And next up are my favorite children’s books of 2022, again from books actually published in 2022. Tomorrow I will share my favorite middle grade books before finishing up with young adult.
With a few words about these books– mind blowing, that’s all I can say! The skill of the power of an author and illustrator or when they are one person, the skill of reaching into a reader’s soul and pulling out the best (or worst) of the rainbow of human experiences and emotions is worth celebrating. Typically ones that touch me the most are ones that bring out a memory of my own childhood or a shared experience to reflect on as these all do.
The last week of the year is here! I spent last week looking over my reading from this year to pick the best of the best. As always, my lists are books published in 2022, not everything I’d read in 2022 that would make it to my top 10 lists, which makes it a true listicle of the best books of the year.
For 2022, I have four lists I’ll share each day this week, starting with my top 10 adult books. It’ll continue with children’s books, then middle grade, and end with YA.
In a few sentences, I will sum up my top 10 adult books– a mix of fiction and nonfiction in all of the formats that I love from audiobooks to graphic novels. They are books that are escape or slice-of-life, they are true stories that will make you cringe and others that will help to celebrate the good in life. Either way, I can’t help but look over the covers and remember a time, a place, a favorite part that I will take with me from 2022.
If there ever was a month to label as “mixed bag”, it would have to be October.
This is just a smattering of the books I read either in print, digitally, or audio and they range from a true crime audiobook of two women murdered in the Shenandoah National Park to the GOAT of horror manga, Juji Ito’s Uzumaki. Then there are middle grade fiction titles like Key Player by Kelly Yang and my continued obsession with Spy x Family. All told there were sixty-three books read for the month.
It was a result of several converging events, committees, and activities:
With a conference presentation a few weeks ago, at the beginning of the month I was trying to squeeze in some anticipated titles of 2023 while also reading a few 2022 titles to be ready to talk books.
Sitting on a “Best of” books selection committee for nonfiction so I had a few nonfiction titles that I didn’t know about to read to better argue which were the best!
A little countdown to Halloween on my Instagram, I read a spooky book a day for the last week that included the wacky spirals of Ito’s imagination to reliving the dramatic 1990 movie The Witches based on Roald Dahl’s The Witches which I had never read and decided to listen to the audiobook of today while traveling in the car. Plus I discovered the delightful Ghoulia.
And of course, fitting in the general love of certain series or titles that sit on my endless TBR that I pick up based on length, topic, and format.
November is my birthday month, so I’m planning a few personal reading challenges and organizing my own readathon. Any suggestions?
This post would have been done last Thursday, but the school’s homecoming weekend spirit celebrations shortened every class period last Friday, which meant that Ms. Donohue rescheduled classes for tomorrow. It was the right thing to do because talking nonfiction needs the whole 43 minutes. And even that is pushing it.
Here we are, the eve of my favorite booktalk of the school year. I’m really not exaggerating. I can get behind every booktalk done throughout the year, but there are ones that are special, such as this one. AP Language 11th graders do a project using a nonfiction text of their own choosing. No students in all of the classes can repeat the same book. It needs to be robust enough for the requirements of the project, engagingly narrative enough to hold their attention, pertinent to their interests. This means I hustle for my money presenting them with these such books through a whole-class booktalk before giving them time to browse, search, select, and check out. This last third of the class is for one on one readers advisory too. The challenge to find a book for a kid who wasn’t bowled over by anything I had to say in the first two thirds of class is one I’m willing to accept. And nonfiction is my jam.
Who are some of my favorite authors to recommend? I’m glad you asked! Mary Roach, Jon Krakauer, Erik Larson, James L. Swanson, and Candace Fleming.
What are some of my favorite titles to recommend this year? I’m glad you asked! In no particular order (and because my battery is running low): A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein, You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe, Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran, Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell, and Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge.
I’ll get a good night’s rest tonight because tomorrow you’ll find me fangirling nonfiction in the library.
I did not grow up reading comics and definitely didn’t know where the local comic book store was. I am now an adult and read comics and definitely know where the local comic book store is. All of this was firmly solidified over Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga series.
Now, I had been reading graphic novels for some time, but almost exclusively as original novels or trade paperbacks. I didn’t know the world of serialized issues and a weekly or monthly stop to the store to pick them up. Heck, I came to Saga dozens of issues in because my first experience (thankfully, because I couldn’t get enough) was the trade paperback volumes 1-7 or 8. Then though I still waited for volume 9 and that’s when I realized I knew better and needed the stories issue by issue. Well, a hiatus and pandemic sure didn’t help.
Joyously, issue 55 came out in January to return me to the monthly pickup. The endorphin hit of knowing what will unfold mini-story by mini-story is the best kind of reading and the most painful. The lesson? Patience. For all the comic fans, especially the ones who were living this life way before I now do, what a lesson to learn.
Yesterday, I walked into the store to pick up issue 60 with my son– leaving with a big smile and the delayed gratification of sitting on the couch with a cup of tea to indulge in the next story that evening. I settled in for which I was rewarded with a phenomenal story and the next “please be patient” author’s note that issue 61 will hit stores in January 2023. Deep breath in, deep breath out. I can be patient. I do have the entire collection to re-read for the fourth time.
In fact, the best defense is a good offense. So as I count down to the release of volume 10 in October, I’ll backwards plan a re-read of the series. Then maybe in between October and January I’ll finally start working on cosplaying Alana or Izabel to stay connected to what is one of the most epic series of all time. Now, coming from a bookish gal like myself, a statement like that might seem devalued because I love all books, but no really, Saga is truly one of the most epic series of all time. As in, each of these cliches is true:
If I were trapped on a desert island and had to choose only a few books to bring, the Saga series would be one.
Every re-read of the series offers new insight. I would know, since I rarely re-read anything and I’ve re-read this series three times so far.
Authors and illustrators are my rock stars and thus, I look forward to the day where I can meet Staples and Vaughan.
The best things come to those who wait. I’ll be over here patiently waiting for the issues… and that meet-up.
The creativity, artwork, writing, story arcs, characters, social commentary, and allusions to name a few elements are the building blocks of great reading. Heck, the fandom seeped it’s way into a Taco Bell commercial. People have tattoos of characters. Hats-off to this winning team. I’ll be over here in your cheerleading section… patiently waiting.
Read As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh and The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson when they come out in September, Tin Man by Justin Madson, Dumplings for Lili by Melissa Iwai, and Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki.
With dozens of books read, these sparkling gems shined the brightest.
To try to keep up with reading everything you want to read is the same analogy as trying to find information on the internet which is that it’s like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant- more will keep coming at you. So the task is always to enjoy it. Yes there are times when I have to read certain things like for a committee or a book review for a magazine that has a deadline, but this year I’ve found I have a lot more flexibility and I’m enjoying myself.
The Only Good Indians I already posted about here. That was a highlight from this month that warranted its own post. And a few others for various reasons which I’ll share now, going backwards from audience since The Only Good Indians‘ target audience is adult.
Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz was a perfect Gothic tale to a YA audience. As I’ve shared in the conversations I’ve had since reading it is that while I knew that the subtitle was “a love story”, I think Schwartz could have kept it solely about Hazel’s pursuit of being a physician and it been solidly fabulous. I know why Schwartz included the romance and the ending relied, in part, on it’s existence, but Hazel’s strength of character was memorable all by itself.
I have a good friend who is a high school art teacher. As soon as I closed the book, I sent her a few texts asking if she knew much about Savage. Then I told her she needed to read Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life by Marilyn Nelson pronto and that I was just as taken with Nelson’s choice to write in verse but that there was historical context in addition to the biographical content and that I loved a quote that was included by Savage: “I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work.” Immensely powerful.
And last, a picture book by Phung Nguyen Quang and illustrated by Huynh Kim Lien called My First Day. I will end up owning this book soon because the captivating artwork unlocks a reader’s imagination as much as it connects to every experience we’ve had with a “first”. Yes, the boy is on his way to his first day of school through a maze of obstacles, but perseveres. The writing matches the tone of the design and creates an all-encompassing experience. A feast for the eyes.
I don’t usually fall asleep on the couch at 6pm, but when I do I have an excuse. It was a Friday night after a day that included instruction in the morning about citing sources and then a book discussion virtual author visit collaboration with an outside agency that was doubling as my observation for the afternoon. There was some heightened stress with this event because it had been postponed two weeks earlier due to physical violence at our school that led to a lockdown and early student release. I wanted to make sure this went off without a hitch.
There were a few obstacles to get here:
This was strictly student interest based. This was a collaboration with our county’s case manager for crime victims and those experiencing sexual violence who wanted to pair a book about dating violence with discussion of resources and what healthy relationships look like. We settled on Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios, bought the books, and distributed them to students interested during lunch periods using an “all call”. We had a range of ninth through twelfth graders, though some had signed up because their friend was signing up. Their buy-in waned as we got closer to the event. Students chose not to attend either because of the vulnerability of the discussion or because they weren’t truly interested at the start (maybe it was the donut they got with the book?)
Scheduling the event. Due to the pandemic, our school day shifted start and end times and after school looks vastly different than it used to be. Namely, unless it’s a specific club or sport, they don’t stay after school anymore, so the option to do an after school event wasn’t really discussed. We settled on an “in-house field trip” for the event spanning several periods. But this posed problems for students who had quizzes and tests they couldn’t miss. They came for a little while but didn’t get the impact of the full event.
It was rescheduled. They’re teenagers and my fifteen years as their high school librarian has taught me one thing that is best summed up with the Zits comic from a few weeks back–
I sent emails, I made invitations, I made an updated invitation bookmark, I put it on social media. Yet, some students still didn’t show up.
But with all of that, here were the wins:
For newer librarians, I want you to repeat after me “quality over quantity”. I learned this for my first author visit more than ten years ago. It’s been to have a smaller group of students who want to be there, than pack an auditorium of students who don’t. I will take authentic, meaningful connection even in a school as large as ours rather than trying to force the connection. So when we first started warming up with introductions and book discussion and the student exclaimed that “this was probably like the best book I’ve ever read” you could have wiped up the puddle of tears from underneath my chair. This is why we do the things we do.
We had the author virtually! This was something our community partner had checked in on and when Demetrios was available, we were behind excited. It went deeper when Demetrios told her story and shared super powerful exercises that the students did in addition to the Q&A.
Snacks! You can’t have a program like this without snacks. And because I’m a nerd and had to reread the book anyway, I decided to take notes on any food mentioned in the book to see if that would work. Yup! Snacks included Doritos, Pepsi, Oreos, Twizzlers, donuts, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Was that a general mix of unhealthiness? Sure, but it works for snacks for teens who regularly show up with a Monster and Takis at 8am. I won’t always encourage this, but it worked for an afternoon book discussion pick-me-up. And the donuts were the first to go.
True connection. The students that were there were highly engaged with each other and with our community partner, the author, and myself. They valued the conversation and asked whether more of these types of activities would continue. The community partner and I looked at each other and knew that that’s exactly where we were going if this was successful.
Then the bell rang and students were done for the day and week as it was a Friday afternoon, but they left happy and fed. The minute they walked out the door, the reflection conversation immediately began in my head and with the community partner. How did that go? What could we do better? What would we change next time?
In honor of the Super Bowl today, here are a few pigskin picks.
Whether fiction or nonfiction, these all hit on topics associated with the game.
A verse novel that features ZJ’s dad whose brain is failing him after multiple concussions playing the sport which inalterably changes the family
DJ is a girl playing a male-dominated sport
Based on Green’s own past with the sport, this fictional story of Ben, a middle school quarterback deciding whether the cost of the game is worth it seeing his dad suffering from debilitating pain from his years playing professional football
Love, Zac always gives me goosebumps. Most of the story is Zac’s own words from the journals he kept and Forgrave’s commentary about the status of the sport of American football
Some men gave some, some men gave all and Tillman gave up a career in professional football to serve his country and paid the ultimate price
Each of these stories is worthy of a read, just maybe not during the game today. Go Rams. Go Bengals. I’m just hear for the cider and snacks.
Marc-Andre Leclerc is the focus of a documentary on Netflix called The Alpinist. As a teenager and into his twenties he was an adventurous, nature-loving outdoorsman who became an alpinist. It was his skill and focus that drew attention to him, but also his boyish charm and why documentarians wanted to capture his story. As they followed him to document his ascents, there was a particularly daring one that he hadn’t told the filmmakers about and when they asked him after the fact, why with such an amazing feat, he didn’t let them know he was doing it, he gregariously responds that it wouldn’t be pure unless he was doing it alone: no cameras, no accompaniment. At this juncture in history, everything is documented, often to the detriment of the experience.
That’s in marked contrast to my recent read of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air that documents his climb to the top of Mount Everest with several groups which led to tragedy on the mountain. Krakauer not only made it to the top but he survived. The origins of the trip were to document the ever-growing commercialization of climbing Mount Everest for a writing gig, but then became so much more with the tragedy and why Krakauer ended up writing a book about the experience. The commercialization is a fascinating element. If you made it to the summit, wouldn’t you want some evidence of the feat? Would you be content to look around or would you be grasping for a camera? In the book, one thing struck me and that was that there was never a chance to be alone for these climbers. From every camp they made it to as they trudged up the mountain, there were sherpas, guides, and partnerships to keep everyone safe and secure though Krakauer mentioned one man whose goal was to make it to the top alone after biking to Nepal. There are those that solo and those that don’t. Is one more dangerous than the other?
The documentary and book are riveting. Krakauer’s book had been on my list to read and after watching The Alpinist, it was time. Both were curious looks into a world I don’t have any direct experience with but showcase daring and adventure- though I have occasionally dappled in adventure, nothing to this extent for sure. It’s a phenomenal pairing, this documentary and the book, both of which I recommend especially for those of us in the Northeast in the depths of winter.
Readers Be Advised 