I’m deliberately calling these books ‘favorites’ rather than ‘best’, because I think what I enjoy reading is not necessarily going to be in the running for medals. My criterion is that I gave the book 5 stars on Goodreads. I thought I was being less profligate with my stars this year – I was very influenced by this article – but it turns out I have far more top-rated books this year than last (15 versus 9). Maybe I’m just choosing more appealing books to read?
Anyway, here’s this year’s list. Compared to last year’s there’s a lot less speculative fiction, and a lot more YA realistic fiction. I think this is probably more to do with what I’ve been interested in this year rather than a seismic shift in the market. They are in alphabetical order by title as it was too much work to rank them
YA
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (realistic fiction)
Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert (realistic fiction)
The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner (realistic fiction)
The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming (nonfiction)
Most Dangerous by Steve Sheinkin (nonfiction)
A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T. Smith (realistic fiction)
The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond (realistic fiction)
What We Left Behind by Robin Talley (realistic fiction)
X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon (historical fiction/bio)
Middle/Elementary
Boys Don’t Knit (in Public) by T. S. Easton (realistic fiction)
The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell (speculative fiction)
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead (realistic fiction)
Greenglass House by Kate Milford (speculative fiction)
Moonpenny Island by Trisha Springstubb (realistic fiction)
The Imaginary by A. F. Harrold (speculative fiction)
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones (speculative fiction)
Happy reading in 2016!
bibliobrit 