Arts and Entertainment

Pennsylvania Center for the Book announces 'A Baker's Dozen' for 2020

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —Among the numerous children’s books published last year, 13 were chosen by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book to form the 17th annual "A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy," for 2020.

The annual booklist is compiled by a panel of children’s literature experts who choose from among the many children’s books published in the previous calendar year.

Titles for 2020 include:

  • "Astro Girl" by Ken Wilson-Max (Candlewick/Penguin Random)
  • "Chomp: A Shark Romp" by Michael Paul (Crown/Penguin Random)
  • "Field Trip to the Moon" by John Hare (Margaret Ferguson/Holiday)
  • "The Fisherman & the Whale" by Jessica Lanan (Simon)
  • "Hey, Water!" by Antoinette Portis (Neal Porter/Holiday)
  • "Let's Have a Dog Party!" by Mikela Prevost (Viking/Penguin Random)
  • "Lubna and Pebble" by Wendy Meddour, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus (Dial/Penguin Random)
  • "One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller" by Kate Read (Peachtree)
  • "Saturday" by Oge Mora (Little/Hachette)
  • "Snack Attack!" by Terry Border (Philomel/Penguin Random)
  • "Truman" by Jean Reidy, illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Atheneum/Simon)
  • "A Visit to Grandad: An African ABC" by Sade Fadipe, illustrated by Shedrach Ayalomeh (Cassava Republic)
  • "Welcome Home: Where Nature's Most Creative Creatures Dwell" by Lisa Mundorff (Feiwel/Macmillan)

Selection criteria, annotations, tips for using the books and more are available at A Baker’s Dozen website.

The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, encourages Pennsylvania’s citizens and residents to study, honor, celebrate and promote books, reading, libraries and literacy. In addition to A Baker’s Dozen, it also administers the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award; the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize; the Public Poetry Project; Wordstruck: Micro Essays on Literature that Redefined You, an essay contest for Pennsylvania students in grades 10-12; Poems from Life; Words of Art; and the interactive Literary & Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania.

For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Center for the Book website or contact Caroline Wermuth, outreach coordinator, at cvw1@psu.edu or 814-863-5472.

Last Updated September 1, 2020