Jenna's Top 11 of 2011

Everyone loves to make 'best of' lists this time of year - and I am no exception. After much hair pulling and rearranging I have come up with a list of my favorite reads of 2011. I wanted to make sure that I had an equal-ish number across categories and age groups, so this is by no means all of my favorites (I have a disproportionate number of fiction reads that I loved but couldn't include, if I was going to have an interesting list). Without more nostalgic sniffling about time gone by, here's the top 11 of 2011!

Jenna’s Top 11 of 2011

Fiction – Adult

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

·         Children’s librarian Lucy is kidnapped by one of her favorite 10-year-old patrons (or is it the other way around?). The two embark on a road trip that helps them both wrestle with the challenges that face them.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

·         Humanity fights to survive hordes of robots bent on world domination. The book is well written, philosophical and interesting despite the take-no-prisoners action feel.

Nonfiction – Adult

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden

·         Two girls from well-to-do families on the East Coast decide to take a teaching job in a tiny settlement out west during the early 1900s.

Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors

·         During the summer a journalist travels to New Mexico to take his place as a fire lookout in one of the state’s national parks.

Nonfiction – Children or Teen

How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg

·         This book describes in gruesome detail how a bevy of famous historical figures died.

Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication by Ann Downer

·         Discusses the different sounds that elephants makes and posits why they make them. Did you know that elephants squeak?

Fiction – Children or Teen

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

·         Seventeen-year-old Karou has always lived a double life. Some of the time she’s an art student in Prague and the rest she runs errands for a fantastical group of creatures. It isn’t until Karou meets a seraphim named Akiva that she begins to unravel the mystery of her past.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

·         After moving to Nigeria an albino named Sunny discovers her magical heritage. A richly imagined world (and a new method of making magic!) that takes place deep in Africa.

Horton Halfpott, or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor, or, The Loosening of M'Lady Luggertuck's Corset by Tom Angleberger

·         A lowly kitchen boy has adventures with cruel masters, romance, bumbling detectives and ferocious land-bound pirates.

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

·         Alternately tells the stories of two children from opposing tribes in Africa. One is a boy fleeing war and the other is a girl who has to make a grueling daily hike simply to get water.

The Secret Box by Barbara Lehman

·         A group of students discover a box hidden under the floorboards with instructions to a mystery location. This is a wordless picture book.