2007 Year-End Random Roundup

I heart year-end lists, and God knows, this is the season for them. If I bought every magazine that enticed me with the promise of The Best and Worst [Insert Category Here] 2007, I would have . . . a lot of magazines. So I figured it couldn't hurt to do my own.

Since I am a huge slagass, however, there is neither rhyme nor reason to my list, nor a tidy symmetry of best and worst, nor even a semblance of order to the number of items. (I am also baffled by Blogger's concepts of "page design" and "image placement," so forgive me if this post looks all monkey on your screen.)

Enjoy.

The Emilyreads 2007 Year-End List of Things

Favorite new picture book
What Happens on Wednesdays by Emily Jenkins

Most bizarrely awesome/awesomely bizarre mystery
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann


Best designed/design-y picture book
A Good Day by Kevin Henkes


Best jacket, possibly EVER
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis



Best uncategorizable books
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick






Books that had the greatest impact on my psyche
Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
(see woodstove, obsession with and moon, sinister cast seen in all images thereof)




Favorite new middle grade/YA novels
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker


From The LIST
Best re-read (adult)
To Kill a Mockingbird


Best re-read (children's/YA)
Charlotte's Web

Most disappointing classic
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Most enjoyed classic
Brave New World

A Crooked Kind of Perfect: Review Haiku

Heartbreak and triumph
with a Rock #3 beat.
Boom, chuck-a awesome.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. Harcourt, 2007,
213 pages.

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World: Review Haiku

Art/history class
for eggheads. Moving, but with
limited appeal.

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E. L. Kongisburg. Seo/S&S, 2007, 244 pages.

The Abstinence Teacher: Review Haiku

Perrotta's genius?
Never letting us hate those
whose views we deplore.

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. St. Martin's, 2007, 358 pages.

The True Meaning of Smekday: Review Haiku

Aliens attack!
J.Lo and Tip save the world
allegorically.

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. Hyperion, 2007, 432 pages.

The Careful Use of Compliments: Review Haiku

Can someone be an
ethicist, yet still wholly
tactless? Sure seems so.

The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, 2007, 256 pages.

Well, that's a surprise

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Pontoon: Review Haiku

The name-dropping grates,
but the final tableau is
pure comedy gold.

Pontoon by Garrison Keillor. Viking, 2007, 256 pages.

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little: Review Haiku

Procrastination,
thy name is Moxy Maxwell.
Small story, big heart.

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford. Random, 2007, 92 pages.

Kampung Boy and Town Boy: Review Haiku

Coming-of-age in
Malaysia, country and town.
Delightfully weird.

Kampung Boy by Lat. First Second, 2006, 144 pages.

Town Boy. First Second, 2007, 191 pages.

He was a good little monkey

Curious George, in brief.

The Year of Living Biblically: Review Haiku

Publishing gimmick
of Biblical proportions!
Still a fun read, though.

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs. S&S, 2007, 388 pages.

The Dead and the Gone: Review Non-Haiku

(with apologies to William Carlos Williams and Joyce Sidman)

This is just to say

I have read Susan Beth Pfeffer's The Dead and the Gone
which most of you
can't get your hands on yet

Forgive me
it was amazing
so bleak
and so rich

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Harcourt, 2008, 320 pages.

Dude, I'm friggin' Einstein

Cash Advance Loans

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Review Haiku

A brilliant fusion
of words, doodles, cheese mold, and
humiliation.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. Amulet/Abrams, 2007, 217 pages.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. Amulet/Abrams, 2008, 224 pages.

Catch-22: Review Haiku

This is the line where
comedy and tragedy
are horribly blurred.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. S&S, 1961, 443 pages.

#24 on The LIST.

Home again

I'm home from NCTE. The conference itself was pretty quiet, but I did score some wicked cool stuff:

Signed galley of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
Signed galley of The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Galleys of new novels by Linda Sue Park, Jeanne Birdsall, and Gary D. Schmidt
Overpriced swag from Mary Poppins on Broadway (dude, the Munchkin will totally flip)

Lots of bloggers were out and about, including Fuse, Chicken Spaghetti, Jen Robinson, and Liz B. I also got a goodly amount of reading done (thank you, time alone with no dependents!), so new haiku will come soon.

If I can make it there

Off tomorrow avec bebes for NCTE in NYC. Fortunately, said bebes are spending the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's, while I bustle about the city gleefully free from small creatures climbing all over me. If I'm lucky, I will get to see Fuse and Alison, too.

But -- poop on a stick! -- the labor movement has decided that I will not get to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway (or, as she is known in my house, "Ariel the Little Mermaid," with nary a pronoun to be found). At least Mary Poppins is still on the docket.

Prayers, karma, and other good feelings for two uneventful ferry rides with the little monsters would be appreciated. (At least the beagle is staying home this time.)

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Review Haiku

You'd think it would bore --
medieval verse monologues? --
but instead, it sings.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick, 2007, 85 pages.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian: Review Haiku

Yep, it's award bait --
but the thing is, it's also
a damn good story.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Little Brown, 2007, 229 pages.

UPDATED: 2007 National Book Award winner for Young People's Literature. (See? Told you it was award bait.)

Guyaholic: Review Haiku

V's looking for love.
It's not her mother's road trip --
and thank God for that.

Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler. Candlewick, 2007, 192 pages.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Review Haiku

Wait, this book is full
of Christian symbolism?
But it's so subtle . . .

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Geoffrey Bles, 1950, 186 pages.

#23 on The LIST. Listened to on a Playaway device (read by Michael York, who, sadly, is now forever associated with an unfortunate cup of coffee).

Run: Review Haiku

Gorgeous prose lifts an
otherwise superficial
look at race, fam'ly.

Run by Ann Patchett. Harper, 2007, 295 pages.

Frankenstein: Review Haiku

Frankenstein was Swiss?
Almost no monster-making --
just Romantic angst.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Penguin (this edition), 1818 (original edition), 214 pages.

#22 on The LIST.

Now I can sleep again

Boston sweeps Rockies to win the Series; Mikey "The Connectah" Lowell is MVP.

But now I have a problem: History has shown that every time I have a kid, the Sox win the Series. I don't think my lady parts can take this kind of pressure . . .

NaNoReMo: Catch-22

So Defective Yeti is planning to read Catch-22 during the month of November. Coincidentally, it's next (or almost next, if I choose to tackle Anna Karenina) on The LIST. I think I'll join him . . .

Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List: Review Haiku

Unrequited love
plus ultra-hip urban angst.

(Man, I'm such a square.)

Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Knopf, 2007, 240 pages.

Miss Spitfire: Review Haiku

Two little spitfires
battle for the greatest gift:
communication.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller. Atheneum, 2007, 240 pages.

Love that dirty water

Oh, Boston, you're my home.

!!!

The Used World: Review Haiku

Eighty other holds
and a so-so first chapter?
Sorry, Ms. Kimmel.

The Used World by Haven Kimmel. Free Press, 2007, 320 pages.

Leepike Ridge: Review Haiku

Lost kid, waterfalls,
treasure hunters run amok:
sounds like The Goonies.

Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson. Random, 2007, 224 pages.

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus: Review Haiku

Ran, runned -- I don't care,
since you kept La Munch entranced
on a long car ride.

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park. Random, 1992, 80 pages. Listened to the unabridged CD from Recorded Books, read by Christina Moore.

Spent Saturday at the Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference in Jersey. Got to meet Fuse, catch up with some old friends, and hang out with a slew of writers and illustrators at various stages in their professional lives. Apologies again for forgetting business cards. At least I remembered to wear pants.

Lord of the Flies: Review Haiku

"KILL THE PIG!" Would you?
Innocence lost, unspooled, with
seductive horror.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Faber & Faber, 1954, 192 pages. Listened to on a Playaway device.

#21 on The LIST.

Life's a Beach: Review Haiku

Nothing much happens,
but it's still a hoot to be
along for the ride.

Life's a Beach by Claire Cook. Voice/Hyperion, 2007, 256 pages.

(And no, it's not on the blankety-blank LIST. I'm working on it, okay? I only have so many hours in the day, and Lord of the Flies takes a while to listen to on my lunch breaks . . . )

Eggs: Review Haiku

Fragile, brittle kids
lay on metaphors thick, but
never crack their shells.

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli. Little, Brown, 2007, 220 pages.

Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature: Review Haiku

Darwin versus God!
Survival of the fittest
with high-school-high stakes.

Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande. Knopf, 2007, 272 pages.

The Lemonade War: Review Haiku

Fourth-grade MBA:
If life should give you lemons,
just beat your sister.

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies. HMCo, 2007, 173 pages.

It's Cybils time again!

Calloo, callay, it's Cybils time again. I'll be on the judging committee for MG/YA nonfiction (huzzah fewer books to read! huzzah after Christmas!). Check out the Cybils site for more information and, starting Monday, October 1, to nominate your favorites.

Now is when I start throwing things

Unfortunately, Downham's publisher has handicapped Before I Die by
labeling it a young-adult novel, thus ghettoizing this gem to the back of most
bookstores. It's a shame, because this book is vastly superior to most so-called
adult novels with high-school-age protagonists that have been embraced by the
literary establishment.

Read the rest of the review (which is glowing) here.

It reminds me of a cocktail party conversation a former colleague once had with a non-kids' book person about Tony Earley's book Jim the Boy. Upon being told that, given the subject matter and voice, the book could've easily been published as YA, the NKBP said, "But it's so well-written!" Yearrrgh.