From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:24:29 -0600

My top ten (actually eleven) list in no particular order, except that the last three are for older readers:


Preacher's Boy - Katherine Paterson Dave At Night - Gail Carson Levine Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis King of Shadows - Susan Cooper When Zachary Beaver Came to Town - Kimberly Willis Holt The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich The Trolls - Polly Horvath The Birthday Room - Kevin Henkes Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson Monster - Walter Dean Myers Hard Love - Ellen Wittlinger

All five of the National Book Award finalists made my list, but my favorite novel of the year is Katherine Paterson's Preacher's Boy. I read it, then I read it aloud to my thirteen-year-old son, and I can't wait to read it again. It's a beautifully written novel with a moral theme: Robbie Hewitt's growth beyond his own self?ntered behavior to learning that his behavior affects other people, that he can't just live for himself. Though its a novel with a preacher, a preacher's son, and the ten commandments at its heart, I don't see it so much as a religious novel as a moral or ethical novel. That's what I like about the book: a character who decides to give up on the ten commandments but later realizes they apply to his life in a very real, everyday way. It also gives a fine view of turn-of-the?ntury Vermont.
        The first eight books on the list make great read-alouds!
        Any of the last three might be good candidates for the Printz award. I introduced Speak to my eighth graders, and it has become the popular book among them. I have to keep buying more copies to keep in circulation. My 15-year-old daughter liked it, too.

My favorite picture books:

        Weslandia - Fleischman/Hawkes
        Come On, Rain! - Hesse/Muth



Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Fri 03 Dec 1999 08:24:29 AM CST