Tuesday, November 9, 2010

PW's Best Children's Books 2010

Publishers Weekly released its list of top books of 2010 this week.  The grown-up titles are bereft of fairy tales, but the 40 title long PW's Best Children's Books 2010 has two fairy tale related titles, one picture book and one novel.

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse

The first book is Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer, illus. by Josée Masse (Dutton).  I have raved about this book all year and definitely endorse this as a top book for 2010.  I am still hoping it will get a Caldecott nod, too. 

Singer and Masse are in perfect step with this clever and highly original collection of "reverso" poems (a form Singer developed), which can be read forward or backward—with significant impact on the fairy tale featured in each one. Masse plays with symmetry and dueling perspectives just as much as Singer does, giving the project a thematic cohesiveness and challenging readers to look at classic stories in an entirely new way.

Really and truly this belongs on any holiday gift lists you might have, either to give or receive.  I haven't had one person not enjoy it yet and I've shown it personally to several people with almost no interest in fairy tales.

The other book I can't enthuse as much over simply because I haven't read it yet.  The budget has been devoted to other items for SurLaLune, especially for researching the upcoming SurLaLune Press titles, so this one is on my waiting list.  Still, it's moving closer to the top as I read more and more glowing reviews of it.

A Tale Dark and Grimm

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton)

Gidwitz debuts with a deliciously twisted reworking of Grimm's fairy tales that casts Hansel and Gretel in lead roles in several other stories, as they seek a perfect (or even just "nice") family. Quite gory and quite funny, Gidwitz's expertly engineered collection has heart, too, and is all but certain to reignite readers' interest in the source material.

So this would be another gift list addition, too. 

What other fairy tale related titles would you add to the Best of 2010?

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