Favorite Reads from 2007

Colleen Mondor was kind enough to include me in her Recommendations from Many Bookish Folks series this holiday season. I'm in illustrious company, with editors and authors and the like. I'm grateful to Colleen for inspiring me to put together a favorites list, and I've elected to re-publish the list here, with links to reviews of each book.

I've read many wonderful books this year. These are just a few that stand out as personal favorites, books that I want to keep on my shelves. I'm not saying that these are the "best books" of 2007 (some of them are actually from 2006 or 2008). I'm saying that these are some children's and young adult titles that I first read this year that resonated with me personally. There are many others that I loved, too, including some re-reads, but I tried to keep the list to manageable proportions.

Picture Books:

• The House Takes a Vacation by Jacqueline Davies (ill. Lee White)
• The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan
• Hugo and Miles in I've Painted Everything by Scott Magoon
• Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (and the sequel, Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend)

Middle Grade (in age order):

• Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (ill. Marla Frazee) (and the sequel, The Talented Clementine)
• Me and the Pumpkin Queen by Marlane Kennedy
• A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (ill. Carson Ellis)
• Heat by Mike Lupica
• The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (I don't have a review on my site for this one because I originally listened on audio, and I find it harder to write those reviews, but I thought that The Titan's Curse held up to the promise of the earlier books in the series. I think it might be my favorite of the three.)

Young Adult:

• Nothing but the Truth and a Few White Lies by Justina Chen Headley
• Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall by Wendy Mass (I haven't had a chance to review this one yet, but you can read about it on Amazon)
• Dairy Queen and The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

Thanks again, Colleen! And happy reading to all!

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.