One of my favorite things about working at Scholastic is that it's my job to talk about books and reading all day long. But in the course of all this talking, there are really two types of conversations happening in the office. The first kind is driven by business: campaigns, publicity, marketing, social media and so forth.
But then there's the second kind. Like when someone pops into my office with an ARC (advanced reader copy) of a particularly buzzy title, and says, "Oh, my god, have you read this?!". Or when a book I have been dying to read finally comes out, and we have a fantastic lunchtime chat about it in our company book club. Or there's the book that gets passed around and around our department (and no one can remember who had it last) because it's just so good.
It's that second kind of conversation I want to have here today, about the books that we just personally loved in 2015.
This is what I loved this year:
George by Alex Gino: As the parent of a three-year-old, I am very attuned to the fact that my daughter's world is suddenly much more nuanced than it was even a year ago. She has a lot of emotions that she needs to manage, and she often needs help. George is the story of a kid whose life and emotions are exponentially complex, and at the beginning of the story, she is completely stressed out and alone. By the end, she has a support system. I love that.
Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel: No spoilers, but this is the story of a teenaged girl who gets a face transplant, which is a crazy ambitious premise for a book. It's clear that Sheinmel did her face transplant homework, but she doesn't get bogged down in the thing itself. Instead, she puts her heroine back at home, back at school, with her friends, and with her before-the-accident boyfriend, and asks: "so then what happened?" That's a big and complicated question to tackle!
I also asked some folks around the office what their 2015 top picks are. Morgan chose Adrift by Paul Griffin. She says, "The book is lyrical and riveting, I was holding my breath in anticipation of what would happen next." She asked if she could include two books--yes, you can!--so she also mentioned The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender, which she described as "so haunting and unexpectedly fresh." (Ed note: I read Hysteria Hall this summer at Morgan's recommendation, and loved it, too; the book is scary and totally creepy in the very best ways.)
Alex, on the other hand, has jumped on the coloring-book train. She loves the new Harry Potter Coloring Book, and says that for her, "besides reading, coloring might be the most relaxing and enjoyable pastime."
Megan loved I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest. She says, "At its core, it's a story about friendship. Anyone who has a sister or childhood best friend can appreciate the bond that May and Libby have; I loved all the nuances of their relationship. Also, I did not anticipate all of the dark suspense of this book! Don't be fooled by the pink princess on the cover."
Our librarian Deimosa reads everything and is a rock-solid source for book recommendations. She says that Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older was her favorite from 2015...and she read it twice! "The first time I read for plot and the second time I settled into the book and got metacognitive, paying attention to the quality of the prose and finding all kinds of postcolonial metaphors. I covered my book with post-its to prep for a discussion we had with the author and editor in our employee book club."
Also from the library, Tim chose Becoming Maria by Sonia Manzano. He said, "I read this recently for the Scholastic employee book club and I was taken aback by both the quality of the writing but also the gritty details that Manzano chose to include about her troubled upbringing in the South Bronx. I feel like the mark of good YA book is when an adult can enjoy it just as much as a teenager and this book definitely falls into that category."
Last but not least, Brooke recommends When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Stirling. "This is a delightfully dark, fast-paced debut that blends the contemporary world with hints of magic. A perfectly twisted read that I couldn’t put down." Brooke, you had me at "perfectly twisted"--I'm putting it on my list!
