As promised last week, my fave Middle Grade and Young Adult reads of the past year. (There won’t be as many MG and YA as there were picture books.) As I said last week, please note that not all these books were published this year. I chose from what appealed to me, as well as what I hadn’t yet read, and so those choices spanned many years. I rely solely on the public library system as my source of books, so although many books are available to me, not all are. If your book, or your fave did not make this list, that’s not a reflection on the book or on you! It’s a reflection of the reality of what’s available in terms of both books and reading time. I’d be delighted if you would tell me about your faves in the comments! This list is not in order of preference – it’s in the order I read the books over the course of the year. I won’t share all the titles I read this year, or we’d be here all day, but I do want to give a shout-out to these wonderful books. As with last week’s post, every title is a hyperlink that will lead to more information. I certainly don’t expect you to click on every one and read what you find there (although if you want to, go for it!), but if you’re intrigued by a title and want to learn more, the information awaits you. Some of the links are to the author’s website, some are to reviews, and some are even interviews with the author. Enjoy! The MG List: THE KEY TO EXTRAORDINARY by Natalie Lloyd, 2016 CONNECT THE STARS by Marisa de los Santos and David Teague, 2015 STARS BENEATH OUR FEET by David Barclay Moore, 2017 QUICKSAND POND by Janet Taylor Lisle, 2017 FOX MAGIC by Beverley Brenna, 2017 RIDING CHANCE by Christine Kendall, 2016 THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH by Ali Benjamin, 2015 ONE FOR THE MURPHYS by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, 2013 THE BEST MAN by Richard Peck, 2016 THE GIRL IN THE WELL IS ME by Karen Rivers, 2016 MARY ANNING’S CURIOSITY by Monica Kulling, 2017 BUBBLE by Stewart Foster, 2017 AMINA’S VOICE by Hena Kahn, 2017 HARBOR ME by Jacqueline Woodson, 2018 PROPERTY OF THE REBEL LIBRARIAN by Allison Varnes, 2018 RULES by Cynthia Lord, 2006 JOPLIN, WISHING by Diane Stanley, 2017 THIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD STORY SOMEDAY by Dana Alison Levy, 2017 NATE EXPECTATIONS by Tim Federle, 2018 The YA List: (I don’t read much YA, but what I’ve read this year has been STELLAR!) SAINTS AND MISFITS by S.K. Ali, 2017 HEARTS UNBROKEN by Cynthia Leitich Smith, 2018 Now – what should I read next? Please give me your recommendations in the comments!
