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2010 Best Books of Indiana - Children/YA

Winner to be announced Friday, October 15, 2010

Helen Frost, Crossing Stones

"In this compelling story told in poetic form, Frost examines the lives of two families separated by a creek both suffering the pain of sons fighting in WWI.  The poems are designed to look like stepping stones that unite the families and alternately the flow of water that divides the families.  Each poem also stands on it's own as a literary piece."

Janna Matthies, Peter, the Knight with Asthma

When young Peter starts wheezing and coughing while trying to fight imaginary dragons, his mom decides it is time to see the family doctor.  In Janna Matthies’ book, Peter, the Knight with Asthma, children get to understand asthma and how it is treated in a simple but straightforward manner.  While Peter’s adventures ring true, the note to parents by a pediatric pulmonologist is especially helpful for families dealing with the ailment.

Elizabeth O’Maley, By Freedom’s Light

Elizabeth O’Maley captures the hardships of the Indiana frontier and the fight against slavery in her gripping novel By Freedom’s Light.  Homesick and lonely, Sarah Caldwell is facing a new pioneer life in Indiana with her new stepmother.  To make matters worse, her stepmother is a Quaker and a secret abolitionists going against everything Sarah knew from her life in North Carolina. Everything starts looking up when Sarah’s sister, Rachel, and her family arrive from North Carolina with Polly, a slave girl.  However the arrival of Rachel and Polly challenges Sarah and her views of slavery as she faces some life-altering decisions.