CURRENT TOP 10 LISTS:

OK: this will change constantly, I’m sure. But an agent once asked me for several lists: along with the last ten books I had read, she wanted to know my TOP TEN LIST of picturebooks, middle grade books, and young adult books. It took forever. So many to choose from!

TOP 10 PICTUREBOOKS

(in no particular order)

Yo, Yes! Chris Raschka

The Gardener – David Small                                                   

Jeremy Draws a Monster – Peter McCarty

Amos & Boris – William Steig

It’s a Book – Lane Smith

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed – Mo Willems

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole – Mac Burnett and Jon Klassen 

A Penguin Story – Antoinette Portis

Henry’s Freedom Box  – Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson

The Other Side – Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis

Goodnight, Gorilla – Peggy Rathmann

Waiting – Kevin Henkes (though this is debatable. It could be any number of his books: A Good Day, Kitten’s First Full Moon...)

And yes, I know that’s more than ten. I bet you kick people out of the express line at the grocery store for having thirteen items too.

TOP 10 (ok, 14) MIDDLE GRADE

A Crooked Kind of Perfect – Linda Urban    

Wolf Hollow – Lauren Volk

Rain Reign – Ann M. Martin

Okay for Now – Gary D. Schmidt

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World – Ashley Herring Blake

Ms. Bixby’s Last Day – John David Anderson  

The Doughnut Fix – Jessie Janowitz

Jacob Have I Loved – Katherine Paterson

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

Locomotion – Jacqueline Woodson

Because of Winn Dixie – Kate DiCamillo

The Thing About Jellyfish – Ali Benjamin

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate – Jacqueline Kelly    

A Night Divided – Jennifer Neilson

Top 10 Young Adult

I’ll Give You the Sun – Jandy Nelson

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas

Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Saenz

Marcelo in the Real World – Francisco X. Stork

Out of Darkness – Ashley Hope Perez

After Tupac & D Foster – Jacqueline Woodson

Boy Toy – Barry Lyga

 The Art of Starving – Sam J. Miller

Ship Breaker – Paolo Bacigalupi

All American Boys – Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

 Monster – Walter Dean Myers