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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThat person’s name is Mina and she is a mouse. We began to find piles of rice in the most unexpected places recently, underneath displays, inside boxes in our storeroom. The rice was coming from our neighbor, the Farmington House of Pizza, but Mina was clearly bringing it through the wall to cache at DDG as she obviously liked to read between foraging expeditions. I asked her to rally round and select and annotate this year’s holiday picks. Here is her report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n“Always happy to help,” that is my motto. Help myself to rice and books I mean. Hah! But all right then, when Kenny asked me to step forward and put my editorial teeth to use I said sure. There were four categories that really had an embarrassment of riches this year, and that was Picture Books, Read Aloud Chapter Books, Young Adult and Middle Grade and Adult fiction. I was struck by the unusual strength of literary fantasy this year, with Naomi Novick’s A Deadly Education<\/em>, V.A. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie Laroux<\/em>, and Susannah Clarke’s Piranesi<\/em> all on the table. I had to choose all three! That left only one slot and I couldn’t neglect Liz Moore’s powerhouse of a detective story, Long Bright River<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n For picture books I had a real personal struggle in leaving off Carson Ellis’ quirky new In The Half Room<\/em>, I mean it totally spoke to me. I personally leave half things lying around due to my foraging prowess after all. Still, how could I leave off the genius of Foodie Faces<\/em>, the wonder of Lift<\/em>, the subtle brilliance of Sun Flower Lion<\/em>, or the gravity of The Ranger<\/em>. I could not!<\/p>\n\n\n I had two slots open for Read Aloud Chapter Books and there are four big releases there. I ended up giving a miss to Tony DiTerlizzi’s Kenny and the Dragon<\/em> sequel, Kenny and the Book of Beasts<\/em>. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t nearly as cohesive as its predecessor and, more importantly leaving it off the list was putting one in Kenny Brechner’s eyes, namesake denied! Also there was The Magicians<\/em> author Lev Grossman’s The Silver Arrow<\/em>, his middle grade debut. It’s a nice story, with some real literary flourishes, but it is perhaps a mite bit too nice. A little more peril please. My picks were the absolutely delightful Our Friend Hedgehog<\/em> and Skunk and Badger<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n With only two slots this year for YA and Middle Grade the strain was severe. I wanted a book grounded in the present and it pained me not to pick Brandy Colbert’s excellent The Only Black Girls in Town<\/em>, or Nic Stone’s terrific Clean Getaway<\/em>. I mean that one really spoke to me, we industrious mice are all about clean getaways believe me. But I decided to choose Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal’s I’m Not Dying with You Tonight<\/em>, definitely a cautionary tale for us nocturnal creatures. I also picked Stefan Bachmann’s gloriously creepy Cinders and Sparrows<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/9781524766719-1.jpg\")
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