New York, NY, December 17, 2001 -- Take advantage of the holiday season and reaffirm the power of stories to heal, to express the wonder of our world, to witness to the truth, and to help us make sense of our lives. This year The New York Public Library’s annual list of the best books for kids can be your guide. Selected by a committee of experienced children’s librarians, Children’s Books 2001: One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing is a carefully chosen collection of the best children’s books of the year. Organized by age groupings with helpful categories in each section (“Picture books for children ages 2 - 6,” “Folk and Fairy Tales,” “Poetry,” “Stories for children ages 6 - 8,” “Stories for children ages 8 - 12,” and “Non-fiction”), The New York Public Library’s popular list of recommended reading will provide a renewed sense of comfort in these very trying times.

Examples of this year’s picks include Book!, for toddlers, which expresses the wonder of getting to know a book physically and the comfort of being warm and snug while sitting in someone’s lap. Some titles allow us to get back to our sense of humor. Irving and Mutuk, a tale of two bad bears and their disguises, will cause children and adults to laugh aloud. For older children there is the outrageously funny Strega-Borgia household in Pure Dead Magic.

Many of the stories help us make sense of our lives. In Girl of Kosovo we learn about an Albanian girl’s experiences with the violence of war and her efforts to not be filled with hate. In Lord of the Nutcracker Men, a boy wonders at the beginning of World War I how, “a man could be his friend one day, and his enemy the next.” In Woody Guthrie we learn about the “poet of the people,” a man whose many songs “reflect the struggles and celebrate the spirit of the American people.”

There are some powerful novels on this list that bear witness to the truth. As the Klu Klux Klan attempts to gain a foothold in a small Vermont town in 1924, the cast of characters in Witness helps that town to give “birth to it’s conscience.” In The Other Side of Truth, a 12-year-old girl struggles with staying hidden for safety and speaking out for justice. The girl’s father, a Nigerian journalist, who has suffered much for truth’s sake concludes, “...I believe in the power of the stories we tell. If we keep quiet about injustice, then injustice wins. We must dare to tell. Across the oceans of time, words are mightier than swords.”

These are just a few of The New York Public Library’s choices of the best stories for reading and sharing. We invite you to make them yours.

This year’s collection of 100 books will be on display in the Central Children’s Room of the Donnell Library Center through January 3, along with a unique opportunity to view many spectacular pieces of original artwork created by major illustrators of the books that made it onto the list. Beautiful watercolors, original photographs, and whimsical collages are only some of the mediums on display in cases on the first and second floors of the library. Among the noted illustrators featured are Leo and Diane Dillon, Jerry Pinkney, Rosemary Wells, Paul O. Zelinsky, Kevin Hawkes, and Bryan Collier. The exhibition can be seen during regular Children’s Room Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 12 to 6; Tuesday 10 to 6; Thursday 12 to 8; Saturday 12 to 5; and Sunday 1 to 5. The Donnell Library Center is located at 20 West 53rd Street.

Children’s Books 2001 can be purchased for $3.00 by mail from the Office of The Branch Libraries, The New York Public Library, 455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Mail orders must be accompanied by postage ($1.00 for 1 to 5 copies; $1.25 for 6 to 10 copies; and $1.50 for bulk orders). Free copies are available by request at all branch libraries.

The New York Public Library offers a wide variety of free programs for adults, young adults, and children at all 85 of its branches, located throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Visit the Library’s web site at www.nypl.org for further information.

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Contact: Debbie Bujosa at (212) 704-8600.

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