It’s that time of year — when the children’s library staff go out to the local schools and talk about the summer reading — and some books the kids might enjoy reading.
I need to make a list of the books I’m booktalking, with covers, so that when the kids come to the library and can’t remember the title, they can browse the list. A fun place to put that is my blog. I will provide links to my reviews — though since this was my Newbery year, not all the reviews are posted yet.
[Just a note: Last year I couldn’t publish a list because of being on the Newbery committee. Many of my favorites and 2018 Sonderbooks Stand-outs got booktalked last year.]
My list is more ambitious than I actually end up having time to talk about. But here are the books I booktalked this year, very loosely organized by grade:
Kindergarten to 1st grade:
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, by Ryan T. Higgins
Crash, Splash, or Moo!, by Bob Shea
Thank You, Omu!, by Oge Mora
Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales
We Are Brothers, by Yves Nadon
Kindergarten to 2nd grade:
Two nonfiction books about chickens:
The Hen Who Sailed Around the World, by Guirec Soudee
Hawk Mother, by Kara Hagedorn
Two nonfiction books about geography:
Water Land, by Christy Hale
Animal Antipodes, by Carly Allen-Fletcher
1st to 2nd grade:
Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit’s Bad Habits, by Jason Gough
(Reading about why rabbits eat their own poo is a sure-fire hit!)
A Is For Elizabeth, by Rachel Vail
2nd to 3rd grade:
Three picture books about inventions:
The Boo-Boos That Changed the World, by Barry Wittenstein
Magic Ramen, by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Kana Urbanowicz
Pass Go and Collect $200, by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Steven Salerno
Like dragons? Both of these begin new series:
Dragons in a Bag, by Zetta Elliott
Knights vs. Dinosaurs, by Matt Phelan
Two chapter books for animal lovers:
Saving Winslow, by Sharon Creech
My Father’s Words, by Sarah MacLachlan
4th to 6th grade:
For these grades this year, I start with “my” Newbery winners!
Merci Suarez Changes Gears, by Meg Medina
The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani
The Book of Boy, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
The winner for our own library’s Newbery Book Club:
The Flight of Swans, by Sarah McGuire
Two about Escalator Trades:
The Eleventh Trade, by Alyssa Hollingsworth
The Season of Styx Malone, by Kekla Magoon
Two partly told in pictures:
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, by M. T. Anderson
The Faithful Spy, by John Hendrix
Two about space for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing:
To the Moon, by Jeffrey Kluger
We’re Not From Here, by Geoff Rodkey
Two for Inventors:
Calling All Minds, by Temple Grandin
The Doughnut Fix, by Jessie Janowitz
Two great graphic novels:
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, by Rey Terciero
Be Prepared, by Vera Brosgol
Two more wonderful novels:
Sweep, by Jonathan Auxier
Nowhere Boy, by Katherine Marsh
As you can see, I had far too many favorites to get to talk about them all at each school. But it was fun to share those I could, and maybe they’ll check a few more from this list.