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November 30, 2006
Horn Book Fanfare
So I know you were all as excited as I was to see that the The Horn Book Fanfare List is out. It’s usually my favorite of the “best of” lists, so naturally I must comment on the big winners.
Picture Books
Hey, I’ve been blathering on about Keeper of Soles by Teresa Bateman and illustrated by Yayo since I first read it last February, and here it is on Fanfare! Kirkus has it on their best-of-the-year list too. Cool! I love the book, but I thought it was too weird to get anything but niche attention. I’m glad to be proven wrong.
Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai is a nice book. It wouldn’t have made my best-of list, but I can go with it. Flotsam is brilliant, of course, very David Wiesner-ish. I don’t think he outdid himself here, but I really like the book.
Hardworking Puppies? Eh? I missed this book by Lynn Reiser entirely. My bad.
Fiction
The homeschooling book has kept me from reading very much fiction this year, so the miracle is that I’ve read anything on this list. I’ve read exactly one (1) of these books: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which was excellent and certainly among the best books of the year period, so much as among the best books for young people. I am dying, dying, dying to read The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson and have finally put it on hold. I’ve also been very interested in An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. Must. Be. Strong. Must. Write. Homeschooling. Book. No. Time. For. Fiction.
Nonfiction
John, Paul, George, and Ben by Lane Smith! Yay to The Horn Book for not being too stuffy to call this a best book; I LOVE this thing! It’s a stretch putting it on the nonfiction list, but I’m just so pleased to see it anywhere that I’ll let that go.
The only other nonfiction title I read that made the list is Mama: A True Story in which a Baby Hippo Loses His Mama during a Tsunami, but Finds a New Home, and a New Mama by Jeanette Winter. I usually like Winter’s work. The Librarian of Basra? Made me cry. September Roses? Made me cry. Mama? It's a sweet (true) story, but the book just didn’t work for me. It seemed sterile, like it didn’t really hit the heart of its subject the way Winter has done in other books. But, you know, a girl can’t like everything.
I also have to point out that I asked Olivia to buy The Wand and the Word for WPL because I thought it looked interesting, and she did. Now I’m double going to have to read it. Soon. After I read the M.T. Anderson. And the Katherines. And some homeschooling books…. GAH!
Posted by adrienne at November 30, 2006 07:51 PM
Comments
You mean I even managed to read The Wand in the Word before you? :)
I haven't read either of John Green's books, but I've been told I have to. People are challenging them all over the place.
Posted by: Olivia at December 1, 2006 07:52 AM
The Auburn Public Library has two cats: Paige & Dewey.
Posted by: KellyScroger at December 1, 2006 09:34 AM
What?!? It's getting challenged?!? Great, now I *have* to put it on hold.
I wish we had library cats.
Posted by: adrienne at December 1, 2006 10:08 AM