To make my year-end recap a bit easier, I sometimes do a mid-year recap of favorite books I’ve read so far. “Favorite” is defined loosely (I’ve never been able to stick to a top ten), but these are books that I really enjoyed, that I will recommend enthusiastically to others, and that I think will stay with me. Over the past few years, my reading has skewed heavily toward middle grade fiction and picture books (as is obvious below), and as always, the books I read between January and June 2021 were not necessarily published in 2021 (though some were).

Adult Fiction

• Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia: If you liked The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin as a kid, your grown-up self will love this.
• We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
• Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia
• Afterlife by Julia Alvarez
• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes: If you liked Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller but wondered what the women in the story were up to…
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: Like unreliable narrators, journal-style narrative, and portal fantasy (e.g. Slade House by David Mitchell)? Enjoy.
• The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken
• Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher: Wildly inventive fairytale fantasy adventure, both gruesome and hilarious. (T. Kingfisher = Ursula Vernon)
• The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Adult Nonfiction

• You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe
• The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri (see also: Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri)
• Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen
• Save the Cat! Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody
• Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
• Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America by Laila Lalami
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Young Adult

• The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
• Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (see also: The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri)
• A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
• Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
• Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore
• Kent State by Deborah Wiles (audiobook)
• Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
• Switch by A.S. King
• Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
• Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

Middle Grade

• Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte (graphic novel)
• Hamster Princess (series) by Ursula Vernon: Do not be silly like I was and avoid these books because of the glitter on the covers. Ursula Vernon is a genius, and these fractured fairytales with their hamster hero are perfection.
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
• Ruby Lu (3-book series) by Lenore Look: Ramona and Clementine, make room.
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk
• History Smashers (nonfiction series) by Kate Messner
• The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
• Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan
• Katie the Catsitter by Colleen AF Venable (graphic novel)
• The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book by Kate Milford
• Starfish by Lisa Fipps (novel in verse)
• Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
• The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park
• Ancestor Approved by Cynthia Leitich Smith (ed.)
• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Hilda (series) by Luke Pearson
• Peter Lee’s Notes from the Field by Angela Ahn
• The Boys in the Back Row by Mike Jung
• The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga
• Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden
• Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston: The magic and adventure and world-building of Harry Potter, but imagine if Harry was as smart and resourceful as Hermione (and Black and American)
• Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
• Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera

Early Readers

• “Living In…” (series) by Chloe Perkins (nonfiction, geography/history)
• Fox & Chick (series) by Sergio Ruzzier
• Haylee & Comet by Deborah Marcero

Picture Books

• There’s A Skeleton Inside You! by Idan Ben-Barak & Julian Frost
• When We Are Kind by Monique Gray Smith
• Sootypaws by Maggie Rudy: A brilliant and beautiful Cinderella retelling
• Lonesome George, The Giant Tortoise by Francine Jacobs & Jean Cassels
• The Polio Pioneer by Linda Elovitz Marshall & Lisa Anchin
• All the Way to the Top by Annette Bay Pimentel & Nabi Ali
• Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham
• Everyone Gets A Say by Jill Twiss & EG Keller
• A Family Is A Family Is A Family by Sara O’Leary & Qin Leng
• Just A Minute by Yuyi Morales
• What A Lucky Day by Jashar Awan: Gives stereotypes a poke in the eye.
• Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
• Laxmi’s Mooch by Shelly Anand & Nabi Ali
• Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon by Kat Zhang & Charlene Chua (sequel to Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao)
• This Is the Rope by Jacqueline Woodson
• Scarlet’s Tale by Audrey Vernick & Peter Jarvis: If there was a Kid’s Choice Award at my house, Scarlet’s Tale would have the picture book category locked down. See also: Imogene’s Antlers by David Small.
• The Farmer trilogy by Marla Frazee
• A Small Kindness by Stacy McAnulty & Wendy Leach
• Animals Brag About Their Bottoms by Maki Sato: A perfect storytime book for all ages.
• Neville by Norton Juster
• Watercress by Andrew Wang & Jason Chin
• Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison & Brianne Farley
• Let’s Dance by Valerine Bolling & Maine Diaz
• My Tiny Life by Ruby T. Hummingbird by Paul Meisel
• Dessert Island by Ben Zhu
• Oh Look, A Cake! by J.C. McKee: It’s I Really Want the Cake meets A Hungry Lion, Or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals.
• I Am Not A Penguin: A Pangolin’s Lament by Liz Wong: See also The Angry Little Puffin by Timothy Young
• There Must Be More Than That! by Shinsuke Yoshitake
• Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe & Jos. A. Smith
• In the Half Room by Carson Ellis
• The Oboe Goes BOOM BOOM BOOM by Colleen AF Venable & Lian Cho: There are many wonderful picture books about musical instruments, but this one is louder than all the others, and I mean that in the best way possible.
• Bird House by Blanca Gomez
• A Second Is A Hiccup by Hazel Hutchins & Kady MacDonald Denton
• Avocado Asks: What Am I? by Momoko Abe: For those that don’t fit neatly into checkboxes.

It’s been an excellent half-year of reading. What are some of your favorite books that you’ve read/listened to so far this year? What are you looking forward to? There’s going to be a great batch of new books published this fall (including, even, a few written for adults, from authors such as Lauren Groff, Sally Rooney, Amor Towles, Ann Patchett, and Mary Roach). Whatever else happens this fall, at least there will be books.