My favorite living author of novels for adults–Russel Hoban, Riddley Walker–has only written a few. But he’s written like 75 children’s books, among them the *____for Frances * books. I have a LOT of his children’s books, and an awful lot of little kids I know have a couple handfuls each. His kids’ stuff is just as breathtakingly insightful as his adult stuff, and it’s interesting how he treats similar issues in two different approaches.
My second favorite children’s author is Zilpha Keatly Snyder, whose The Egypt Game is a Newbury Honor book. All of her books were modern-world fantasy/SF books for the 10-14 set. My favorite, Black and Blue Magic, is about 15-year-old boy who’s learning to live alone with his mom, who runs a boarding house in San Francisco, after his parents are divorced. He’s also learning to deal with his huge growth spurts, which have made him lethally clumsy. A mysterious old man with a mysterious old sample case comes to stay at their house, and rewards the boy for a good deed with a small bottle of mysteriously glowing liquid. He follows the printed directions and huge wings sprout from his shoulder blades. He fashions an outfit out of his sheets, to stay warm in the night skies over SF but still let the wings through, and gets into all kinds of close calls and adventures. At the end of the summer, when he’s run out of the drops, he’s gained a new sense of confidence and maturity, and learned to overcome his clumsiness. A very, very cool book. The Changeling is about a kid who comes to believe she’s a fairy child stolen from the woods. (gotta work; will add more later.)