Designed to aid adults—parents, teachers, librarians—in selecting from the best of recent children’s literature, this guide provides 1,400 reviews of books published between 1979 and 1984.

This volume carries on the tradition established by Zena Sutherland’s two earlier collections covering the periods from 1966 to 1972 and 1973 to 1978. Her 1973 edition of The Best in Children’s Books was cited by the American School Board Journal as one of the outstanding books of the year in education.