Best of 2012 lists

2012 has gone by fast. Too fast. Am I the only one who thinks this has been the case? I am still brushing sand out of my T-shirts. How can it be that I am sitting in a coffee shop with a sweater AND a scarf, or that when I pick my daughter up from anywhere this week I am forced to leave the car running and the heater blasting? (Don’t hate me, I learned the hard way and had to call AAA the other night for a drained battery.)

Which brings me to the onslaught. You know, the annual Best Of, Notable, Bestselling, Head of the Class lists that decree that certain books that are not only good, but, considering all the titles and authors who published things this year, at the tippy-top of the heap. Scan down one of these lists, and you’ve pretty much scanned them all. But…and this is a biggie: They are drawing attention to not only books, but to children’s books. This is ultimately good. (Plus, isn’t it fun to read lists? It’s easy on the eye and also fun to count on your fingers the number you’ve actually read. Who’s with me?)

And so, while I know puh-lenty of incredible writers (both personally and from my intimate moments holding their tomes in my lap in said car with said engine running and heat blasting), I pay attention to these year-end roundups. I have to. We all do, if this is what we aspire to be: one of the few, the proud, the Listed. Then again, some of these designations have to do with big marketing engines, and some have to do with actual readers. Either way, they’re a way to mark the passing of yet another year in the publishing industry. Or, as I like to think of them, as the lily pads that float atop a much deeper and richly diverse pond of 2012’s kid-lit offerings.

See for yourself:

 New York Times, Notable Children’s Books of 2012

New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2012 (hi, Pickle! and congrats to Kim Baker!)

Goodreads Choice Awards, 2012: Best Young Adult Fiction, Best Young Adult Fantasy, Best Middle-Grade and Children’s, Best Picture Books

Publisher’s Weekly, Children’s Picture Books, Children’s Fiction, Children’s Nonfiction

Kirkus Books Reviews, Best Children’s Books of 2012, Best Teen Books of 2012 (hi, Devine Intervention! and congrats to Martha Brockenbrough!)

There are lots more where these came from, and surely even more to follow after the American Library Association’s annual meeting IN SEATTLE this coming January! Stay tuned!