Notable Children’s Books of 2009 By THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Notable Children’s Books of 2009 By THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

CHARLES AND EMMA: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
By Deborah Heiligman
Holt. $18.95. (Ages 12 and up)

The unlikely, and happy, marriage of Charles Darwin and Emma Wedgwood comes to life in Heiligman’s intelligent and fast-moving book. Emma, a devout Christian but a sympathetic editor, helped make the arguments in “On the Origin of Species” airtight. Meanwhile readers can almost effortlessly absorb Darwin’s ideas and the culture in which they developed, along with a portrait of Victorian everyday life.

* Review

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea
Written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $17. (Ages 4 to 8)

Through a magical use of cut paper, Jenkins takes the reader on a voyage to the deepest part of the ocean. Multilayered and multi­colored, bizarre creatures almost seem to move on the page: flying squid, cold-eyed mackerel and lacy, bioluminescent siphonophores (lighted up like Broadway bulbs). Helpful descriptions both inform and entertain.

* Review

[DOWN, DOWN, DOWN: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea]
GENIUS OF COMMON SENSE: Jane Jacobs and the Story of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”
Written and illustrated by Glenna Lang and Marjory Wunsch
Godine. $17.95. (Ages 10 and up)

This engaging book shows how Jacobs (who never went to college) developed her revolutionary ideas on urban design by walking around observing city streets. Later, she challenged Robert Moses and won.

* Review

THE LAST OLYMPIAN: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5
By Rick Riordan
Disney Hyperion. $17.99. (Ages 10 and up)

In Riordan’s universe, Greek mythology — along with its vividly imagined heroes and monsters — is alive and well in New York City. Percy, short for Perseus, here concludes his adventures (for the moment) with great humor and inventiveness, not to mention nearly world-ending mayhem.

* Review

MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD
By Francisco X. Stork
Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $17.99. (Ages 12 and up)

This brisk and brilliant novel tells the story of Marcelo, who knows he’s different, but not “abnormal or ill” (for people who need labels, he says his condition resembles Asperger’s). A summer job his father forces him to take in the “real world” plunges him into a legal mystery, a moral dilemma and a deepening friendship with his boss, the beautiful Jasmine.

* Review

THE VAST FIELDS OF ORDINARY
By Nick Burd
Dial Books. $16.99.(Ages 14 and up)

Set among the fields of Iowa, what could have been a standard last-summer-before-college drama is instead packed with insights and memorable characters you want to know better, chief among them a young gay protagonist who plays against type in gratifying ways. Burd’s nuanced storytelling and metaphor-rich writing lift his debut novel far above the ordinary.

* Review

WHEN YOU REACH ME
By Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb/Random House. $15.99. (Ages 9 to 14)

Stead’s novel is a thrilling puzzle: a complex mystery, a work of historical fiction and a story of friendship, with a theme of time travel running through it. After Miranda’s apartment key disappears and strange notes begin appearing, clues pile up on the way to a moment of intense drama. From then on it is nearly impossible to stop reading.

* Review

YUMMY: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales
Written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins
Candlewick. $18.99. (Ages 3 and up)

In “Yummy,” the superbright palette of Lucy Cousins (of “Maisy” fame) meets the art of the fairy tale. Along with the wolves, hens and little girls in primary colors, outlined by the artist’s characteristic black brush strokes, the jaunty humor irresistibly pulls you in. Chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2009.

* Review

[YUMMY: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales]

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