Focusing on children's books identified as "notable" for their rich use of language, this book presents essays that discuss literary genres and literary language, responding to the language of Notable Books, and developing an appreciation for language diversity. The book also presents brief essays by well-known children's authors regarding their writing processes. The notable works of children's literature discussed in the book were identified over a 10-year period by the Notable Children's Trade Books in the Language Arts Committee of the Children's Literature Assembly, a special interest group of the National Council of Teachers of English. After an introductory essay ("Wordcrafting: What Makes a Book Notable in the Language Arts?" by Susan Lehr), chapters in the book are (1)"Picture Books: Language That Sparks the Mind and Fuels the Imagination" (Janice V. Kristo and Linda Leonard Lamme); (2) "Poetic Texts and Poetic Language" (Amy A. McClure); (3) "The Language of Facts: Using Nonfiction Books to Support Language Growth" (Sylvia M. Vardell); (4) "Notable Novels in the Classroom: Helping Students to Increase Their Knowledge of Language and Literature" (Christine Doyle Francis); (5) "Language Use through Drama" (Anthony L. Manna); (6) "Language of the Storyteller" (Inga Kromann-Kelly); and (7) "Connecting Writing, Talk, and Literature" (Yvonne Siu-Runyan); (8) "How to Do Things with Words: Trickster Stories, Multicultural Awareness, and Language Arts" (Jon C. Stott); (9) "Diversity in Language: Using Notable African American Children's Literature in the Classroom" (Deborah Thompson); (10) "International Books and the Language Arts" (Carl M. Tomlinson); and (11) "Linking Literature and Language Use through Thematic Units" (Barbara Chatton and Susan Hepler). The book concludes with essays written by 38 authors of Notable Books (including Avi, Eve Bunting, Paula Fox, Patricia Lauber, Gary Paulsen, and Jerry Spinelli) that reflect on their own processes of writing and the decisions they make about such matters as wording, style, and the use of dialect. A bibliography of approximately 300 Notable Books is attached. (RS)