperCollins, $16.99, ages 4 to 8). Gutman vividly imagines Casey's next at-bat.
Cowlick by Christin Ditchfield, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw (Golden Books, $14.99, ages 2-5). Sarasota resident Ditchfield offers an etymology lesson for the hair-impaired. Those weird sticking-up strands you wake up with in the morning? Those are the work of a mischievous bovine who sneaks into bedrooms to -- Ewww! -- plant a wet one on the unsuspecting. Hilarious and original.
Different Like Coco by Elizabeth Matthews (Candlewick, $16.99, ages 6 to 10). A must for the would-be fashion designers among the Fancy Nancy set, this elegant picture book biography reveals the iconoclastic ways of the late great Coco Chanel.
The End by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Richard Egielski (Arthur A. Levine, $16.99, ages 4 to 8). This fractured fairy tale begins with Happily Ever After and rewinds its way back to explain how things came to be that way. Supremely inventive, this is a rare picture book that demands repeated readings.
Fred Stays with Me by Nancy Coffelt, illustrated by Tricia Tusa (Little, Brown, $16.99, ages 3 to 8). The young narrator spends some nights with mom, some with dad. But no matter where she lays her head, her faithful pudgy pup, Fred, is by her side. Charming -- and how often can you use that word when the subject is divorce?
Hiromi's Hands by Lynne Barasch (Lee & Low, $17.95, ages 5 to 10). The true story of two strivers. One is a poor Japanese boy who apprentices as a sushi chef and is eventually rewarded with running his company's New York restaurant. The second is his daughter, who learns the traditionally male art of sushi-making from her father because ''this is America. Girls can do things here they cannot do in Japan.'' Barasch's delicate watercolors will make you hungry.
Little Night by Yuyi Morales (Roaring Brook, $16.95, ages 3 to 7). Little Night tries mightily to avoid bedtime, despite the fact that her bath is drawn with falling stars, and her pajamas are crocheted from clouds. The lyrical text is paired with Morales' sumptuous paintings, which show tiny Night playfully baiting Mother Sky, except when she's firmly enveloped in her tender embrace. A book that reads like a lullaby. Available in Spanish, titled Nochecita.
PSSST! by Adam Rex (Harcourt, $16, ages 3 to 7). An unsuspecting visitor to the zoo is beseeched by various animals for odd supplies. Little does she know she is aiding and abetting their escape. Rex's kooky comic sensibility is on full display.
Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace, illustrated by Raúl Colón (Hyperion, $16.99, ages 4 to 8). The familiar fairy tale, retold by a poet in a tropical setting. A fisherman's pregnant wife has a sweet tooth that can be satisfied only by sugar cane. He snips some from the garden of Madame Fate -- a sorceress known to make hurricanes -- and when she catches him, she vows to take his unborn child on her first birthday. Colón's paintings have a lush hypnotic appeal that's equal to the text.
