I’ve written several posts about romantic books so I’m making this one short and sweet– two books to look forward to publishing in 2026 that I’ve had the pleasure of reading already and want to share with you to put on your radar:
One is by Aida Salazar and features two kids exploring a life outside of screens and out of the country with realism and delight. The other is the third in Kristy Boyce’s delightful “Gaming and Romance” series which is nerdy and the perfect friends to enemies to lovers. Be on the lookout for these two this year!
With a snowstorm hitting much of the eastern seaboard, it was to be expected that Monday would be a snow day. For colleagues like my friend Stacey Rattner who builds a fever pitch of excitement about the Youth Media Awards at her elementary school, it was disappointing to not have the day together in the gym, but she pivoted. For me, I was happy to have uninterrupted time to watch it (with a glass of champagne in celebration) at home. I could make my notes, I could tag favorite books and authors who won, and text colleagues on committees to cheer on their work.
And there was plenty of notes, tags, and texts!
While it runs a bit long when publishers and imprints are listed along with titles and creators and committees select a handful of honor titles that deepen the bench for celebration, my happiness was elevated throughout. Highlights included three celebrations of Candace Fleming- two for career achievement recognition and one for winning the Excellence in Nonfiction award for Death in the Jungle. A second was a sustained recognition of Cynthia Leitich Smith’s editing of Legendary Fry Bread Drive-In is worth noting. With its recognition in the Odyssey category, I might have to go back and listen to it because it was magical the first time in print, so I might want a second experience as an audiobook now.
An early favorite to see was Arriel Vinson’s new talent award for her debut Under the Neon Lights. I had the pleasure of moderating a panel for School Library Journal last year for which she was a shining part. And I have catching up to do in categories like Stonewall and Schneider Family because there were some titles that hadn’t come across my desk that I will be on the search for. Similarly, I pay special attention to the Batchelder awards because I’ve found them to be particularly moving or fun (in the case of John the Skeleton by Laan last year)
And last, all the love to the Coretta Scott King illustrator award to R. Gregory Christie for The Library in the Woods and written by Ramsey whose message and moving art is a must-read and happiness that Insectopolis: A Natural History by Kuper that I had on my year-end top ten list for adult nonfiction was recognized by the Alex Award as a book with special teen appeal. To validate that, we had it in our high school collection already and I enthusiastically shared it with a girl who was looking for a book about insects and bugs- I told her I had the perfect book for her.
I’ll ride the high of the celebration of all of the committees’ work to get to this point and recognize the talent of all of the creators of these amazing books by adding more to my endless TBR and looking out for new content by them as well.
And the first book on my list to read that I hadn’t heard about before that was a Stonewall honor will be He’s So Possessed With Me by Liu.
Was there a moment that you were jumping up and down about? Or a book that is now at the top of your list to read?
Last weekend was a long weekend due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and I had cleared my calendar for Monday specifically to spend the day with one of the best writers and uncoverers of hidden history, Ruta Sepetys, by way of her new book, A Fortune of Sand which is due out in June. This will be her first official book for adults. That was the cherry on top of the sundae. Preceding that was Katie Bernet’s Beth is Dead, a young adult thriller twisted from Alcott’s classic Little Women; consider that the whipped cream and nuts of the sundae. And immediately before that, I finished the audiobook From Scratch by Tembi Locke. Heavily focused on food, I’d call that the ice cream and marshmallow topping (I’m not a hot fudge fan) from the perfect sundae that was my weekend threepeat. Allow me to elaborate on each book that led to my divine reading weekend.
Tembi Locke narrates her memoir. When it’s personal, it should always be narrated by the writer and because so much of the book focuses on Italian and Sicilian culture in addition to her being raised in the United States, it makes the most sense to have someone capable of navigating the languages and do is seamlessly. It’s uplifting only in that Locke looks at her time with her husband as magic even as he lay dying and she realizes she would have to parent alone but that she would have supports to bolster her when she didn’t think she could do it herself. She discusses his Sicilian roots and how he spoke to her through food and affection. For readers of food memoir, this should not be missed. It’s also a mix of romance, family, and grief. Silently moved in parts, I didn’t realize I was crying until the tears fell down my face.
I’ll start with the cover: to die for. It matches the thriller slasher vibes of most YA that has overtaken the shelves these last few years. With that, it’s hard to make them unique at this point but Bernet did it, ironically, by retelling the classic Little Women. What sets this apart is the intensity- it’s a full speed car crash that doesn’t let up for 400 pages and it’s hard to keep anyone’s attention for that long but I was glued to my couch, tea in hand, reading until the end. No doubt others will feel the same way and I’m going to make a comparison here; Tiffany D. Jackson’s The Weight of Blood is heavily recommended and has made readers again out of a teens that I give it to. And they’re choosing Stephen King’s Carrie immediately after. This could be similar as I would assume many won’t come to Beth Is Dead having already read Little Women. As someone who had both the book AND the 1994 Gillian Anderson movie to draw from to read as an adult, there’s a deeper layer of respect for what Bernet pulls off.
Women is a theme I’m realizing as well to my threepeat. Female authors, female stories and Sepetys’ first adult book is among those. She pulls from the Detroit of the 1920s, but also the framework that women should often be seen and not heard because if they are vocal, there’s real danger they’d be sent away by their husbands. With that, readers meet Marjorie, the twenty-something daughter of an industrious family making their money in the auto industry and follow her through a period of creativity, self-discovery, and retribution. This arc is intense. And Sepetys’ writing is rich and sharp. I felt like I had lived Marjorie’s life because of the immersive storytelling which is more apt because of Sepetys skill in mining hidden history and her own background in Detroit. The setting, characters, and conflict came alive and could it be a Gatsby-esque cinematic sensation? It read like one for sure.
It really couldn’t get any better than that. They were hard to top and three in a row feels like winning the reading lottery. What’s been your longest streak of starred reads?
In a little more than a week, the Youth Media Awards will be announced in Chicago. It’s sad that there won’t be a Midwinter conference through the American Library Association to go along with it, but as the organization continues to shift, it was a necessary change that does damper (just a little) the swagger of the awards announcements that range from the Caldecott to Sibert, Odyssey to Excellence in Nonfiction.
This past Thursday, I was honored to moderate for the third year in a row, the School Library Journal webcast highlighting the five finalists for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award which includes Ann Bausum, Nicholas Day, Candace Fleming, Gail Jarrow, and Barb Rosenstock.
Anyone can view the recorded webcast by signing up here. I took notes while I was moderating because there were plenty of morsels from each of them regarding their curiosity, their research, and their process that could help any would-be writer or educators wanting to share the love of nonfiction. And after watching the webcast, make sure you’ve read all five of these gems talking about topics like presidential medical coverups, the Fox sisters (known as the creators of the modern seance), Southern reconstruction, Mount Tambora’s explosion, and Jim Jones’s The People’s Temple.
I don’t think I’m the only bookworm who plans their last read of a year and the first read of a new year. It’s always nice when they work out to be stellar reads.
Last
I finished the year with my champagne and white cranberry and Kamome Shirahama’s artwork from the world of Witch Hat Atelier. This was a gift from my son who knows my love of the Witch Hat Atelier series and its spinoff Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen. I’ve cosplayed Coco and have the entire series on my shelf. This book is a lovely addition to that shelf.
First
I started the year with a cup of tea and Emiko Jean’s newest young adult time travel romance Love Me Tomorrow due to hit shelves in February. Her previous romances includes Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming. Not only should those be read but this new one should be on the list as well. The character development and dialogue is delightful.
And we’ve arrived at Friday, five days worth of top 10 lists from reading this year. To say that I’m a reader is an understatement. It’s a part of me in every way from my profession to my personality.
Books for teens are my bread and butter being a high school librarian, so it is hard to arrive at a top ten. Top twenty or thirty would be better. You’ll see some heavy hitters- authors like Candace Fleming, Gail Jarrow, Marissa Meyer, Kate Messner. I’ve got authors like Suzanne Collins riding a new wave of fans of the Hunger Games with the emotional wreck that is Sunrise on the Reaping. There are debut authors like Vinson writing about the skate rink (shoutout to Midstate where I spend many Saturday mornings and several birthdays and slow skating to Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You hand-in-hand with a crush). The fantasy world that Rundell built in the sequel which was exquisite and creative. And last, a thinker of a book, the dark and tragic but strong and powerful Lady or the Tiger by Herrman.
Were there favorites of yours on any of the lists? Others that you’d want to add? I’ll be writing throughout 2026 so if there’s any focus that would be beneficial, leave a comment.
We’re close to the end! Today’s top 10 are graphic novels and comics that were my favorites of the year, graphic novels that taught me, entertained me, made me feel something, and inspired me (to cosplay that is!) I always say one of the indicators for me is whether I’d want the art on my wall and that’s the case with any of these.
It’s not a secret that graphic novels are here to stay and if these are any indication of their amazingness, they’ll be around forever. Hats off to the illustrators or the creators that do double duty as author AND illustrator.
What do you look for in great graphic novels and comics?
As promised, Wednesday’s list are for picture books. Whether I see them recommended in library journals, bookish websites, or from my favorite human recommender, Stacey Rattner (the Leaping Librarian), I have favorites and it’s usually because they hit me in the feels.
I was a fan of Guojing when she published Oasis (hint: you might see that on an upcoming list), so when I read The House That Floated, I realized I’m just a big fan of her concepts and art- in this case a wordless picture book.
Khorram is known for his YA and now adult romances but his love, as a Persian of tea, led him to write the picture book that I’ve been waiting so long to pub and it finally arrived in 2025. Tea IS love. I love whimsy as evidenced by other titles on this list and heartfelt. What do you look for in picture books?
Kicking off a week of my top 10 with categories including adult titles, middle grade and YA, manga and manhwa, picture books, and graphic novels, comics, and manga for teens.
The titles ranged from nonfiction including memoir to investigative nonfiction to emotional essays about kitchen objects, comics featuring murder (I think I have a type), and fiction the features witches that continues to remind me of my love of learning that I lean toward nonfiction in general.
The day after Thanksgiving makes me want to go back– to kitchen utensils, food memory, and reading Bee Wilson’s newest book, The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss, and Kitchen Objects.
When it was released on November 4th, I picked it up that day from the indie bookstore I had preordered it from. I read the first story and had that conflicted feeling I always do with amazing books– I wanted to rip through it and read it in one sitting to gobble it up like a succulent turkey on the Thanksgiving table, but I also wanted to savor it like the apple pie for dessert knowing the meal is at its end with a cup of tea. I decided on the later, reading about a story a day to finish it on my birthday. The book is a collection of stories that begin and end with Wilson’s own object: a heart-shaped tin that she had baked her wedding cake in but felt different now that her divorce was final. It made her think about her own attachment to kitchen objects and made her explore how others feel about their own too. What happens between the pages is a meet-and-greet with others who remember vivid feelings or feel close to relatives in their kitchens. One that sticks out is a mug in Barry’s kitchen:
“Long after he discarded the past bowl, Barry says that there are still certain objects that bring back periods of his life in a way that nothing else could. They are not museum pieces. Over and above admiring, they are for using, and when he uses them his memories come alive again, he says… He could not bear to lose this mug because it ‘radiates’ with such memorable experiences. When the mug is not in use, Barry says it is as if the memories of that Mexican trip become ‘dehydrated,’ like a dried flower. But when he pours coffee in it and holds the mug in his hang, ‘it blooms again.'”
The vivid description of a dehydrated flower that blooms again with use packs a punch. The others stories are just as unique and emotional. It’s similar to an experience several days ago when I made golabki, a dish that my grandmother would make on occasions like my birthday because it was my favorite and my mother makes a version for Christmas Eve. I’d attempted it once or twice but always had to pivot at the last minute turning it into lazy golabki but never quite recreating the taste which I’m convinced is more about others preparing it for me. But this time, I got super close to that taste, the feeling, the love and at the same time I usually enjoy it, my birthday.
As the holidays creep closer starting with Thanksgiving and ending with Christmas celebrations, give yourself a treat. Buy yourself a copy of Wilson’s book, savor a story or two a day, and use it as an exercise to remember and create your own story as Wilson’s did with all of the people she met and interviewed for this book. We all have a story to contribute to a topic like kitchen utensils and food memory just like a conversation I had with my sister-in-law’s father after our meal describing to me the three types of plates we were using for Thanksgiving at her house that included a set from her great grandmother, grandmother, and mother. I thought that the seed of that story would fit perfectly into Wilson’s book and that I might have to reread it.
