Predicted Caldecott, Newbery and Printz Award Nominees Written 2014 for Awards 2015

With 2014 almost over, my big piece of advice to writers is this: the best thing a writer can do to improve his/her craft is to become an avid reader. Below please find School Library Journal's list of best books for 2014. Think of it as your shopping list. Want to check out other lists? Just google any of the following:  The Horn Book, Publisher’s Marketplace, Mr. Shu Reads or Kirkus Review.                   Xoxo Kim Tomsic

SLJ BEST Picture Books 2014

MY GRANDFATHER’S COAT by Jim Aylesworth

VIVA FRIDA:

Viva Frida Yuyi Morales. photos by Tim O’Meara. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter Bks.

MY BUS by Byron Barton (HarperCollins/Greenwillow)

BROTHER HUGO AND THE BEAR by Katy Beebe. Illus. by S.D. Schnidler) (Eerdmans)

THE BABY TREE by Sophie Blackall (Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Bks.)

BIG BUG BY Henry Cole (Simon & Schuster)

DRAW by Raúl Colón. S. & S./Paula Wiseman Bks.

THE FARMER AND THE CLOWN (Love love love--here is my pick!):

The Farmer and the Clown Marla Frazee. S. & S./Beach Lane.

ELIZABETH, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox. Illus. by Brian Floca (Random/Schwartz&W)

WEASELS by Elys Dolan (Candlewick)

ANY QUESTIONS? By Marie-Louise Gay (House of Anansi/Groundwood)

ONCE UPON AN ALPHABET by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel)

THE IRIDESCENCE OF BIRDS: A book about Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan illus. by Hadley Hooper (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter Books)

HUNTERS OF THE GREAT FOREST by Dennis Nolan (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter Books)

WHAT IF…? By Anthony Browne (Candlewick)

RULES OF SUMMER by Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books)

THREE BEARS IN A BOATThree Bears in a Boat

David Soman. Dial.

	My personal addition to this list for fun text: COURTSHIP OF THE MONSTER UNDER THE BED by Barry Solway

SLJ Best Books 2014: Middle Grade

THE CROSSOVER                                       THE BOUNDLESS

THE NIGHT GARDENER                           THE RED PENCIL   

EL DEAFO                                                    WEST OF THE MOON

ALL FOUR STARS by Tara Dairman

NEST                                                              CARTWHEELING IN THUNDERSTORMS

OPHELIA AND THE MARVELOUS BOY 

MY HEART IS LAUGHING                                   SISTERS

RAIN REIGN                                                            REVOLUTION

My personal addition to this list of middle grade selections is: ALL FOUR STARS by Tara Dairman 

SLJ Best Books 2014: Young Adult: The Impossible Knife of Memory, Avalon , The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, Mortal Heart, We Were Liars, Egg &Spoon, Althelia & Oliver, I’ll Give You the Sun, Gabi: A Girl in Pieces, Grasshopper Jungle, Blue Lily Lily Blue, This One Summer, The Accidental Highwayman, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Afterworlds, Belzhar

My personal addition to this list: Noggin by John Corey Whaley 

And Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult