Here's our regular roundup of lighthearted superlatives, gleaned from these listings.
Punniest Plot Description: Spork by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Isabelle Arsenault, billed as a "multi-cutlery" tale. (Kids Can Press)
Plot Line Most Likely to Cure a Bad Habit: Richard Was a Picker by Carolyn Beck, illus. by Ben Hodson, which tells of a boy whose nose-picking leads to trouble "when he gets sucked up inside his own nose and he can't get out." (Orca)
Best Fit Between Author and Subject: Genevieve Ko Sweet, who wrote Princess Sweets & Treats Cookbook. (PlayBac Publishing)
Book Parents Will Most Want to Peruse First: Experiments to Do on Your Family by Karen Romano Young. (National Geographic Kids)
Cleverest Solution to First-Day Jitters: A Pirate's Guide to First Grade by James Preller, illus. by Greg Ruth, about a boy who imagines he's accompanied by pirates on his first day of school. (Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends)
Most Squirm-Inducing Title: Daisy and the Trouble with Maggots by Kes Gray, illus. by Nick Sharratt. (Transworld/Red Fox)
Novel That Takes One-Upmanship to the Extreme: My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours by Kristina Springer. (Macmillan/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
Most Upsetting Christmas Title: The Year Without a Santa Claus by Phyllis McGinley, illus. by John Manders, in which Santa takes his first vacation in 1,000 years. (Marshall Cavendish)
Novel Most Likely to Boost the Number of Princeton Applications (in a Few Years): Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst, about a girl who finds a secret gate between this Ivy League university and a magical realm. (S&S/McElderry)
Most Monstrous Use of "Scared Straight" Techniques (tie): Monsters Eat Whiny Children by Bruce Eric Kaplan, in which monsters argue about how to prepare their whiny meal (Simon & Schuster) and Bedtime Monster/A dormir, pequeño monstruo! by Heather Ayris Burnell, illus. by Bonnie Adamson, introducing a boy who sprouts horns and a tail after throwing a monstrous bedtime tantrum. (Raven Tree Press)
