Roundtable Discussion: Favorite Books of the Year

Joni Sensel

As much as I enjoyed reading both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire this year, I have to admit that my favorite was an older one — M.T. Anderson’s Whales on Stilts. I laughed out loud in public reading this book, and I think it’s brilliant.

K. A. Holt

My oldest son is in the second grade this year and really learning to love books. He and I read together nightly, and right now we’re about halfway through with Suzanne Collins’ Gregor the Overlander (the first of the Underland Chronicles series). This book has been out for sometime, but my son is just now old enough to really enjoy it. It has to be my favorite book of the year so far, because it’s been so surprising in parts, making us both giggle uncontrollably as we read together. It’s not a new book, and we haven’t even finished it yet, but we’re really loving it.

P. J. Hoover

I started reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan and couldn’t put it down. I loved the explanation for the zombie disease, how grim the world was, and how the author was not afraid to raise the stakes. I can’t wait for the sequel, The Dead-Tossed Waves, in 2010.

Parker Peevyhouse

I really enjoyed the main character of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me. I loved the scene in which she contemplates the entire history of the world in order to decide if her problems really matter in the grand scheme of things. And of course, the ending was interesting and a great discussion starter.

Jo Whittemore

This year, I returned to an old favorite…Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I love this book because it’s lighter in tone than his usual work, and I find it comforting. The characters are memorable, even the small ones, and the story is so very sweet. It’s a love story, an adventure, a fantasy, and a comedy with a twee bit of steampunk mixed in.