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Lucy takes her grandparents
on the worst/best cruise ever:
Heart-wrenching.

Displacement by Lucy Knisley. Fantagraphics, 2015, 168 pages.

Everyone you meet
is fighting a battle you
know nothing about.

Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles. Candlewick, 2015, 336 pages.

More than your garden-variety
quirky middle-grade.
Trilobites!

Moonpenny Island by Tricia Springstubb. Balzer + Bray. 2015, 304 pages.

CRAZY HOT GHOST ACTION!
Or, Why You Might Not Want
to Visit UK.

The Shadow Cabinet (Shades of London #3) by Maureen Johnson. Putnam, 2015, 400 pages.

Oh, my heart: hard truths,
decisions for my (second-)
favorite fifth grader.

True Things (Adults Don't Want Kids to Know) by Jimmy Gownley. Atheneum, 2010, 176 pages.

It's Spring! With Batty!
And you will cry and cry and cry.
And then rejoice,

The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall. Knopf, 2015, 352 pages.

A satisfying
goodbye to one of my
favorite knuckleheads.

Completely Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee. Hyperion, 2015, 192 pages.

It feels like Alaska
outside, so snuggle in
with Bo and the gang.

Bo at Iditarod Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Holt, 2015, 288 pages.

Behold: your go-to
gift for the karate* kid
in your life. (*I know.)

Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny by John Himmelman. Holt, 2014, 144 pages.

To adore this book
as much as I did, turn to
page one. Keep going.

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris. Crown, 2014, 304 pages.

Masshole makes good,
makes us all laugh, kicks some a$$
in the process. Rock on.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Dey Street Books, 2014, 352 pages.

I had a crush on
Ed Grimly and I'm not
ashamed to admit it.

I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short. Harper, 2014, 336 pages.

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 . . .

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.

Some parts haven't aged
well, but overall, as awesome
as I recall.

The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations by Ellen Conford. Little Brown, 1976, 220 pages.

(Ignore the "TWO PAWS UP BOOKS" in that image. Jackets of OP books are hard to find . . . )

Add to your list of
Debuts That Knock It Out of
the Park. Powerful.

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang. Greenwillow, 2014, 304 pages.

Way more fun than a
Victorian setting has
any right to be.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry. Roaring Brook, 2014, 351 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.