For those readers and list makers, nothing is more exciting than January! The time to make an amazing list of books to read for the year!
A new year and new book possibilities. Where will our reading lives take us? What adventures and emotions will we experience through the books we read. Always, there are endless possibilities.
How amazing is that?
There are so many books and limited time.
New books distract us from other books.
A must read list ensures not all are forgotten!
To read more about the challenge and add your list, read here:
Here are the 30 titles I am going to try and read over this year. I often read 70-100 novels a year, so these titles represent only a portion of my reading. And . . . I won’t necessarily get to all of them. My goal is to try and get to most of these. Including them here guarantees they remain on my radar because as I made this list, I had very good reason for placing them on it. If the reasons remain, the book will be read. That’s usually how it works.
Making a list like this – a To Read list – also allows us to reflect on the reading that we want to do. I ask myself questions like: Am I reading widely over various genres? Do I have a mix of GN, MG and YA reads? Do the novels I read include diverse characters that reflect the students I teach? The world I don’t know? The experiences I need to know more about?
Books are in no particular order (I have also included the year each was published)
Books that have lots (or at least some) of hype in my book world:
Paper Hearts by Meg Wivott (2015) Read March 24th, 2016 5/5 stars
Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo (2013) Read January 21st, 2016 4/5 stars
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson (2015) Read February 5th, 2016 5/5 stars
Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar (2016) Read May 29th, 2016 5/5 stars
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (2016) Read October 17th, 2016 4/5 stars
Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee (2016)
The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin (2015) Read March 13th, 2016 5/5 stars
House Arrest by K.A. Holt (2015) Read June 5th, 2016 5/5 stars
More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera (2015) Read February 3rd, 2016 4/5 stars
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones (2015)
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton (2015) Read January 2nd, 2016 5/5 stars
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015)
New titles from authors I love:
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo (2016) Read July 5th, 2016 5/5 stars
Booked by Kwame Alexander (2016) Read May 21st, 2016 4/5 stars
The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner (2016) Read October 2nd, 2016 5/5 stars
The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith (2015)
Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart (2016) Read March 14th, 2016 5/5 stars
Pax by Sara Pennypacker (2016) Read July 23rd, 2016 5/5 stars
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm (2015) Read January 8th, 2016 4/5 stars
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016) Read April 14th, 2016 5/5 stars
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead (2015) Read March 23rd, 2016 5/5 stars
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina (2016) Read May 19th, 2016 5/5 stars
All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor (2016) Read April 30th, 2016 5/5 stars
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (2015) Read March 21st, 2016 5/5 stars
This is the Story of You by Beth Kephart (2016) Read March 27th, 2016 5/5 stars
Sequels I don’t want to miss:
Red: The true story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff (2016) Read December 19th, 2016 5/5 stars
Stand Off by Andrew Smith (2015) Read March 19th, 2016 5/5 stars
The Odds of Getting Even by Sheila Turnage (2015) Read December 24th, 2016 5/5 stars
Winter By Marissa Meyers (2015)
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (2016) Read December 31st, 2016 5/5 stars
What novels are at the top of your TBR list? Please share!
There's a Book for That 
So many fabulous titles! Can’t wait to read Booked as well (I missed that on my list!). All American Boys is amazing.
I really love Jason Reynolds and have been anxiously awaiting another title from him. Really looking forward to this book.
Great list, some I’ve read, some I’m ‘waiting for’, a few I don’t know, but in all, the ones you’ve picked that I’ve read are wonderful. I have three of these to read for the poetry Cybils group, so soon! Thanks for all, Carrie. I’ll try to get around to others tomorrow!
I have to go look at the finalists for poetry for the Cybils. Seems like some great titles selected.
The few titles I’ve already read from your list are some of my very favorites (More Happy Than Not, Roller Girl, Goodbye Stranger, and especially Unusual Chickens which was my favorite 2015 MG of all) and you’ve listed so many that I want to read eventually as well! Can’t wait to hear what you think 🙂
So glad to hear that about Unusual Chickens. Now even more excited to read it!
Hi Carrie! It was great to see that you have some of the same titles as me! I need to add Seventh Wish to my list as well as Crossover! How can I not read those? Here is my post!
http://readingqueen14.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-year-mash-up-ncte15-olw.html
The other lists certainly make our own grow!
Great list, Carrie. I look forward to your updates. In reading this, I just remembered that I wanted to add some graphic novels (not my preferred genre at all). The ones you chose would be good choices for me, I think.
I am excited to read these graphic novel titles. Both are in our school library but often checked out!
Great list, as always. I’ll tell you the same thing I told Ricki and Kellee, start with All American Boys! Full Cicada Moon will be my first #mustread for this year!
Thanks for the recommendation Michele! I am juggling holds and due dates right now as I got a little bit request happy!
Great list! We share a few titles, you have a few that I have really enjoyed, and a few I’d like to add to my list. I listened to the audio version of All American Boys and it was fabulous. I also really enjoyed Red. I look forward to your updates!
I can’t wait to read Red! I read Rump and Jack aloud to my class last year.
A really great list, and you are right that these lists I read make my own list grow. Likely, the lists you are hosting will form the bulk of my 2017 list or be the distraction that prevents me from reading my 2016 books. We have several in common. I am halfway through Goodbye Stranger. It had me at the prologue to be honest and it is nice to be reading her work again. It certainly feels like it is written for a slightly older audience compared to her previous works. I have one ardent fan in my class, and I am not sure she can handle it yet. I think it will go well with Roller Girl, which I might read next. The first two girls that checked it out at my school loved it. I have a child at home reading Unusual Chickens and she wants to read parts to me on a regular basis. She loves it. An exciting list.
I too am a Rebecca Stead fan. So I am very excited to begin this title. Hurray for Unusual Chickens – keep hearing much that is great!
Like others, these lists are reminding me of other titles I want to read. 🙂 Good problem to have. I didn’t realize Raven King was coming out this year. So excited.
I know – this series from Stiefvater seems to have many people hooked!
It was so hard to only pick 15, and you have some on here that would have been on my long list. I too want to read Stand Off, Burn Baby Burn, and others. We both have More Happy Than Not and All American Boys—we need to start our Twitter book club again 🙂
And you will LOVE Roller Girl and Sunny Side Up!
It would be great to start our Twitter Book Club again! Currently reading More Happy Than Not and just finished Sunny Side Up!
Hi Carrie, I also love your book suggestions! I’m late to the game but posted my list today. I hope it is still okay to link up with your challenge. I’ve included a link back to you.
I have a question – what app do you use to make your book cover collages?
Hi Claire I just Pic Monkey – really easy! Thanks for joining!