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These titles were submitted by Siouxland Libraries Children’s Division staff
for the Recommended for Kids feature in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
- Sunday, January 11
Ages 6 to 10 - Toy Dance Party by Emily Jenkins.
Adventures of three best friends, who happen to be toys, as they encounter a fearsome (possible) shark, enjoy a dance party, and deal with rejection by The Girl, who is growing up.
Ages 9 to 13 - Into the Volcano: a Graphic Novel by Don Wood.
While their parents are away doing research, brothers Duffy and Sumo Pugg go with their cousin, Mister Come-and-Go, to Kokalaha Island, where they meet Aunt Lulu and become trapped in an erupting volcano.
- Sunday, January 4
Ages 5 to 8 - Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson.
A duckbilled dinosaur, accidentally raised by fierce tyrannosauruses who would eat duckbills if only they could reach them, tries to be like his "family" but finally gives up, runs away, and finds a real home with others of his kind.
Ages 8 and up – Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka.
Jon Scieszka relates tales of his childhood as only he can.
- Sunday, December 28
Ages 5 to 7 - Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time by James Howe.
Houndsley loves the quiet of the first snow of winter, but Catina does not enjoy being snowed in.
Ages 8 to 12 - Little Leap Forward: a Boy in Beijing by Guo Yue.
In Communist China in 1966, eight-year-old Leap Forward learns about freedom through playing music on a bamboo flute, flying kites with his best friend, and trying to get a caged wild bird to sing.
- Sunday, December 21
Ages 3 to 6 - Santa Duck by David Milgrim.
When Nicholas Duck, wearing a Santa hat and coat he found on his doorstep, goes looking for Santa to tell him what he wants for Christmas, all the other animals mistake him for Mr. Claus.
Ages 8 to 12 - The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket.
A lump of coal that wants to be an artist rolls out of a forgotten bag of charcoal one winter and takes a spin through town seeking a miracle.
- Sunday, December 14
Ages 5 to 8 - The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg.
A pencil timidly draws a boy, then a dog and then more items, but soon it faces a problem as the creations begin demanding changes, and when it draws an eraser to make them happy, the real trouble begins.
Ages 12 to 14 - Nick of Time by Ted Bell.
Nick McIver, who is no ordinary boy, fights pirates, beats Nazis at their own game, and travels through time.
- Sunday, December 7
Ages 5 to 8 - I Get So Hungry by Bebe Moore Campbell.
When her teacher suffers health problems because of her weight, Nikki, who is always getting teased about her size, decides she wants to live a healthier lifestyle.
Ages 9 to 12 - Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston.
Katrina eludes her maniacal guardian to help Morty, a member of a vanishing breed of zorgles, with his quest to uncover the fate of the fabled zorgles of Zorgamazoo and other creatures that seem to have disappeared.
- Sunday, November 30
Ages 5 and up - How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham.
When Will finds a bird with a broken wing, he takes it home and cares for it, hoping in time it will be able to return to the sky.
Ages 9 to 12 - Gully's Travels by Tor Seidler.
Gulliver, a dog accustomed to luxury, is sent to a new home with a family of raucous humans and three mutts, where he grudgingly makes peace with his new surroundings and is swept up in a harrowing new adventure.
- Sunday, November 23
Ages 4 to 7 - Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey by Teresa Bateman.
Gus has loved growing up on a farm, but when the other animals tell him he will soon become Thanksgiving dinner, he decides to go south to find a place of safety.
Ages 9 to 12 - Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls.
Eleven-year-old Sam McQueen, who has leukemia, writes a book during the last three months of his life, in which he tells about what he would like to accomplish, how he feels, and things that have happened to him.
- Sunday, November 16
Ages 3 to 6 - Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman.
When Sara Ann brings home three little kittens, Katie the dog's enthusiasm frightens the kittens away, until she learns that quiet patience is sometimes needed to begin a friendship.
Ages 10 to 12 – Masterpiece by Elise Broach.
After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Sunday, November 9
Ages 3 to 6 - Sally and the Purple Socks by Lisze Bechtold.
When her tiny purple socks start to expand, Sally turns them into a scarf and then curtains, but things soon get out of hand.
Ages 9 to 11 - Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle.
A hard-bitten group of mangy highway cats is changed forever after the mysterious arrival of three kittens.
- Sunday, November 2
Ages 4 to 8 - Madam President by Lane Smith.
A little girl imagines what her day would be like if she were President of the United States.
Ages 10 and up - Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out.
Renowned authors and illustrators contribute to a collection of personal accounts, historical fiction, and poetry which looks at America's history and features the White House and its occupants.
- Sunday, October 26
Ages 3 to 7 - Jumpy Jack & Googily by Meg Rosoff & Sophie Blackall.
Jumpy Jack the snail is terrified that there are monsters around every corner despite the reassurances of his best friend, Googily.
Ages 9 to 12 - All the Lovely Bad Ones: a Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn.
While spending the summer at their grandmother's Vermont inn, two prankster siblings awaken young ghosts from the inn's distant past who refuse to "rest in peace."
- Sunday, October 19
Ages 3 to 6 - South by Patrick McDonnell.
Mooch the cat helps a lonely bird find its flock, which has flown south for the winter.
Ages 9 to 13 - It's Only Temporary by Sally Warner.
Skye moves to California to live with her grandmother and attend middle school, where she somewhat reluctantly makes new friends, learns to stand up for herself and those she cares about, and begins to craft a new relationship with her brother, who was injured in a devastating accident.
- Sunday, October 12
Ages 3 to 7 - Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio
While Mary is learning things at school, a young mouse whose family lives in the same house is learning the same things at her school, and when the two eventually meet they become friends.
Ages 11 to 14 - The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle.
In a world where an uneasy peace binds Humans and Nightlings, fourteen-year-old Genna and her twelve-year-old brother Dan strike a bargain with the Nightling lord, which sets them on a dangerous journey along the Moonroads in search of a key.
- Sunday, October 5
Ages 3 to 6 - The Great Doughnut Parade by Rebecca Bond.
When Billy buys a doughnut and ties it to his belt with a string while walking down Main Street, he unwittingly sets off a chain of events that amazes and delights the entire town.
Ages 8 to 12 - The First Escape by G.P. Taylor.
Life at Isambard Dunstan's School for Wayward Children is difficult for fourteen-year-old identical twins Sadie and Saskia Dopple and their friend Erik Morrissey Ganger, and when Saskia is adopted by a mysterious woman and taken to a mansion filled with secrets and threats, Sadie and Erik escape the orphanage to save her.
- Sunday, September 28
Ages 2 to 5 - Sputter, Sputter, Sput! by Babs Bell.
A young driver happily cruising in his car sputters out of gas, refills his tank, and zooms right out of town.
Ages 7 to 10 - The Grasshopper's Song: an Aesop's Fable Revisited by Nikki Giovanni and Chris Raschka.
Angry that his singing is unappreciated by the Ants who relied on his music to make their summer work easier, Jimmy Grasshopper decides to sue them for lacking respect and not acknowledging his usefulness in their lives.
- Sunday, September 21
Ages 3 and up - Cool Daddy Rat by Kristyn Crow.
A young rat hides in his father's bass case and tags along as he plays and scats around the big city.
Ages 5 to 9 - Buffalo Music by Tracey E. Fern.
After hunters kill off the buffalo around her Texas ranch, a woman begins raising orphan buffalo calves and eventually ships four members of her small herd to Yellowstone National Park , where they form the beginnings of new buffalo herds.
- Sunday, September 14
Ages 4 to 11 - Bear's Picture by Daniel Pinkwater.
A bear continues to paint what he likes despite criticism from two passing gentlemen.
Ages 7 to 10 - Alvin Ho, Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look.
Second-grader Alvin Ho, who loves superheroes and comes from a long line of brave Chinese warriors, wants to make friends, but first he must overcome his fear of everything.
- Sunday, September 7
Ages 2 to 6 - On the Farm by David Elliott.
Colored woodcut prints and short simple poems describe the animals on the farm.
Ages 8 to 11 - Chicken Feathers by Joy Cowley.
Josh lives on a hillside farm with his family and his talking pet chicken Semolina, who discloses a sinister plot by a fox who almost kills her.
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