The best of Word Play in 2009

My pick as best picture book of the year, "All the World" (Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster: $17.99, ages 3-7), could easily replace the traditional holiday greeting card as a perfect expression of peace and goodwill. Liz Garton Scanlon's lilting rhymes about a family's activities in a single day, combined with Marla Frazee's by turns intimate and expansive paintings, convey a sense of contentment, simplicity and completeness.

By Sonja Bolle

December 13, 2009