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The best books lists are abundant and here!  So very exciting, yes?  I do love this time of year, and so it makes sense to begin with the cream of the crop.  I refer, of course, to NYPL’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2012.  Split into seven different categories (Picture Books, Folk and Fairy Tales, Poetry and Song, Stories for Younger Readers, Stories for Older Readers, Graphic Books, and Nonfiction) the list has been around for precisely 101 years and is decided by the NYPL children’s librarians who go above and beyond the call of duty in reading EVERYTHING they can get their hands on.  Seriously, those folks are the best.  I tip my hat to them.

• In other best books areas, over at Tablet we have the best kids books of 2012 containing Jewish themes and characters.  How Marjorie Ingalls finds them all I do not know, but she is meticulous!  I thought I’d seen everything but there were definitely a couple titles in there that flew under my radar (Sons of the 613, anyone?).  Horn Book also came up with their Fanfare Books of 2012, and I was very very pleased to see Jimmy the Greatest on there.  Woot!  PW separated their top children’s books into the categories of Picture Books, Children’s Fiction (YA is sorta just crammed in there), and Nonfiction (only four titles?!?).  Finally there was the Notable Children’s Books of 2012 list by the New York Times which has some truly eclectic ideas.

• By the way, if you want to see other best children’s book lists in this vein, there’s a Pinterest page of them up and running.

• In other Pinterest news (a sentence I can honestly say I’ve never written before), Nicole Deming of the CBC let me know about some cool children’s literature-related Pinterest lists they’ve created and that you might want to put on your radar.  There’s Favorite Vintage Kids’ Books, Kids’ Book Creators, Kidlit Maps (maps from children’s books, old and new), and Kidlit Illustrators We ♥ .  Thanks for the heads up, Nicole!

• I don’t usually do this but once in a while you meet a new or upcoming author who just catches your attention fully.  I met a 6th grade schoolteacher in town the other day by the name of Torrey Maldonado.  Torrey’s the author of the YA novel The Secret Saturdays.  Knowing he worked in a public school I asked what he knew about Common Core.  Quite a lot, it seems, since he created an entire page on his website dedicated to the Core and how to teach his book using it.  To top it off, I’ve gotta say that I haven’t met an author with the sheer levels of enthusiasm and charm of Mr. Maldonado in a long time.  Keep your eye on this fellow.  I predict big things.

• Newsflash: Young Latinos don’t see themselves in books.  Duh.  Duh duh duh duh duh.  It’s a really weird fact, and absolutely true.  You go out there and find me an early chapter book series starring a Latino girl and I will give you a cookie.  Go on.  I’m waiting.  I’ve got all day.

• Okay. Now I’m officially depressed.  I was sorting through some books earlier today and I discovered the most recent “Amelia Rules” by Jimmy Gownley called Her Permanent Record.  I own all of the Amelia Rules books except this one so I was pleased to down it during my lunch break.  Then I went online just now to see when the next book in the series will be out . . . only to find that that was the LAST ONE.  Hunhuna?  Now that is depressing.  I’ve deeply enjoyed this series for years and years now, and to think that it’s over fills me with a kind of strange dread.  Gownley hasn’t entirely ruled out the possibility of more Amelias in the future . . . . but still, man.  It’s kinda hard to take.

• The Dudes of YA, a “Lit-Erotic” Photo Spread.  We would have also have accepted the term “The Hot Men of YA Literature”, but I suppose that would be copyright infringement or something, eh long-time readers who get my reference?

• Look me in the eye.  Now tell me this amazing new invention will not now appear in hundreds of middle grade spy/mystery novels.  A pity you can’t get them in time for Christmas.

• Friend and YA author Daphne Benedis-Grab writes an excellent article over at She Knows about raising a girl in a day and age where beauty standards have never been more impossible to attain.  It’s called Raising a girl to be more than a pretty face.  Testify!

• PW Children’s Bookshelf linked to some pretty thought provoking articles this week.  My favorite: Leonard Marcus at Horn Book talking about book jackets . . . for picture books!

• In other news, PW did a very strange bit of reporting.  It mentioned the recent 90-Second Newbery at Symphony Space, which was a packed house and a big success.  However, there is a VERY odd lack of any mention about the organizer, YA author James Kennedy.  Read the piece and you’ll have the distinct impression that it happened spontaneously and without his back-breaking work.  Reporting fail, PW my dear.

• Changes are afoot at The New York Times.  Looks like they’re separating out their children’s books from their YA fare, a move that is excellent and long overdue.  Well done, old gray lady.

• I got the following message from Jane Curley of the Eric Carle Museum and I am passing it on because it sound bloody blooming amazing: “I’m giving a talk for the Victorian Society on 19th century British picture books. It’s on Tuesday, December 11 at 6PM at the Dominican Academy, 44 East 68th St.It’s free, no reservations required, and I’ll be showing some gorgeous pictures! The link is below. Cheers, Jane http://metrovsa.org/calendar.htm“.

• Daily Image:

I ran about the internet trying to find the perfect thing for today’s post but in the end I had to come back to the washable keyboard.  The perfect gift for your favorite hypochondriac this holiday season.

Thanks due to AL Direct for the link.

* Do you want boys to write? Start a blog! A primary school in Greater Manchester, England, claims that getting students to blog has helped make writing “cool.”

Pupils at Heathfield County Primary in Bolton regularly write blogs which are published on the school’s website.

Formerly, boys especially were not interested in writing, said the school.

But the number of students blogging has flourished while their results have risen almost seven-fold.

“The enthusiasm levels of the children are really, really high,” said deputy head David Mitchell who has pioneered online teaching at the school which includes blog writing.”

* Eight fights not worth having with your children (Check out #2). Judith Ancer writes:

2. It’s not worth fighting with your kids about what they’re reading, unless they’re not reading at all.

* Local football players visit classrooms to inspire boy (and girl) readers. Reports Linda Stein:

Photo: Geoff Patton.

TOWAMENCIN —     Not even shoulder surgery could keep T.J. Smink from reading to students at General Nash Elementary School.

Smink, a center for the North Penn High School Knights who’s also a baseball player, was one of 70 football team members who fanned out to elementary schools in the district to read to younger children for the annual Reading Super Bowl on Thursday.

Cheryl Neubert, a parent who spearheaded the event in 2005, said the event  has grown over the years to include all 13 elementary schools in the district.

<snip>

“A lot of kids look at football stars as their ideals,” [reading specialist Stacie] Moseley said. “A lot of boys, reading isn’t their priority.”

* The Brown Bookshelf, an absolutely great blog, recently ran a terrific interview with author Torrey Maldonado, a public school teacher who has some things to say about boys and reading:

“If we want better men, we must get more boys reading, period. Boys from A to Z connect to Secret Saturdays. I joke and say I use a few magic tricks to grab the interest of guys. Here’s one secret: I wrote Secret Saturdays so alpha male teens wouldn’t feel soft carrying it. And they do. On one hand, a maximum security jail for high school boys asked me to visit because their inmates LOVE my book and, on the other hand, honor roll student-fans phone i

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