I love the kind of books you share and they become larger-than-life because they create an experience that lives forever in your memory.

Some books appear when you need them. One day my daughter came home confused by an action her adored teacher had taken. I read her Kevin Henkes' new Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse . The small mouse heroine, Lilly falls academically in love with her stupendous teacher, but when there's a conflict, she responds with passionate anger. Then there's shame and finally resolution. The story explained to my daughter the humanity of all people, even seemingly perfect teachers.

Shortly after she was hooked on Sid Fleischman's The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life This autobiography by the well-known children's book author moves along at a rapid clip. My daughter devoured the book and then decided to read every book he wrote and that's kept her reading for months.

I was struck by the ingenuity of Amazon Diary: The Jungle Adventures of Alex Winters written by Hudson Talbott. But I wasn't sure if it worked. I consulted with my son. He didn't move until he'd finished the book about Alex, whose plane crashes in the Amazon and he's taken in by a Yanomami tribe. This unusual book integrates fact and fiction, polariods and drawings with a genius of design, concept, and preadolescent voice.

I always remember books that make people laugh. Several times this year

I cracked up audiences when I shared Mimi Little's Yoshiko and the Foreigner. This picture book tells of the meeting of an American soldier and his Japanese bride and has wonderful things to say about the universality of love, respect for culture and tradition, and family understanding. It opens as the soldier, riding on a train, struggles to speak the language. "I am a dancing girl. Where is the doctor?" he asks aloud and when the train car erupts in giggles, he consults his guide book and tries again. "You see, I am a boiled pepper."

Books that provoked the most laughs from young children were David Pelham's David Pelham's Sam's Pizza and Bill Grossman's My Little Sister Ate One Hare. Both involve sibling issues and other repelling and compelling topics.

I think the book that provoked the most thought was Evelyn Coleman's White Socks Only, the story of a young black girl who dresses in her best Sunday white clothes and travels dusty country roads into town to find out if you really can fry an egg on a sidewalk. Mission accomplished, she spots a drinking fountain with a sign, "Whites Only". So, she takes off her black shoes, and begins to drink. Her innocent actions have an amazing result. Whenever I read this book with classes, there was a stunned silence, usually followed by a sign of satisfaction, and then a lot of wonderful discussion. Those are three sure sign that a book has taken root in the hearts of children.