Our Favorite Teen Books of 2019

This week, I'm sharing some of our favorite teen books from 2019 . . . .

Dig by A.S. King
Five white teenage cousins who are struggling with the failures and racial ignorance of their dysfunctional parents and their wealthy grandparents, reunite for Easter.

We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bennett
Seventeen-year-olds Revna, the daughter of a traitor, and Linne, the daughter of a general, must use forbidden magic to fly planes in wartime despite their deep dislike of each other.

The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees
When the lives of a girl, who has terrifying visions, and a witch, who grants wishes to children in the woods, collide in the most unexpected of ways, a dark, magical truth threatens to doom them both.

Barely Missing Everything by Matt Mendez
Three Mexican-Americans--Juan, JD, and Fabi--each try to overcome their individual struggles as they all grapple with how to make a better life for themselves when it seems like brown lives don't matter.


More Favorites --
96 Words for Love by Rachel Roy
All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney
The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Beware the Night by Jessica Fleck
Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai
His Hideous Heart: Thirteen of Edgar Allen Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined by Dahlia Adler
Hungry Hearts by Elsie Chapman & Caroline Tung Richmond
Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron
Lovely War by Julie Berry
Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett
Someday We Will Fly by Rachel DeWoskin
Spin by L.R. Giles
The Things She's Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott
We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
White Rose by Kip Wilson
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through February 14, 2020.

My Favorite Picture Books from 2017

This month in story time, we are sharing some of our favorite picture books published in 2017.  Here are some of mine . . . .

Stack the Cats by Susie Ghahremani
A group of cats sleep and play, until they decide to start stacking and unstacking.

Chicken Wants a Nap by Tracy Marchini
With the sun up and grass warm, a barnyard chicken is optimistic that it will be a comfortable day for a nap. However, forces keep conspiring against her--until it becomes a bad day for someone else.

Carrot & Pea by Morag Hood
Although he is different in size, color, and shape, the peas like and accept their friend, Colin the carrot.


More Books --
Accident by Andrea Tsurumi
The Black and White Factory by Eric Telchin
Claymates by Dav Petty
Colette's Lost Pet by Isabelle Arsenault
Dad and the Dinosaur by Gennifer Choldenko
A Greyhound, a Groundhog by Emily Jenkins
Here Comes Teacher Cat by Deborah Underwood
His Royal Highness, King Baby by Sally Lloyd-Jones
In the Middle of Fall by Kevin Henkes
La La La by Kate DiCmaillo
Me Tall, You Small by Lilli L'Arronge
Morris Mole by Dan Yaccarino
My Very Own Space by Pippa Goodhart
The Mystery of the Haunted Farm by Elys Dolan
Naptastrophe! by Jarrett Krosoczka
Sleep Tight, Charlie by Michael Escoffier
The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Jerry Pinkney

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through February 28, 2018.

Our Favorite Picture Books

This week, I'm sharing some of our favorite picture books . . . .

Bunnies!!! by Kevan Atteberry
A monster searches everywhere to find the things he loves: bunnies!!!

I'm Bored by Michael Ian Black
There is nothing boring about being a kid... but try explaining that to a potato.

Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper
Vanilla cupcake feels plain next to his fancy siblings until he gets help from his new pal Candle to try to boost his image.

Moo! by David LaRochelle
When Cow gets her hooves on the farmer's car, she takes it for a wild ride through the country.

Snow by Uri Shulevitz
As snowflakes slowly come down, one by one, people in the city ignore them, and only a boy and his dog think that the snowfall will amount to anything.


More Favorite Picture Books -- 
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
Blueberry Mouse by Alice Low
A Boy and His Bunny by Sean Bryan
Chengdu Could Not, Would Not, Fall Asleep by Barry Saltzberg
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
The Croaky Pokey by Ethan Long
Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep by Teri Sloat
Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig
Go! Go! Go! Stop! by Charise Mericle Harper
The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont
If You're Hoppy by Apil Pulley Sayre
It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Mail Harry to the Moon by Robie Harris
Mitchell's License by Hallie Durand
My Father the Dog by Elizabeth Bluemle
My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman
Naked! by Michael Ian Black
The Nuts: Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants by Eric Litwin
Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton
Old Mikamba Had a Farm by Rachel Isadora
A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
Press Here by Herve Tullet
Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
Snip! Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman
Snowball Fight by Jimmy Fallon
A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom
Squids Will be Squids by Jon Sceiszka
Swim! Swim! by James Proimos
Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie by Judy Sierra
The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli
Wolf's Coming by Joe Kulka

Check these and more favorites out at the Arnold Branch on display through November 17, 2017.

My Favorite Christmas Books

With Christmas only a few days away, I thought I would share some of my favorite Christmas books with you . . .

Santa Duck by David Milgrim
When Nicholas Duck, wearing a Santa hat and coat he found on his doorstep, goes looking for Santa to tell him what he wants for Christmas, all the other animals mistake him for Mr. Claus.
A sweet story of Christmas cheer.

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
On his eleventh birthday Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable the Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.
While not a traditional Christmas book, the story does take place during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany.

Sweet Rein series by Sakura Tsukuba
Sad at the thought of spending Christmas alone, Kurumi Sagara goes out for a walk. While she's crossing the street, a boy bumps into her, and a rein suddenly appears that binds them together. The overjoyed boy tells her she's his master and that she's a Santa Claus. Kurumi dismisses him as a crazy person, but then he transforms into a reindeer?!
A whole manga series based on an original Christmas myth.

Best Picture Books of 2014

There were a lot of picture books published in 2014.  Here are my picks for the best . . .

Amy's Top Ten

Brother Hugo and the Bear by Katy Beebe
Brother Hugo has to protect his previous replacement copy of a library book from a hungry bear.

Go! Go! Go! Stop! by Charise Mericle Harper
Little Green only knows one word -- Go!  Which is great to get things moving, but how do they stop?

Here Comes the Easter Cat by Deborah Underwood
Cat wants to replace the Easter Bunny -- until he learns it wouldn't allow him to take naps.

Love Monster by Rachel Bright
A googily-eyed misfit tries to find someone to love him just the way he is.

Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet
A continuation of Press Here, this book teaches kids how to mix colors following simple directions and interactions with pages.

Naked! by Michael Ian Black
A child discovers that the only thing more fun than being naked is wearing nothing but a cape.  My favorite book of the year is by one of my all-time favorite authors -- Michael Ian Black.

The Nuts: Bedtime at the Nut House by Eric Litwin
Mama Nut says it's bedtime, but Hazel Nut and Wally Nut just aren't quite ready to stop the fun and go to bed.  The new series from original Pete the Cat writer Eric Litwin.

The Queen & Mr. Brown: A Day for Dinosaurs by James Francis Wilkins
The Queen is excited to spend the day at the museum with her dog.

This Is a Moose by Richard T. Morris
A director tries to film a moose in its natural habitat but keeps getting interrupted by the moose who has a different dream for his life.

Weasels by Elys Dolan
What is better than a book filled with weasels?  A book filled with weasels bent on complete world domination.

More Favorites --
Alone Together by Suzanne Bloom
As an Oak Tree Grow by G. Brian Karas
Big Bug by Henry Cole
Buddy and the Bunnies in Don't Play with Your Food by Bob Shea
Count on the Subway by Paul Dubois Jacobs
Dragon's Extraordinary Egg by Debi Gliori
Flashlight by Liz Boyd
The Flat Rabbit by Barour Oskarsson
Here Comes Destructosaurus! by Aaron Reynolds
How to Lose a Lemur by Frann Preston-Gannon
I'm Brave! by Kate McMullan
The Midnight Library by Kazuno Kohara
My Bus by Barton Byron
My Grandfather's Coat by Jim Aylesworth
Ninja! by Arree Chung
Number One Sam by Greg Pizzoli
Penguin in Peril by Helen Hancocks
The Scraps Book by  Lois Ehlert
Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton
Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi
Sparky by Jenny Offill
Telephone by Mac Barnett
Those Magnificent Sheep in Their Flying Machine by Peter Bently
Wazdot? by Michael Slack
The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren


These books and more picture book favorites from 2014 are currently on display at the Arnold Branch through February 6, 2015.

Best Teen Books of 2014

The year 2014 was a good year for teen books.  There was a variety of books published for teens.  Here are my top books for the year . . .

Amy's Top Three

Firebug by Lish McBride
Ava, a contracted hit man who can start fires with her mind, hits the road with her friends, desperately trying to escape the Coterie, a magical mafia, while keeping the murder to a minimum after she is asked to kill a family friend by Venus, who killed Ava's mother.  This book takes place in the same world as the author's Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Sparks fly when Lucy and Owen meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally, in this story set over the course of one year.  This was probably my favorite teen book of the year.

Wayfarer: A Tale of Beauty and Madness by Lili St. Crow
In this retelling of Cinderella, Ellen Sinder's violent stepmother terrifies her, her plan for surviving and getting through high school quietly begins to unravel, and Auntie, an odd old woman who takes her in, may not be as kindly as she appears.  I waited and waited for this book as the publication was pushed back a couple times.


More Best Teen Books --
100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire
Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King
Going Over by Beth Kephart
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
Heap House by Edward Carey
The Hit by Melvin Burgess
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan
Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens by Julie Mata
The Last Forever by Deb Caletti
Nil by Lynne Matson
Noggin by John Corey Whaley
She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Why We Took the Car by Wolfgang Herndorf
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts


The Best Teen Books of 2014 will be on display at the Arnold Branch through January 30, 2015.

Best Books for Kids 2014

My picks for the best chapter books for kids is a diverse group.  Here are my favorites . . . .

Amy's Top Five

The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell
When Sand, a blacksmith's apprentice, wakes up in a broken castle, he must find a way to put it back together.  This book combines fantasy, fairy tale, and politics into one book for kids who like a thought-provoking read.

Lost in Bermooda by Mike Litwin
Young calf Chuck discovers a shipwrecked boy on the beach and struggles to hide him from the island's other residents who regard humans as monsters.  This was my favorite easy chapter book that came out this year.  It's also the first in a series.

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Levy
Relates the adventures of a family with two fathers, four adopted boys, and a variety of pets as they make their way through a school year, Kindergarten through sixth grade, and deal with a grumpy new neighbor.

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
The Pickles are new to Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, a town which legend says was once magic--but Felicity is convinced the magic is still there, and with the help of her new friend Jonah the Beedle she hopes to bring the magic back.

The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill
When a Bandit King comes to take the magic that Ned's mother, a witch, is meant to protect, the stuttering, weak boy villagers think should have drowned rather than his twin summons the strength to protect his family and community, while in the woods, the bandit's daughter puzzles over a mystery that ties her to Ned.  This book was so good it caused me to find all the other books written by this author and immediately read them.


More Favorites --
Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
The Angel Tree by Daphne Benedis-Grab
Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch
The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel
Fleabrain Loves Franny by Joanne Rocklin
Fly Away by Patricia MacLachlan
Greenglass House by Kate Milford
Meet the Bigfeet by Kevin Sherry
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Nuts to You by Lynne Rae Perkins
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
The Thickety: A Path Begins by J.A. White
West of the Moon by Margi Preus


The Best Books of 2014 are on display at the Arnold Branch through January 23, 2015.

My Favorite Books, Part 3

Here are some of my favorite chapter books for kids from 2013 . . .

Fyre by Angie Sage
Book 7 of the Septimus Heap series
Septimus must battle the remnants of the Dark Domaine, which will remain until the power of the evil Two-Faced Ring is destroyed forever. To accomplish that, the ancient Alchemie Fyre must be relit -- a task that sends Septimus to the very origins of Magyk and Physik, testing both his skills, and his loyalties to ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand, and Alchemist Marcellus Pye.

Prince Puggly of Spud by Robert Paul Weston
When Prince Puggly attends a ball in the Kingdom of Spiff, he is laughed at by all the Spiffs, except for the Princess of Spiff who helps him teach her fellow Spiffian citizens a lesson.

The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths
Follows the efforts of Andy and Terry to meet a latest book deadline despite numerous distractions in their sophisticated tree house home, including flying cats, giant bananas, and sea monsters pretending to be mermaids.

The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech
Discovering a speech-disabled boy asleep on their porch, young couple John and Marta forge a loving bond with the child and come to think of him as their own while wondering about his mysterious past and enjoying the world through his eyes.

My Favorite Books, Part 2

Here are some of my favorite books for teens from 2013 . . .

Nameless: A Tale of Beauty and Madness by Lili St. Crow
Raised in luxury as the pampered, adopted heiress of Enrico Vultusino, godfather of the Seven -- the powerful Families that rule magic-ridden New Haven -- Camille knows that she is not really Family. Unlike them, she is a mortal with a past that lies buried in trauma. Then she meets the mysterious Tor and begins to uncover the secrets of her birth.

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.

Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
Seventeen-year-old 'Hank,' who can't remember his identity, finds himself in Penn Station with a copy of Thoreau's Walden as his only possession and must figure out where he's from and why he ran away.

Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff
Sixteen-year-old Boy Nobody, an assassin controlled by a shadowy government organization, The Program, considers sabotaging his latest mission because his target reminds him of the normal life he craves.