Best books of 1989

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 Tub People written by Pam Conrad, illustrated by Richard Egielski (Harper)
Color Zoo written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Lippincott)
Night Noises written by Mem Fox, illustrated by Terry Denton (Gulliver/Harcourt)
Jessica written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom written by Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Simon)
Will’s Mammoth written by Rafe Martin, illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Putnam)
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt retold by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (McElderry)
Waiting for Hannah written and illustrated by Marisabina Russo (Greenwillow)
Mouse Paint written and illustrated by Ellen Stoll Walsh (Harcourt)
Where Does the Brown Bear Go? written and illustrated by Nicki Weiss (Greenwillow)
Max’s Chocolate Chicken written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells (Dial)

Fiction
Bingo Brown and the Language of Love by Betsy Byars (Viking/Kestrel)
Lucie Babbidge’s House by Sylvia Cassedy (Crowell)
Celine by Brock Cole (Farrar)
Eva by Peter Dickinson (Delacorte)
Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle (Orchard/Jackson)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak written by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Wendy Smith (McElderry)
And One for All by Theresa Nelson (Orchard/Jackson)
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples (Knopf)
Blitzcat by Robert Westall (Scholastic)

Folklore
The Rainbow People selected and retold by Laurence Yep, illustrated by David Weisner (Harper)
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China translated and illustrated by Ed Young (Philomel)

Poetry
Poems of A. Nonny Mouse selected by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Henrik Drescher (Knopf)

Nonfiction
The Great American Gold Rush by Rhoda Blumberg (Bradbury)
The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz (Putnam)
Of Colors and Things photographed by Tana Hoban (Greenwillow)
Bill Peet: An Autobiography written and illustrated by Bill Peet (Houghton)
If You Made a Million written by David M. Schwartz, illustrated by Steven Kellogg (Lothrop)