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