What to Read Next: List of 2016 Notable Children's Books and YALSA Awards

YALSA Names 2016 top ten best fiction for Young Adults

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) list.

Albertalli, Becky. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Harper/Balzer and Bray. 2015.

Bardugo, Leigh. Six of Crows. Holt. 2015.

Brooks, Kevin. The Bunker Diary. Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab. 2015.

Crowder, Melanie. Audacity. Philomel. 2015.

Older, Daniel José. Shadowshaper. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books. 2015.

Reynolds, Jason. The Boy in the Black Suit. Atheneum. 2015.

Ruby, Laura. Bone Gap. Harper/Balzer and Bray. 2015.

Shabazz, Ilyasah and Kekla Magoon. X: A Novel. Candlewick. 2015.

Shusterman, Neal. Challenger Deep. HarperTeen. 2015.

Silvera, Adam. More Happy than Not. Soho Teen. 2015.

YALSA The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2016 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list.

Nonfiction

• Maggs, Sam. A Fan Girl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks. 2015. Illus. Quirk Books.
• Schatz, Kate. Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History... and Our Future! 2015. Illus. City Lights Books.

Fiction

• Aveyard, Victoria. Red Queen. 2015. HarperTeen/HarperCollins.
• Black, Holly and Clare, Cassandra. The Iron Trial. 2014. Illus. Scholastic Press.
• Lee, Fonda. Zeroboxer. 2015. Flux/Llewellyn Worldwide.
• Murphy, Julie. Dumplin’. 2015. Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins
• Myers, E.C. The Silence of Six. 2014. Adaptive Studios.
• Older, Daniel José. Shadowshaper. 2015. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.
• Stevenson, Noelle. Nimona. 2015. Illus. HarperTeen/HarperCollins.
• Yoon, Nicola. Everything, Everything. Illus. 2015. Delacorte Press/Random House.

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has selected its 2016 list of Notable Children’s Books. The list of titles includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and picture books of special interest, quality, creativity and value to children 14 years of age and younger.

The titles include:

Younger Readers

"An Ambush of Tigers: A Wild Gathering of Collective Nouns." By Betsy R. Rosenthal. Illus. by Jago. Lerner/Millbrook.

"The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore." By Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. Illus. by R. Gregory Christie. Lerner/Carolrhoda.

"Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret." By Bob Shea. Illus. by the author. Disney/Hyperion.

"Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep!" By Todd Tarpley. Illus. by John Rocco. Little, Brown.

"Boats for Papa." By Jessixa Bagley. Illus. by the author. Roaring Book/Neal Porter.

"A Chicken Followed Me Home! Questions and Answers about a Familiar Fowl." By Robin Page. Illus. by the author. Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane.

"Detective Gordon: The First Case." By Ulf Nilsson. Illus. by Gitte Spee. Gecko.

"Don’t Throw It to Mo!" By David A. Adler. Illus. by Sam Ricks. Penguin.

"Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music." By Margarita Engle. Illus. by Rafael López. HMH.

"Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah." By Laurie Ann Thompson. Illus. by Sean Qualls. Random/Schwartz & Wade.

"Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear." By Lindsay Mattick. Illus. by Sophie Blackall. Little, Brown.

"Float." By Daniel Miyares. Illus. by the author. Simon & Schuster.

"Flop to the Top!" By Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing. Illus. by the authors. TOON.

"Flutter & Hum / Aleteo y zumbido: Animal Poems / Poemas de animales." Ed. by Julie Paschkis. Illus. by the author. Holt.

"Gingerbread for Liberty: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution." By Mara Rockliff. Illus. by Vincent X. Kirsch. HMH.

"Grandma Lives in a Perfume Village." By Fang Suzhen. Illus. by Sonja Danowski. NorthSouth.

"The Grasshopper and the Ants." By Jerry Pinkney. Illus. by the author. Little, Brown.

"Growing Up Pedro." By Matt Tavares. Illus. by the author. Candlewick.

"Hippos Are Huge!" By Jonathan London. Illus. by Matthew Trueman. Candlewick.

"I Yam a Donkey!" By Cece Bell. Illus. by the author. Clarion.

"If You Plant a Seed." By Kadir Nelson. Illus. by the author. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray.

"Last Stop on Market Street." By Matt de la Peña. Illus. by Christian Robinson. Putnam.

"Lenny & Lucy." By Philip C. Stead. Illus. by Erin E. Stead. Roaring Book/Neal Porter.

"Leo: A Ghost Story." By Mac Barnett. Illus. by Christian Robinson. Chronicle.

"Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965." By Jonah Winter. Illus. by Shane W. Evans. Random/Schwartz & Wade.

"Mango, Abuela, and Me." By Meg Medina. Illus. by Angela Dominguez. Candlewick.

"The Moon Is Going to Addy’s House." By Ida Pearle. Illus. by the author. Penguin/Dial.

"The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea." By Brenda Z. Guiberson. Illus. by Gennady Spirin. Holt.

"Moving Blocks." By Yusuke Yonezu. Illus. by the author. Michael Neugebauer/Minedition.

"Mr. Squirrel and the Moon." By Sebastian Meschenmoser. Illus. by the author. NorthSouth.

"My Tata’s Remedies = Los remedios de mi tata." By Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford. Illus. by Antonio Castro L. Cinco Puntos.

"A Pig, a Fox, and a Box." By Jonathan Fenske. Illus. by the author. Penguin.

"Piper Green and the Fairy Tree." By Ellen Potter. Illus. by Qin Leng. Knopf.

"The Popcorn Astronauts: And Other Biteable Rhymes." By Deborah Ruddell. Illus. by Joan Rankin. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry.

"The Princess and the Pony." By Kate Beaton. Illus. by the author. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine.

"Raindrops Roll." By April Pulley Sayre. Illus. by the author. Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane.

"Red. By Jan De Kinder." Illus. by the author. Eerdmans.

"Roger Is Reading a Book." By Koen Van Biesen. Illus. by the author. Eerdmans.

"Sidewalk Flowers." By JonArno Lawson. Illus. by Sydney Smith. Groundwood.

"The Skunk." By Mac Barnett. Illus. by Patrick McDonnell. Roaring Brook.

"Special Delivery." By Philip C. Stead. Illus. by Matthew Cordell. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

"Supertruck." By Stephen Savage. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

"Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova." By Laurel Snyder. Illus. by Julie Morstad. Chronicle.

"Tiptoe Tapirs." By Hanmin Kim. Illus. by the author. Holiday.

"Trombone Shorty." By Troy Andrews. Illus. by Bryan Collier. Abrams.

"Two Mice." By Sergio Ruzzier. Illus. by the author. Clarion.

"Wait." By Antoinette Portis. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

"Waiting." By Kevin Henkes. Illus. by the author. HarperCollins/Greenwillow.

“Water Is Water: A Book about the Water Cycle.” By Miranda Paul. Illus. by Jason Chin. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

“Who Done It?” By Olivier Tallec. Illus. by the author. Chronicle.

“Wolfie the Bunny. By Ame Dyckman. Illus. by Zachariah OHora. Little, Brown.

“The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy.” By Beatrice Alemagna. Illus. by the author. Enchanted Lion.

“Woodpecker Wham!” By April Pulley Sayre. Illus. by Steve Jenkins. Holt.

“Written and Drawn by Henrietta.” By Liniers. Illus. by the author. TOON.

Middle Readers

"28 Days: Moments in Black History That Changed the World." By Charles R. Smith Jr. Illus. by Shane W. Evans. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

"Adam and Thomas." By Aharon Appelfeld. Illus. by Philippe Dumas. Seven Stories/Triangle Square.

"Adventures with Waffles." By Maria Parr. Illus. by Kate Forrester. Candlewick.

"Blackbird Fly." By Erin Entrada Kelly. HarperCollins/Greenwillow.

"The Blackthorn Key." By Kevin Sands. Aladdin.

"Echo." By Pam Muñoz Ryan. Scholastic.

"Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings." By Matthew Burgess. Illus. by Kris Di Giacomo. Enchanted Lion.

"Fish in a Tree." By Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen.

"Frederick’s Journey: The Life of Frederick Douglass." By Doreen Rappaport. Illus. by London Ladd. Disney/Jump at the Sun.

"Full Cicada Moon." By Marilyn Hilton. Penguin/Dial.

"Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras." By Duncan Tonatiuh. Illus. by the author. Abrams.

"Fuzzy Mud." By Louis Sachar. Random/Delacorte.

"George." By Alex Gino. Scholastic.

"Gone Crazy in Alabama." By Rita Williams-Garcia. HarperCollins/Amistad.

"Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible." By Ursula Vernon. Illus. by the author. Penguin/Dial.

"Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story." By Reem Faruqi. Illus. by Lea Lyon. Tilbury.

"Lost in the Sun." By Lisa Graff. Penguin/Philomel.

"Mad about Monkeys." By Owen Davey. Illus. by the author. Flying Eye.

"Mars Evacuees." By Sophia McDougall. HarperCollins.

"The Marvels." By Brian Selznick. Illus. by the author. Scholastic.

"Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery That Baffled All of France." By Mara Rockliff. Illus. by Iacopo Bruno. Candlewick.

"My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey." By Lesa Cline-Ransome. Illus. by James E. Ransome. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman.

"My Two Blankets." By Irena Kobald. Illus. by Freya Blackwood. HMH.

"Murder Is Bad Manners." By Robin Stevens. Simon & Schuster.

"The Nest." By Kenneth Oppel. Illus. by Jon Klassen. Simon & Schuster.

"Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton." By Don Tate. Illus. by the author. Peachtree.

"Red Butterfly." By A. L. Sonnichsen. Illus. by Amy June Bates. Simon & Schuster.

"Roller Girl." By Victoria Jamieson. Illus. by the author. Penguin/Dial.

'Sex Is a Funny Word: A Book about Bodies, Feelings, and YOU." By Cory Silverberg. Illus. by Fiona Smyth. Seven Stories/Triangle Square.

"Stella by Starlight." By Sharon M. Draper. Atheneum.

"Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America." By Susan Campbell Bartoletti. illus. HMH.

"Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower." By Greg Pizzoli. Illus. by the author. Penguin/Viking.

"Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer." By Kelly Jones. Illus. by Katie Kath. Knopf.

"The War That Saved My Life." By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Penguin/Dial.

Older Readers

"Baba Yaga’s Assistant." By Marika McCoola. Illus. by Emily Carroll. Candlewick.

"The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club." By Phillip Hoose. illus. Farrar.

"Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War." By Jessica Dee Humphreys and Michel Chikwanine. Illus. by Claudia Dávila. Kids Can.

"Cuckoo Song." By Frances Hardinge. Abrams/Amulet.

"Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. "By Don Brown. Illus. by the author. HMH.

"Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir." By Margarita Engle. Atheneum.

"First Flight around the World: The Adventures of the American Fliers Who Won the Race." By Tim Grove. illus. Abrams.

"Goodbye Stranger." By Rebecca Stead. Random/Wendy Lamb.

"The Hired Girl." By Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick.

"The Lightning Queen." By Laura Resau. Scholastic.

"Listen, Slowly." By Thanhhà Lại. HarperCollins.

"Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War." By Steve Sheinkin. illus. Roaring Brook.

"My Seneca Village." By Marilyn Nelson. Namelos.

"Orbiting Jupiter." By Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion.

"Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip through the Motown Sound." By Andrea Davis Pinkney. illus. Roaring Brook.

"The Seventh Most Important Thing." By Shelley Pearsall. Knopf.

"The Smoking Mirror." By David Bowles. IFWG.

"The Thing about Jellyfish." By Ali Benjamin. Little, Brown.

"Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March." By Lynda Blackmon Lowery, as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley. Illus. by P. J. Loughran. Penguin/Dial.

All Ages

"Bird and Diz." By Gary Golio. Illus. by Ed Young. Candlewick.

"Counting Lions." By Katie Cotton. Illus. by Stephen Walton. Candlewick.

"Hiawatha and the Peacemaker." By Robbie Robertson. Illus. by David Shannon. Abrams.

"Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure." By Nadja Spiegelman. Illus. by Sergio García Sánchez. TOON Graphics.

"My Pen." By Christopher Myers. Illus. by the author. Disney/Hyperion.

"National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More Than 200 Poems with Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom!" Ed. by J. Patrick Lewis. illus. National Geographic.

"The Only Child." By Guojing. Illus. by the author. Random/Schwartz & Wade.

"Pool." By JiHyeon Lee. Illus. by the author. Chronicle.

"Sail Away." By Langston Hughes. Illus. by Ashley Bryan. Atheneum.

"Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement." By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illus. by Ekua Holmes. Candlewick.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list.

• Awkward. By Svetlana Chmakova. Illus by the author. Yen Press. (9780316381307)
• Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. By Don Brown. Illus by the author. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (9780544157774).
• Lumberjanes.
  • vol. 1. By Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters. Illus. by Brooke Allen. Boom! Box, paper, $14.99, (9781608866878).
  • vol. 2. By Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters. Illus. by Brooke Allen. Boom! Box, paper, $14.99, (9781608867370).

• Ms. Marvel.
  • vol. 2: Generation Why. By G. Willow Wilson. Illus. by Jacob Wyatt and Adrian Alphona. Marvel Comics, paper, $15.99, (9780785190226).
  • vol. 3: Crushed. By G. Willow Wilson. Illus. by Takeshi Miyazawa and Elmo Bondoc. Marvel Comics, paper, $15.99, (9780785192275).

• Nimona. By Noelle Stevenson. Illus. by the author. Harper Teen, hardcover, $17.99, (9780062278234).
• Roller Girl. By Victoria Jamieson. Illus. by the author. Dial Books for Young Readers, hardcover, $20.99, (9780525429678).
• Sacred Heart. By Liz Suburbia. Illus. by the author. Fantagraphics, paper, $24.99, (9781606998410).
• A Silent Voice.
  • vol. 1. By Yoshitoki Oima. Illus. by the author. Kodansha Comics, paper, $10.99, (9781632360564).
  • vol. 2. By Yoshitoki Oima. Illus. by the author. Kodansha Comics, paper, $10.99, (9781632360571).
  • vol. 3. By Yoshitoki Oima. Illus. by the author. Kodansha Comics, paper, $10.99, (9781632360588).

• Trashed. By Derf Backderf. Illus. by the author. Abrams ComicArts, hardcover, $24.95, (9781419714535).

• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
  • vol. 1: Squirrel Power. By Ryan North. Illus. by Erica Henderson. Marvel Comics, paper, $15.99, (9780785197027).
  • vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It’s True. By Ryan North. Illus. by Erica Henderson. Marvel Comics, paper, $14.99, (9780785197034).

American Library Association Announces 2016 Winners

Confessions from a First Grade Class: What Kids Want to Read in 2016

This week in first grade, my nephew learned about author/poet Tomás Rivera and how much he loved books. The homework assignment that followed read: write at least three sentences telling what kind of books you like to read and why.

I love my brilliant nephew's clever answers:

1. I like the action in Batman books.
2. I am a ninja that is why I like ninja books (well, duh, of course he's a ninja. That's why he loves NINJA NINJA NEVER STOP by Todd Tuell)
3. I like family books because I spend time with my family. (I love this answer, because YES! That's the power of a great book--it can bring families together. His family currently spends evening time together, listening to Mom read Harry Potter)

Look at the other great answers from students in his class:

I like to read nonfiction books because they teach about real life. They teach us about wild stuff. When I read nonfiction books I get really excited. (Okay, I love this kid, whoever he or she may be! Hooray for nonfiction and excitement. You should definitely pick up a Kate Messner book!) 

"I like to read books about Pokemon because it tells me how they evolve. I like learning."

"I like reading books about princesses. I love the dresses they wear."

"I like to read books by Dr. Deuss because they help me learn how to read. My favorite is Green Eggs and Ham." (yep, good old  Dr. Deuss) 

"I like to read princess books. All the girls are pretty! I like to read about horses. They are my favorite animal. I like to read about dogs. They are fun to play with."

"I like ballet books because they are pretty. I also like adventure books because they have a lot of action in them. I like Hello Kitty books because they are fun." (I want to hang out with this kid--who doesn't like a pretty ballet centered around action and adventure (maybe a ninja or two), and yeah, let's throw in a cat, because they are fun. I want to read that book, too!)

"I like Cat in the Hat books because they are goofy. My favorite is Fox in the Box."