I can't help it-- I might read some more good books in the next week (I said when I started putting this together a week-- or two?-- ago), but I am too anxious to share with you my FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR not to start now. As a librarian I feel the need to point out that this is MY Top Books, not THE Best Books. I'm not speaking from my professional knowledge here, necessarily, but from my personal responses as a READER. Who is also a reasonably well-read adult, even though most of these books are directed at people much younger than me, so they MAY or MAY NOT be good choices for your kids. I just loved them. And, since I managed to read the Newbery winner before it won for the past couple years, I've been trying to do it again, so I sought out a lot of books I wouldn't necessarily pick up on my own because they were getting buzz. And truthfully, most of those buzzy books I could see, from an intellectual standpoint, were very good, and would make some readers very happy as well, but I personally was somewhat ambivalent. On the other hand I know very well some of my favorite books of the year aren't exactly Newbery quality, but I LOVE them more. So it's those LOVE ones that go on this list.
A couple years ago, as I had read enough books actually published that year to pull it off, I decided to make my Top Ten Books of the Year list actually of BOOKS PUBLISHED THAT YEAR. But I missed talking about the NOT published that year books that I loved, so the next year I added some more categories. This year... well, dang. I have read a LOT OF GOOD BOOKS this year. I am doing my best to include as many of them as possible in this post, mostly by making new categories every so often, and yet I'm still leaving off quite a few great ones. So let's begin:
( CLICK FOR MORE! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! PLEASE DON'T IGNORE ME OR I WILL BE SAD! )
A couple years ago, as I had read enough books actually published that year to pull it off, I decided to make my Top Ten Books of the Year list actually of BOOKS PUBLISHED THAT YEAR. But I missed talking about the NOT published that year books that I loved, so the next year I added some more categories. This year... well, dang. I have read a LOT OF GOOD BOOKS this year. I am doing my best to include as many of them as possible in this post, mostly by making new categories every so often, and yet I'm still leaving off quite a few great ones. So let's begin:
( CLICK FOR MORE! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! PLEASE DON'T IGNORE ME OR I WILL BE SAD! )