My favorite books of 2013

In previous years I have done top ten lists of my favorite books, but this year I had too many favorites so I'm just going to break them down by category. If there's a link it takes you to the review I wrote of the book here on the blog.

Picture Books:

Journey by Aaron Becker
In the year of the wordless picture book, this one stands out above the rest. If I were a betting woman, this is where my money would go for the Caldecott award. 

Tea Rex by Molly Idle
I love fish out of water stories. And you can't get more fish out of water than a tyrannosaurus rex at a tea party.

The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Dusan Petricic
Based on the true story of when world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell played 45 minutes in a DC metro station and virtually no one stopped to listen. Since music has such an emotional impact on me, this is one that made me cry.

Wilfred by Ryan Higgins
This one touched me more than I expected it to. In fact, it made me tear up at the end. A wonderful, heartfelt story about a boy who finds a friend in a big, hairy monster.

Red Hat by Lita Judge
When a few woodland creatures spot a red hat hanging up to dry, they can't resist taking it down and playing with it... only their good-natured mischief gets them into a pickle. I ADORED this nearly wordless picture book.

Bogart and Vinnie by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Henry Cole
I am utterly and completely biased since Audrey is my friend, but her books are just so darn clever. In fact, we became friends because I told her how over the moon I was over her books. I like to surround myself with brilliant people, what can I say?

Ball by Mary Sullivan
You will only find one word in this entire picture book but that one word communicates so much coming from a dog. Sullivan communicates everything I love about dogs in her word and pictures, like enthusiasm, hopefulness, and loyalty.

 
Battle Bunny by Mac Barnett and Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Matthew Myers
I'm a fan of subversion --in books and in the classroom-- and it doesn't get more subversive than Battle Bunny.


Middle Grade:
 
Hold Fast by Blue Balliett
I loved the characters and I loved how Balliett weaves the work of Langston Hughes into the story. If I were still in the classroom this year Hold Fast would have no doubt been a class read aloud. 

Every Day After by Laura Golden
A quiet little gem of a novel. But don't mistake quiet for weakness. Lizzie Hawkins is one fierce leading lady.


The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb
A gripping nonfiction that doesn't read like a book, but rather makes you feel like you're watching a spy movie. 


Young Adult:

Level2/The Memory of After by Lenore Appelhans
In September the name of this novel changed from Level 2 to The Memory of After due to potential readers' confusion that the 2 in the title meant it was a sequel. Lenore is another author I consider a friend and so perhaps that makes me biased, but it also made me nervous to read this too. What if I didn't like it? Well I'm here to tell you I LOVED it. It's such a unique concept and I loved that she pulled in elements from both theology and mythology to support her world building of the hive-like place known as Level 2. 

 
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
Hatchet meets The Road. A completely gripping tale of post-apocalyptic survival with a fierce main character.

Smoke by Ellen Hopkins
A beautiful conclusion to Burned. I am both haunted and satisfied with how Pattyn's story ended.


Graphic Novels:

Bluffton by Matt Phelan
Beautiful graphic novel about Buster Keaton's summers in Bluffton, Michigan near Lake Michigan, told through the eyes of a fictional narrator, Henry. Definitely my favorite graphic novel of 2013, maybe of all time. I love how Phelan uses few words, choosing instead to let the pictures do most of the storytelling.

Relish by Lucy Knisley
A YA graphic memoir that celebrates food and travel? What's not to love? You have seen the title of my blog, right? ;)


Adult fiction:

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
I can't remember the last time I read an adult novel where I was so utterly spellbound. So many gorgeously written passages that I had to mark them as mentor texts.


Professional Books:

Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller
A brilliant follow-up to The Book Whisperer. An absolute must-read for anyone who is invested in good reading instruction. 

Fearless Writing: Multigenre to Motivate and Inspire by Tom Romano
A writing book that will compel you to change and action in your own teaching. Another must-read if you teach English.


Honorable mention:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
This book was published in 2012 but I read it in 2013 and I couldn't let a favorites list go by without mentioning it. When I met Saenz at ALA in June I couldn't even tell him how much I loved the book because I got so choked up. 


What were your favorite books of 2013?

August 10 for 10: my favorite picture books to use with middle school students

This is the first year I'm participating in August 10 for 10 but I'm so excited to be a part of such a great sharing experience. This feature is hosted by Cathy Mere and Mandy Robeck. Follow the hashtag on Twitter: #pb10for10

So many people think that picture books are just for little kids. I'm here to tell you they're not. As a middle school teacher, I use picture books all the time. Here are my top ten favorite picture books to use with middle schoolers.

1.

 Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? and Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Daniel Jennewein

Now what on earth is a middle school teacher doing with a book about kindergarten? I'll tell you what: This book is hilarious and has quite a sassy humor about it that middle schoolers love. So much so that they created their own picture books inspired by Vernick's Buffalo book. Some of theirs included:

Is Your Chicken Ready to Cross the Road?
Is Your Iguana Ready for Space Travel?
Is Your Alien Ready to Abduct Humans?
Is Your Hippo Ready for Ballet?
Is Your Monkey Ready for Spanish Class?
Teach Your Giraffe to Drive
Teach Your Pig to Fly

Each one just as hilarious as the original. 


2.

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine, illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Have you ever noticed that William Carlos Williams' poem "This is Just to Say" is apologizing something that he's not really sorry for? He confesses to his crime, explains why it was wrong, and then gives a very insincere apology for eating the plums that "you" were probably saving for breakfast.

Gail Carson Levine ran with this idea and created a whole book of false apology poems. After showing students the skeleton of the poem and some examples from the book, I have them create some of their own false apologies and they are nothing short of brilliant. In fact, I'm going to use that as a segue into the next picture book by sharing this poem that one of my students, Maria, created this past year:

 3. 

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

OK, so even before I heard Jon Klassen's Caldecott speech where he said his inspiration for writing This is Not My Hat was "The Telltale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe (what?), I knew this book was perfect for middle schoolers because there are some complex issues you must tackle in this short little story: stealing and vengeance being two issues right there. Once you think about it that way, it's no wonder Poe inspired Klassen!

But my favorite moment from reading this story to my students came from one of my 8th graders, Zoe, who was very upset at the big fish in the book and decided she had a score to settle with him:

Dear Big Fish from This is Not My Hat,

You are a mean-spirited and evil fish! The little fish did you a favor buddy. The hat you were wearing was way too small for you. How could you be so mean to Little Fish after you saw how cute he swam? He was adorable and you, I can't even talk to you right now...

You ate Little Fish! Have you no soul man! All Little Fish wanted to do was to look snazzy with a hat (that fit properly). Yes, I'll admit it was wrong of Little Fish to steal it, but it was worse of you to eat him! Now Big Fish, you sit down and think about what you have done.

Please don't get me started about that crab...

- Zoe E.


4.

The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska

This gentle little picture book inspired me to have my students create their own LOUD Book, and wouldn't you know it, a year later, Deborah Underwood did too.


5.

We are in a Book by Mo Willems

Middle schoolers absolutely LOVE Elephant and Piggie. Every time I would bring in a new book and put it on the whiteboard ledge, it would get passed around the entire day. So don't tell me these books are just for little kids. It's all about creating a culture in the classroom that celebrates ALL books.


6.

The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers

On the surface, this book appears quite simple in nature, but is hugely symbolic and would be fabulous to discuss in any classroom - all the way up to college.

In fact, the story is so symbolic, it reads like a free-verse poem. There is so much hidden meaning within its sparse words.


7. 

It's a Book by Lane Smith

Any book where one of the main characters is a jackass is bound to be more apropos for older than younger readers, am I right? In fact, when my 8th graders last year were trying to stall for time because they didn't want to have to do an assignment I was going to give them, they asked me to read  It's a Book to them again because they remembered me reading it to them in 6th grade. 


8.

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

Read this book and then tell me all picture books are for little kids. Go ahead. I dare you. Because I'm thinking this one would be better suited for a high school history class.


9. 
 
Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson captures the human spirit like no other artist I've ever seen . And this book is probably his most stunning to date. How can you not stare in awe at that beautiful cover? Students feel the same way too. 


10.

One by Kathryn Otoshi

A book about bullying that empowers the bystander. The last line will resonate with kids and can easily inject itself into discussions for well after it's been read to the class.

Top 12 Travel Memories of 2012

I have done my top 10 favorite books, my top 12 favorite food memories, now it's time for the last installment: my top 12 favorite travel memories of 2012. I feel so incredibly blessed that 2012 afforded us with so many travel memories that I had to do a top 12 list (with honorable mentions) instead of a top 10 list.

1. Nerdy Book Club party at NCTE in Las Vegas
As a bookish introvert, you can only imagine that mingling at parties gives me a wee bit of anxiety. But being in a room full of 60 book lovers meant that every conversation I joined was light and easy and involved very little awkwardness since conversations immediately turned to books. 

With my homies from Michigan: Brian Wyzlic, Niki Barnes, and Colby Sharp

With author RJ Palacio who wrote one of my favorite books of 2012: WONDER

Author Jonathan Auxier gives an epic yo-yo demonstration/book talk for PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES

2. Pink Jeep Tour in Sedona, Arizona
 Wow! is all I can say about Pink Jeep Tours of Sedona. What a fun and exciting way to explore the beautiful, enchanting red rocks. I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Sedona.

3. Spending Thanksgiving at the Grand Canyon
When I found out that NCTE was going to be in Las Vegas this year, the wheels immediately started turning as to how my husband and I could extend our trip out west so we could visit the Grand Canyon, one of our Bucket List destinations. Turns out, that involved spending Thanksgiving there, but despite missing family, it was the opportunity of a lifetime and we don't regret it for one second.

Thanksgiving dinner with a view at El Tovar Ranch

4. Parasailing for the first time in Key West
Yet another Bucket List item ticked off the list. I've always wanted to go parasailing and Key West was a wonderful place to do it.

5. Visiting the Hemingway House in Key West
Despite being an English teacher, Ernest Hemingway has never been on my list of revered authors (I'm more into contemporary literature than classic literature). But a trip to Key West would not be complete without a visit to Ernest Hemingway's house just for the stories alone. The tour guides are fantastic at telling the soap opera that was Hemingway's life as you meander through all the rooms of his beautiful island home.

6. Visiting The Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida
The Turtle Hospital offers daily tours to the public in order to help raise funds for the medical treatment and equipment that is needed for its temporary and permanent residents. It is a wonderful educational facility for tourists and students alike. If you can't visit The Turtle Hospital, you can also buy Turtle Hospital merchandise like t-shirts and hats, and/or adopt a sea turtle to help them raise much-needed funds. A tour of The Turtle Hospital lasts about 90 minutes and begins with a slideshow of the different types of sea turtles and the reasons for why each species is endangered or threatened. From there, the tour group is escorted into the medical facility where you get to see how the turtles are treated. And then comes the fun part: meeting the turtles. Hearing about each turtle's story and reason for being at the facility is both sad and uplifting at the same time. It was definitely one of the more memorable moments of our road trip to Florida.

7. The perfect warm, turquoise waters of Miami Beach
Neither  my husband nor I are really very beachy people. We do not relish in sitting around at the shore and starting at waves for an entire week. We like to go and see and do. But South Beach is a completely different best entirely. Not only is the water the most perfect shade of turquoise, but staring at waves is the last thing you'll be doing because people watching is a sport here. 

8. Art Deco walking tour of South Beach
The Miami Design Preservation League hosts a walking tour every day of the art deco buildings in South Beach. Leave it to my husband and me to find something educational to do in a town where everyone else goes to party. :)

9. Walking under the Spanish moss in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is enchanting. Walking under the Spanish moss makes you want to don a hoop skirt and start interjecting, "I do declare!" into your conversations.

10. Visiting Mercer House in Savannah
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one of my favorite movies, and an equally good book. The people of Savannah are obsessed with this story, and there's even an entire gift shop dedicated to "The Book" as the people of Savannah call it. Mercer House was definitely something I wanted to check out during our day in Savannah and it was a fascinating tour, fraught with history and scandal.

11. Get your kicks on Route 66
Upon driving back to Vegas from the Grand Canyon, my husband and I made an impromptu decision to drive a majority of the way on Route 66. That proved to be a fun, kitschy look into old Americana. I'm glad we ventured off the freeway and chose the more colorful route.

 

Get your kitsch on Route 66

12. Chicago Christkindlmarkt
One of my fondest memories of living in Germany is all Christmas markets that dot the town squares during the holiday season. I had heard a few years ago that Chicago hosts a traditional German Christmas market, and I was surprised and pleased to discover upon my visit to it this year that it was very authentic, albeit a little to crowded for my liking. But still, I'm happy to know there's a little corner of Germany not too far away and that Chicago knows how to do a Christmas market right, replete with quaint wooden stalls, a "town square" location, and yes, even traditional German Glühwein to keep you warm on those cold December days.

Honorable mention:

Finding the street where Turtle lived in one of my favorite books, Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm
One of my favorite books I read this year takes place in Key West. It's called Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. I listened to the audiobook earlier in the summer and immediately fell in love with the characters. I decided that I needed to find a copy of the book and re-read it while I was in Key West, which I'm glad I did because on our last night there, I realized that we were only a few streets away from where the family in the story lived: Curry Lane. So I had to get my picture taken reading the book in front of the Curry Lane sign. Too bad I couldn't find the Curry family anywhere.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Cleveland, Ohio
I had never been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until this summer.  It was all in the name of "research" for the novel I'm kind of half-heartedly writing right now that my husband and I decided to take a day and drive to Cleveland to see it. I think we might have to go again just to soak it all in. My iTunes account sure took a hit after we came back upon realizing how many great rock songs needed to be on my iPod.

Well that's it. I can't believe how many wonderful travel experiences 2012 has afforded me. I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store.

What were some of your favorite travel memories this year?