Favorites 2006

MotherReader has called for our favorites of 2006. While it's hard for me to commit to a list, I guess it's time.

So here are my preliminary lists, subject to change at any moment before 12/31/06.

Picture Books:

Learning to Fly, by Sebastian Meschenmoser (review)
Augustine, by Mélanie Watt (review)
Bringing Asha Home, by Uma Krishnaswami (review)
Duck & Goose, by Tad Hills (review)
The Cremation of Sam McGee, by Robert W. Service, ill. Edward Hardy Harrison (review)

Early Elementary:

Babymouse: Beach Babe, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (review)
The American Story, by Jennifer Armstrong (review forthcoming in the September The Edge of the Forest)

Older Elementary:

The American Story, by Jennifer Armstrong (review forthcoming in the September The Edge of the Forest)
Strange Happenings, by Avi (review)
Dawn Undercover, by Anna Dale (review)
The Strictest School in the World, by Howard Whitehouse, ill. by Bill Slavin (review)
The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan (review)

Middle School:

Happy Kid!, by Gail Gauthier (review)
Ingo and The Tide Knot, by Helen Dunmore (review) and (review)
The New Policeman, by Kate Thompson (review)
Hugging the Rock, by Susan Taylor Brown (review)
Anatopsis, by Chris Abouzeid (review)

High School:

The Rules of Survival, by Nancy Werlin (review)
Wide Awake, by David Levithan (review)
King Dork, by Frank Portman
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green (review)
Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), by Justina Chen Headley (review)

Hmmm....I don't seem to read much in the "early elementary category." In the picture book category, the five books I chose really stood out for me this year and it was very easy to select these five. The line is blurry for me between Older Elementary and Middle School, so it was helpful to have the two categories to play with. Also, Ingo and The Tide Knot count as one book as Ingo was published in the U.S. in 2006 and The Tide Knot in the U.K. It's cheating just a teeny tiny bit.

Young Adult was the most difficult category for me. There were so many good books this year it was hard to chose my favorites.