The 2009 Best Book for Young Children, One Hen, is a colorful and informative picture book that introduces children to micro-financing, a loan program that helps budding entrepreneurs in economic-challenged communities. Kojo, the central character in One Hen, buys a hen and uses the egg proceeds to build a successful chicken farm. Author Katie Smith Milway based One Hen on the life of Kwabena Darko, a successful Ghanaian businessmen who used a small loan to build a thriving poultry business. Later he founded Sinapi Aba Trust, an organization that grants loans to other Ghanaian entrepreneurs. Recently ABC News profiled One Hen describing it as "A Book That's Changing the World" http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7484625 .

Author Katie Smith Milway is a partner in the Bridgespan Group, a non-profit strategic advisor for philanthropic and not-for-profit organizations. She has coordinated community development programs in countries in Africa and Latin America. Her first children's book was Cappuccina Goes to Town. Illustrator Eugenie Fernandes, is an established author-illustrator of many children's books, including A Difficult Day and Cappuccina Goes to Town. She lives in southern Ontario.

2009 Honor Book Planting the trees of Kenya introduces young children to the life and work of Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Author-illustrator Claire Nivola aptly captures the rolling hills of the Kenyan highlands and the emotional drama surrounding the creation of Maathai's Green Belt movement. Her book can educate and inspire young and old alike to take action to reclaim environmental abundance.

Author-illustrator Claire Nivola was born in New York City and later attended Radcliffe College, where she majored in history and literature. The child of artists, Nivola drew and sculpted from early childhood. She illustrated her first book in 1970. Recent books include The Forest, Elisabeth, and The Mouse of Amherst written by Elizabeth Spires. http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/contribbios/nivola.html

In 2009 Honor Book The Butter Man a young girl impatiently waits for her dad to serve the delicious couscous he has prepared. To detract her, he tells a story about growing up in the mountains in Morocco and his much longer wait for food during a time of famine. The story is based on the experiences of author Ali Alalou who grew up in a Berber community in Morocco's Atlas mountains.

Authors Elizabeth and Ali Alalou met in Southern Morocco when she was serving in the Peace Corps. Elizabeth is a writer and Ali teaches at the University of Delaware. The Butter Man is their first book for children. Illustrator Julie Klear Essakalli lives and works in Marrakech, Morocco where she designs and creates textile art and furnishings for children with her husband, Moulay.