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2012 Stand-outs

Announcing the 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs! These rankings don't use any criteria. I didn't rank them by literary merit or child appeal or artistic value. These are simply books I enjoyed thoroughly, in the order of my personal preference. I highly recommend every one of these books.



The Reading Promise
  1. The Reading Promise
    by Alice Ozma
  2. Some Assembly Required
    by Anne Lamott with Sam Lamott
  3. A Jane Austen Education
    by William Deresiewicz
  4. Map of My Dead Pilots
    by Colleen Mondor
  5. The Journal of Best Practices
    by David Finch
  6. The Boy Who Met Jesus
    by Immaculee Ilibagiza
  7. Love Isn't Supposed to Hurt
    by Christi Paul

Help Thanks Wow
  1. Help Thanks Wow
    by Anne Lamott
  2. So Good They Can't Ignore You
    by Cal Newport
  3. A Praying Life
    by Paul E. Miller
  4. Fat Is the New 30
    by Jill Conner Browne
  5. Victory Over Verbal Abuse
    by Patricia Evans
  6. The Brain That Changes Itself
    by Norman Doidge
  7. Each Day a New Beginning
    by Karen Casey
  8. The Story of English in 100 Words
    by David Crystal

How Many Jelly Beans?
  1. How Many Jelly Beans?
    by Andrea Menotti and Yancey Labat
  2. The Mighty Mars Rovers
    by Elizabeth Rusch
  3. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
    by Deborah Hopkinson
  4. Balloons Over Broadway
    by Melissa Sweet
  5. We've Got a Job
    by Cynthia Levinson
  6. Just a Second
    by Steve Jenkins
  7. Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar
    by Mitsumasa Anno
  8. Temple Grandin
    by Sy Montgomery
  9. Moonbird
    by Phillip Hoose

Heir to Sevenwaters
  1. Heir to Sevenwaters
    by Juliet Marillier
  2. Beauty and the Werewolf
    by Mercedes Lackey
  3. Sleeping Beauty
    by Mercedes Lackey
  4. Blood Spirits
    by Sherwood Smith

Midnight in Austenland
  1. Midnight in Austenland
    by Shannon Hale
  2. The Call
    by Yannick Murphy
  3. 1222
    by Anne Holt
  4. Gold
    by Chris Cleave
  5. The Spellman Files
    by Lisa Lutz
  6. The Actor and the Housewife
    by Shannon Hale


The Mysterious Howling
  1. The Mysterious Howling
    by Maryrose Wood
  2. The Spy Princess
    by Sherwood Smith
  3. The False Prince
    by Jennifer L. Nielsen
  4. Ordinary Magic
    by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway
  5. Starry River of the Sky
    by Grace Lin
  6. Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities
    by Mike Jung
  7. The Cabinet of Earths
    by Anne Nesbet
  8. Renegade Magic
    by Stephanie Burgis
  9. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
    by Catherynne M. Valente
  10. The Prairie Thief
    by Melissa Wiley
  11. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
    by Christopher Healy

Summer of the Gypsy Moths
  1. Summer of the Gypsy Moths
    by Sara Pennypacker
  2. The One and Only Ivan
    by Katherine Applegate
  3. Wonder
    by R. J. Palacio
  4. Liar and Spy
    by Rebecca Stead
  5. Twelve Kinds of Ice
    by Ellen Bryan Obed
  6. The Lions of Little Rock
    by Kristin Levine

Code Name Verity
  1. Code Name Verity
    by Elizabeth Wein
  2. For Darkness Shows the Stars
    by Diana Peterfreund
  3. Grave Mercy
    by Robin LaFevers
  4. Cinder
    by Marissa Meyer
  5. Shadowfell
    by Juliet Marillier
  6. Palace of Stone
    by Shannon Hale
  7. Keeping the Castle
    by Patrice Kindl
  8. A Confusion of Princes
    by Garth Nix
  9. The Fault in Our Stars
    by John Green
  10. The Last Dragonslayer
    by Jasper Fforde


Penny and Her Song
  1. Penny and Her Song
    by Kevin Henkes
  2. The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?
    by Mo Willems
  3. Z Is for Moose
    by Kelly Bingham
    illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
  4. This Is Not My Hat
    by Jon Klassen
  5. Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten!
    by Hyewon Yum
  6. Bink and Gollie: Two for One
    by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
    illustrated by Tony Fucile
  7. Bear Has a Story to Tell
    by Erin Stead
    illustrated by Philip C. Stead
  8. The Boy Who Cried Ninja
    by Alex Latimer
  9. Oh No!
    by Candace Fleming
    illustrated by Eric Rohman
  10. The Art of Miss Chew
    by Patricia Polacco
  11. Oh No, George!
    by Chris Haughton
  12. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons
    by James Dean and Eric Litwin