Although it is a fictional account of the events in New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina struck, the voice of the narrator, a 10-year old boy named Louis, who plays a coronet, captures some of the terror of that time. Colin Bootman's moving paintings combine perfectly with Myron Uhlberg's believable narrative that tells the story of one family's experiences as they drift into the watery world of the floods and the chaos of the dome where they went seeking shelter. Although 10 seems old for a narrator of a picture book, this feels totally on the mark. His Mama calls him her baby, but in the end it is Louis who proves he is anything but a baby. 7-11.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Just about all 7-year olds get fed up with being treated like they are still babies. They resent their early bedtime, and limits on how much ice cream they can eat and they hate toys that are too babyish. Enter Summer Jackson who tells it like it is. She gives voice to all the her longing to do grown-up things like going to work and making her own decisions. So, when her Mom and Dad agree to change places with her, Summer Jackson gets a new take on what being grown up is like.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Charlie and his friend Marv just want to play without his tag-along little sister Lola. They plan all sorts of ways to evade her, including an invisible potion. But clever little Lola manages to spin her own little game with the help of her invisible pal Soren Lorensen. Isn't it grand how clever little sisters can be?

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Bear is hankering for some Ugly Pie, but when he goes from neighbor to neighbor he finds every kind of pie but his favorite. His generous neighbors gives him the only ugly fruits they own and Bear heads home. You guessed it, he's got all he needs for making one great Ugly Pie that smells so delicious it brings all the neighbors calling. Told in lively prose with lilting verse that makes this a fun read aloud you will enjoy reading many times. 3-7

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Magnus Maximus is excellent at his work. He can measure all kinds of things. However when he breaks his glasses he is befriended by a young boy who teaches him a measure that he had forgotten. This is a bit on the preachment side of storytelling, but it is done with a light hand and S.D. Schindler's delightful illustrations. The two combine to make a storybook that says something important to kids who are often so busy doing all their assigned tasks, they forget about the treasures found when doing less is more. It's marked 4-8, but we think early school years children 5-8 will get more from this special storybook.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

In this wordless book readers follow the lives of two boys who look different and live in very different parts of the world. The illustrations face each other, one each side of the book and as you turn the pages you begin to discover things that are different and things that are the same. One boy lives in Morocco and the other in a city in Australia. In many ways the life experiences of both of these boys are quite different than that of children in our own culture. A thought provoking book to share with young people to follow-up with discussion.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

At last, a young ballerina who does not look like an angelic beauty in pink. Perhaps Selena is a bit on the homely side and she's also a bit of a klutz, but this is a dancer with heart and spirit. She does not give up. Maybe she will appeal to kids who can watch Selena and the others and honestly say to themselves...I'm better than that. The slapstick recital that is messed up by some unexpected participants add the fun of this little romp. Angelina Ballerina, she's not. The illustrations also include a very chubby little dancer who might star in the next recital Miss Tutu is staging.  4-7.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A delicate balance is the way one can best describe the differences and likenesses, as well, between a dad and a step-dad in real life. This charming little book perhaps paints it all too easily, yet it may indeed help kids see beyond the good/bad equation and help them sort out their own feelings. Accepting that there can be two people who care about you, share time with you and even love you calls for a huge step for so many children of divorce. It's interesting that the mom in this story is very much in the background. This is about a child and the two men who are hardly alike except in the most essential way--they both love her.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Meet Lola, a bad tempered little shrew who gets her way by misbehaving. Enter Lester, her cousin from the East Meadow and Lola meets her match! While the family watches in disbelief the two cousins are a matched pair. The bad humor between these two has something of a comic edge. In a way, it's the kind of story that kids can live vicariously without getting into trouble. Ultimately the two feisty cousins work out their differences, sort of. The illustrations of the home life of a shrew family is full of details that may tickle or repel. It's fair to say that bugs are a staple of their diets, so this is not a book for the squeamish. However, with all the arguments, it should be great fun to read aloud. As Lola says, "Screaming is relaxing. You should try it sometime."

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Missy has a teacher who looks a bit like Miss Frizzle's younger sister, a teacher who is just over-the-top crazy for books. Poor Missy has to do a book presentation and her problem is finding a book she likes. Her mom stands firm on not doing the job for Missy. But once she finds a book with a well-known ogre Missy gets her act in gear. The idea of the story is funnier than the resolution, but kids who have suffered through assignments like this one will relate.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.