Review of A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell

Fantasy, Short Stories, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Phoenix First Must Burn

Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope

edited by Patrice Caldwell

Viking, 2020. 354 pages.
Review written December 7, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#9 Teen Speculative Fiction

I don’t usually have the patience for short stories, but I took up this collection as part of my reading for the first round of the Cybils Awards, and read a story between each full-length book I read, sort of as a way to cleanse my palate. And I ended up being delighted.

I shouldn’t have been surprised – there are some powerhouse writers included in this book. The ones I’ve read before are Elizabeth Acevedo, Justina Ireland, Dhonielle Clayton, and Ibi Zoboi, and they and the rest of the authors told stories that contained magic along with a big punch.

Here’s an extended section from editor Patrice Caldwell’s Introduction:

But whenever I went to the children’s section of the library to discover more tales, the novels featuring characters who looked like me were, more often than not, rooted in pain set amid slavery, sharecropping, or segregation. Those narratives are important, yes. But because they were the only ones offered, I started to wonder. Where is my fantasy, my future? Why don’t Black people exist in speculative worlds?

Too often media focuses on our suffering. Too often we are portrayed as victims. But in reality, we advocate for and save ourselves long before anyone else does, from heroes my parents taught me of to recent ones like Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, the Black women who founded Black Lives Matter.

Malcolm X said, “The most neglected person in America is the Black Woman.” I believe this is even more true for my fellow queer siblings, and especially for those identifying as trans and as gender nonconforming. We are constantly under attack.

And yet still we rise from our own ashes.

We never accept no.

With each rebirth comes a new strength.

Black women are phoenixes.

We are given lemons and make lemonade.

So are the characters featured in this collection of stories.

These sixteen stories highlight Black culture, folktales, strength, beauty, bravery, resistance, magic, and hope. They will take you from a ship carrying teens who are Earth’s final hope for salvation to the rugged wilderness of New Mexico’s frontier. They will introduce you to a revenge-seeking hair-stylist, a sorcerer’s apprentice, and a girl whose heart is turning to ash. And they will transport you to a future where all outcomes can be predicted by the newest tech, even matters of the heart.

Though some of these stories contain sorrow, they ultimately are full of hope. Sometimes you have to shed who you were to become who you are.

This collection does not disappoint. And take it from this white lady, you don’t have to be a Black girl to thoroughly enjoy these stories in their variety, their surprise, and their magic.

patricecaldwell.com
penguinteen.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Superpower Field Guide: Moles, by Rachel Poliquin, illustrated by Nicholas John Frith

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

The Superpower Field Guide

Moles

by Rachel Poliquin
illustrated by Nicholas John Frith

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019. 96 pages.
Review written April 2, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#4 General Children’s Nonfiction

I checked out this book thinking it would work well for booktalking in the schools. I was absolutely right, but now that schools are closed I’m going to have to wait another year to do it. So let me tell you about it.

I never dreamed a book about moles could be so entertaining! This author uses a conversational tone and really emphasizes the Wow factor of many strange characteristics of moles. One way she does this is by describing nine mole superpowers: Astonishing Architect of Dirt, Indefatigable Paws of Power, Double-Thumb-Digging Dominance, Arms of Hercules, Super-Squidgibility, Early Whisker Warning System, Headless Hoarding, Saliva of Death (Maybe?), and Blood of the Gods.

She describes moles in ways you can understand, such as shaped like a potato. And gives scientific terms more vivid names. The prepollex is given the name Weird Fake Thumb, or WFT for short. Scientists say that moles’ blood has high oxygen affinity. This author says they have the Blood of the Gods.

Here’s an example of the writing style in this book, taken from the beginning, after she’s explained that moles are shaped like a potato:

Now, potato-shapeliness is definitely too dowdy to be a superpower. But believe it or not, it’s a MOLE’S SECRET WEAPON.

Let me explain.

Scientists say moles and potatoes have cylindrical bodies. Cylindrical is a fancy way of saying “shaped like a tube.” But if you look at a potato, you’ll notice it is not shaped like a tube so much as shaped to fit inside a tube. And that is the important thing about potato-shapeliness – it helps moles fit in tubes. A giraffe would not fit in a tube. Neither would a poodle, nor a chicken, nor any other animal with long legs and a long, bendy neck. Big floppy ears would also not be good in a tube. Take it from me, if you’re going to live in a tube, it’s best to be shaped like a potato.

Of course, moles don’t live in any sort of tube. They live in underground tunnels. And not just any underground tunnel. Moles are MASTERMINDS OF UNDERGROUND EXCAVATION! They are ASTONISHING ARCHITECTS OF DIRT! They are TUNNELING TORPEDOES! Which brings me to ROSALIE’S FIRST SUPERPOWER.

The cartoon illustrations also fit the tone perfectly.

So there you have it – I now know about the wonders of moles. I read an entire book about moles and enjoyed every moment of it. Who knew science could be so much fun?

rachelpoliquin.com
nicholasjohnfrith.com
hmhco.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Edge of Anything, by Nora Shalaway Carpenter

Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Edge of Anything

by Nora Shalaway Carpenter

Running Press Teens (Hachette), 2020. 362 pages.
Review written December 21, 2020, from a book sent by the publisher
Starred Review
2020 Cybils Finalist
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#7 General Teen Fiction

The Edge of Anything is a friendship story, and a powerful one. Len has never really had friends, except her sister, and now she’s avoiding calls from her sister after something terrible happened. She’s finding herself extra sensitive to dirt and germs, and kids at school think she’s a freak.

But when Sage’s life turns upside-down, Len is the person who sees what she’s going through. Sage faints after a volleyball game, and thinks it was low blood sugar. But it turns out to be something that can keep her from playing sports ever again. Volleyball was her passion and her whole life.

It turns out that Len is dealing with something that’s also huge, but the reader and Sage don’t find out what that is until well into the book. But we do come to understand why Len is better at understanding what Sage is going through than her other friends.

That’s the skeleton of what happens in this book, but the beauty is in the carrying it out as Len and Sage become friends and figure out how to be good friends to each other, when neither one wants to face what’s going on.

This book gives a good look at mental illness as an illness, not something you can shake by being strong.

noracarpenterwrites.com
runningpress.com/rpkids

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Before the Ever After, by Jacqueline Woodson, read by Guy Lockard

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Before the Ever After

by Jacqueline Woodson
read by Guy Lockard

Listening Library, 2020. 2 hours, 15 minutes on eaudio
Review written January 4, 2021, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review
2021 Capitol Choices selection
2021 Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#8 Children’s Fiction

This is a novel in verse written from the perspective of twelve-year-old ZJ, talking about his Dad, a professional football player.

His Dad is a star, with a Super Bowl ring. Or at least he was – before. When ZJ goes through his memories, we learn that his Dad was also a wonderful, active, loving father. He did lots of things with ZJ and ZJ’s friends.

But then one day, he didn’t play a game they expected him to play. He started getting awful headaches, forgetting their names, and acting strangely. And they didn’t know what was going on. Different doctors had different ideas, but nothing was working.

The way the book covers “Before,” your heart breaks with ZJ when his Daddy starts to change.

Normally, I think I enjoy novels in verse more by seeing the poetry with my own eyes. It’s easier to catch what the author’s doing. In this case, I did enjoy listening to the warm voice of the narrator, and I did figure out it was a novel in verse before I looked at the book.

This is a heartbreaking tribute from a kid to his dad.

jacquelinewoodson.com
penguin.com/middle-grade

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity, by Amy Alznauer, illustrated by Daniel Miyares

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity

A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan

by Amy Alznauer
illustrated by Daniel Miyares

Candlewick Press, 2020. 48 pages.
Review written July 11, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#3 Nonfiction Picture Books

The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity is a longer-than-usual picture book biography of the mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan. The book focuses on his growing-up years with his constant thinking about mathematical ideas and passion for it that couldn’t be contained.

Here’s how the author talks about the young Ramanujan’s thoughts:

What else is small? Ramanujan wondered. He remembered the legend of the single egg that cracked open to reveal the entire universe. He thought about a mango.

A mango is like an egg. It is just one thing. But if I chop it in two, then chop the half in two, and keep on chopping, I get ore and more bits, on and on, endlessly, to an infinity I could never reach. Yet when I put them back together, I still have just one mango.

He loved this idea, small and big, each inside the other. If he could crack the number 1 open and find infinity, what secrets would he discover inside other numbers? It felt like he was setting out on a grand chase.

Numbers were everywhere. In the squares of light pricking his thatched roof. In the gods dancing on the temple tower. In the clouds that formed and re-formed in the sky. Every day he wrote numbers in the sand, on his slate, on slips of paper, his slender fingers flying, each number a new catch.

The book tells about Ramanujan’s life in India before he finally got an answer from the mathematician G. H. Hardy and was invited to England. It captures his obsession with numbers and his difficulty in doing other things. His parents tried him in a new school every year, because he didn’t fit into the molds they wanted. Eventually he failed college because all he would think about was math.

I love that the author is also a mathematician, and I think she does a great job expressing Ramanujan’s genius, overflowing ideas, and desire to be heard. The artist paints wonderful illustrations to go with the text, showing us an imaginative boy dreaming about numbers and living in a land with lots of sunshine.

The book ends as Ramanujan travels to England:

As he rocked on the steamer and gazed up at the great night sky, so full of stars that it looked like a glittering infinity, he never could have guessed that someday scientists would use his ideas to help explore that sky and that his work would change the course of mathematics forever. One hundred years later, people would still search his notebooks in wonderment, trying to discover what he was thinking.

candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Earth in Her Hands, by Jennifer Jewell

Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review, True Stories 0

The Earth in Her Hands

75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants

by Jennifer Jewell

Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2020. 324 pages.
Review written September 22, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#5 General Nonfiction

This amazing and beautiful book features seventy-five plantswomen who work in a multiplicity of jobs, mostly jobs I didn’t even know existed before reading this book, and serve plants and the earth in some way.

The format is consistent for all the featured women. On their opening spread in this generously-sized book, one page is filled with a picture of them among their plants. There’s a quote from the subject next to the picture. The text of the feature begins with “Her Work,” telling what she does. Then either “Her Plant” or “Her Landscape” featuring a plant or landscape that’s special to her. The bulk of the feature is the next part, “Her Plant Journey,” which goes into the next spread, giving an outline of her life story and how she came to her current work and the things that excite her about what she does. The second spread has another, smaller picture. The features finish off with “Other Inspiring Women,” a list of women whose work has inspired the featured woman. And yes, some of those are featured, too.

The women are listed alphabetically rather than by type of work, but there’s such a wide variety of work, that approach probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. Some jobs are a little more traditional – nursery owners and farmers, photographers, artists, and writers. There are many horticulturists, gardeners, botanists, and landscape architects. But then we’ve got the owner of a houseplant shop in New York City, seed savers, and collectors, floral designers, garden directors, educators, advocates, herbalists, a soil scientist, a plant pathologist, and a horticultural therapist. And that doesn’t express the many aspects of these jobs that I learned about in these pages, each woman bringing love and passion to what she does.

Also amazing are how these women are located all over the world. Yes, the majority live in the U.S. or the U.K., but there are also women featured from India, Japan, Canada, and Australia.

This is a beautiful book. The photos of the women on the large, glossy pages usually highlight flowers, or maybe some lovely landscape or setting. I read the book usually one feature per day (I confess I had this book out from the library while we were closed for the pandemic so I had extra time.), and it made me want to get out there and do something with plants – at the very least got me noticing plants more on my daily walks by my lake and taking more close-ups of flowers.

This is in the adult section of the library, but I think putting this book into the right teen’s hands might set someone on the path of working with the earth, because it opens your eyes to all the possibilities.

For me, I found that sitting and spending a couple minutes reading one of these features was guaranteed to put me in a peaceful mental state, like taking a deep breath.

timberpress.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Grace Saves All, by David Artman

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Universalism 2

Grace Saves All

The Necessity of Christian Universalism

by David Artman

Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2020. 147 pages.
Review written January 5, 2021, from my own copy purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#3 in Christian Nonfiction

I am amassing quite a collection of books about why Christian Universalism is biblical and why it makes sense and why it paints a picture more worthy of God. This is another wonderful addition to that set.

One thing I liked about this one was that I read it in the year it was published, and the author has read almost all the same books I have read – they are even listed in the back as “Recommended Reading” and are cited in many different places. (And I got a few ideas for additional reading.) He even listed all the ones I’d read in the last year, so he’s as up-to-date as I am.

And each book takes its own approach. This book takes the approach of looking at Grace, and I found that lovely. Here’s how the Introduction begins:

Grace is amazing. About this all Christians agree. Yet nearly all forms of Christianity put significant limits on grace. Those forms of Christianity which proclaim that grace alone actually saves typically don’t believe God gives grace to everyone, while those forms of Christianity which proclaim God gives grace to everyone typically don’t believe grace alone actually saves. Is the Christian understanding of grace necessarily divided between these two grace-limiting options? Must grace either be that which saves alone but doesn’t go to all, or that which goes to all but doesn’t save alone? Or, is there another way? Can one be a Christian and understand grace to save alone and go to all? Can one be a Christian and believe salvation by grace alone is for everyone?

I will argue here that being Christian does not require one to limit either grace’s power or scope. It’s quite possible, I will contend, to be Christian and to believe grace is God’s way of finally saving everyone. Grace can be understood to be God’s remedy for all human sin, not just part of it. Grace can mean God perseveres with us until we’ve all seen the light and freely responded in faith. Grace can mean God is with us not just if we get things right, but until we get things right. How long it takes for us to get things right is not the primary issue for God. Whether it happens in this lifetime, or in the age to come, or in the ages to come after that, is not what really matters. The primary issue for God isn’t how hard it will be for us, or how long it will take us. The primary issue for God is our final return home. And, like the father of the prodigal son, God will be vigilant until we all make our way home from the far country.

Even though I will be arguing here that everyone will finally be saved by grace alone, what we do still matters very much. We each still have our part to play. And neither will I be downplaying the consequences of sin. We are granted terrifying freedom to bring tremendous misery upon ourselves and others. What we do matters greatly. But no matter what we do, God’s grace can be understood to include God’s commitment to be with us, even in the form of judgment and hell, until we eventually see the light. I will argue that God’s perfecting love is continually with all of us, through whatever hell may be necessary, until all of us are finally healed and home. What makes grace truly amazing is God never giving up and never failing – God being able to save even those for whom there is apparently no hope. I maintain that it’s possible to be a Christian and to have this understanding of grace.

Unfortunately, most people don’t know it’s possible to be a Christian and to believe grace is God’s way of ultimately saving everyone. They don’t know where to find biblical evidence for this understanding of grace. They don’t know this way of understanding grace was common in early Christianity. They wrongly assume they can only be Christian if they also believe God will not, or might not, save everyone. Through this book I hope to help correct these false impressions and assumptions.

As with all the other books I’ve reviewed on Universalism (see the list on the side of this review page), this author fills the book with biblical references supporting what he says. Universalism is biblical! He also spends a whole chapter talking about how the early church supported Universalism. Universalism is authentic Christianity!

The author calls this kind of belief about grace the Inclusive approach. At the start of the main text, he lays out a five-point biblical framework for this approach:

1. God is a loving parent to all.

2. God sincerely wants to save all.

3. God, in Christ, covers the sin of all.

4. God is sovereign over all.

5. God will be all in all.

This book sums up Christian Universalism simply and clearly in a way that’s easy to understand. Plenty of biblical support is cited, and the author finishes up with his own story of how he came to this view, so it’s got a personal touch as well.

I liked reading this book to have one more clear argument in favor of Christian Universalism. But above all, I was happy to read it because it glories in the amazing inescapable grace of God that indeed saves all. Praise God!

wipfandstock.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Bridge, by Bill Konigsberg

Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Bridge

by Bill Konigsberg

Scholastic Press, 2020. 388 pages.
Review written October 27, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#1 General Teen Fiction

The Bridge is a book about suicide.

Two teens, Aaron and Tillie, come to George Washington Bridge to end their lives on April 17. This book tells the four possible stories that could happen from there.

First, chapters 1A through 10A, we find out what happens if she jumps but he doesn’t. (Seeing her jump shook him and stopped him.) Multiple perspectives are used, but mostly we find out how Aaron moves on from there. He does get help, gets diagnosed with depression, and is shaken by how close he came to ending it all. We also see how the lives of Tillie’s family and friends are devastated by her loss.

Then, chapters 1B through 4B (They’re longer chapters), we get the story of what happens if Aaron jumps but Tillie doesn’t. Tillie’s got several different pressures to deal with – getting bullied, a tough break-up, and family pressures. In this thread, she works on dealing with that. We also see the devastation among Aaron’s family and friends.

Chapters 1C through 12C show us the long-range effects if both of the teens jump from the bridge that day. And when I say long-range, each chapter presents something years later, all the way up to thirty-five years later at Aaron’s father’s funeral, where no relative attends. We see the many holes in lives where those two were missing.

The longest section is Chapters 1D through 13D, where the two stop each other from jumping. Things play out differently from the first two scenarios, with some similarities, but the author does a good job of not being repetitive. In this iteration, they have a peer who understands what they’re going through.

Even though you know what will happen in the big picture sense (the idea is presented on the flap), this story is gripping. It’s dealing with suicide, and the author does communicate the despair, so I’m glad I was able to read it in one marathon session rather than stop in the middle. But ultimately, it’s a story of hope, and an effective way to show that individual lives matter.

Yes, there are resources at the back and the author’s own story of being suicidal as a young adult. He spells out in the Author’s Note what the story communicated:

Last but most crucially: You matter. You really, really matter. We want you here. The world wants you here, even when it feels like the opposite is true. It took me so many years to understand that I matter, and I’m extremely grateful that I stayed around long enough to learn that lesson.

This book is a wonderful example of showing rather than telling a story involving deep emotions. It’s a message book, yes, but it’s also a compelling story that’s hard to put down.

billkonigsberg.com
ireadya.com
scholastic.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Wink, by Rob Harrell

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Wink

by Rob Harrell

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2020. 315 pages.
Review written July 5, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out:
#4 Children’s Fiction

Wink is about a middle school kid named Ross who’s dealing with cancer in his eye. And believe it or not, the author makes that funny.

Ross has a rare type of cancer that matches the kind the author himself dealt with. He has a series of treatments that means he has to wear hats and gooey ointment and of course start losing his hair. And that starts happening when he’s holding the cafeteria tray of the girl he has a crush on.

There’s definitely a very serious side to this book, but Ross does find ways to cope with the help of friends old and new, with cartoons, and then with music, as he learns to play the guitar and finds an unlikely person to make music with.

I’ve got a little four-year-old niece with leukemia who just lost her hair. She’s going to be okay, but after reading this book, I found myself extremely glad that she’s not in school yet. Let alone in middle school. Ross’s humiliations and difficulties are so relatable in this book, because going through middle school is hard enough, but dealing with cancer treatments, too, gives you all kinds of sympathy – which makes you relate to another problem he has of being completely tired of everyone’s sympathy and attention.

Ross’s mother died of cancer years before this book. (Really? Did the author have to pile on like that? But like I said, Ross has all our sympathy.) He’s got a stepmother who does her best to be loving and supportive. Everyone, in fact, is trying to be helpful and supportive. But sometimes Ross wants to be left alone. And then his best friend has some problems of her own and Ross doesn’t even notice at first.

I didn’t make this book sound as funny as it manages to be. It’s a light-hearted look at a very serious situation. And pulls that off with flair.

robharrell.com
penguin.com/middle-grade

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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2020 Sonderbooks Stand-outs!

Stand-outs 0

It’s time to announce my 2020 Sonderbooks Stand-outs!

These are simply my favorite books of those I read this year, the books that stand out in my mind after a year of reading, the ones that moved me most.

These are not necessarily the best books of the year. They’re not necessarily the highest quality. And I’m a white straight lady. I can see and recognize outstanding books coming from many different perspectives and even put them forward for awards, but they won’t necessarily win as high a place in my heart. These are books I especially loved reading this year.

It’s late on New Year’s Day, so I’m just writing a blog post to make the announcement, but a webpage for these will come soon. I haven’t posted reviews of all the books yet — especially not the ones I read for the Cybils — so I will work on getting all these reviews posted.

I also have to add a disclaimer. Although I’m ranking the books, I’m trying not to think too hard about it and go with my gut. If I were to rank them tomorrow, they might end up in a little bit different order. These are all good books, and I highly recommend them!

Here are my numbers of books read this year:

Books reread: 7 (Mostly L. M. Montgomery books, since I’m still slowly trying to reread all of her books.)
Fiction for Adults: 14
Nonfiction for Adults: 49
Fiction for Teens: 60
Fiction for Children: 38
Nonfiction for Children and Teens: 152 (many picture books in that set)
Picture Books: 329

For a grand total of 649 books read in 2020!

In my list of stand-outs, I left out the books I reread, and I left out the new translation of the New Testament, by David Bentley Hart. It doesn’t seem fair to compare books I read for the first time with old favorites, and especially not with a new translation of the Bible.

Among the rest, I chose these favorites:

Fiction for Adults:

1. A Dance with Fate, by Juliet Marillier
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
3. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George
4. The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nahesi Coates
5. The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
6. The Queen of Sorrow, by Sarah Beth Durst
7. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood

General Nonfiction for Adults:

1. Know My Name, by Chanel Miller
2. My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me, by Jason B. Rosenthal
3. Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F. Saad
4. Keep Moving, by Maggie Smith
5. The Earth in Her Hands, by Jennifer Jewell
6. The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben
7. So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
8. The Orphaned Adult, by Alexander Levy
9. Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds, by Ian Wright
10. Beneath the Tamarind Tree, by Isha Sesay

Christian Nonfiction for Adults:

1. Jesus Undefeated, by Keith Giles
2. Shameless, by Nadia Bolz-Weber
3. Grace Saves All, by David Artman
4. A More Christlike Way, by Bradley Jersak
5. Try Softer, by Aundi Kolber

General Fiction for Teens:

1. The Bridge, by Bill Konigsberg
2. We Used to Be Friends, by Amy Spalding
3. Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo
4. The Hand on the Wall, by Maureen Johnson
5. Even If We Break, by Marieke Nijkamp
6. The Vanishing Stair, by Maureen Johnson
7. The Edge of Anything, by Nora Shalaway Carpenter
8. Dangerous Alliance, by Jennieke Cohen
9. This Is My Brain in Love, by I. W. Gregorio
10. The Light in Hidden Places, by Sharon Cameron

Speculative Fiction for Teens:
1. Return of the Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
2. Igniting Darkness, by Robin LaFevers
3. The Queen of Nothing, by Holly Black
4. Red Hood, by Elana K. Arnold
5. Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger
6. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, by Garth Nix
7. The Guinevere Deception, by Kiersten White
8. Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas
9. A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell
10. Burn, by Patrick Ness

Fiction for Children:

1. Fighting Words, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
2. Prairie Lotus, by Linda Sue Park
3. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, by Dan Gemeinhart
4. Wink, by Rob Harrell
5. Monster and Boy, by Hannah Barnaby
6. A Long Road on a Short Day, by Gary D. Schmidt & Elizabeth Stickney
7. Catherine’s War, by Julia Billet
8. Before the Ever After, by Jacqueline Woodson
9. A Home for Goddesses and Dogs, by Leslie Connor
10. Stepping Stones, by Lucy Knisley
11. Mañanaland, by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Longer Nonfiction for Children and Teens:

1. Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
2. An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese
3. Infinite Hope, by Ashley Bryan
4. Almost American Girl, by Robin Ha
5. Playlist, by James Rhodes
6. The Magnificent Migration, by Sy Montgomery

Nonfiction for Children:

1. When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
2. Create Your Own Secret Language, by David J. Peterson and Ryan Goldsberry
3. Sounds All Around, by James Chapman
4. The Superpower Field Guide: Moles, by Rachel Poliquin and Nicholas John Frith
5. Overview, by Benjamin Grant with Sandra Markle
6. Can You Crack the Code?, by Ella Schwartz and Lily Williams

Nonfiction Picture Books

1. Honeybee, by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann
2. The Fabled Life of Aesop, by Ian Lendler and Pamela Zagarenski
3. The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity, by Amy Alznauer and Daniel Miyares
4. The Imaginaries, by Emily Winfield Martin
5. Girl on a Motorcycle, by Amy Novesky and Julie Morstad
6. Child of St. Kilda, by Beth Waters

Fiction Picture Books:

1. Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, by Meg Medina and Sonia Sánchez
2. Lift, by Minh Le and Dan Santat
3. Rita and Ralph’s Rotten Day, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Pete Oswald
4. In My Garden, by Charlotte Zolotow and Philip Stead
5. Madame Badobedah, by Sophie Dahl and Lauren O’Hara
6. Every Color of Light, by Hiroshi Osada and Ryoji Arai
7. I Can Be Anything, by Shinsuke Yoshitake
8. The Blue House, by Phoebe Wahl
9. Swashby and the Sea, by Beth Ferry and Juana Martinez

I know — I’m not good at narrowing down my lists! But all the more reading joy!

Happy Reading!