Updated guide to children’s books is available

“CCBC Choices 2001,” which describes 228 of the best books for children and young adults published in the last year, is available from the School of Education’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center.

At least 4,500 trade books for children and young adults were published in 2000. Nearly 189,000 children’s books are available for purchase in the United States, three times as many as a decade ago.

At 138 pages, “Choices 2001” is an invaluable tool for finding the best children’s book. CCBC director Ginny Moore Kruse and librarians Kathleen T. Horning and Megan Schliesman selected the “Choices” books, which include 48 first-published works of 26 authors and 22 illustrators.

The Friends of the CCBC Inc. published “CCBC Choices 2001.”

Visit the CCBC Web site for more information.

All books listed in “CCBC Choices 2001” are available for examination in the CCBC throughout the spring. The center’s hours are Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.