Best books of 1978

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
Anno’s Journey written and illustrated by Mitsumasa Anno (Collins-World)
The Snowman written and illustrated by Raymond Briggs (Random)
Time to Get Out of the Bath, Shirley written and illustrated by John Burningham (Crowell)
The Clown of God written and illustrated by Tomie de Paola (Harcourt)
On to Widecombe Fair written by Patricia Lee Gauch, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (Putnam)
Grasshopper on the Road written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel (Harper)
What Do You Feed Your Donkey On? Rhymes from a Belfast Childhood compiled by Colette O’Hare, illustrated by Jenny Rodwell (Collins)
The Legend of Scarface: A Blackfeet Indian Tale adapted by Robert San Souci, illustrated by Daniel San Souci (Doubleday)
Stanley and Rhoda written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells (Dial)

Fiction
Silas and the Black Mare, Silas and Ben-Godik, and Silas and the Runaway Coach by Cecil Bødker (Delacorte)
The Cartoonist written by Betsy Byars, illustrated by Richard Cuffari (Viking)
Let a River Be by Betty Sue Cummings (Atheneum)
Humbug Mountain written by Sid Fleischman, illustrated by Eric Von Schmidt (Little)
The Apprentices by Leon Garfield (Viking)
The Stone Book written by Alan Garner, illustrated by Michael Foreman (Collins)
The Murderer by Felice Holman (Scribner)
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley (Harper)
The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel (Dial)
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
A Chance Child by Jill Paton Walsh (Farrar)
Prove Yourself a Hero by K. M. Peyton (Collins-World)
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton)
Sun Horse, Moon Horse written by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Shirley Felts (Dutton)
The Watch House by Robert Westall (Greenwillow)

Nonfiction
Hunted Mammals of the Sea written by Robert McClung, illustrated by William Downey (Morrow)
Native American Testimony: An Anthology of Indian and White Relations, First Encounter to Dispossession edited by Peter Nabakov (Crowell)
The Iron Road written by Richard Snow, illustrated with photographs by David Plowden (Four Winds)

Of Interest to Adults
The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter by Margaret Lane (Warne)