POLLY HORVATH

The author of "The Vacation" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005) and the Newbery Honor- winning "Everything on a Waffle," selects:

27. "The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy"

By Jeanne Birdsall
Knopf, $15.95; Ages 9 to 12; ISBN: 0375831436

"The Penderwicks was charming," Horvath says, "and I loved its quiet pace. I think it's a well-timed book, and there is going to be a return to innocence in literary taste for a while." [Editor's note: Since this article went to press, "The Penderwicks" won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.]

PETER REYNOLDS

The author/illustrator of "The Dot" (Candlewick, 2003) and "My Very Big Little World" (Athenuem, 2006) and illustrator of the Judy Moody and Olivia Kidney series picks:

28. "A Froggy Fable"
By John Lechner
Candlewick, $14.99; Ages 4 to 8; ISBN: 0763621234
"This is my favorite because it depicts the very real fact that life will throw us many curve balls -- but many times we end up changed for the better."

JANE YOLEN

The author of poetry in picture books as in "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?" (Scholastic, 2005), "Baby Bears Chairs" (Harcourt, 2005), and in novels such as "Pay the Piper: A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale" (Tor, 2005) picks:

29. "Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts"
By Anna Grossnickle Hines
Greenwillow/HarperCollins, $16.99; Ages 9 to 12; ISBN: 0060008172
"With her quilt pictures and her simple but elegant poetry, Anna Grossnickle Hines has turned a corner into the Extraordinary. Winter Lights is stunning. What the reader discovers is the thoughtful placement of words and pictures that bring the season of lights to life, whether that season contains Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Nian -- or just snow."

ED YOUNG

The author of "Beyond the Great Mountains" (Chronicle, 2005) and the Caldecott Medal- winning "Lon Po Po" (Philomel, 1989), picks:

30. "He Came with the Couch"
By David Slonim
Chronicle, $15.95; Ages 4 to 8; ISBN: 0811844307
"A very funny story that is whimsically illustrated, lighthearted, and touching."

BETSY LEWIN

The illustrator of "So What's It Like to Be a Cat" (Atheneum, 2005), "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa" (Harcourt, 2005), and the Caldecott Honor-winning "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type" (Simon & Schuster, 2000), claims, "I can't pick just one. Choosing a favorite book is one of the most agonizing tasks I can think of. Here are a few that I really love":

31. "Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing"
By April Jones Prince, Illustrated by Francois Roca
Houghton Mifflin, $16.00; Ages 4 to 8; ISBN: 061844887





32. "Emma Kate"
By Patricia Polacco
Philomel, $16.99; Ages 4 to 8; ISBN: 0399244522






33. "Snip Snap! What's That?
By Mara Bergman, Illustrated by Nick Maland
Greenwillow/HarperCollins, $15.99; Ages 1 to 5; ISBN: 0060777540





34. "Michael Rosen's Sad Book"
By Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Quentin Blake
Candlewick, $16.99; Age 9 and Up; ISBN: 0763625973

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Special thanks to Betsy Lewin, Peter Reynolds, Polly Horvath, Ed Young, and Jane Yolen for their great picks, and to Bill Norris of Fablevision and especially Susan Raab of Raab Associates/Reviewer's Checklist for helping me reach some of my favorite authors and illustrators of all time.

Shelley Butler is co-author of the Parents' Choice Award-winning book "The Field Guide to Parenting" and is staff columnist of "Still a Kid at Heart: Children's Book Reviews" for Once Upon a Time magazine. For more information or to contact the author (she loves e-mail), please visit her web site: www.fieldguidetoparenting.info