Best Book lists for 2011 are popping up all over!
Best Books of the year lists are starting to sprout up all over. Kirkus recently placed their choices online. Go
here for their list. The list of the best according to School Library Journal can be found
here. The New York Times also has their list up on their web
site. I’m sure more will be showing up soon!
And, not coincidentally, you can look at my list of books for 2011 (with some 2010 titles included), presented at the NLA/NEMA conference on October 7, by going to the “handouts”
page on the Library Commission’s web site, or view the archive of my presentation on “NCompass Live” from December 21.
I recently finished
8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel (divided by) 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Vande Velde and illustrated by Steve Björkman. (If anyone knows where to find the division symbol in Word, please let me know, I sure didn’t see it anywhere.) Twitch, the squirrel living outside the school is chased by a dog and runs into the building one late afternoon. The story is told alternatively by the different class pets in each room Twitch runs into looking for help. A rollicking tale of pandemonium and near disaster. Frequent illustrations add to the fun in this early chapter book of 68 pages.
(The Nebraska Library Commission receives free copies of children’s and young adult books for review from a number of publishers. After review, the books are distributed free, via the Regional Library Systems, to Nebraska school and public libraries.)
