Best of 2013 – My Top Five Books for Younger Readers

If you have been following along at home, we have been covering my 2013 reading and picking out favorites.  We kicked it off on New Years Day with some basic statistics …

  • 73 total books read
  • 17,705 pages
  • 49 were fiction
  • 20 were aimed at Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Children’s audiences
  • 24 were non-fiction
  • 12 were audiobooks

… and I listed my top five in the fiction category.

Yesterday, we tackled Non-Fiction.  Today I want to discuss a third category which I am calling books for younger readers.  I read a mix of young adult, middle grade, chapter books, children’s literature, etc.  So I am going to just include all of those in their own category.

So here are my five favorites from that grouping:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

I had this on my To Be Read list for sometime and my mother-in-law was kind enough to buy it off my wish list.  I then saw in audio format at the library and decided to listen to it in the car. It turned out to be nothing like I expected but it was creative and entertaining enough to make this list. I will post a review here shortly.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

When we think of imaginative fantasy you often think of world building-authors who create alternate worlds that are so detailed and functional that they seem real. Stiefvater instead creates these wonderful characters and uses them to illustrate how magic infuses our world. The result is a captivating mix of the weird, quirky, wonderful and dangerous.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

This is a series that pulls you forward even as you seek to savor it.  It balances those equally enjoyable sensations and that is what makes it great.  If you like fantasy, and/or paranormal, young adult literature this series is a must read.  But the characters and prose are enjoyable no matter what genre you tend to read. Good storytelling escapes easy classification and this is good storytelling.

Fortunately, The Milk by Neil Gaiman

It takes a simple concept like running to the corner store to buy milk and turns it into an adventure. There is creative word play, whimsical characters and even a few plot twists. I enjoyed the wit and creativity of the story. My kids loved it as a read-aloud bedtime story. And I my third grade daughter can read it on her own. And we all loved the evocative illustrations which add another layer of fun to the story. Truly a book for the whole family.

The Sandman and the War of Dreams (The Guardians #4) by William Joyce

I have enjoyed this series (both the chapter books and the children’s picture books) and so grabbed this one from the library just before vacation. It turned out to be a great addition and perhaps my favorite of the series so far.  Interesting characters and some tension filled plot twists make for filling in the back story on the guardians a fun ride.  Look for a longer review soon.

So there you have it. Two books (and a new favorite series) from an author I had not read before, two books from favorite authors, and an unexpected but entertaining book from another author I had not previously read. Not surprisingly, all have a fantastical element as that is mostly the genre I read in the younger reader group.  But all were unique in style and tone with very different authors.  Fun all around.

Kevin Holtsberry
I work in communications and public affairs. I try to squeeze in as much reading as I can while still spending time with my wife and two kids (and cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Michigan Wolverines during football season).

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.