Best books of 1949

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 Emperor’s New Clothes written by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton (Houghton)
Cocolo Comes to America written and illustrated by Bettina (Harper)
Henry-Fisherman written and illustrated by Marcia Brown (Scribner)
Two Little Trains written by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Jean Charlot (Scott)
Little Boy Brown written by Isobel Harris, illustrated by André François (Lippincott)
The Twelve Days of Christmas illustrated by Ilonka Karasz (Harper)
The Happy Day written by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Marc Simont (Harper)
Song of the Swallows written and illustrated by Leo Politi (Scribner)
Sun Up written by Alvin Tresselt, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin (Lothrop)

Stories
The Bells of Bleecker Street written and illustrated by Valenti Angelo (Viking)
Sonny-Boy Sim written by Elizabeth W. Baker, illustrated by Susanne Suba (Rand)
Too Many Cherries written by Carl Carmer, illustrated by Jay Hyde Barnum (Viking)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass illustrated by Leonard Weisgard (Harper)
Tree of Freedom written by Rebecca Caudill, illustrated by Dorothy Bayley Morse (Viking)
The Blue Cat of Castle Town written by Catherine Cate Coblentz, illustrated by Janice Holland (Longmans)
The Door in the Wall written and illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli (Doubleday)
The Runaway Apprentice written by Margery Evernden, illustrated by Jeanyee Wong (Random)
Song of the Pines written by Walter and Marion Havighurst, illustrated by Richard Floethe (Winston)
Kildee House written by Rutherford Montgomery, illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Doubleday)
At the Palace Gates written by Helen Rand Parish, illustrated by Leo Politi (Viking)
The Treasure of Li-Po written by Alice Ritchie, illustrated by T. Ritchie (Harcourt)
Trigger John’s Sons written by Tom Robinson, illustrated by Robert McCloskey (Viking)

Timeless Books and People
The Lord Is My Shepherd from the Bible, illustrated by Nancy Barnhart (Scribner)
The Life of Audubon written by Clyde Fisher, illustrated with paintings and drawings by John James Audubon (Harper)
George Washington written and illustrated by Genevieve Foster (Scribner)
America’s Ethan Allen written by Stewart Holbrook, illustrated by Lynd Ward (Houghton)
Moses by Katherine B. Shippen (Harper)