{A Small Note}
In 2018 I had the amazing opportunity to read so many different incredible books. I also opened my reading options to more genres. I am not only specifically just reading children’s, middle grade and young adult books. I am reading all sorts, because you really never know what kind of book will pull you into it’s pages and hold you hostage for a couple of hours or a couple of days. I have learned that I like all different kinds and I have been allowing that to reflect in my reviews over the past year. I hope to read even more genres into this new year.
Without further mumbling and typing, I’d like to share with you a list of twelve books that had mad an impact on me in 2018. I had read 145 books this past year, I know that seems like a lot, but keep in mind many were children’s books. It is my goal to try and double this number in 2019.
{My Top TWELVE Books of 2018}
{01} – Your Robot Dog Will Die by Arin Greenwood
This book really spoke to me about the future and how technology isn’t always what is right. Technology is good for somethings, but it can’t honestly replace a living, loving, loyal animal. This is one book I know I will be re-reading again in the future.
{02} – Gretel Pushes Back by Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams
This was the very last book in the Grimmtastic Girls series. I am a huge lover of fairy tales and enjoy reading retellings. This series was geared for a younger audience and I cannot wait to start sharing it with my younger two children. I only hope that they will fall in love with the series as I had. I do wish that there were going to be more books added to this series, maybe it will become a possibility into the future! Regardless it was a spectacular ending to a much loved series.
{03} – Wonder by R.J. Palacio
This is one of those books that I think every child should read. The reason I think that is because it helps to show children that even though they may be different from their peers, that they can still have friends. It shows them that they can still have a normal social life and can still succeed in life. It shows them that their differences although a part of their character don’t define them as a person.
{04} – The Ember Stone by Katrina Charman
This is the first book in the series The Last Firehawk. It was a new series to me and I’d fallen in love with it. It is about three friends a firehawk, an owl and a squirrel. They go on adventures together and they explore new parts of their world while completing missions. I really enjoy books like this because it helps to build a child’s imagination up and shows them that they can go anywhere within the pages of a book. The illustrations within the pages are incredible. They really help to add to the storyline and bring the words on the pages to life! I have since read each of the books that have come out in this series. I look forward to reading many more in the future.
{05} – The Fandom by Anna Day
This book really speaks to me. I also think it could be kind of fun to fall into the pages of your favorite book or the scenes of your favorite movie. I enjoyed how modernized it was, and how it spoke to all individuals that are fans of reading. There were many references to other books and movies within the pages, which helped to add to the humor as well as the sadness within the pages. This is definitely a must read book for anyone that enjoys dystopia.
{06} – Cake Pop Crush by Suzanne Nelson
This was the first of Suzanne Nelson’s contributions to the wish novel set that Scholastic has released. There are many more added and many more to be added. However, the six that Suzanne Nelson had first added are incredible. They are sweet stories about learning and understanding and finding your place, and they are all revolved around some kind of food. At the end of each book there are recipes that can be tried and tested, that were mentioned within the pages of the book. If I’m not wrong there is suppose to be another book coming out by Suzanne Nelson that goes with this part of the series. I am looking forward to it’s release so that I can read it! This is a great set of books for a young reader that also likes to dabble in cooking/baking.
{07} – That’s Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
This book was really hard for me to read, however, I know that it is an important book given the reality of society in todays generation. I always struggle with reading about things that are fiction yet based on real events that could happen or have happened. This book is about a school shooting, and how through all the chaos the original story of what happened was lost. There is so much about this book that will make you question the characters and make you wonder why things happened the way the happened. It will make you wonder why no one spoke up in the beginning and why it took so many years for the truth to come out. In the end it will make you wonder how someone is capable of causing so much pain, so much heartache and so much violence. I really think that this book should be a required reading in schools. I think that it could make an incredible teaching tool to help show students that violence isn’t the answer.
{08} – Strays Like Us by Cecilia Galante
This book has the potential to pull at your heart strings. It’s about a sweet girl named Fred that is a foster child. She ends up living with a single foster parent that lives next door to a guy that is mean as can be. He has a dog outside in his yard that is chained up. Fred and the dog end up getting close, torn apart and some other things happen in between and after. This book has the potential to make you cry both happy and sad tears. However, the most important thing to take from the pages of this book is that even though you feel like it, you really are not a STRAY. I think that this book could truly help foster children, if not by giving them hope or showing them that kind people do exist that even though you may feel alone, if you allow someone too, they will love you with everything they’ve got.
{09} – Seeing Red by Sarah Mlynowski
Over the years I have read each and every book to this series. My oldest daughter has since outgrown them, however, whenever a new one comes out, like me she still wants to read them. These books are incredible. They are fairytale retellings that not only teach children what the original fairytale was about, but also changes the fairytale to a more happy ending. If you have a child that really enjoys fairytales, you should definitely introduce them to these books.
{10} – The Mysterious Moonstone by Eric Luper
This is the first book in the series and I am currently working my way through the rest. The basis of this book is about finding keys that allow you to open up new books and explore inside the world the book was created. In other words you unlock the book and are transported into the story. Evan and Leo are two really smart kids that end up learning that there is a magical hidden library underneath their school library. They soon discover that the books in that library allow them to transport into the story and be a part of it. They also learn that once the story is through they need to have completed some kind of mission to get a key, that key helps them leave the story and sets them on the path to going into a new one. I really like this series. It is full of adventure and it helps to allow children to use their imaginations. Furthermore, my two year old daughter will sit on my lap while I am reading one of the books and listen to nearly the entire story before she gets bored, which for me is an added bonus!
{11} – Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Have you ever wondered what kind of life some of your favorite authors and illustrators have had? I know I have. Jarrett takes his incredible talent as a graphic novelist to a new level in his memoir. I really enjoyed the illustrations as well as the story he told within the pages of this book. I think that many children and adults alike could benefit from reading about Jarrett, his family and the many struggles that they’ve overcome. This book proves that even if your childhood is harsh or rough, that it doesn’t define you and you can have the potential to be someone more. It also proves that the past is the past and your future is whatever you choose to make of it.
{12} – Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
I remember when this series first came out that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and read it. It took me awhile but I eventually got my hands on the the entire series to date that has been released. Since it is no longer written and illustrated by Jeffery Brown. When that change happened I was wondering what Jarrett J. Krosoczka was going to do differently. I fell in love all over again with the new characters and the new drawings that he’d brought with him when he’d taken over. The thing I like most about these books is that even though it’s revolved around Star Wars in middle school that it addresses issues that are relevant to the readers. This series is one to hand onto, because I am certain that it has the potential to withstand the tides of time.
