2008

Lucy Nolan.  Down Girl and Sit:  On the Road

A dog who thinks her name is Down Girl goes on a car ride to the beach, goes camping in the woods, and reluctantly pays a visit to the vet with her master, Rruff.

2007

Joe Hayes.  Ghost Fever/Mal de Fantasma

In the 1950s, fourteen-year-old Elena Padilla and her father move into a haunted house in Duston, Arizona, where only Elena can see and help the ghost of the young girl who died there.

2006

Lisa Wheeler.  Seadogs:  An Epic Ocean Operetta

A motley crew of dogs presents a rhyming tale of seagoing adventure.

2005

Robert J. Blake.  Togo

In 1925, Togo, a Siberian husky who loves being a sled dog, leads a team that rushes to bring diphtheria antitoxin from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.

2004-2005 List

2004

Phil Bildner.  Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy

Shoeless Joe Jackson, said by some to be the greatest baseball player ever, goes into a hitting slump just before he is to start his minor league career, so he asks his friend to make him a special bat to help him hit.

2003

Ruth Sanderson.  The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic

Ring   A young huntsman is helped by a golden mare when he tries to perform the seemingly impossible feats commanded by the Tsar.

2002

Kate DiCamillo. Because of Winn-Dixie

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

2001

Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. Cook-A-Doodle-Doo!

With the questionable help of his friends, Big Brown Rooster manages to bake a strawberry shortcake which would have pleased his great-grandmother, Little Red Hen.

2000

Cynthia DeFelice. The Ghost of Fossil Glen

Allie knows it's not her imagination when she hears a voice and sees in her mind's eye the face of a girl who seems to be seeking Allie's help.

1999

Janell Cannon. Verdi

A young python does not want to grow slow and boring like the older snakes he sees in the tropical jungle where he lives.

1998

Betsy Byars. Tornado

As they wait out a tornado in their storm cellar, a family listens to their farmhand tell stories about the dog that was blown into his life by another tornado when he was a boy.

1997

Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Math Curse

When the teacher tells her class that they can think of almost everything as a math problem, one student acquires a math anxiety which becomes a real curse.

1996

Mary Downing Hahn. Time For Andrew: A Ghost Story

When he goes to spend the summer with his great-aunt in the family's old house, eleven-year-old Drew is drawn eighty years into the past to trade places with his great-great-uncle who is dying of diptheria.

1995

Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other

Fairly Stupid Tales   Madcap revisions of familiar fairy tales.

1994

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Shiloh

When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

1993

Brian Selznick. The Houdini Box

A chance encounter with Harry Houdini leaves a small boy in possession of a mysterious box--one that might hold the secrets to the greatest magic tricks ever performed.

1992

Biill Wallace. Snot Stew

Brother and sister cats are taken in by a family and learn the pleasures and dangers of living alongside humans.

1991

Jonathan Etra and Stephanie Spinner. Aliens for Breakfast

Finding an intergalactic special agent in his cereal box, Richard joins the extraterrestrial in a fight to save Earth from the Dranes, one of whom is masquerading as a student in Richard's class.

1990

Louis Sachar. There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom

An unmanageable, but lovable, eleven-year-old misfit learns to believe in himself when he gets to know the new school counselor, who is a sort of misfit too.

1989

Mary Downing Hahn. Wait Till Helen Comes

Molly and Michael dislike their spooky new stepsister Heather but realize that they must try to save her when she seems ready to follow a ghost child to her doom.

1988

Betty Ren Wright. Christina's Ghost

Christina's summer in a spooky, isolated Victorian house with her grumpy uncle turns into a ghostly adventure.

1987

Johanna Hurwitz. The Hot and Cold Summer

Two inseparable ten-year-old boys discover there is room in their friendship for another person and it really doesn't matter that she is a girl.

1986

Betty Ren Wright. The Dollhouse Murders

A dollhouse filled with a ghostly light in the middle of the night and dolls that have moved from where she left them, lead Amy and her retarded sister to unravel the mystery surrounding grisly murders that took place years ago.

1985

Barbara Park. Skinnybones

Alex's active sense of humor helps him get along with the school braggart, make the most of his athletic talents, and simply get by in a hectic world.

1984

Barthe DeClements. Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

A fifth grade class, repelled by the overweight new student who has serious home problems, finally learns to accept her.

1983

Bill Wallace. A Dog Called Kitty

Afraid of dogs since he was attacked by a mad one, Ricky resists taking in a homeless pup that shows up at the farm.

1982

Judy Blume. Superfudge

Peter describes the highs and lows of life with his younger brother Fudge.

1981

Beverly Cleary. Ramona and Her Father

The family routine is upset during Ramona's year in second grade when her father unexpectedly loses his job.