Year in Review Post #6: 2011 Reading Statistics

To my utter shock and amazement, I have managed to read over 1000 books - 1014, to be exact - in 2011. Of these, only 13  were books written for adults. All the others were books for kids, broken down as follows:

• 40 board books (37 of which I read at story time)
• 108 chapter books (32 of which I read for Cybils judging)
• 127 easy readers (34 of which I read for Cybils judging)
• 140 middle grade books
• 538 picture books (285 of which I read at story time)
• 48 young adult books

Here are some interesting statistics I uncovered as I gathered these numbers:

• I read 46 books electronically, using my Nook. Most of these came from NetGalley, and two came from Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab.
• I posted reviews for 402 different titles. (This number doesn't include reviews for books read in 2011 that will post in 2012.)
• I read one less young adult novel this year than last, but 23 more middle grade books, and 35 more chapter books. (I didn't keep track of picture books, board books, or easy readers for all of 2010, so there is no fair way to make a comparison for those.)
• I read over 100 books in the months of December (149), October (106), March (102), and May (102), and less than 50 in only one month, January (49)
• Overwhelmingly, with 576 books, the genre I read most was realistic fiction.

I hope you have enjoyed following my blog for the past year as I figured out my way around the kidlit world and settled into the blogging habit. Follow this blog in 2012 for reviews of contemporary middle grade and young adult realistic fiction, as well as weekly Themed Thursday and Old School Sunday posts. Follow my story time and early literacy blog, Story Time Secrets, for reviews of picture books and easy readers, as well as outlines of my library programs, including flannel boards, rhymes, and songs.

Tomorrow, the count goes back to zero, reviews start up again, and I dig in to some more good books. Happy New Year, everyone!

Year in Review Post #5: Secrets & Sharing Soda's Books of the Year

Today, I’d like to present my favorite books published in 2011. I have sorted this post according to category, focusing only on those categories that I regularly review.

My criteria for selecting these books were:

• literary quality
• kid appeal
• personal enjoyment of the book
• potential use in story time (for picture books) 

Though I have made some remarks on this page, my full reviews provide more detailed reasons that these books are my favorites. Access my reviews by clicking on the titles below.

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Favorite Young Adult Contemporary Novel

Back When You Were Easier to Love
by Emily Wing Smith

(Dutton Juvenile - Penguin Group)

An original style, gorgeous descriptions, and an important and hard-learned lesson make this book stand out among others of the genre. Some bloggers have criticized the book’s protagonist for being too needy and modeling clingy behavior when it comes to boys, but I think this realism and emotion are precisely what make the story work so well. Readers who decide not to let main character Joy’s initial mistakes turn them off will find a well-written and wonderful story about overcoming unrequited love.

Honorable Mention:
Shine by Lauren Myracle (Amulet Books - Abrams)
Past Perfect by Leila Sales (Simon Pulse - Simon & Schuster)
Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell (Atheneum - Simon & Schuster)

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Favorite Middle Grade Novel

One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street
by Joanne Rocklin

(Amulet Books - Abrams)

This quiet novel about the impact of an orange tree on a California neighborhood is filled with poetics turns of phrase and memorable characters. It’s not an action-packed novel by any means, but the artistic story telling and sensory descriptions give it a unique place in the world of children’s literature. If I could have any book win the Newbery this year, it would be this one.

Honorable Mention:
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (Walden Pond Press - HarperCollins)
Ten Rules for Living With My Sister by Ann M. Martin (Feiwel & Friends - Macmillan)

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Favorite Chapter Book

Toys Come Home
by Emily Jenkins

illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

(Schwartz & Wade - Random House)

Carefully selected language and a warm, nostalgic tone are the hallmarks of this prequel to Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party. A girl’s toys come to life with their many philosophical questions and concerns about their role in her life, resulting in an emotional and bittersweet tale of love, loss, and change.

Honorable Mention: 

The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Kevin Cornell

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Favorite Easy Reader

Flip Flop

by Dana Meachen Rau
(Random House)

Sunny summer illustrations and simple language make this book a fast-paced and fun read for beginning readers. The dual meaning of “flip flop” as both shoes and indecisiveness works exceptionally well, and the illustrations offer so much extra detail not mentioned in the text, creating a lovely portrait of summer freedom.

Honorable Mention:

Aggie Gets Lost by Lori Ries, illustrated by Frank W. Dormer (Charlesbridge Publishing)

Amelia Bedelia Makes a Friend by Herman Parish, illustrated by Lynne Avril (Greenwillow Books - HarperCollins)

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Favorite Picture Book

Grandpa Green
by Lane Smith

(Roaring Brook Press - Macmillan)

I have yet to meet a Lane Smith book I didn’t love, but this one caught me off guard by making me cry! Grandpa Green has recreated his entire life in a garden of carefully pruned bushes, which his grandson uses to help him remember his past, even as old age begins to rob him of his memories. The book strikes just the right balance between bitter and sweet and manages to capture the poignancy of aging without becoming maudlin. Just a beautiful book.

Honorable Mention:
Shoe-La-La by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Blackout by John Rocco

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Favorite Book in Graphic Format

Nina in that Makes Me Mad
by Hilary Knight
(Toon Books - Candlewick Press)

Nina gets mad in lots of different situations, which are comically drawn by Hilary Knight in a series of panels. This book is great for teaching emotional intelligence to preschoolers in an engaging way, and it also articulates different types of anger for which even an adult might not have found the proper words. This book reminds us that it’s okay to feel angry sometimes, as long as we recognize our anger, tell someone about it, and constructively work to resolve it.

Honorable Mention: The Meaning of Life and Other Stuff  by Jimmy Gownley

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What were your favorite books of 2011?

Check back tomorrow for my final post of the year, in which I will reveal the grand total of books I read in 2011.

Year in Review Post #4: Themed Thursday Rewind

This week's theme is LOOKING BACK.

Did you miss a theme? Now's your chance to see them all one more time and find the topics that appeal to you the most!

• Alphabet Books 
• Apples 
• Baseball 
• Bicycles 
• Birthdays 
• Bullies 
• Camps & Camping 
• Cumulative Picture Books  
• Dads  
• Diaries & Journals 
• Epistolary Books 
• Food (Board Books) 
• Geeks & Nerds  
• Halloween 
• Happy Thanksgiving 
• Hibernation 
• Kids & Dogs Libraries 
• Moms 
• Moving 
• Music 
• Mysterious Dinosaurs 
• Non-Conformists 
• Novels in Verse 
• Nursery Rhymes 
• Plays 
• School (Chapter Book Series) 
• Siblings  
• Sickness 
• Singable Picture Books 
• Slumber Parties 
• Summer Jobs 
• Swimming 
• Trains 
• Tough Stuff in YA Books 
• Weddings

Themed Thursday will return to its regular schedule next week. Check back tomorrow for my favorite books of 2011.

Year in Review Post #3: Blog Resolutions

At the start of this year, with the help of Top Ten Tuesday, I made some reading and blogging related New Year's Resolutions. This is something I did every year as a teenager, in my journals, and I had a pretty surprising success rate. There is something about writing down promises to yourself that - consciously, or subconsciously - makes you work on those things. I didn't reach 100% of the goals I set out to accomplish, but I still think I did pretty well. Here is how it all adds up:

First, the Top Ten Books I Resolved to Read in 2011.

Of the ten titles listed, I finished these three:

	The Tales of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo Finished on May 10, 2011.
	N is for Noose by Sue Grafton Finished on October 11, 2011.
	Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts Finished on January 26, 2011.

These three, I started to read at some point, but never finished.

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• That Summer by Sarah Dessen
• Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

And finally, despite my best intentions, I never even looked at these four:

• Zombies vs. Unicorns by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
• They Called Themselves the K-K-K by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Untamed by P.C. and Kristen Cast

I have never been good at making a list of books to read and then sticking with it, so I'm not really surprised to see that I didn't read all ten. What I choose to read depends so much on my mood at any given time, and working in the library means that I am constantly exposed to brand-new books that always appeal to me so much more than books I've read before, or books I've tried and failed to read a number of times. For 2012, I think I'll just read whatever strikes my fancy, and then I won't have to worry about whether I completed my goals or not!

Next, here are my Top Ten Bookish Resolutions.

1. Return to YA.
   I read more than 40 YA novels this year. While the bulk of my reading was still for children, considering I don't even work with teens in my current job, I think I've done well with keeping up. I also discovered some new realistic fiction authors I love, such as Courtney Sheinmel and Melissa Kantor.
2. Read more broadly.
   I think my intentions in making this resolution were good, but ultimately, there are genres I am not interested in and trying to make myself read them doesn't really work. I did introduce some historical fiction into my bookshelves this year, which I enjoyed, and I read a handful of fantasy titles and adult books, but I actually think for 2012, I'll be working more on establishing exactly what it is this blog focuses on, and part of that will be filtering out those books that don't really interest me, that I only read because I think I should.
   
3. Catch up on Newbery winners.
   This was another great intention, but maybe not a project to tackle in one year. (Especially given my poor success rate trying to read assigned lists!) I did manage to read a few Newbery winners  - The Tale of Despereaux, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, and Moon Over Manifest - but what wound up catching my interest were other older titles that haven't necessarily won awards, like Swallows and Amazons, The Saturdays, Half Magic, and Ballet Shoes.
4. Read more than 100 books. I feel almost stupid for putting this on my list to begin with, considering I wound up reading over 800 books this year.
5. Read more picture books. I had no idea when I made this list last year that I'd be doing as many as ten library programs in a week. Had I know that, I would have realized I don't need to promise to read picture books. I have to do it whether I want to or not!
6. Review as many titles as possible.
   A year ago, I was expecting to write two reviews a week. By the middle of the year there were some weeks where I did more than 7 and had to post twice a day. I think of all the items on this list, this one is where I really exceeded my own expectations.
7. Blog.
   I stuck with it for a full year! And I think it's become such a significant part of my professional and reading life that even with upcoming changes in my personal life, it will continue in some form for years to come.
8. Learn how to talk about picture book art.
   I didn't seek out a lot of formal training on this topic, but I did start paying more attention to illustrators and the materials they use to create picture book art. And what a difference it made! I started noticing things I would have missed completely in the past, and even read a few wordless picture books, which previously I shied away from.
   
9. Read every day. I have been reading almost every single day, usually on my lunch break, sometimes before bed.
10. Go back to writing fiction.This is the only resolution I didn't keep in any way. I have wanted to be a writer since I was in first grade, but I keep hearing that writers "have to" write, that they can't resist the urge. Since I don't do any writing, I feel like I must not have that urge. But I still get inspiration from so many places, and stories pop into my head all the time - it's just never enough of a story that I feel like I can write it down. I'm not ready to say I will never be a writer, but I have to admit it seems less and less likely with every passing year.

I don't think I'll make any resolutions per se for 2012, but check back on Sunday when I'll outline where the blog is headed this year.

Tomorrow: revisit my Themed Thursday posts from the past year!

Year in Review Post #2: 2011 Reading Challenges Round-Up

Yesterday, I began a series of posts wrapping up 2011, with a look back at all the titles I reviewed thanks to NetGalley. Today, I'm focusing on my 2011 reading challenges.

I participated in four reading challenges this year. As I was new to blogging in January, I wanted to make sure I would stay motivated to read, and that I would also make some connections in the blogging world and gain some traffic. I tried to choose challenges that I thought would suit my reading interests, and that I had a reasonably good chance of completing. I am proud to say that I did finish them all, and that I think my blog has been better off for it. Here are my results.

YA Contemporary Challenge hosted by The Undercover Book Lover
Finished August 23, 2011
Click to see my book list in a Google Doc.

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Read To Me Picture Book Challenge hosted by There's a Book

Finished June 3, 2011

Click to see my book list in a Google Doc.

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TwentyEleven Challenge hosted by Bart's Bookshelf

Finished August 8, 2011

Click to see my book list in a Google Doc.

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100+ Reading Challenge 2011 hosted by My Overstuffed Bookshelf

Finished June 26, 2011

Click to see my book list in a Google Doc.

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I don't plan to participate in any reading challenges with this blog in 2012. I found the record-keeping very difficult to keep up with, and I realized, after seeing the huge number of titles I read this year, that I don't really need challenges to keep me reading. But I definitely plan to keep reading and blogging in the new year.

Check back tomorrow to see how well I fulfilled my 2011 blogging resolutions!