Enter into a new year by checking out some of the best children's and young adult literature of the past year!
For Younger Readers
A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems
"Piggie is upset because a whale took the ball she found, but Gerald finds a solution that pleases all of them."
Building Our House by Jonathan Bean
"A young girl narrates her family's move from the city to the country, where they have bought a piece of land and live in a trailer while they build a house from the ground up, with help from relatives and friends."
Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
"A little bull discovers that he has been a big bully."
The Dark by Lemony Snicket
"Laszlo is afraid of the dark which lives in the same big, creaky house as him, until one night the dark pays him a visit."
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
"When Duncan arrives at school one morning, he finds a stack of letters, one from each of his crayons, complaining about how he uses them."
Deep in the Sahara by Kelly Cunnane
"In Mauritania, West Africa, an Arab girl who wants to wear a malafa, the veiled dress worn by her mother and older sister, learns that the garment represents beauty, mystery, tradition, belonging, and faith."
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"A punctuation mark feels bad that he doesn't fit in with the others until a friend reveals the possibilities that exist when differences are accepted."
Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber
"Demonstrates how Scout the bee searches for nectar to sustain her hive and pollinates flowers to produce seeds and fruit."
Journey by Aaron Becker
"Using a red marker, a young girl draws a door on her bedroom wall and through it enters another world where she experiences many adventures, including being captured by an evil emperor."
Little Santa by Jon Agee
"A resident of the North Pole with the ability to slide up and down chimneys meets a flying reindeer and some industrious elves, in this fictional biography of Santa Claus."
Locomotive by Brian Floca
"Learn what it was like to travel on the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s."
Mitchell Goes Bowling by Hallie Durand
"Mitchell loves to knock things down...So one Saturday, his dad takes him bowling."
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown
"Bored with city life and the proper behavior it requires, Mr. Tiger has a wild idea that leads him to discover his true nature."
Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson
"Presents a biography of the former South African president best known for his political activism and fight to end apartheid."
Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes
"Penny feels guilty after taking a beautiful blue marble she found in Mrs. Goodwin's grass, but gets a pleasant surprise when she goes to return it the next day."
The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney
"Illustrations and minimal text relate the familiar fable of the race between a slow tortoise and a quick but foolish hare."
Warning: Do Not Open this Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt
"Monkeys, toucans, and alligators unleash mayhem."
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
"Seven-year-old Billy Miller starts second grade with a bump on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed a good relationship with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and learned many important lessons."
For Middle Readers
The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest -- and Most Surprising - Animals on Earth by Steve Jenkins
"Shares facts on over three-hundred animals and offers a brief overview of the history of life on Earth. Dance with a blue-footed booby, or stare down an eyelash viper. But mind your step -- in the animal world, the name of the game is survival."
Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka
"Alex, whose birthday it is, hijacks a story about Birthday Bunny on his special day and turns it into a battle between a supervillain and his enemies in the forest -- who, in the original story, are simply planning a surprise party."
Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle (Audiobook)
"An eighth-grader who dreams of performing in a Broadway musical concocts a plan to run away to New York and audition for Elliot in the musical version of E.T."
Bluffton: My Summers with Buster by Matt Phelan
"The year is 1908, and a troupe of vaudeville performers has arrived in sleepy Muskegon, Michigan to spend the summer. Young Henry Harrison is fascinated with the animals and performers, but mostly with a slapstick performer his own age named Buster Keaton, who is also a master prankster and loves to play baseball."
The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible...on Schindler's List by Leon Leyson
"The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler's List child."
Doll Bones by Holly Black
"Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl."
Eruption!: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives by Elizabeth Rusch
"An account of the work of volcanologists Andy Lockhart, John Pallister, and their team describes their life-risking efforts to investigate dangerous volcanoes that pose threats to more than one billion people worldwide."
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
"Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape."
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
"Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived."
Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse by Tamera Will Wissinger
"In this novel told through poems, nine-year-old Sam loves fishing with his dad, so when his pesky little sister horns in on his fishing trip, he is none too pleased. Includes a primer on rhyme, poetry techniques, rhythm, stanzas, and poetic forms."
Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin
"A thrilling account of a brazen plan by desperate counterfeiters to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln and use it as ransom for the release of a fellow felon."
Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate
"A conversational, humorous, introduction to bird-watching featuring quirky full-color illustrations portraying dozens of birds chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types."
Monster on the Hill by Rob Harrell
"In a fantastical 1860s England, every quiet little township is terrorized by a ferocious monster -- much to the townfolk's delight! Each town's unique monster is a source of local pride, not to mention tourism. Each town, that is -- except for one. Unfortunately for the people of Stoker-on-Avon, their monster isn't quite as impressive. In fact, he's a little down in the dumps. Can the morose Rayburn get a monstrous makeover and become a proper horror? It's up to the eccentric Dr. Charles Wilkie and plucky street urchin Timothy to get him up to snuff, before a greater threat turns the whole town to kindling."
P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia
"Eleven-year-old Brooklyn girl Delphine feels overwhelmed with worries and responsibilities. She's just started sixth grade and is self-conscious about being the tallest girl in her class, and nervous about her first school dance. She's supposed to be watching her sisters, but Fern and Vonetta are hard to control. Her uncle Darnell is home from Vietnam and seems different. And her pa has a girlfriend. At least Delphine can write to her mother in Oakland, California for advice. But why does her mother tell her to 'be eleven' when Delphine is now twelve?"
For Older Readers
All the Truth that's in Me by Julie Berry
"Judith can't speak. But when her close-knit community of Roswell Station is attacked by enemies, Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice."
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
"When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up following a party in the aftermath of a violent vampire attack, she travels to Coldtown, a quarantined Massachusetts city full of vampires, with her ex-boyfriend and a mysterious vampire boy in tow."
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
"Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident."
Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
"In an alternate England of 1851, spirited fourteen-year-old Sophronia is enrolled in a finishing school where, she is surprised to learn, lessons include not only the fine art of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also diversion, deceit, and espionage."
Far Far Away by Tom McNeal
"When Jeremy Johnson Johnson's strange ability to speak to the ghost of Jacob Grimm draws the interest of his classmate Ginger Boltinghouse, the two find themselves at the center of a series of disappearances in their hometown."
Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
"A fifteen-year-old Australian girl gets her first job and first crush on her unattainable university-aged coworker, as both search for meaning in their lives."
Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
"Odyssey-like adventure of two boys' incredible quest on the Appalachian Trail where they deal with pirates, buried secrets, and extraordinary encounters."
One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
"In 1871 Wisconsin, thirteen-year-old Georgia sets out to find her sister Agatha, presumed dead when remains are found wearing the dress she was last seen in, and before the end of the year gains fame as a sharpshooter and foiler of counterfeiters."
Paperboy by Vince Vawter
"When an eleven-year-old boy takes over his friend's paper route in July, 1959, in Memphis, his debilitating stutter makes for a memorable month."
