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OUTDOOR BOOK REVIEWS HOME PAGE
NEWS & COMMENTARY
WINNERS OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR
BOOK AWARDS (NOBA)
NOBA WINNERS BY CATEGORY:
OUTDOOR LITERATURE
NATURAL HISTORY
LITERATURE
HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
CLASSIC AWARD
DESIGN/ARTISTIC MERIT
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
GUIDES (ADVENTURE)
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INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKS
BEST BOOK LISTS:
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
ADVENTURE'S 100 BEST
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CHESSLER'S TOP 100
CLIMBING BOOKS
SIERRA MAGAZINE
READER'S FAVORITE
BOOKS
OUTSIDE'S 25 BEST
BOOKS OF THE LAST
100 YEARS
ASLE'S TOP 12
ENVIRONMENTAL BOOKS
THE REVIEWS 10 MOST
INFLUENTIAL
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OUTDOOR EDUCATION
SURVEY: BEST BOOKS
RECOMMENDATIONS:
TRAVEL LITERATURE BY
JEFF TUCKER
OUTDOOR LITERATURE
BY LIAM GUILAR
RIVER LITERATURE BY
LIAM GUILAR
THE OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE READING LIST:
READING LIST FOR AN
OUTDOOR LITERATURE
COURSE
OTHER SUGGESTIONS:
HUMBLE SUGGESTIONS
(A Few of Our Editor's
Own Works)
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Winners
of the Children'sCategory
National
Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA)
The most important book award
program in the outdoor field is the National
Outdoor Book Awards. Past winners of the Children's Category are listed
below:
 Winner. The Pole. By Eric Walters. Puffin Canada/Penguin Group, Toronto. ISBN
9780143167914.
The Pole is a splendid
work of historical fiction oriented to pre and early teens. It is built around the epic adventure of
Robert Peary's 1909 attempt to the reach the North Pole. Canadian children's author Eric Walters tells
the story of a fourteen-year-old boy, Danny, who has obtained a job on Peary's ship
as a cook's helper. Because of his age,
Danny expects to remain on the ship while the expedition to the North Pole is
underway, but once they reach Greenland, he quickly
establishes his worth as a dog musher. Peary
decides to take him along on the journey north, and Danny suddenly finds
himself on an adventure of a lifetime.
More Information or Purchase: Amazon.com
Winner. Peak. By Roland Smith. Harcourt, Orlando,
FL.
ISBN 9780152024178.
This novel for teens is about a boy who joins his father to
climb the highest mountain in the world, Mt.
Everest. If he makes it, he'll be the youngest person
to reach the summit. It's a fast-paced
story that ranges from the hustle and bustle of New York
to the great, high plateau of Tibet.
Does he make it? There's only way
to find out.
More Information or Purchase: Amazon.com
 Winner:The
Inuksuk Book
Text and illustrations by Mary Wallace.
Published by Greey de Pencier Books (Owl Books).
An Inuksuk is a stone structure, a type of road
sign, used by the Inuits of the Arctic to communicate important information.
They show the way when travelers are a long way from home, or warn of dangerous
places, or point to a place of reverence. This 64-page book, which
will intrigue children of the pre-teen years, consists of a series of short
stories about the Inuksuk and its importance in the Inuit culture.
Winner:
Blueberry
Shoe
By Ann Dixon. Illustrations by Evon Zerbetz.
Published by Alaska Northwest Books
This sweet and tender tale is about a baby's shoe
which is lost while a family is picking blueberries. A wondrous scene
unfolds as a sequence of creatures come along and sleep and play with the
shoe. One, a bear, even thinks he might eat the shoe. Filled with
colorful and enchanting illustrations and marvelously written, it's a book
that will delight children and reassure their sense of belonging to the
natural world. (For ages 4-10).
 Winner:Jellies:
The Life of Jellyfish
Twig C. George. Published by the Millbrook Press
Beautifully photographed, Jellies is an extraordinary book which manages
to make science appeal to the minds and hearts of children. It's
rich in facts about this fascinating creature of the sea, but even richer
in imagination and the joy of discovery. (For ages 8-10)
Winner:What
Does the Sky Say? By Nancy White Carlstrom.
Illustrated by Tim Ladwig. Published by Eerdmans Books for Young
Readers, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In What Does the Sky Say?, a child watches the sky through the
changing of the seasons and in all kinds of weather, all the while learning
to listen to the voice of the sky. The message of Nancy White Carlstrom's
imaginative and poetic text is calming and inspiring, and Tim Ladwig's
colorful illustrations capture the magic of childhood and our deep connection
to all creation. For all ages.
Winner #2: Coyote
and Badger: Desert Hunters of the Southwest. Written and illustrated by
Bruce Hiscock. Published by Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
This book, for children from 7 to 10 years old, is a natural history
story about predators and their struggle to survive. The tale unfolds
when a coyote and badger meet and a mysterious bond forms between the two
as they begin hunting together. Set in New Mexico among Anasazi ruins,
the story is perfectly complemented with Bruce Hiscock's warm and luminous
watercolors of a spacious desert.
Winner.
Wild Wings: Poems for Young People. By Jane Yolen.
Photographs by Jason Stemple. Published by Wordsong and Boyds Mills
Press, Honesdale, PA. ISBN 1563979047.
Wild Wings is a beautiful collaborative effort between author
Jane Yolen and her son, Jason, the book's photographer. The images,
both visual and verbal, can't help but engage a child's interest and nurture
a desire to learn about birds. For ages: 10-12.
Amazon.com: More
Information or Purchase
 Honorable
Mention. Ladybugs: Red, Fiery and Bright.
By Mia Posada. Published by Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis. ISBN
0876143346.
Through verse and bright, colorful illustrations, children will delight
in the tiny world of ladybugs. They'll learn something too as they
watch them grow from small larvae with long, skinny legs into a bright
and beautiful red beetles with shiny black spots. For ages:
3-8.
Winner.
Dot and Jabber and the Big Bug
Mystery. By Ellen Stoll Walsh. Published by Hartcourt,
Inc., New York. ISBN 0152165185
Dot and Jabber are mice—mighty dapper looking
mice, we might add—and they have an interesting
vocation. They are detectives. Their job in the Big Bug
Mystery is to find out what happened to all the bugs in the meadow
that have suddenly disappeared. There's no mystery, however, about
this sweetly written and illustrated book. It's a winner and will
excite the imaginations of pre-school and kindergarten aged children.
Winner.
Jam & Jelly by Holly & Nellie. By Gloria
Whelan. Illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen. Published
by Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea, MI. ISBN 1585361097
This story is about a young girl, Holly, whose family lives in the country
in the upper Midwest. It is a particularly difficult time for
the family and there's little money available to purchase Holly a coat
for the winter. Then Nellie, Holly's mother comes up with an idea:
they'll pick berries and sell jam and jelly. What makes this book work
so well is the harmony between Gloria Whelan's realistic and nuanced prose
and Frankenhuysen's bright and animated character studies. For
ages 4-10.
Winner. Whose Garden Is It? By Mary
Ann Hoberman. Illustrated by Jane
Dyer. Harcourt,
New York.
ISBN 0152026312
Who owns that beautiful garden blooming with every color of
the rainbow? The gardener says it
belongs to him. But the woodchuck
insists it's his. And so does the
rabbit, the butterfly, and the little squash bug. This lovingly done book does what all good
children's books should do: it
stimulates thought, and through words and illustrations, it asks youngsters to
reach their own conclusion to that pressing question, Who really owns that
garden? (For ages 3-7.)
 Winner. The Little Green Island With a Little Red House: A Book
of Colors and Critters. By Sharon
Lovejoy. Down East Books, Rockport,
ME.
ISBN 0892726733
"On a little green island, stands a little red house,
with a little orange cat, a little gray mouse . . . ." So begins, Sharon Lovejoy's gem of a
children's book about colors and critters.
Written for young children, ages three and older, Lovejoy uses tender
rhyme, playful fonts, and wondrous illustrations to introduce a bestiary of
creatures inhabiting homes, yards, fields and woods. It's certain to excite and delight all young
budding naturalists.
Honorable Mention. The Leaf Man. By Lois Ehlert. Harcourt, New
York. ISBN
0152053042
In this warm and radiant book full of fall colors, we follow
the travels of Leaf Man -- who, incidentally, just happens to reside in a
nearby pile of leaves. He goes tumbling away,
past pumpkins and winter squash and lakes and rivers. Children will love to follow along on the
journey and point out all the colorful leaves they see on the way. For ages 4 to
8.
Amazon.com: More
Information or Purchase
Winner.
Kelly of Hazel
Ridge. Text by Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuysen. Illustrations by Gijsbert van
Frankenhuysen. Sleeping Bear Press,
Chelsea, MI ISBN #1585362689
Kelly is in trouble.
Her fourth grade teacher has asked her to write
about something that's
been important in her life. But she
can't think of a thing until her father tells her to take a walk around
their
small farm. As she walks, she sees all
the wild animals that share the farm, and she remembers helping her
parents dig
ponds, create wetland areas, and, oh yeah, plant a gazillion little
trees! This book is a pure delight with a
suffused gentle
innocence, heartfelt text, and warm, luminous illustrations, all of
which will
surely excite young minds and imaginations.
Ages 4-10.
Winner.
Gaia Girls Enter the Earth.
By Lee Welles. Daisyworld
Press, Corning, NY.
ISBN 1933609001
In this 320-page novel, a young girl
takes on a corporation
that threatens to pollute the air and water of her upstate New
York home. She
is helped by a fantasy creature by the name of Gaia who she learns is
the
embodiment of the earth and of all living things. But
can she, only a fourth grader (but soon
to be a fifth grader!), stop a big corporation?
Find out in Lee Welles' page-turner for young girls. Ages 9 to 14.
End
of Listing
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