Secrets & Sharing Soda's Books of the Year (2012)

It's the last day of 2012, so it's time to tally up the books I've read and choose my favorites.

First, the stats:

I read 1516 books this year (16 more than my goal, and 500 more than last year). They break down as follows:

• 23 books for adults (increase of 10 since last year)
• 79 board books, 14 of which I read at story time and class visits (increase of 39 since last year)
• 768 picture books, 300 of which I read at story time and class visits, and 256 of which I read for the Caldecott Challenge (increase of 228 since last year)
• 295 easy readers, 17 of which I read at story times and class visits, and 29 of which I read in my role as a Cybils panelist (increase of 168 since last year)
• 120 chapter books, 45 of which I read in my role as a Cybils panelist (increase of 13 since last year)
• 192 middle grade books (increase of 51 since last year)
• 39 young adult books (decrease of 9 since last year)

From these books, I have selected my favorites in the categories and genres that I regularly review. My criteria for selecting these books were: literary quality, kid appeal, personal enjoyment of the book, and potential use in story time/library programs. Titles link to my reviews.

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Favorite Young Adult Contemporary Novel 

Since You Left Me
by Allen Zadoff  

(Egmont USA)

Honorable Mention:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton Books - Penguin Group)
Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo (Knopf Books for Young Readers - Random House)
Nothing Special by Geoff Herbach (Sourcebooks Fire)

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Favorite Middle Grade Novel 

Flying the Dragon

by Natalie Dias Lorenzi

(Charlesbridge) 

Honorable Mention: 

The Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe Stone (Arthur A. Levine Books- Scholastic)
Ruby Redfort: Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child ( HarperCollins Children's Books)
About Average by Andrew Clements (Atheneum Books for Young Readers- Simon & Schuster)

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Favorite Chapter Book

Stella Batts: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
by Courtney Sheinmel, illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell
(Sleeping Bear Press) 

Honorable Mention: 

Hooey Higgins and the Shark by Steve Voake (Candlewick Press)
Ivy and Bean Make the Rules by Annie Barrows (Chronicle Books)
Calvin Coconut: Rocket Ride by Graham Salisbury (Wendy Lamb Books - Random House)

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Favorite Easy Reader 

Frog and Fly

by Jeff Mack
(Philomel Books - Penguin Group)

Honorable Mention: 

Bink and Gollie: Two for One by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile (Candlewick Press)
Penny and her Doll by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow Books - Harper Collins)

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Favorite Picture Book

Otto the Book Bear

by Katie Cleminson

(Disney-Hyperion)

Honorable Mention:
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray- Harper Collins)
Faster! Faster! by Leslie Patricelli (Candlewick Press)
Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by G. Brian Karas  (Schwartz & Wade  - Random House)

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Favorite Book in Graphic Format

Secret Diary
by Julien Neel

(Lerner Publishing Group)

Honorable Mention:
Her Permanent Record by Jimmy Gownley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers- Simon & Schuster)

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What were your favorite books of 2012? Did you nominate them for Cybils? Tomorrow, find out the names of the finalists in each category over on the Cybils blog.

Preschool Story Time, 12/21/12

At the last minute, I decided on a penguin theme for today, because there are so many penguin books. As it turned out, only seven kids in all came to the story time, only of whom was actually a preschooler, so that was kind of unusual, but because it was such a small calm group we were able to read five stories with no problem at all. This was my last story time of 2012 - we'll be on a break for two weeks, and I'll be back with lots of new programs in January!

Book: Penguins, Penguins Everywhere! by Bob Barner

Book: Tony Baloney by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
I had pretty good luck with this one this time around, though I suspected that the mom of one little girl thought Tony's behavior was negatively influencing her child. Oh well. I love Tony and his stuffed friend Dandelion.

Book: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
I love Oliver Jeffers, and this story is very sweet.

Song: Five Little Penguins Riding on a Sled (based on Monkeys on the Bed)

Book: Three Cheers for Tacky by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
This was a bit over the heads of the little ones, but I want to keep it in mind for Pre-K class visits in the new year because I think they would love it. Penguins in general would be a great theme to use with them.

Book: One Cool Friend by Tony Buzzeo
I have never been crazy about this book, and as I thought it might, it failed as a read-aloud. One boy had read it in school, and he loved, but the other kids seemed just about done by the end.

Song: These Are My Glasses

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Drop-In Story Time, 12/21/12 (Winter Theme)

Book: Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Fumi Kosaka

Song: A Hat Goes On My Head

Book: One Mitten by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith

Song: Five Little Snowmen Riding on a Sled 

Book: Snow Sounds by David A. Johnson
I think this would have worked better with a smaller group and some dedicated grown-ups. It's just too quiet a book for a large group.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Bumpin' Up and Down on My Little Blue Sled 

Letter of the Day: Letter R

• Hippety Hop Hippety Hay (Five Rabbits)
• Five Little Robots (This is based on "One Little Finger.")
• It's Raining at the Zoo 
• Ten Little Reindeer

Songs with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep  

Song with ukulele:  Jingle Bells

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It
I looked at the clock after we started singing this, and realized story time should have been over already! I was glad to see that we had so much fun, time actually got away from me.

This is my last drop-in story time until January 8. One more to go this afternoon, then break  time!


I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Outreach Round-Up, 11/29/12 - 12/19/12

Catholic School 5th Grade: Thursday, 11/29
Reader's Theater: How to Steal a Dog
Notes: The script is kind of a teaser for the novel. The kids told me they loved the script, and they even fought over the one copy of the book we had, but no one wanted to borrow it in the end. 

Catholic School 5th Grade: Thursday, 12/13 
Book Talk: Aldo Zelnick Comic Novels 
I read aloud two sections - one from the first book, and one from the most recent, Finicky. The teacher loved them, but none of the books were checked out.  

Catholic School Kindergarten: Friday, 12/14 
Book: Dragon's Merry Christmas by Dav Pilkey
Song with ukulele: Jingle Bells
Notes: The kids loved the story, and they loved singing Jingle Bells. They also enjoyed exploring the patterns on the carpet in the story room.

Rec. Center Cooperative Play Program: Wednesday, 12/19
Books: Snip Snap Snow, One Mitten, Under My Hood I Have a Hat, Here Comes Jack Frost
Songs: Five Little Snowmen Riding on a Sled, One Red Mitten, Mary's Wore Her Blue Scarf, Head and Shoulders, If You’re Happy and You Know It
Notes: This was the first time I brought props to this group. It won't be the last. They loved the mittens and scarves.

Public School Pre-K Class: Wednesday, 12/19
Books: Owl Moon, Lemonade in Winter
Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book, Moon Moon Moon, Hat, Coat, Pants, and Shoes, These Are My Glasses  
Notes: This class loved hooting like the great horned owl.

Public School Pre-K Class: Wednesday, 12/19
Books: Owl Moon, Lemonade in Winter, The Snow Globe Family
Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book, Moon Moon Moon, These Are My Glasses  
Notes: This group requested more books than singing. I could indulge them because I didn't have a class right after them. Their favorite was probably Lemonade in Winter.

Drop-In Story Time, 12/18/12

This was not a great story time. It was fine,  but it didn't have that magic component where everyone is engaged and it feels like a success. I think the holidays have everyone wired and ready for a break. In any case, we read some new books and tackled the letter Q!

Book: Parade Day by Bob Barner

Flannel Board Song: Twelve Months Song

Book: 1-2-3 Peas by Keith Baker

Rhyme: Five Fat Peas 

Book: Yawn by Sally Symes, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
This book is the main reason I know this session was kind of off. This is a perfect toddler story time book, which they would have loved at almost any other time. They were just too distracted this week.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: I’m a little Teapot

Letter of the Day: Letter Q

• Song: Five Little Ducks (Quack is the q word here.)
• Flannel Board: Down Around the Corner... (The q word was quarter. I used my balloon pieces and pretended to sell each one for a quarter. The kids all wanted to "help" me, and it was the most popular part of the whole story time.)
• Song: What begins with Q? (I printed out these images and mounted them on construction paper, then we sang to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. I don't think anyone liked it.)
• Queen
• Quilt
• Question
• Quail
• Quarterback

Song: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: Here We Go Up Up Up

Song: This is the way we Clap Our Hands

Song: Rum Sum Sum

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It


I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Preschool Story Time, 12/14/12 (Holiday Theme)

Figure out the Word: Latke
The idea behind this activity is for the kids to name the letters with me, but when story time started, the only child in the room was a child who didn't know any of them. So I quickly named the letters myself, pointing to the posterboard on which I'd written them, and showed him the word, then started our story. Thankfully, just as I turned to the title page, two more kids came in.

 

Book: The Golem’s Latkes by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Aaron Jasinski

Song: L-A-T-K-E
This is Bingo, but with latkes!

Rhyme: Santa Claus, Santa Claus, are you behind the _______ tree?
I didn't have time to make a flannel board for this, so I just cut out paper trees and a paper Santa and taped them to poster board. Thankfully, by this point four kids were in the room, and at least two of them were old enough to know their colors. Santa was behind the black tree because it was the only one that wasn't translucent enough to show Santa through the paper!

Book: Shall I Knit You a Hat?: A Christmas Yarn by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise
This was a flop. The kids had nothing to say about it at all!

Book: Merry Un-Christmas by Mike Reiss, illustrated by David Catrow
This was the hit of the session. I'm not sure all the kids got it, but they enjoyed it anyway.

Song with Ukulele and Musical Instruments: Jingle Bells
I handed out some of our triangles and rhythm sticks and let the kids play along as I played Jingle Bells on the ukulele. Most of them seemed to have no idea what to do. 

Song: We Wish You...

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Drop-In Story Time, 12/14/12 (Holiday Theme)

I feel such an obligation to offer a holiday story time, but I don't think this group cared one way or the other. The only things that went over really well were The Christmas Alphabet, which I sang with the help of some signs mounted on construction paper, and We Wish You... (where we wished everyone a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, joyous Kwanzaa and a happy new year.)

I had different plans for the end of the session, but a nanny took it upon herself to take apart my music stand, move it where I could not get to it, and throw out my music, so... there were some last-minute changes because I couldn't play the ukulele. But anyway, here it is. Next year, I'm seriously considering skipping the holiday theme. Let's hope I remember I said that!

Book: How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Flannel Board Song: I Am Lighting all the Candles 

Book: On the First Night of Chanukah by Cecily Kaiser

Book: Fa La La by Leslie Patricelli

Song: Ten Little Reindeer

Book: Christmas Parade by Sandra Boynton

Song: Christmas Alphabet

Ukulele Song: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: Sing a Happy Song

Song: I’m a Little Teapot

Song: Five Little Snowmen Riding on the Sled

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

Song: We Wish You... / Let’s All Do a Little Clapping

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Pajama Story Time, 12/12/12

Pajama Story Time had great attendance when it was still light out after 5:00. This time of year, I think a lot of families have gone into hibernation mode, as we have been seeing very small groups. Last night's group was the smallest every - just one two-year-old and her Mom. But we still had fun.

The theme was "B is for Bedtime" and we read and sang about lots of things beginning with the letter B.

Book: Book! by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Book: Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Book: Little Tug by Stephen Savage
This is a perfect bedtime story and a perfectly sweet toddler book.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Wolf Won't Bite by Emily Gravett
Not a hit. I think the little girl was just done with story time by this point, though.

Song with Puppets: Goodnight
We sang goodnight to a bear, a bumblebee, and a butterfly.

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

WinterFest Story Time #3, 12/8/12

The third and final WinterFest story time took place in the afternoon, and it was a small preschool group. 

Book: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr 

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: The Snow Globe Family by Jane O'Connor
The kids loved this one in particular. They liked imagining what it would be like inside a snow globe.

Song: Skate on the Frozen Pond
This is a perfect song for getting the wiggles out of fidgety preschool boys.

Book: Jingle Bells by Maryann Kovalski 

Song: Hat, Coat, Pants and Shoes

Book: The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

WinterFest Story Time #2, 12/8/12

This second WinterFest story time took place at 11:30, and it was the most popularly attended session of the day, with about a dozen kids. The crowd ranged in age from babies to early elementary school, so it was a bit tricky to keep everyone's interest, but we did our best. One challenge that made it especially hard was that one little boy - probably a kindergartener - decided he would say no to every question I asked and immediately say the opposite of anything I had to say. By keeping the tone light, I managed to get him to stop being so silly, and that the end he came up and chatted with me about books, so it wound up being a nice experience.

Flannel Board: Little Snowball, Little Snowball Are You Under the ____ Mitten?
I have never done any variation of this flannel board before, but I know so many of my Flannel Friday colleagues love it. Now I see why. It took them four guesses to find the snowball - and the child who finally found it was so proud!

Flannel Board Song: One Red Mitten
This was a dud with this group. The older kids lost interest quickly, and not even the adults were responsive.

Book: The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming
The older kids complained about the repetition in this book, but they helped me out anyway, repeating "a red cap with a gold snap" each time through. 

Rhyme: Frozen is the Lake
This is my winterized rewrite of Blue is the Lake.

Book: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr
This was a hit with the older boys. A lot of  the little kids left the  room at this point and came back later for the singing.

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: Jingle Bells by Maryann Kovalski
The kids loved singing this - it was very cute. 

Book: Here Comes Jack Frost by Kazuno Kohara

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

WinterFest Story Time #1, 12/8/12

On Saturday, December 8, my library branch participated in our neighborhood WinterFest. As part of  the festivities, I performed three story times at three different points throughout the day. Since all three were completely different, I'll make three separate posts.

This first session was at 10:00 a.m., and only three kids attended  - a little girl in Pre-K, her toddler sister, and another toddler boy.

Book: Here Comes Jack Frost by Kazuno Kohara
The pre-K girl told me, "Jack Frost is real. I know because when we go in the car, the window has frost."

Book: White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin
This book is probably too long for a toddler audience, but since there were only three kids, I was able to keep them engaged pretty easily by moving to where they wanted  to be in the room and giving them lots of chances to talk to me about the pictures. The toddler boy came running up to the book at one point to tell me he saw a truck.

Flannel Board Song: One Red Mitten
Since the pre-K girl knew her colors, she was my unofficial helper for this song. The little ones just liked seeing the mittens.

Flannel Board Rhyme: Five Little Snowmen
For this I used a set of paper snowmen I made more than two years ago and have never used with kids. All three of the kids gathered closely around the flannel board and helped me take the snowmen off one by one as they each melted.

Book: Jingle Bells by Maryann Kovalski
We were too wiggly to make it to the end of  this book. They were so excited by the flannel board that we just did another colorful song with it.

Flannel Board Song: Mary Wore Her Red Scarf
The kids loved helping me put the pieces on the flannel board. This story time has inspired me to rethink some of my toddler lap time activities so that every child has a hands-on opportunity.

Song: These Are My Glasses

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Drop-In Story Time, 12/4/12

For this story time, our meeting room was still closed, so I did another set of back-to-back sessions. Considering the crowded conditions in the room, everyone was very attentive and cooperative. The  theme was feet.

Book: Who Has These Feet? by Laura Hulbert, illustrated by Erik Brooks
This was a new book, and a huge hit. The adults were as into as the kids, and we had one little preschooler who played along and guessed with me, while the babies and toddlers stared on.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Book: Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown
I was surprised at the lack of response to this book. Farmyard Beat seems to be the better story time book by this author/illustrator pair.
 
Song: Where is Big Toe?
I always have good luck with this one, and it was a nice alternative to having to stand up again in our  tiny confined space.

Book: Whose Toes are Those? by Jabari Asim, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
They always love it when I turn the book around for the last page of this story. Applause all around!

Song: Sing a Happy Song
 
Letter of the Day: Letter P 

• Song with stick puppet: The Polar Bear Lives in Alaska 
• Song with flannel board: All the Pigs (we also sang about Puppies, Peacocks, and Polar Bears)  
• Song with flannel board: The Three Pigs Song (This song was a total dud, and I skipped it during the second session.) 
• Rhyme: One Potato, Two Potato
  I wrote a new ending to this well-known rhyme, which we counted off on our fingers. 
  One potato, two potato, three potato, four.
  Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more!
  Eight potato, nine potato, ten potato, then...
  Count those potatoes all over again!
  
  The second time through, the last line is:
  Clap your hands, 'cause that's the end!    

Song: The Wheels on the Bus 
 
Song: Monkeys on the Bed
 
Song: If You're Happy and You Know It
 
Song: Rum Sum Sum (I skipped this one in session 2 because my voice was totally shot.)

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Preschool Story Time (at another branch), 11/29/12

This was my second session in a row at the branch where I filled in, but these kids were in preschool. We started out the same way as the baby/toddler group, but then we read some longer and more involved stories.

Song with Puppet: Hello, Mrs. Chicken, how are you?

Book: Chicken Big by Keith Graves
This book was the hit of the story time, especially with the boys. The sense of humor would work just as well for early elementary school as for preschool.

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: Chicken Little by Rebecca and Ed Emberley

I did something between these two books, but never took note of what it was! I'm sure it was either an action rhyme or Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

Book: Bob by Tracey Campbell Pearson

Song: I Had a Little Rooster
I have never sung this song at story time, and it didn't go over all that well. The only plus was that the kids helped me decide which animals to sing about it. I'd like to try it again with the ukulele and a lot more practice. 

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.