Reading Roundup: 2014

By the Numbers
Picture Books: 107
Early Readers: 13

Sources
Library: 115

Standouts
Writing: Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald No Combina by Monica Brown (chosen in March)
"As a kid who "didn't match" myself, I really appreciated this story of a little girl nimbly balancing between two cultures."
Illustration: Have You Seen My Dragon? by Steve Light (chosen in May)
"The intricacy of the pages (there are so many details to pore over!) are balanced by the simple pen-and-ink style, with one element that pops out in color. A visual treat of New York City, and all the places a dragon can hide therein."
Overall: Gravity by Jason Chin (chosen in October)
"A picture book about one of the forces holding the universe together? Why yes, I've got one right here! In simple, accessible prose suitable for storytime (!), Chin explains gravity, how it works, and how it affects us, with bonus stunning visuals."

My resolution last year was to find more early readers. From 3 up to 13 is definitely more, but I still feel like I'm missing a lot. So that resolution will carry over.

And now my admission. These numbers, much as I love them, are not entirely accurate.

I do an average of two storytimes a week, and my staff puts on two more. We share books with each other on a constant basis, and I'm always grabbing one from the shelf right before the start of storytime "just to see if it will work." Upshot? I read a lot of picture books that I don't record here.

That affects me in more ways than being able to present a total at the end of the year. I use my LibraryThing database to find books to order for storytimes, to do readers' advisory, even just to figure out, "Ooooh, there was that one book, with the mice, and the umbrellas, and ARGH!" Having it as up to date as possible can only help me.
 
So my other resolution for this year is to actually record everything I read. Wish me luck.