Cynsational Picture Book

An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long (Chronicle)(author and illustrator interview).

Honors

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Hyperion)(illustrator interview)

This Is The Stable by Cynthia Cotten, illustrated by Delana Bettoli (Henry Holt)(author interview)

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick)(author interview)

Noteworthy

Ballet of the Elephants by Leda Schubert, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker (Roaring Brook)(author interview)

Bringing Asha Home by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Jamel Akib (Lee & Low)(recommendation)

Casey at the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer, illustrated by Joe Morse (Kids Can Press/KCP Poetry)(illustrator interview)

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges (Cinco Puntos)(recommendation)

Dear Fish by Chris Gall (Little Brown)(recommendation)

Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton (Candlewick)(recommendation)

Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Henry Holt)(author–illustrator interviews)

Mrs. Crump’s Cat by Linda Smith, illustrated by David Roberts (HarperCollins)(recommendation)

Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt (Kids Can)(interview)

The True Story of Stellina by Matteo Pericoli (Knopf)(interview)

Cynsational Middle Grade

Rules by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic)(interview)

Honors

Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos (Atheneum)(interview)(recommendation)

Long Gone Daddy by Helen Hemphill (Front Street)(interview)

Noteworthy

All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall (Little Brown)(interview)

Free Baseball by Sue Corbett (Dutton)(interview)(recommendation)

Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown (Tricycle Press)(interview)

Looking for Bapu by Anjali Banerjee (Wendy Lamb)(interview)

Cynsational Tween Novel

Shug by Jenny Han (Simon & Schuster)(recommendation)

Honors

Archer’s Quest by Linda Sue Park (Clarion)(interview)

Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley (Little Brown)(interview)

Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House)(recommendation)

Cynsational Young Adult

Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum)

Honors

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone (Wendy Lamb)(interview)

Good Girls by Laura Ruby (HarperCollins)(interview)

Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss (Deborah Brodie/Roaring Brook)(interview)

Noteworthy

Bleed by Laurie Faria Stolarz (Hyperion)(interview)

Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger (Simon & Schuster)(interview)

Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall (Harcourt)(interview)

How It’s Done by Christine Kole MacLean (Flux)(interview)

The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci (Candlewick)(interview)

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (HarperCollins)(interview)

Freaks: Alive on the Inside by Annette Curtis Klause (Simon & Schuster)(interview)

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (Dial)(interview)

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Helper (Dutton)(interview)

Wait for Me by An Na (Putnam)(recommendation)

The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy compiled and edited by Leonard S. Marcus (Candlewick)

What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles (Little Brown)(interview)(recommendation)

Cynsational Notes

See also those 2006 authors and titles highlighted in Cynsations interviews. Please also note that my 2006 title is Santa Knows, co-authored by Greg Leitich Smith (Dutton, 2006), and while it’s obviously not eligible here, I’d like to cheer illustrator Steve Bjorkman‘s illustrations.

Likewise, my Candlewick editor, Deborah Noyes Wayshak, has a wonderful 2006 non-fiction release, One Kingdom: Our Lives With Animals (Houghton Mifflin), which also is not eligible for similar reasons, but is highly recommended. Read a Cynsations interview with Deborah.

My “in” stack of 2006 books is still a tall one. As in previous years, I’ll continue reading these titles as the new releases arrive.

Thank you to all the authors and illustrators of 2006 for a wonderful year in books!