Here are my favorite books of the year broken into categories:

PICTURE BOOKS

11 Experiments That Failed by Jenny Offill

Blackout by John Rocco

Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman

Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Katherine Paterson

Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? by Susan A. Shea

Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems by Kristine O’Connell George

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

King Jack and the Dragon by Peter Bently

Mirror by Jeannie Baker

My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer

Neville by Norton Juster

No One But You by Douglas Wood

Press Here by Herve Tullet

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Subway Story by Julia Sarcone-Roach

 

NONFICTION

Around the World by Matt Phelan

Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell

Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

If You Lived Here: Houses of the World by Giles Laroche

 

CHILDREN’S FICTION

Addie on the Inside by James Howe

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Junonia by Kevin Henkes

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis

Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck

The Summer Before Boys by Nora Raleigh Baskin

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

 

TEEN

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Amplified by Tara Kelly

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Island’s End by Padma Venkatraman

Legend by Marie Lu

Lost and Found by Shaun Tan

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Kirkus has its list of the top book apps of the year.  Serving on the Round 1 judging committee for Cybils Awards for book apps, I am familiar with many of the apps on the list.  I’m even more intrigued by those that I didn’t get a chance to see. 

This is a great list to get librarians aware of the impressive book apps out there.  It may also be a handy resource for reference questions at the Children’s Desk about what book apps families should buy.  Happily, librarians will know many of the titles from their print form, so ages will be easy to peg.

Tablet, a Jewish magazine, has a list of their picks for best Jewish Children’s Books in 2011.  This list is sure to broaden your reading list and library collection past Hanukkah alone.

 

Picture Books for Very Young Readers

  

Nosh, Schlep, Shluff by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke

Many Days, One Shabbat by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Maria Monescillo

The Shabbat Princess by Amy Metzer, illustrated by Martha Aviles

 

Picture Books for 4 to 8 Year Old Readers

  

Naamah and the Ark at Night by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, illustrated by Holly Meade

Lipman Pike: America’s First Home Run King by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Zachary Pullen

Marcel Marceau, Master of Mime by Gloria Spielman, illustrated by Manon Gauthier

  

Chanukah Lights by Michael J. Rosen and Robert Sabuda

The Story of Esther by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Jill Weber

I Will Come Back for You by Marisabina Russo

 

Chapter Books for Middle-Grade Readers

   

The Cats in the Doll Shop by Yona Zeldis McDonough, illustrated by Heather Maione

When Life Gives You OJ by Erica Perl

OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy

Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein by Susan Goldman Rubin

 

Chapter Books for Young Adult Readers

  

Deadly by Julie Chibbaro

Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow

BookPage has announced their picks for Best Children’s Books of the Year.   Their list spans from picture books through young adult reads.  Many of my personal favorites are on the list.  Here are the titles:

Picture Books

  

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet (my review)

Blackout by John Rocco (my review)

Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman (my review)

  

Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Katherine Paterson (my review)

Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld (my review)

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith (my review)

   

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (my review)

Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell (my review)

Stars by Mary Lyn Ray

Swirl by Swirl by Joyce Sidman

Middle Grades

  

The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine (my review)

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (my review)

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say (my review)

   

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Hidden by Helen Frost

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (my review)

Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

  

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (my review)

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (my review)

 

Young Adult

   

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin (my review)

Badd by Tim Tharp

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (my review)

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

  

Chime by Franny Billingsley (my review)

The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier

The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

  

Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet

Trapped by Michael Northrop

What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay by Amanda Cockrell

The Nerdy Book Club invited nominations for the best children’s and young adult books of 2011.  If you missed that call for nominations (like I did) you can still participate!  You now have the chance to vote for your favorite books among the nominees. 

And let me tell you, the nomination lists are good enough that choices are very painful.  I was happy to see that the votes are broken down by category, so you can pick a few favorite picture books, then vote for teen fiction separately. 

I’ve voted, I’ve added new books to my reading pile, and I am impressed with the caliber of the nominees.  I can’t wait to see who wins!

And the nominees are:

 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

  

Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

 

Goodness, I haven’t read a single one of these!  They are all patiently waiting on my to-read list, but I haven’t managed to get to any of them.  So please, let me know which ones are your favorites!

Horn Book has announced their top books of the year.  It’s a nice contrast to the popularity contest of the Goodreads lists.  Here it’s quality all the way.  The books on the list that I’ve read, I have loved.  I’ve also added several books to my lists, and I’d love to hear if there are some of your favorites on the Horn Book list too.

The 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced.  This is the third year they have done awards based on user voting.  So this will be a list of very popular titles mostly.  Goodreads is my go-to social media book site and I use it on a daily basis, something you know if you ever have clicked on an image or title on my blog, since they almost all take you directly to Goodreads (so you can add them to your reading list!) 

Perhaps one of the reasons I feel so at home at Goodreads is that they seem to have a lot of YA and children’s lit folks there.  In fact, the book of the year is a YA book.  So here are the top books for the YA and children’s, which include the top author and top book overall too:

Favorite Book of the Year and Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

Best Graphic Novel

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

 

Best Middle Grade and Children’s

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

 

Best Picture Book

When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic, illustrated by Wes Hargis

 

Best Young Adult Fiction

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

 

Best Author

Cassandra Clare