Best books of 1985

Chosen annually by our editors, Fanfare is The Horn Book Magazine’s selection of the best children’s and young adult books of the year.

Picture Books
The Paper Crane written and illustrated by Molly Bang (Greenwillow)
Gorilla written and illustrated by Anthony Browne (Knopf)
The Very Busy Spider written and illustrated by Eric Carle (Philomel)
Rose Blanche written by Christopher Gallaz and Roberto Innocenti, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, translated by Martha Coventry and Richard Graglia (Creative Education)
1,2,3 written and photographed by Tana Hoban (Greenwillow)
Bathwater’s Hot written and illustrated by Shirley Hughes (Lothrop)
Foolish Rabbit’s Big Mistake written by Rafe Martin, illustrated by Ed Young (Putnam)
Action Alphabet written and illustrated by Marty Neumeier and Byron Glaser (Greenwillow)
The Relatives Came written by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Bradbury)
The Polar Express written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton)
Max’s Breakfast written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells (Dial)

Fiction
Travelers by Night by Vivien Alcock (Delacorte)
Cracker Jackson by Betsy Byars (Viking Kestrel)
Beyond the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (Knopf)
The Nature of the Beast by Janni Howker (Greenwillow)
Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith, illustrated by Mary Rayner (Crown)
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper)
In Summer Light by Zibby Oneal (Viking Kestrel)

Nonfiction
In Kindling Flame: The Story of Hannah Senesh 1921–1944 by Linda Atkinson (Lothrop)
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg (Lothrop)
The Milk Makers written and illustrated by Gail Gibbons (Macmillan)
How Much Is a Million? written by David M. Schwartz, illustrated by Steven Kellogg (Lothrop)

Poetry
Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose compiled and illustrated by Tomie dePaola (Putnam)
The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse in America selected and edited by Donald Hall (Oxford)

Folklore
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales retold by Virginia Hamilton, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (Knopf)