With the caveat that there are many highly touted books that I haven’t seen, here are fifty of my favorites from 2010:
- Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke
- April and Esme Tooth Fairies by Bob Graham
- As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynn Rae Perkins
- Ballet for Martha by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca
- Bunny Days by Tao Nyeu
- The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
- City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon J. Muth
- A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
- Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
- Countdown by Deborah Wiles
- Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen
- The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sis
- The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Suzy) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
- Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
- Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Frozen Secrets by Sally M. Walker
- The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie by Tanya Lee Stone
- Henry in Love by Peter McCarty
- Here Comes the Garbage Barge! by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Red Nose Studio
- Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutch
- I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
- Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
- Keeper by Kathi Appelt
- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
- Mirror by Jeannie Baker
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
- Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties by Lesley M.M. Blume, illustrated by David Foote
- Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
- Northward to the Moon by Polly Horvath
- The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds
- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
- A Pocketful of Posies by Salley Mavor
- The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood
- The Rabbit Problem by Emily Gravett
- The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
- The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
- A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Christian Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
- Snook Alone by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
- Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz by Beverly Gherman
- Spork by Isabelle Aresenault
- Sugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
- A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
- There’s Going to be a Baby by John Burningham, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
- They Called Themselves the K.K.K. by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
- Trash by Andy Mulligan
- The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli
- The War to End All Wars by Russell Freeman
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
- Zen Ghosts by Jon J. Muth
- Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon
Anna Hibiscus! Yes! One of my favorites.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson is DEFINITELY one of my top books of 2010.
Great list — thank you!! I always respect your recs.
Thanks too for calling out Bunny Days — I felt it didn’t really get enough love. (My other underdiscussed fave this year was An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank, by Anne Marie Alphin.) And you’ve reminded me of a bunch of books I meant to read and missed — gonna put a hold on that Charles Schultz book RIGHT NOW.
But I must say the snow falling across this screen is unnerving me. I keep thinking I’m having eyeball floaters.
Sorry about the snow, Marjorie. I believe it will be gone tomorrow. (It is one of my few and indeed feeble attempts at holiday decorating:)
And see, I missed completely the Alphin book. That is the problem with these lists, as soon as you make it there are books you missed completely and others you forgot until someone reminds you.
I kid about the snow. It is festive. I am just Grinchy and hung over and possessed of crap eyesight.
Happy New Year, and thanks for your wonderful blog.
Monica,
We, at LitLife, love your 50-favorites book list, and posted a link to it on the LitLife Facebook page referencing you as the author. Check it out at: LitLife: Linking Literacy Leaders. Thank you so much for sharing your insights and wisdom! (Please feel free to add your comments to our link.)
Debbie
Marjorie, thanks! (But the snow still falls — not sure when it will stop as is true in real life, actually.)
Debbie, thanks for linking this post!
We overlap on about half. Do you have any hesitations about MIRROR by Baker? I’d love to hear from you about this book. Email me if you have a minute.