Why month by month? Why list them at all? I dunno. 'Cause I wanna? I think? I may regret this. I can already feel my brain seizing up.
I read 400-ish books this year and when it came time to breaking down this year's reading into favorites, I started to feel overwhelmed at the thought. I mulled it over a long time, wasting valuable brain time on the issue and finally decided to break it down by month: the favorites from each month. Then I balked because what if the favorite of one month wasn't as good as the not-quite-most-favorite of another month. That hurt my brain to dwell on, so I didn't. (As a result of the inability to stick to just one choice per category, you will notice more than one book per category at times. Please note that my children are also afflicted with this same problem. You may also notice that I do not include the older girls' personal favorite chapter books; that's too hard for me to keep up with.)
January
Adult fiction: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (Helen Simonson)
YA fiction: Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (Jessica Day George)
MG fiction: The Giver (Lois Lowry)
Adult non-fiction: The Underground History of American Education (John Taylor Gatto)
Children's non-fiction: Red Sings From Treetops (Joyce Sidman; ill. by Pamela Zagarenski)
My favorite picturebook(s): Red Sings From Treetops (Joyce Sidman; ill. by Pamela Zagarenski)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): When the Relatives Came (Cynthia Rylant)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): The Golly Sisters (Betsy Byars; ill. by Sue Truesdell)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): The Best Nest (P.D. Eastman); Are You My Mother? (P.D. Eastman)
Best read aloud novel(s) of the month: By the Shores of Silver Lake (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
February
Adult fiction: The Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy (Patricia A. McKillip); Poison Study (Maria V. Snyder)
YA fiction: The Heavenly Village (Cynthia Rylant)
MG fiction: When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead); Esperanza Rising (Pam Munoz Ryan)
Adult non-fiction: The Power of Positive Parenting (Glenn I. Latham)
Children's non-fiction: Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow (Susan Campbell Bartoletti); My First Body Book (Christopher Rice); The Flag Maker (Susan Campbell Bartoletti and Claire A. Nivola)
My favorite picturebook(s): The Rainbabies (Laura Krauss Melmud and Jim LaMarche); Crow Call (Lois Lowry and Bagram Ibatoulline); A Sick Day For Amos McGee (Phillip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Philharmonic Gets Dressed (Karla Kuskin and Marc Simont); The Stray Dog (Marc Simont); Albert (Donna Jo Napoli and Jim LaMarche)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): The Lady and the Lion (Jacqueline K. Ogborn and Laurel Long); A Sick Day For Amos McGee (Phillip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead); Cinderella (Barbara McClintock)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Birds (Kevin Henkes); The Tub People (Pam Conrad and Richard Egielski); Owl Babies (Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson)
Best read aloud novel(s) of the month: All-Of-a-Kind Family Uptown (Sydney Taylor)
March
Adult fiction: This Rough Magic (Mary Stewart)
YA fiction: The Boy Who Dared (Susan Campbell Bartoletti); The Water Seeker (Kimberly Willis Holt)
MG fiction: All Their Names Were Courage (Sharon Phillips Denslow); Love, Ruby Lavender (Deborah Wiles)
Adult non-fiction: 100 Best Books for Children (Anita Silvey)
Children's non-fiction: Girls Who Looked Under Rocks: The Lives of Six Pioneering Naturalists (Jeannine Atkins) We read this aloud.
My favorite picturebook(s): Emily (Michael Bedard and Barbara Cooney); Island Boy (Barbara Cooney)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): O'Sullivan Stew (Hudson Talbot); Wind Child (Shirley Rousseau Murphy and The Dillons)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): Goose's Story (Cari Best and Holly Meade); King Midas and the Golden Touch (K.Y. Craft);
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Ferdinand (Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson); Flora's Very Windy Day (Jeanne Birdsall);
Best read aloud novel(s) of the month: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken); Sarah, Plain and Tall (Patricia MacLachlan); Skylark (Patricia MacLachlan); Grandfather's Dance (Patricia MacLachlan); Homer Price (Robert McCloskey)
April
Adult fiction: Both the adult books I read this month were duds.
YA fiction: High Heat (Carl Deuker); Fat Cat (Robin Brande); Heist Society (Ally Carter)
MG fiction: Out of My Mind (Sharon Draper)
Adult non-fiction: Women in the Material World (Faith D'Aluisio)
Children's non-fiction: An Egg Is Quiet (Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long)
My favorite picturebook(s): The Gardner (Sarah Stewart and David Small); The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks (Katherine Paterson and Leo and Diane Dillon)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Greatest Treasure (Demi); Aunt Claire's Yellow Beehive Hair (Deborah Blumenthal and Mary Grandpre)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): Lucia and the Light (Phyllis Root and Mary GrandPre)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): The Mitten (Jim Ayelsworth and Barbara McClintock)
Best read aloud novel(s) of the month: Bink and Gollie (Kate Dicammilo, Alison McGhee, and Tony Fucile); Mercy Watson books (Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen); Pepper and Salt (Howard Pyle)
May
Adult fiction: One Second After (William R. Fortschen)
YA fiction: none
MG fiction: Penny Dreadful (Laurel Snyder); Nancy and Plum (Betty MacDonald)
Adult non-fiction: Simplicity Parenting (Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross)
Children's non-fiction: They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group (Susan Campbell Bartoletti); Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider (Jean Fritz); Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci (Gene Baretta); Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin (Gene Baretta); Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein (Don Brown); Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci (Joseph D'Agnese and John O'Brien); The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Jacqueline Davies and Melissa Sweet)
My favorite picturebook(s): All the terrific biographies we read this month.
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): Elsie's Bird (Jane Yolen and David Small)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat (Jennifer Armstrong and Mary Grandpre)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Hansel and Gretel (Paul O. Zelinsky)
Best read aloud novel(s) of the month: The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
June
Adult fiction: Deerskin (Robin McKinley)
YA fiction: The Doll Mage (Martine Leavitt)
MG fiction: Inside Out & Back Again (Thanhha Lai); A Tale Dark & Grimm (Adam Gidwitz)
Adult non-fiction: Home Schooling: A Family's Journey (Martine and Gregory Millman)
Children's non-fiction: Leonardo: The Beautiful Dreamer (Robert Byrd)
My favorite picturebook(s): Mirror Mirror (Marilyn Singer and Josee Masse)
Olivia's favorite picturebook: Leonardo: The Beautiful Dreamer (Robert Byrd)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): King Bidgood's in the Bathtub (Don and Audrey Wood)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): I Need My Monster (Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam)
Best read aloud novel(s) of the month: The Night Fairy (Laura Amy Schlitz); Ivy and Bean (Annie Barrows)
July
Adult fiction: Sylvester (Georgette Heyer; audiobook); The Convenient Marriage (Georgette Heyer; audiobook)
YA fiction: Inside Out (Maria V. Snyder)
MG fiction: The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart; audiobook); Bless This Mouse (Lois Lowry; audiobook); What Katy Did (Susan Coolidge; audiobook); Mr. Popper's Penguins (Richard and Florence Atwater; audiobook); Charlotte's Web (E.B. White; audiobook)
Adult non-fiction: The Scientist and the Sociopath (Joseph D'Agnese)
Children's non-fiction: The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Suzy) (Barbara Kerley and Edward Fotheringham); We the Kids (David Catrow)
My favorite picturebook(s): The Best Loved Doll (Rebecca Caudill and Elliot Gilbert)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Magic Nesting Doll (Jacqueline Ogburn and Laurel Long)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): Dahlia (Barbara McClintock)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): A is for Annabelle: A Doll's Alphabet (Tasha Tudor)
Favorite read aloud novel(s) of the month: See the MG Fiction section for this month to see all the great audiobooks we listened to and loved.
August
Adult fiction: Coronets and Steel (Sherwood Smith)
YA fiction: Entwined (Heather Dixon)
MG fiction: ???
Adult non-fiction: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From The Front Lines of the Girlie-Girl Culture (Peggy Orenstein)
Children's non-fiction: A Seed is Sleepy (Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long); Spectacular Science (poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, ill. by Virginia Halstead)
My favorite picturebook(s): The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin (Peter Sis)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): Cloud Tea Monkeys (Mal Peet, Elspeth Graham, and Juan Wijngaard)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): The Humblebee Hunter: Inspired by the Life and Experiments of Charles Darwin and his Children (Deborah Hopkinson and Jen Corace)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Press Here (Herve Tullet); About Birds: A Guide for Children (Cathrine and John Sill)
Favorite read aloud novel(s) of the month: Twig (Elizabeth Orton Jones)
September
Adult fiction: Blood Spirits (Sherwood Smith); The Peach Keeper (Sarah Addison Allen); Caleb's Crossing (Geraldine Brooks)
YA fiction: Drink, Slay, Love (Sarah Beth Durst)
MG fiction: The Iron Man (Ted Hughes)
Adult non-fiction: Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration (Dilys Evans)
Children's non-fiction: Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap pf Faith (Deborah Heiligman)
My favorite picturebook(s): Lines That Wiggle (Candace Whitman and Steve Wilson)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Paper Princess Finds Her Way (Elisa Kleven)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): The Elves and the Shoemaker (Jim LaMarche)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): A Visitor for Bear (Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton)
Favorite read aloud novel(s) of the month: Lulu and the Brontosaurus (Judith Viorst); Akimbo and the Crocodile Man (Alexander McCall Smith)
October
Adult fiction: The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
YA fiction: The Ramsay Scallop (Frances Temple); By These Ten Bones (Clare Dunkle)
MG fiction: Waiting For the Magic (Patricia MacLachlan)
Adult non-fiction: Material World: A Global Family Portrait (Peter Menzel)
Children's non-fiction: Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty (Linda Glaser and Claire A. Nivola)
My favorite picturebook(s): Home Place (Anne Shelby and Wendy Anderson Halperin); The Clown of God (Tomie dePaola)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Library (Sarah Stewart and David Small); Cinder Edna (Ellen Jackson and Kevin O'Malley)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): Vasilisa the Brave (Marianna Mayer and K.Y. Craft);
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Time to Eat (Steve Jenkins); Me...Jane (Patrick McDonnell); Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? (Martin Waddell and Barbara Firth)
Favorite read aloud novel(s) of the month: The Moffats (Eleanor Estes)
November
Adult fiction: When Autumn Leaves (Amy S. Foster)
YA fiction: Chime (Franny Billingsley); Plain Kate (Erin Bow)
MG fiction: ???
Adult non-fiction: ???
Children's non-fiction: Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) (Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt)
My favorite picturebook(s): Perfect Square (Michael Hall)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Princess and the Pig (Jonathan Emmett and Poly Bernatene)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett and Barbara McClintock)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Waiting For Winter (Sebastian Meschenmoser)
Favorite read aloud novel(s) of the month: Smiling Hill Farm (Miriam Mason)
December
Adult fiction: The Heir of Night (Helen Lowe)
YA fiction: Ruby Red (Kerstin Gier)
MG fiction: With a Name Like Love (Tess Hilmo); Snow in Summer (Jane Yolen)
Adult non-fiction: Book Lust (Nancy Pearl); More Book Lust (Nancy Pearl)
Children's non-fiction: Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art
My favorite picturebook(s):All the Way to America: The story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel (Dan Yaccarino)
Olivia's favorite picturebook(s): The Trees of the Dancing Goats (Patricia Polacco)
Karina's favorite picturebook(s): Christmas Farm (Mary Lyn Ray)
Susanna's favorite picturebook(s): Little White Rabbit (Kevin Henkes); The Sniffles for Bear (Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton); Come Over to My House (Theo LeSieg)
Favorite read aloud novel(s) of the month: A Tree for Peter (Kate Seredy)
WHEW!!!
Now I need a nap.
9 comments:
We had a similar problem of narrowing down our favorites of the year. It’s hard to do. And compiling my favorites highlighted how many books I didn’t get around to reading this year. Four hundred books is mind-boggling. And amazing! I’m going to try to read more in 2012.
I'm excited for your post, Bigfoot. I'm looking forward to the motley crew of books your group rounds up.
I realized while trying to write this post that I definitely need a better system for keeping track of our reading. Goodreads is great, but limiting.
Whew is right! That made my head spin too! But what a great list to have as a resource... for you AND your readers here. Awesome.
It’s neat, too, how you guys read all types of books. Do you tend to browse at the library and bring home a variety, or is there a method to your selections?
By the way, I see Susanna has ARE YOU MY MOTHER? down as a favorite picture book in January. That’s always been one of my favorites.
We do both, Bigfoot. We go to the library weekly and browse. I also go online and order books from the library based on: 1) an expressed interest of the girls; 2)discussions we've had about a certain subject; 3) questions they ask. Sometimes our browsing lands us a fascinating book/subject that launches a search into more of the same subject.
Sometimes I initiate a topic with a book, too, especially if I see them stuck in a topic rut, so to speak.
That's probably more than you wanted to know, hunh?
Are You My Mother has been a beloved favorite of all my girls. My mom tells me it was one of my favorites, too.
Um, wow.
400 books?!?!?! Wow. What more can I say?
This list is fantastic--what a resource! I'm impressed that you're able to keep up with your children's picks!
This is an awesome list. 400 is a lot of books - -does that include the picture books? I can barely keep track of what I read; I've given up on tracking my kids' reading.
Beth and Amy, it sounds more impressive than it really is, 'cause it does include picture books. I read about 200 books just for me, and the other 200 plus were picture books read to the kids. I don't keep track of the chapter books my older two read. I just can't keep up with that. Are you on GoodReads? You can see what I read (for the most part) each month. I'm an imperfect record keeper there, too. Sometimes I forget to log what was read, and then forget what it was.
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