Best books of 1988

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
Song and Dance Man written by Karen Ackerman, illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Knopf)
The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau written and illustrated by Jon Agee (Farrar)
Where the Forest Meets the Sea written and illustrated by Jeannie Baker (Greenwillow)
I Want to Be an Astronaut written and illustrated by Byron Barton (Crowell)
John Patrick Norman McHennessy — The Boy Who Was Always Late written and illustrated by John Burningham (Crown)
Island Boy written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Viking Kestrel)
The Scarebird written by Sid Fleischman, illustrated by Peter Sis (Greenwillow)
Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner written and illustrated by Amy Schwartz (Orchard Books/Watts)
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap written by Dianne Snyder, illustrated by Allen Say (Houghton)
Spinky Sulks written and illustrated by William Steig (Farrar)
Shy Charles written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells (Dial)
Stringbean’s Trip to the Shining Sea written by Vera B. Williams, illustrated by Jennifer and Vera B. Williams (Greenwillow)

Fiction
The Monster Garden by Vivien Alcock (Delacorte)
The Adventures of Pinocchio written by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti (Knopf)
Granny Was a Buffer Girl by Berlie Doherty (Orchard Books/Watts)
A Family Project by Sarah Ellis (McElderry)
The Village by the Sea by Paula Fox (Orchard Books/Jackson/Watts)
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones (Greenwillow)
Richard Kennedy: Collected Stories written by Richard Kennedy, illustrated by Marcia Sewall (Harper)
The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)
The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper/Zolotow)
Memory by Margaret Mahy (McElderry)
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic)
Park’s Quest by Katherine Paterson (Dutton/Lodestar)

Nonfiction
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
Buffalo Hunt by Russell Freedman (Holiday)
Anthony Burns by Virginia Hamilton (Knopf)
Round Buildings, Square Buildings, & Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish written and photographed by Philip M. Isaacson (Knopf)
Little by Little: A Writer's Education by Jean Little (Viking Kestrel)
The Way Things Work written and illustrated by David Macaulay (Houghton)

Folklore
In the Beginning retold by Virginia Hamilton, illustrated by Barry Moser (Harcourt)
More Tales of Uncle Remus retold by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (Dial)

Poetry
Sing a Song of Popcorn compiled by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, illustrated by nine Caldecott Medal-winning artists (Scholastic)
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices written by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Eric Beddows (Harper/Zolotow)
Cats Are Cats compiled by Nancy Larrick, illustrated by Ed Young (Philomel)
Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast written by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Arnold Lobel (Greenwillow)