| The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books |
| Blue Ribbons are chosen annually by the Bulletin staff and
represent what we believe to be the best of the previous year's literature for youth. See the Blue Ribbon Archive for lists from 1990 through the present.
Please feel free to copy, download, or link to these lists. We ask only that you cite the source. | |
1991 Blue Ribbons |
The best books? No-but this is a list of 1991 books that the editors of the Bulletin found challenging, intriguing, involving, exciting to read, and exciting to write about. While many titles on the Blue Ribbons list are there by virtue of amic able three-way agreement, others found their way by determined-and singular-advocacy. (No deals, of course, were struck.) Some of the books, such as Anthea Sieveking's What Color?, have a place in every playpen. Others, such as William Taylor' s Agnes the Sheep, are eccentric and offbeat: just the sort of thing for people who love just that sort of thing. Quentin Blake's All Join In screams to be read aloud, while others, such as Barbara Dana's Young Joan, need qui et and privacy. Tomie dePaola's Bonjour, Mr. Satie invites a host of curricular possibilities; others, such as Lynn Hall's Flying Changes, are perfect afterschool specials. Although no attempt was made to construct a balanced list (alas, only one book of poetry) there is a span of genres, tastes, quirks, and passions. It's dicey to extrapolate "trends" from a selective list of forty-odd books (out of four thousand published ), but a look at the books gives solid evidence for the latest vogue word, "multiculturalism." African-Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Hispanic-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Koreans, Japanese and Japanese-Americans can all see themselves reflected here. New visions of history-Genghis Khan to Captain Cook to the Wright Brothers to World War II-are scrutinized. The contemporary picture-from a teen beauty queen to a homeless boy-is not ignored. These books convey a variety and depth of experience through the detail of particular lives and individual visions. They share one of multiculturalism's finest goals, inviting young people to take a wider look around. --Roger Sutton, Executive Editor
Picture Books
- Aardema, Verna, ad. Borreguita and the Coyote; illus. by Petra Mathers. Knopf. (reviewed in the December issue)
- Aesop. Animal Fables; adapted and illus. by Barbara McClintock. Godine. (January 91)
- Blake, Quentin. All Join In. Little. (May)
- Browne, Anthony. Changes. Knopf. (March)
- dePaola, Tomie. Bonjour, Mr. Satie. Putnam. (March)
- French, Fiona. Anancy and Mr. Dry-Bone. Little. (September)
- Hoban, Tana. All About Where. Greenwillow. (April)
- Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace; illus. by Caroline Binch. Dial. (September)
- Nomura, Takaaki. Grandpa's Town. Kane/Miller. (December)
- Provensen, Alice. Punch in New York. Viking. (December)
- Rankin, Laura. The Handmade Alphabet. Dial. (September)
- Say, Allen. Tree of Cranes. Houghton. (September)
- Schertle, Alice. Witch Hazel; illus. by Margot Tomes. HarperCollins. (December)
- Sieveking, Anthea. What Color? Dial. (January 91)
- Wiesner, David. Tuesday. Clarion. (May)
- Wijngaard, Juan. Cat; Dog; Duck; Bear. Crown. (June)
Fiction and Folklore
- Avi. Nothing but the Truth. Jackson/Orchard. (September)
- Bergman, Tamar. Along the Tracks. Houghton. (October)
- Choi, Sook Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Houghton. (October)
- Cooney, Caroline B. Twenty Pageants Later. Bantam. (June)
- Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Dead Moon and Other Tales from East Anglia and the Fen Country. Deutsch/Trafalgar Square/David & Charles. (June)
- Dana, Barbara. Young Joan. Zolotow/Harper. (April)
- Fleischman, Paul. The Borning Room. Zolotow/Harper. (September)
- Fox, Paula. Monkey Island. Jackson/Orchard. (October)
- Hahn, Mary Downing. Stepping on the Cracks. Clarion. (December)
- Hall, Lynn. Flying Changes. Harcourt. (July/August)
- Hughes, Ted. Tales of the Early World; illus. by Andrew Davidson. Farrar. (June)
- Marino, Jan. The Day that Elvis Came to Town. Little. (February)
- Orlev, Uri. The Man from the Other Side. Houghton. (June)
- Osborne, Mary Pope. American Tall Tales; illus. by Michael McCurdy. Knopf. (January 91)
- Paterson, Katherine. Lyddie. Lodestar. (February)
- Peck, Richard. Unfinished Portrait of Jessica. Delacorte. (September)
- Segal, Jerry. The Place Where Nobody Stopped; illus. by Dav Pilkey. Jackson/Orchard. (May)
- Taylor, William. Agnes the Sheep. Scholastic. (March)
- Yep, Laurence. The Star Fisher. Morrow. (March)
Non-fiction
- Blumberg, Rhoda. The Remarkable Voyages of Captain Cook. Bradbury. (December)
- Demi. Chingis Khan. Holt. (January 91)
- Freedman, Russell. The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane. Holiday House. (June)
- Greenberg, Jan. The Painter's Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art; by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. Delacorte. (December)
- Haldane, Suzanne. Helping Hands: How Monkeys Assist People Who Are Disabled. Dutton. (January 91)
- Henricksson, John. Rachel Carson: The Environmental Movement. Millbrook. (June)
- Winter, Jonah. Diego; Spanish text by Amy Prince; illus. by Jeanette Winter. Knopf. (November)
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