{"id":38772,"date":"2021-01-02T01:20:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T05:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38772"},"modified":"2021-01-18T19:42:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T23:42:08","slug":"2020-sonderbooks-stand-outs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38772","title":{"rendered":"2020 Sonderbooks Stand-outs!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s time to announce my 2020 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

Here are my numbers of books read this year:<\/p>\n

Books reread: 7 (Mostly L. M. Montgomery books, since I’m still slowly trying to reread all of her books.)
\nFiction for Adults: 14
\nNonfiction for Adults: 49
\nFiction for Teens: 60
\nFiction for Children: 38
\nNonfiction for Children and Teens: 152 (many picture books in that set)
\nPicture Books: 329<\/p>\n

For a grand total of 649 books read in 2020!<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

Among the rest, I chose these favorites:<\/p>\n

Fiction for Adults<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. A Dance with Fate<\/a><\/em>, by Juliet Marillier
\n2. Where the Crawdads Sing<\/a><\/em>, by Delia Owens
\n3. The Little Paris Bookshop<\/a><\/em>, by Nina George
\n4. The Water Dancer<\/a><\/em>, by Ta-Nahesi Coates
\n5. The Dutch House<\/a><\/em>, by Ann Patchett
\n6. The Queen of Sorrow<\/a><\/em>, by Sarah Beth Durst
\n7. The Testaments<\/a><\/em>, by Margaret Atwood<\/p>\n

General Nonfiction for Adults<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. Know My Name<\/a><\/em>, by Chanel Miller
\n2. My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me<\/a><\/em>, by Jason B. Rosenthal
\n3. Me and White Supremacy<\/a><\/em>, by Layla F. Saad
\n4. Keep Moving<\/a><\/em>, by Maggie Smith
\n5. The Earth in Her Hands<\/em>, by Jennifer Jewell
\n6. The Hidden Life of Trees<\/em>, by Peter Wohlleben
\n7. So You Want to Talk About Race<\/a><\/em>, by Ijeoma Oluo
\n8. The Orphaned Adult<\/a><\/em>, by Alexander Levy
\n9. Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds<\/a><\/em>, by Ian Wright
\n10. Beneath the Tamarind Tree<\/a><\/em>, by Isha Sesay<\/p>\n

Christian Nonfiction for Adults<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. Jesus Undefeated<\/em>, by Keith Giles
\n2. Shameless<\/a><\/em>, by Nadia Bolz-Weber
\n3. Grace Saves All<\/em>, by David Artman
\n4. A More Christlike Way<\/a><\/em>, by Bradley Jersak
\n5. Try Softer<\/em>, by Aundi Kolber<\/p>\n

General Fiction for Teens<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. The Bridge<\/em>, by Bill Konigsberg
\n2. We Used to Be Friends<\/a><\/em>, by Amy Spalding
\n3. Clap When You Land<\/em>, by Elizabeth Acevedo
\n4. The Hand on the Wall<\/a><\/em>, by Maureen Johnson
\n5. Even If We Break<\/em>, by Marieke Nijkamp
\n6. The Vanishing Stair<\/a><\/em>, by Maureen Johnson
\n7. The Edge of Anything<\/em>, by Nora Shalaway Carpenter
\n8. Dangerous Alliance<\/em>, by Jennieke Cohen
\n9. This Is My Brain in Love<\/em>, by I. W. Gregorio
\n10. The Light in Hidden Places<\/em>, by Sharon Cameron<\/p>\n

Speculative Fiction for Teens<\/strong>:
\n1. Return of the Thief<\/a><\/em>, by Megan Whalen Turner
\n2. Igniting Darkness<\/a><\/em>, by Robin LaFevers
\n3. The Queen of Nothing<\/a><\/em>, by Holly Black
\n4. Red Hood<\/a><\/em>, by Elana K. Arnold
\n5. Elatsoe<\/em>, by Darcie Little Badger
\n6. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London<\/a><\/em>, by Garth Nix
\n7. The Guinevere Deception<\/em>, by Kiersten White
\n8. Cemetery Boys<\/em>, by Aiden Thomas
\n9. A Phoenix First Must Burn<\/em>, edited by Patrice Caldwell
\n10. Burn<\/em>, by Patrick Ness<\/p>\n

Fiction for Children<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. Fighting Words<\/a><\/em>, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
\n2. Prairie Lotus<\/a><\/em>, by Linda Sue Park
\n3. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise<\/a><\/em>, by Dan Gemeinhart
\n4. Wink<\/em>, by Rob Harrell
\n5. Monster and Boy<\/a><\/em>, by Hannah Barnaby
\n6. A Long Road on a Short Day<\/a><\/em>, by Gary D. Schmidt & Elizabeth Stickney
\n7. Catherine’s War<\/em>, by Julia Billet
\n8. Before the Ever After<\/em>, by Jacqueline Woodson
\n9. A Home for Goddesses and Dogs<\/a><\/em>, by Leslie Connor
\n10. Stepping Stones<\/em>, by Lucy Knisley
\n11. Ma\u00f1analand<\/em>, by Pam Mu\u00f1oz Ryan<\/p>\n

Longer Nonfiction for Children and Teens<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. Stamped<\/a><\/em>, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
\n2. An Indigenous People’s History of the United States<\/a><\/em>, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese
\n3. Infinite Hope<\/a><\/em>, by Ashley Bryan
\n4. Almost American Girl<\/em>, by Robin Ha
\n5. Playlist<\/a><\/em>, by James Rhodes
\n6. The Magnificent Migration<\/em>, by Sy Montgomery<\/p>\n

Nonfiction for Children<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. When Stars Are Scattered<\/em>, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
\n2. Create Your Own Secret Language<\/em>, by David J. Peterson and Ryan Goldsberry
\n3. Sounds All Around<\/em>, by James Chapman
\n4. The Superpower Field Guide: Moles<\/em>, by Rachel Poliquin and Nicholas John Frith
\n5. Overview<\/em>, by Benjamin Grant with Sandra Markle
\n6. Can You Crack the Code?<\/em>, by Ella Schwartz and Lily Williams<\/p>\n

Nonfiction Picture Books<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Honeybee<\/em>, by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann
\n2. The Fabled Life of Aesop<\/em>, by Ian Lendler and Pamela Zagarenski
\n3. The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity<\/em>, by Amy Alznauer and Daniel Miyares
\n4. The Imaginaries<\/em>, by Emily Winfield Martin
\n5. Girl on a Motorcycle<\/em>, by Amy Novesky and Julie Morstad
\n6. Child of St. Kilda<\/em>, by Beth Waters<\/p>\n

Fiction Picture Books<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1. Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away<\/a><\/em>, by Meg Medina and Sonia S\u00e1nchez
\n2. Lift<\/a><\/em>, by Minh Le and Dan Santat
\n3. Rita and Ralph’s Rotten Day<\/a><\/em>, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Pete Oswald
\n4. In My Garden<\/a><\/em>, by Charlotte Zolotow and Philip Stead
\n5. Madame Badobedah<\/a><\/em>, by Sophie Dahl and Lauren O’Hara
\n6. Every Color of Light<\/em>, by Hiroshi Osada and Ryoji Arai
\n7. I Can Be Anything<\/a><\/em>, by Shinsuke Yoshitake
\n8. The Blue House<\/em>, by Phoebe Wahl
\n9. Swashby and the Sea<\/em>, by Beth Ferry and Juana Martinez<\/p>\n

I know — I’m not good at narrowing down my lists! But all the more reading joy!<\/p>\n

Happy Reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stand-outs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38772"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38845,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38772\/revisions\/38845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}