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Everyone's favorite
Christian next door is at it
again. Say amen.

Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott. Riverhead, 2014, 304 pages.

Hard conversations
that we can't seem to have well.
Alles fleisch indeed . . .

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. Metropolitan Books, 2014, 304 pages.

P.S. Apparently I took a weeklong blog break. Oops. I'm only mortal . . .

Eggs, bacon, cocaine --
just your average 1970s
diner fare.

Over Easy by Mimi Pond. Drawn & Quarterly, 2014, 272 pages.

Come for the wordplay,
stay for the illustrations.
Chickens are funny.

The Case of the Weird Blue Chicken (Chicken Squad #2) by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Atheneum, 2014, 112 pages.

A perfect last-minute
gift for your favorite
post-college wanderer.

An Age of License: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley. Fantagraphics, 2014, 189 pages.

A little trite, but
SO true to the modern
fifth-grade experience.

Kate the Great, Except When She's Not by Suzy Becker. Crown, 2014, 272 pages.

Crazypants fever
dream of a noir-ish mystery.
Femme fatales rule.

Kill My Mother by Jules Feiffer. Norton, 2014, 148 pages.

The Parent-reader
in me didn't find this
as funny as the Kid.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney. Amulet, 2014, 224 pages.

Clementine's spark for
a younger crew: My First
Magical Realism?

Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon. Dial, 2014, 176 pages.

The perfect gift for
your favorite nerd. Plus,
the robot apocalypse.

What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe. HMH, 2014, 320 pages.

A cold slap of water
in the face on the problem
of poverty.

Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado. Putnam, 2014, 195 pages.

I wish I could have
any faith that Joey will
be okay. RAAAAGE. Sigh.

The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos. FSG, 2014, 176 pages.

Similarities to
Grasshopper Jungle
do not go unnoticed.

100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith. S&S, 2014, 288 pages.

For Armistice Day,
a look at a truly pointless,
horrible war.

Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood: A World War I Tale (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales) by Nathan Hale. Abrams, 2014, 128 pages.

Great option for
My First Graphic Novel: snappy,
funny, includes pants.

Mr. Pants: It's Go Time! by Scott McCormick. Dial, 2014, 128 pages.

All my (and my kids')
favorites in one handy volume?
Yes please. More please.

Comics Squad: Recess! edited by Jennifer L. Holm et al. Random House, 2014, 144 pages.

Worth it for the
James Marshall shoe story alone.
Read it and weep, folks.

Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature by Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson, and Peter Sieruta. Candlewick, 2014, 288 pages.

Classic middle-grade
about mean girls, nice girls, and
doing the right thing.

Always Abigail by Nancy J. Cavanaugh. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2014, 320 pages.

Innovative and
effective take on
unmentionable disease.

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling by Lucy Frank. Schwartz + Wade, 2014, 272 pages.

I don't even want
to think about how bad this
pickle guy must smell.

Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus by Tom Angleberger. Amulet/Abrams, 2014, 224 pages.

Never underestimate
the persistence and
power of band nerds.

Fat Boy vs. the Cheerleaders by Geoff Herbach. Sourcebooks Fire, 2014, 320 pages.

Sensitively done;
a testament to the power
of great theatre.

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky. Hyperion, 2014, 256 pages.

I don't understand
how Alvin's parents didn't
EFFING MURDER HIM.

Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions by Lenore Look, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Schwartz & Wade, 2014, 176 pages.

I didn't quite get
how the time travel worked, but
I didn't quite care.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin's Press, 2014, 320 pages.

Rich, weird, and thoughtful;
takes "unreliable narrator"
to new heights.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer. Dutton, 2014, 272 pages.