2012 In Review

In 2012, I reviewed 555 books.

• If I had to pick just one board book:  You Are My Cupcake. Joyce Wan. 2011. Scholastic. 14 pages.
• If I had to pick just one picture book:  Suppose You Meet a Dinosaur: A First Book of Manners. Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Tim Bowers. 2012. Random House. 40 pages
• If I had to pick just one chapter book:  Penny and Her Song. Kevin Henkes. 2012. HarperCollins. 32 pages.  
• If I had to pick just one YA novel:  Grave Mercy. Robin LaFevers. 2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 560 pages. 
• If I had to pick just one MG novel: The Lions of Little Rock. Kristin Levine. 2012. Penguin. 304 pages.
• If I had to pick just one adult novel:  The Unexpected Miss Bennet. Patrice Sarath. 2011. Penguin. 304 pages.
• If I had to pick just one nonfiction book: Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Kate Williams. 2010. Random House. 464 pages. 
• If I had to pick just one Christian novel: A Promise to Love. Serena B. Miller. 2012. Revell. 332 pages.
• If I had to pick just one nonfiction Christian book: Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption. Katie Davis. 2011. October 2011. Howard Books. 288 pages.

Board Books, Picture Books, Early Readers: 129
My top twelve:

1. You Are My Cupcake. Joyce Wan. 2011. Scholastic. 14 pages.
2. Suppose You Meet a Dinosaur: A First Book of Manners. Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Tim Bowers. 2012. Random House. 40 pages
3. Boy + Bot. Ame Dyckman. Illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. 2012. Random House. 32 pages.
4. My Heart Will Not Sit Down. Mara Rockliff. Illustrated by Ann Tanksley. 2012. Random House. 40 pages.
5. Baby Bear Sees Blue. Ashley Wolff. 2012. Simon & Schuster. 40 pages.
6. Zoe Gets Ready. Bethanie Murguia. 2012. Scholastic. 40 pages.
7. Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile. Gloria M. Houston. Illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb. 2011. HarperCollins. 32 pages.  
8. Z is for Moose. Kelly Bingham. Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinksy. 2012. HarperCollins. 32 pages.  
9. Cookies: A Mr. and Mrs. Green Adventure. Keith Baker. Green Light Readers: Level 2. 2002/2012. 24 pages. 
10. Listen to My Trumpet. An Elephant & Piggie Book. Mo Willems. 2012. Hyperion. 64 pages.
11. Penny and Her Song. Kevin Henkes. 2012. HarperCollins. 32 pages.    
12. Penny And Her Doll. Kevin Henkes. 2012. HarperCollins. 32 pages. 

Middle Grade and Young Adult Novels: 175
My top ten YA:

1. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. Jennifer E. Smith. 2012. Little, Brown. 236 pages.
2. My Family for the War. Anne C. Voorhoeve. Translated by Tammi Reichel. 2012. February 2012. Penguin. 412 pages.   
3. The Survival Kit. Donna Freitas. 2011. FSG. 368 pages.
4. Between Shades of Gray. Ruta Sepetys. 2011. Penguin. 352 pages 
5. Insurgent. Veronica Roth. 2012. HarperCollins. 525 pages. 
6.  Grave Mercy. Robin LaFevers. 2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 560 pages. 
7. Lucid. Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass. 2012. Penguin. 288 pages.
8. Reached. Ally Condie. 2012. Penguin. 512 pages.
9. Son. Lois Lowry. 2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 400 pages.  
10. The Sweetest Spell. Suzanne Selfors. 2012. Walker & Company. 416 pages.

My top ten MG:

1. A Diamond in the Desert. Kathryn Fitzmaurice. 2012. February 2012. Penguin. 256 pages.
2. Crow. Barbara Wright. 2012. Random House. 304 pages. 
3. Enchantress from the Stars. Sylvia Louise Engdahl. 1970/2003. Penguin. 304 pages. 
4.  Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip. Jordan Sonnenblick. 2012.  Scholastic. 304 pages.
5. Wonder. R. J. Palacio. 2012. Random House. 320 pages. 
6. Black Beauty. Anna Sewell. 1877. 245 pages.
7. Love From Your Friend, Hannah. Mindy Warshaw Skolsky. 1998. DK. 246 pages. 
8. Splendors and Glooms. Laura Amy Schlitz. 2012. Candlewick. 384 pages.  
9. The Lions of Little Rock. Kristin Levine. 2012. Penguin. 304 pages.
10. Almost Home. Joan Bauer. 2012. Penguin. 240 pages.   

Adult Books: 106

 My top ten: 

1. Babylon 5: Legions of Fire: The Long Night of Centauri Prime. Peter David. 1999. 
2. Babylon 5: Legions of Fire: Armies of Light and Dark. Peter David. 2000. Del Rey. 255 pages.  
3. Babylon 5: Legions of Fire: Out of the Darkness. Peter David. 2000. Del Rey. 266 pages. 
4. Time for the Stars. Robert A. Heinlein. 1956. Tor. 244 pages.  
5. The Unexpected Miss Bennet. Patrice Sarath. 2011. Penguin. 304 pages.
6. The Seven Dials Mystery. Agatha Christie. 1929/2012. HarperCollins. 304 pages. 
7. The Kingmaker's Daughter. Philippa Gregory. 2012. 423 pages.  
8. Earth Unaware. Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. The First Formic War. 2012. Tor. 368 pages. 
9. The Shadow Rising. (Wheel of Time #4) Robert Jordan. 944 pages.
10. The Magic of Ordinary Days. Ann Howard Creel. 2001. Penguin. 304 pages.  

Special category: story collections

1. Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version. Philip Pullman. 2012. Penguin. 400 pages.  
2. The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories. Edited by Michael Sims. 2011. Walker & Company. (Late December 2011). 608 pages.
3. The Stories of Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury. 1980/2010. Everyman's Library. 1063 pages. 
4. Jane Austen Made Me Do It. Edited By Laurel Ann Nattress. 2011. Random House. 464 pages.  

Top five short stories:

• "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis
• "Intolerable Stupidity" by Laurie Viera Rigler
• "The Diary of Anne Rodway" by Wilkie Collins
• "The French Governess's Story of Sister Rose" by Wilkie Collins
• "Dark they Were, and Golden-Eyed" by Ray Bradbury 

Nonfiction Books: 33
My top ten

1. Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Melissa Sweet. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 40 pages.
2. His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg: Courage, Rescue, and Mystery During World War II. Louise Borden. 2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 144 pages.
3. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. Karen Blumenthal. 2011. Roaring Brook Press. 155 pages.
4. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). Sue Macy. 2011. National Geographic. 96 pages. 
5. The Great Influenza. The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. John M. Barry. 2004. Penguin. 546 pages.  
6. Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood. Mark Kurzem. 2007. Penguin. 432 pages. 
7. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Kate Williams. 2010. Random House. 464 pages.   
8. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. Kate Summerscale. 2008. Walker. 360 pages. 
9. A Passion for Victory: The Story of the Olympics in Ancient and Early Modern Times. Benson Bobrick. 2012. Random House. 160 pages. 
10. But He Doesn't Know the Territory. Meredith Willson. 1959. 190 pages.  

Poetry: 9

1. Every Thing On It. Shel Silverstein. 2011. HarperCollins. 208 pages.   
2. Shiver me Timbers! Douglas Florian. Illustrated by Robert Neubecker. 2012. Simon & Schuster. 32 pages.

 


© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews