TOP TEN BOOKS WE'VE READ THIS YEAR

For the last blog of the calendar year Mrs. Wilson and I reflect back over all the books we have read this year and try to pick our top ten. Each year limiting ourselves to just ten is very difficult and there usually is some overlap between our lists. This year was no exception. Between the 20 nominated books for the Caudill award and the great new fiction for Young Adults, plus some older books we've finally gotten around to reading, it has taken some time to bring our lists down to ten. So for the 2013 calendar year, here are our Top Ten. Please share your comments or list with us. Have a great holiday season.

Mrs. Wilson's List

1. The Running Dream, by Wendelin Van Draanen

2. Wonder, by PJ Palacio

3. Counting by 7's, by Holly Goldberg Sloan

4. I, Emma Freke, by E.J. Atkinson

5. Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer

6. The One and Only Ivan, by K.A. Applegate

7. Accomplice, by Eureann Corrigan

8. The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy

9. 13 Gifts, by Wendy Mass

10. Ways to Live Forever, by Sally Nichols

Miss Hagensee's List

1. Tomorrow Girls series, by Eva Gray

2. Cold Fury, by T.M. Goeglein

3. The Raft, by S.A. Bodeen

4. The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy

5. Eye of the Storm, by Kate Messner

6. Bird Lake Moon, by Kevin Henkes

7. London Calling, by Edward Bloor

8. A Tale Dark & Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz

9. The Water Wars, by Cameron Stracher

10. The Creature from the Seventh Grade, by Bob Balaban

NONFICTION ON THE 2014 CAUDILL LIST

This year there are three nonfiction books on the 2014 nominee list for the 2014 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award list. Blizzard of Glass, by Sally M. Walker, tells about a terrifying disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917. Two ships, one going into and one coming out of the harbor collided. One of the ships was carrying flammable chemicals and bomb materials for the war in Europe. Those munitions caught fire and exploded destroying the ships and most of Halifax. The author Sally Walker introduces you to several families living in the area, describes the explosion, and then tells what happens to the families she has introduced.

 

Candy Bomber, by Michael O. Tunnell, is a post-World War II event that happened over West Berlin. Since Berlin was inside the Russian-controlled portion of Germany in 1949, the Russians made it difficult for Americans, British, and the French people to deliver supplies to West Berlin. Lt. Gail Halvorsen, while touring West Berlin after his airplane delivered supplies, noticed how sad the children looked. He developed a plan to drop small parachutes with candy attached to bright the children's spirits. He became known as the candy bomber and made many friends in West Berlin.

Finally, How They Croaked, by Georgia Bragg, is a collected biography about famous people throughout history. But this is not a book about their lives. It's a book about their deaths -- how they diesd where they died, why they died. Starting with King Tut and ending with Albert Einstein you will learn a lot about medicine, assassination plots, radiation poisoning, and other causes of death, some of which could have been prevented or cured today. This is a book you can dip into and read a chapter or two, but I think you will end up reading every amazing chapter!

TOMORROW GIRLS

This most unique series starts in Chicago in a future world were there is an on-going war. With an offer of safety at a distant boarding school, best friends Louisa and Maddie pretend they are sisters. When these girls and their roommates Rosie and Evelyn, figure out that the boarding school is secretly operated by their enemies in the war, the girls run away and try to get back to their families in Chicago. Traveling overland their survival depends their own skills and those of group of boys from a neighboring school. Even when they arrive back in Chicago, they have trouble contacting their parents and hide out in a deserted Wrigley Field. What makes this series unique is that each of the four books is told by a different one of the girls giving a different perspective on what's happening as their journey progresses. The four book titles are: Behind the Gates, Run for Cover, With the Enemy, and Set Me Free, all written by Eva Gray. These paperback books are currently available in the Blogged Books display.