In 2016 I didn’t read a book written by a teenager, a book set in South America (well, I counted it in my Eisner square), a book with a dog on the cover, a book written by a mouse, a book with a character who is autistic, a book set at the North or South Pole, or a book where the narrator has a terminal illness. But I read a lot of books that I'll never forget!
Looking back, I realize that there are 49 different squares on the Scholastic 2016 Reading Bingo challenge that we posted on OOM in January, which is definitely a lot! Perhaps I got carried away while making it… but I do tend to have high expectations.
My final tally: 7 bingos and 42 books.
Here is my list:
- An Eisner Award winner: Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
- A Pura Belpré winner: Drum Dream Girl, by Margarita Engle and Rafael López
- A Schneider Family Book Award winner: Emmanuel’s Dream, by Laurie Ann Thompson and Sean Qualls
- A Coretta Scott King Award Winner: Knock Knock, by Daniel Beaty and Bryan Collier
- A Printz Award winner: I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson
- A Newbery Award winner: Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt De La Peña and Christian Robinson
- A Caldecott Award winner: Finding Winnie, by Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall
- A Batchelder Award winner: The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy, by Béatrice Alemagna and Claudia Zoe Bedrick
- A Stonewall Book Award winner: This Day in June, by Gayle E. Pitman and Kristyna Litten
- A Geisel Award winner: Don't Throw it to Mo!, by David A. Adler and Sam Ricks
- A Sibert Book Award winner: Funny Bones, by Duncan Tonatiuh
- A CSK John Steptoe Award winner: When I was the Greatest, by Jason Reynolds
- A Morris Award winner: A Curse Dark as Gold, by Elizabeth C. Bunce
- A book set in Australia: Feeling Sorry for Celia, by Jaclyn Moriarty
- A book set in Canada: The Animals’ Santa, by Jan Brett
- A book set in Africa: A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer
- A book set in the Middle East: The Rose and the Dagger, by Renée Ahdieh
- A book set in Europe: Unbecoming, by Jenny Downham
- A book set in the past: The Book Itch, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie
- A book set in Asia: The Garden of Evening Mists, by Twan Eng Tan
- A book that is set in a fantasy world: The Sleeping Prince, by Melinda Salisbury
- A book set in a place you want to visit: Space Dumplins, by Craig Thompson
- A book set in the future: The Last Full Measure, by Trent Reedy
- A book that features music or dancing: The Lightning Queen, by Laura Resau
- A book that takes place on another planet: The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot, by Margaret McNamara and Mark Fearing
- A book that involves time travel: Longbow Girl, by Linda Davies
- A book that takes place under water: Deep Blue, by Jennifer Donnelly
- A book where the narrator is disabled: Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork
- A book written by someone from your home state: Kill the Boy Band, by Goldy Moldavsky
- A book written by a parent: Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- A book with a horse on the cover: The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater
- A book with a cat on the cover: Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses, by James Dean and Kim Dean
- A book with a fairy on the cover: Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella, by Megan Morrison
- A book with a fly on the cover: Prince Fly Guy, by Tedd Arnold
- A book with a dragon on the cover: Dragones y Tacos, by Adam Rubin, Daniel Salmieri and Teresa Mlawer
- A book with a lion on the cover: Cecil’s Pride, by Craig Hatkoff
- A book with a dolphin on the cover: Echo’s New Pet, by Cathy Hapka and Hollie Hibbert
- A book with an elephant on the cover: An Elephant in the Garden, by Michael Morpurgo
- A novel written in verse: The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
- A wordless book: Where’s Walrus?, by Stephen Savage
- An illustrated or graphic novel: Ghosts, by Raina Telgemeier
- An epistolary novel: The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet, by Natasha Farrant
It is impossible for me to pick a favorite, but I will acknowledge that I should have read Marcelo in the Real World a looooong time ago, and now I mourn the years that I have lived without it. It was definitely one of the best books I have read in a looooong time! And there are two more that I loved that are not on the board: Jason Reynold’s All American Boys and Sharon Cameron’s The Forgetting. Both books are “thinkers” in their own way, and I find myself recommending them constantly.
It’s exciting to look back over the year and see how my book biography continues to grow. Next year I want to challenge myself to read more graphic novels; I’m toying with the idea of reading them exclusively! We shall see.
Look for our 2017 Scholastic Reading Bingo in January!
