Best Reads of 2012 (6th in a series)

One of my favorite books that I read this year was Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (Easy) by James Dean and Eric Litwin.  It's a cute picture book which is not only totally groovy, but educational, too!  Super-smooth Pete is being cool and singing about his buttons when one pops off.  Uh-oh!  But Pete just keeps grooving, because four minus one still leaves him with three!  The bright cartoon colors are attractive to children, and the brief text is ideal for Pre-K children learning their numbers.  In the end, even after Pete loses all four buttons, he doesn’t lose his cool because he still has his belly button!  Way too much fun!

Aliens on Vacation (Juvenile) by Clete Barrett Smith is a good, clean, ridiculously silly and fun book for those who like aliens – which I do!

We Can’t All be Rattlesnakes (Juvenile) by Patrick Jennings is the tale of a gopher snake who matures in kindness through her experience in captivity.

In Shakespeare’s Secret (Juvenile) by Elise Broach, twelve year old Hero has moved once again, but this time she is befriended by an elderly neighbor and a popular boy who help her solve the mystery of the Murphy Diamond and uncover interesting secrets about Shakespeare’s possible true identity.

For those who love sports and especially baseball, Heat by Mike Lupica (Teen) is a very exciting story about a twelve year old named Michael, a star baseball player living in the Bronx, who hides a mystery about his family until the absence of his birth certificate threatens his ability to play in the Little League World Series.


Julie Boyd
Youth Services Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (5th in a series)

A list of some of my favorites this year:

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Adult)
Playground by 50 Cent (Teen)
Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (Teen)
Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Teen)
Between the Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Teen)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Teen)
Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt (Teen)
Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Sheinkin (Juvenile)
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce (Easy)

Denise Leeson
Youth Services Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (4th in a series)

Best Books Read in 2012

The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
Cain by Jose Saramago
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
The Way Things Look to Me by Roopa Farooki
Room by Emma Donoghue
How to Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward
Love Stories in This Town by Amanda Eyre Ward
The Odds by Stewart O’Nan
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist