The Book Thief Movie Preview!

I'm so excited!!

One of my all-time favorite books, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, has been made into a movie! I've read the book twice myself and recently gave it to my 14-year old cousin who loves historical fiction and is fascinated by World War II for her birthday. Check out the official movie trailer:



I think it looks sooo good! I can't wait to see it....January!

What do you think? Does the trailer look good to you? Will you see the movie?

Best of 2012 & Year-End Summary

I finally sat down and took a look back at all the books I read in 2012. It was definitely a good reading year!

I read a total of 64 books in 2012, plus 2 that I did not finish (one of which I spent a week on!). The type breakdown is:

• Adult Fiction = 26 books
• Memoir =3
• Nonfiction (not memoir) = 1
• Middle-Grade Fiction = 15
• Teen/YA Fiction = 18
• Picture Books = 1

Of those 64 books, 10 of them were audio books.

That's a few less books overall than last year, but 3 of the 64 were more than 800 pages and each of those took me more than 3 weeks to read!

Now comes the tough part - choosing my favorites! I enjoyed everything I read this year (except for one of the books that I did not finish). You might conclude that means I like everything, but really, that's just because I tend to choose what I read carefully, based on what I like and reviews from people whose tastes are similar to mine. My book groups make sure I don't get stuck in any ruts!

So, my Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books Read in 2012 are (not in order):

• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
• Dead To You by Lisa McMann
• Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
• Everfound by Neal Schusterman
• Young Fredle by Cynthia Voight
• Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater (also, my family's favorite audio of all time!)
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Greetings from Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley
• The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
• The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin

 (you can check out my top ten list of grown-up books read in 2012 at Book By Book.)

And, for a little extra fun, here are a few superlatives (thanks for the idea, Tanya!):

Best Middle-Grade Book of the Year:

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
 

 
 Best Audio Book of the Year:

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Best Teen/YA Book of the Year: 

The Fault in Our Stars by Lisa McMann 

Best Kid/Teen/YA Book by An Old Favorite Author:

Dead to You by Lisa McMann  

Best Kid/Teen/YA Book by a New Author:

  The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin
 

What were YOUR favorite kids/teen/YA books of 2012?

BookPage's Best Children's Books of 2012

I enjoy reading BookPage each month (I pick it up at my local library) - that's where I get a lot of my ideas for my TBR list.

Here is their list of Best Children's Books of 2012.  I haven't read a single one of them yet!  I am always behind.  The Fault in Our Stars is on my shelf, though, waiting to be read...does that count? Actually, I do hope to read it before the end of the year.

Hey, I wonder if I've read any of their Best Children's Books of 2011?  Well, I did a little better - I've now read 2 books off the 2011 list: Wonderstruck and Okay for Now, both excellent and among the best books I read this year.  But that's still not very good after 2 years!

OK, one more try.  Here is BookPage's Best Children's Books of 2010.  I've read 6 of these!  So, I do get around to the best books eventually...I am just perpetually behind.

I guess I need to get busy in 2013 and read some of these!  How many of the Best Children's Books of 2012 (or 2011 or 2010) have you read?

NYT's 25 Notable Children's Books of 2012

And so it begins!

The season's Best of 2012 lists have begun.

Here, the New York Times lists its 25 Most Notable Children's Books of 2012, with selections in young adult, middle-grade, and picture book categories.

I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't read a single one of them yet!  I am always behind in new books because I have so many good older ones waiting to be read.  I do have John Green's The Fault in Our Stars sitting on my shelf, though - lent to me by a young friend after I squealed upon seeing her reading it!

And speaking of John Green, an Entertainment Weekly poll found him to be readers' #1 author!  That's not just out of YA authors, but ALL authors - he even came in ahead of J.K. Rowling.

Have you read any of the NYT's top 25?  Do you agree with their choices?  I better get busy!

Middle-Grade Review: Okay for Now

Okay for Now, an audio book by Gary D. Schmidt, was one of the winners of a 2012 Odyssey Honor Award for audio books.  The award was well deserved.  This was one of the best middle-grade books I have ever read (or listened to) and one of the best audio book productions I have ever listened to.  It was one of those rare books that I couldn’t wait to finish but never wanted to end.

Doug Swieteck has a rough life: his dad is abusive, his brother is a bully, and his oldest brother is off fighting in Vietnam.  To make matters worse, his father loses his job and moves the family from Long Island to “stupid Marysville” (as Doug calls it throughout the book), a small town in the Catskills, where there is nothing going on and Doug knows no one.  Even worse, everyone in town seems to assume that Doug is a thug, like his brother.  The only things that make his life bearable are his kind mother (and especially, her smile) and Lil, who teaches him how to drink a really cold Coke and becomes his first friend in Marysville.

Doug is the most endearingly flawed but likable narrator since Tom Sawyer.  Even though it sometimes feels like the whole world is falling apart around him, Doug keeps moving forward.  He discovers the Marysville Library’s greatest treasure, John James Audubon’s Birds of America, with its amazing paintings, and he becomes the town’s new grocery delivery boy on Saturday mornings.  Little by little, he finds things to like about stupid Marysville and becomes a part of the community, but not without plenty of challenges and struggles.

I loved every minute of this audio book that had me both laughing out loud and choking back tears at various points.  It is funny and heartbreaking and heartwarming, all at once, while it recreates a period of time in small-town America that has long past.  Most of all, it is real.  Doug’s ups and downs mirror those every person encounters in real life – setbacks alternating with moving forward, heart-renching times followed by joys.  Schmidt has created a cast of characters that you really come to care about.  I definitely want to go back and read Schmidt’s Newberry Honor novel, The Wednesday Wars, which introduced Doug for the first time.  Okay for Now is among the best that middle-grade literature has to offer.

Listening Library

Listen to an Excerpt:

Best-Ever Teen/YA Novels

I love lists, especially top book lists!  NPR just published its 100 Best-Ever Teen/YA Novels, based on a poll that drew an enormous response - over 75,000 people responded!  The list is an interesting mix of older classics and new releases.  In fact, I thought that recent publication weighed a bit too heavily in the list.  I mean, I enjoyed Divergent very much but one of the Top 100 Teen Books EVER?  Not so sure about that - I suppose time will tell, right?

Check out the list to see how many of the Best-Ever Teen Books YOU have read.  I counted 28 for myself, and my 17-year old son has read 22 of them.  We have some work to do!

How about you?  How many of the best teen novels have you read?  And do you agree with the list?  Was anything left off that YOU would include?

Happy Anniversary to My Favorite Book!

Did you know that this year is the 50th anniversary of the iconic children's novel, A Wrinkle in Time, written by author Madeleine L'Engle and published in 1962?  The publishing world has been pulling out all the stops for its year-long celebration of this beloved book, including brand-new 50th Anniversary Commemorative editions, in both hardcover and paperback. I heartily agree that this is a milestone worth celebrating!

I enjoyed this article in Publisher's Weekly about a big anniversary celebration event held last week at Manhattan's Symphony Space. I wish I had been there - it sounds like so much fun! There were various performances of bits of the book, by both children and celebrities (I would have loved to hear Jane Curtin's reading), as well as recordings and photos of L'Engle herself talking about the novel, and a panel discussion of current children's authors.  Among the authors in the panel was Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me, a recent Newberry Honor winner that paid homage to A Wrinkle in Time.  Each of the panelists was asked about their first encounter with L'Engle's most famous novel, so I thought it would be fun to share with you my own early experiences with what was my all-time favorite childhood book.

I actually read A Wrinkle in Time (for the first time) for school.  My class was reading it.  I thought it was my 3rd grade class, but I recently reunited with some old elementary school classmates on Facebook who said it was a later year...I guess my memory is faulty! So, anyway, sometime in elementary school, our class read A Wrinkle in Time, and it was love at first read for me.  I loved Meg and Charles Wallace right from page 1 and was entranced by the other-worldly plot.  After reading the book, my class performed a play based on the book, and I was thrilled to be cast as Meg!  I remember being on stage with the kids playing Charles Wallace and Calvin, while someone back stage flashed strobe lights during our tesseracts (yes, awesome special effects).

I was so entranced by the book that I immediately went to the library and read through the rest of the series.  Did you know that A Wrinkle in Time is only book one in a 5-book series?  I read and loved them all!  I probably read the first book several more times during my youth.

Fast-forward 20 years or so, and I'm a mom to two sons.  I couldn't wait until they were old enough to share my favorite book with them!  But I was too impatient.  I tried reading it to them when they were maybe about 5 and 8, and they made me stop - told me it was too scary.  So, I bided my time.  Before long, my oldest read it on his own and enjoyed it.  One down, one to go.  Once my youngest son was old enough, I kept recommending it to him...but he has a fierce independent streak and hates when anyone in the family recommends anything to him! So, he avoided it.  Finally, his 6th grade teacher assigned A Wrinkle in Time as required reading for the whole class, and he had to read it.  He finished it - and loved it! - and then, my reluctant reader said those words every book-loving mother wants to hear, "This was so good!  There's a sequel?  I have to read it!" So, he read A Wind in the Door and loved that one, too.  Music to this mother's ears.

So, what's your story?  When and how did you first experience A Wrinkle in Time?

    

Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books That Broke My Heart

Happy Valentine's Day!  It's Tuesday and that means it's Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today's very appropriate topic is Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart.

Ah, I love a book that can make me cry. I think that is a sign of a good book - one that can make you feel something, a book where you come to care about the characters so much that it breaks your heart when something bad happens to them.  A kids' or teen book that can wring out such emotion is a special treasure. You can also check out my grown-up list of Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart.


So, in honor of Valentine's Day, here are my Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books That Broke My Heart:

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White - probably the first book to break every child's heart, right?
• The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Coleen Degnen-Veness - I remember sobbing as I read this for my 7th grade English class.
• Go Ask Alice by Anonymous - I only read this in recent years, but Alice's inability to stop her downward spiral is heartbreaking.
• Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor - I cried so hard listening to this audio book that I almost drove off the road searching for the Kleenex box!
• Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott - every page of this disturbing, haunting novel of a girl who's been kidnapped is heartbreaking.
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo - how can a story about a stuffed bunny be filled with so much love and loss?
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - a real tear-jerker.  My sons hated this beloved children's book because they don't like sad stories!
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - a book about a little girl during the Holocaust, narrated by Death, is sure to involve some heartbreak, though books save the day.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowlings - the death of a main character broke the hearts of children and adults everywhere.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowlings - the unexpected death of a minor character is even more heartbreaking.

Which children's/teen books have broken your heart?
 

Best Kids/Teen Books Read in 2011

I went back through my reading journal yesterday and found that I read a total of 68 books in 2011.  Thirty-two of those books were for kids, teens, and YAs, and 36 were adult books (for a tally of the grown-up books, check out my year-end post at Book By Book).  Of the 32 kid/teen books:

• 2 were picture books
• 11 were middle-grade novels
• 19 were teen/YA novels
• 6 of the kid/teen/YA books I read were audios

I read so many good books this past year - it is always hard to choose favorites - but after much deliberation, these are my Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books Read in 2011:

• Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card (can't wait for the sequel!)
• The Roar by Emma Clayton
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (just as good the second time around)
• Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
• Thunder Over Kandahar by Sharon E. McKay (audio)
• Shiver, Linger and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (I know it's cheating to lump all 3 together!)
• Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
• Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (audio)
• Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted
• Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (audio)

All in all, a very good year!

What were your favorite books read in 2011?

PW's Best Children's Books of 2011

Well, it seems a bit early to me, but Publisher's Weekly just released its list of Best Children's Books of 2011.  It includes picture books, as well as both fiction and nonfiction for older kids and teens/YA.

The only problem is that I haven't read a single book on the list yet!!  Yikes, I better get busy.  I do have Divergent and Wonderstruck both here waiting to be read.

Check out the list and let me know what you think.  Have you read any of these?  Do you agree with the list?  What do YOU think were the best books of the past year?

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, book and movie

Last week was Harry Potter week at our house (and probably in many other houses, too!).   I re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the second time, and our whole family went to see the final movie at the theater on Sunday.  We don’t get out to the movie theater very often, but for years we have made sure to catch the annual Harry Potter movie, no matter what.  There’s not much I can say about the book or movie that hasn’t already been said, but I thought I’d just share some of my own thoughts on both.

If you haven’t read a Harry Potter book in a while (or…gasp…have never read one), I urge you to pick one up.  I had forgotten what an amazing writer J.K. Rowling is, how she has the ability to make her pretend world seem more real than your real world.  Her books are exciting and fast-paced, of course, but they are also imbibed with a wonderful, subtle sense of humor and plenty of warmth.  By this past weekend, I was at the point where I just could not put the book down (even though I’d read it before and knew how it ended!) – that sounds trite, but in reality, there are very few books that can really make me set aside my to-do list and just spend an entire day reading.

The movies have been remarkable also.  As any avid reader knows, the book is always better than the movie, and there is nothing worse than a poorly done movie adaptation of a favorite book.  My husband, older son, and I have all read all of the Harry Potter books, and we have all thoroughly enjoyed the movies as well.  Of course, as with any movie adaptation, especially of such long books, there are many small details missing and other details that need to be changed, but overall, the Harry Potter movies have stuck closely to the original books.  In this case, the movies have been additive, bringing our favorite characters and scenes to life in a way that pays homage to the books.

Harry Potter has been more than a story; it has defined a whole generation, creating a cultural phenomenon never before seen.  Before J.K. Rowling came along, could you even have imagined a book causing hundreds of thousands of fans to line up for hours?  Or bookstores staying open until midnight so that people could buy a book at the exact moment of its release?  Or kids willingly reading 800-page tomes?  Harry Potter caused all of that and more, paving the way for other mega-popular books and midnight release parties (Twilight comes to mind).

 

So, now it’s all over – the last book written, the last movie made.  Will my family ever go to the movies again?  Well, if we ever miss Harry Potter, we’ll find him alive and well on our bookshelves, in seven beautiful hardcover volumes, just waiting to take us back to the world of witchcraft and wizardry.

 

(NOTE:  I thought you might enjoy some more photos from my son’s 8^th birthday when we hosted a Harry Potter party:  there’s Professor Snape presiding over Potions class, Madam Trelawney in Divinations class, and all the kids ready for their Sorting Ceremony.  I also included a few photos on Monday’s post.)

 

Children's Book Choice Awards Winners Announced

At a big event Monday night, the 4th annual Children's Book Choice Awards were presented.  Why is this awards show news-worthy?  Because kids themselves choose the winners!

Here are the major category winners:

Kindergarten to second grade: Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby (Putnam)

 

Third to fourth grade: Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf)

 

Fifth to sixth grade: The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles: Book 1) by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)

 

Teen: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Dutton)

 

In addition, David Wiesner was named Illustrator of the Year and Rick Riordan was named Author of the Year.   This is a big honor for Riordan, who just 5 years ago was a middle-school teacher stunned by the success of The Lightning Thief back in 2006 when I corresponded with him after reviewing his first book for Family Fun magazine (don't you just love stories like that in the writing world?)

Check out this article at Publisher's Weekly for all the details, plus photos from the awards ceremony.

Have you read any of the winners?  Do you agree with the kids' choices?  Who would be your choice for Author of the Year?

Top Ten Books That Came Recommended

It's Tuesday and that means it's Top Ten Day!  Today's topic, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is books that I probably wouldn't have read if not for the recommendations of other book lovers whose opinions I respect.

You can read my list of adult books that came recommended over at Book By Book.  I've limited this list to just kids/teen/YA books.  This list was a challenge because for years now, most of my kids/teen books are read for review.  So, I had to dig a bit to come up with this list.  As you'll see, many of the recommendations came from my son, Jamie, now 16, who is an avid reader:

1. The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins – I can't even remember now who recommended this fabulous middle-grade series to me years ago, but I know I wouldn't have chosen to read a series about giant cockroaches and rats on my own (but I'm so glad I did!).
2. Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale - my son, Jamie, urged me to read the first Pendragon book, and I ended up reading the entire 10-book series!  It's one of my all-time favorites for older middle-grade and teen readers.
3. Nothing But the Truth by Justina Chen Headley - a favorite author recommended by talented young blogger, Miss Erin.
4. Alabama Moon by Watt Key - my husband chose this middle-grade book, with the help of the staff at our local Indie bookstore, and it is still a family favorite!
5. Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld - recommended by both my husband and my son.
6. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - this is one I never would have read without the recommendations of dozens of my favorite book bloggers.
7. Everlost by Neal Shusterman- another one recommended by my son, Jamie.  My only regret is that I waited so long to read it - it's one of my favorite teen series.
8. The Thief Lord by Cynthia Funke- also recommended by Jamie (seeing a trend here?) - he and my younger son, Craig, became totally enamored of Venice because of this book.
9. The Last Treasure by Janet S. Anderson - Jamie again, back in 2006 - I believe his exact words were, "Mom, this is one of the best books Ive ever read!"
10. House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer - Jamie bought this one for my husband for his birthday, then we both read it, too - don't you just love gifts like that?

How about you - which books did you read and enjoy because they were recommended?

50 Books Every Child Should Read

My Goodreads friend, Amanda, sent me this link to a UK article, 50 Books Every Kid Should Read.  It includes top ten recommendations from five major UK children's authors and is lots of fun to peruse.  Their choices range from classics to modern hits.  How many of these fabulous books have you and your kids read?

Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition

It's Tuesday, and that means Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today's topic:  Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Attention.  Of course, my list is focused on unsung authors of kids' and teen/YA books:

• Sharon E. MacKay, author of Thunder Over Kandahar - I have no idea what else, if anything, she's written, but I was bowled over by this novel set in Afghanistan.
• D.J. MacHale, author of the Pendragon series - anyone who reads this blog regularly knows my son and I go ga-ga over this incredible adventure series!
• Neal Schusterman, author of Unwind and the Everlost series - I just can't get enough of him!
• Katy Grant, author of Hide and Seek - our whole family loved this suspense novel.
• Rachel Ward, author of Num8ers - I really enjoyed this teen/YA novel.
• Catherine Fisher, author of Incarceron - we all loved this unique teen/YA fantasy novel and can't wait to listen to book 2 on spring break next month.
• Caroline Lawrence, author of The Roman Mysteries - I LOVE this middle-grade mystery series set in Ancient Rome - the author just told me her new series is set in the Wild West and will be released next spring in the U.S.
• Mary Calhoun, author of Katie John - I have no idea what other books she's written, but this was my favorite book when I was a kid.
• Zizou Corder, mother-daughter author team of Lionboy, a middle-grade series that captivated my family.
• Watt Key, author of Alabama Moon, one of my family's all-time middle-grade favorites!

The funny thing is, if you had asked me this question two years ago, one of my top choices would have been Suzanne Collins, because my family are huge fans of her middle-grade series, The Underland Chronicles...but now, since The Hunger Games, she has plenty of recognition! 


Which lesser known authors do you think need more recognition?

(If you're interested in my Top Ten list for grown-up books, check out Book By Book).

Top Ten Books I Wish I'd Read As a Kid

I always enjoy Top Ten Tuesdays, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, though I don't always have the time to join in the fun.  This week's topic inspired me - Top Ten Books I Wish I'd Read As a Kid.

I read voraciously as a kid.  My mom jokes that if my head was in a book, I didn't even know what was going on around me (now my oldest son immerses himself in his reading the same way!).  I loved my Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books, but I also read a lot of kid classics, like the Chronicles of Narnia series, A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, Mary Poppins, Pippi Longstocking, The Wind in the Willows, The Little House books, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and even my mom's old copy of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.  I loved them all!

Other kid classics I've read more recently as an adult, including all the Winnie the Pooh stories, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland books.

So, to make this list, I referred to a List of Top 100 Children's Books that I posted last year here.  Here are my picks of Books I Wish I'd Read as a Child:

• Anne of Green Gables (never read but keep hearing about it)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I only knew the movie version starring Gene Wilder as a kid - still a favorite flick)
• My Side of the Mountain
• Island of the Blue Dolphins
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• The original Wizard of Oz books by Frank L. Baum
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Watership Down
• Anything by Jules Verne
• The Cricket in Times Square

I've seen movie versions of many of these but never read the books.  Wow, that was a tough list to make.  Turns out I've read lots and lots of childhood classics.  I tried to stick to books that were around when I was a kid and books I still haven't read as an adult, even though I could have included a bunch I've read with my own kids that I wish I had read myself as a kid, like The Indian in the Cupboard and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (I would have loved that one as a kid!).

Want to join in the fun?  What books do YOU wish you'd read as a kid?

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Pendragon 10: Soldiers of Halla

On our recent trip to Oklahoma after Christmas, I absolutely devoured Pendragon #10: Soldiers of Halla by D.J MacHale.  Then, the moment I finished it, my 16-year old son snatched it up and read the 600-page book in less than 24 hours!

The Pendragon series has been one of our all-time favorites for years, and it obviously still holds that rank in our household.  This series finale did not disappoint.

The star of these books is Bobby Pendragon, a 14-year old boy living in Connecticut with his family at the start of the series, and an 18-year old young man who is responsible for the fate of the universe by the end.  In between, it's a fast-paced adventure through space and time to different Territories, peopled by a wide variety of beings, all united in a race against time to defeat evil, in whatever form it appears in their world.

I'm not going to say much about the plot of this particular book because the twists and turns are an integral part of the imaginative story, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone who wants to read the series from the beginning...which I highly recommend!  My son and I were both very satisfied with the series ending and the answers it provided.  I couldn't wait for him to finish it, too, so we could talk about it!

Pendragon will appeal to older kids, teens, and adults who enjoy adventure, science fiction, or fantasy with an intricate, suspenseful plot that makes you keep turning the pages long past bedtime.  I couldn't wait to read the final book, but now I'm sorry that it's over.  I'll miss Bobby and his friends!  Give this series a try - you won't be sorry.

608 pages, Aladdin

BookPage's Best Kids' Books of 2010

Just after I posted yesterday about a couple of Best of 2010 lists, BookPage posted their own list for kids' and teen books!

BookPage has named their picks for top 10 picture books, middle-grade books, and teen books.  Check it out.  Although I rarely read picture books anymore, I was very interested in the other two lists.

I read (actually listened to) Keeper and Touch Blue on the middle-grade list and enjoyed both of them.

On the teen list, I read (and loved) Mockingjay.  I tried to listen to As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth and thought it sounded really good, but the MP3 disk the publisher sent me started in the middle of the story, and I never got the corrected one.  Might have to request that one again now that I know it was a good one!

What do you think of BookPage's Top Ten Lists?  Have you read any of these?

Best Books of 2010

It's that time of year again...time for all the Best Books of the Year lists!

I just posted a couple of Best Books of 2010 lists for grown-up books at Book By Book, so I thought it would be fun to look at some of the middle-grade and teen lists, too.

I tend to read more of the new kids' and teen/YA releases since I review those as part of my job, though I still never have time to read as many as I want to!

Here's Amazon's Top Ten Teen Books of 2010 list.  My family listened to the audio of Incarceron and definitely agree that it was one of the top teen books of the year.  The sequel is coming out soon, and we can't wait to listen to it!

Here's Publisher's Weekly's list of Best Kids/Teen Books of the year.  Their list includes 22 fiction titles, and 3 nonfiction.  Incarceron made their list, too (I told you it was good!), as well as Mockingjay, which I also loved.

Have you read any of the top titles of the year?  What were your favorites of 2010?

I'll wait to make my own favorites list until the year is actually over - I still have time to read a few more!

The Hunger Games Movie

I'm so excited!

They're turning one of my all-time favorite teen/YA books, The Hunger Games, into a movie!  This update talks about the director (sounds like a good one - I loved Pleasantville and Seabiscuit). 

No word yet on who will play Katniss.  I think it needs to be a relatively unknown actress.  For instance, I think Kristen Stewart would have done a great job with Katniss...before she became such a big star in the Twilight movies.

Will you go see the movie?  Who do you think should play in the lead roles?