It’s that time! To recap, here’s my reading wrap-up from 2021, and here’s my mid-year reading round-up from early July 2022; when I’ve listed titles below, I’ve focused on those I read between July and December. Without any ado at all, the numbers and the breakdown:

Total number of books: 558.

Partially read or started-didn’t-finish: 19. Like previous years, a mixed bag of fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, poetry, and books I started reading with the kiddo but she whisked away to finish on her own.

Picture books: 226

• Sonya’s Chickens by Phoebe Wahl
• Sometimes I Grumblesquinch by Rachel Vail
• A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall
• Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast by David Ezra Stein
• Puppy Bus by Drew Brockington
• Except Antarctica by Todd Sturgell
• How Old Is Mr. Tortoise? by Dev Petty
• Out On A Limb by Jordan Morris
• Mina by Matthew Forsythe
• Don’t Eat Bees by Dev Petty
• Tía Fortuna’s New Home by Ruth Behar
• Watch Out for the Lion! by Brooke Hartman
• Beatrice Likes the Dark by April Genevieve Tucholke
• El Chupacapras by Adam Rubin
• That’s Not My Name by Anoosha Syed
• Gibberish by Young Vo
• John’s Turn by Mac Barnett
• Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall
• Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett
• Books Aren’t for Eating by Carlie Sorosiak
• Shoshi’s Shabbat by Caryn Yacowitz
• Knitting for Dogs by Laurel Molk
• Like by Annie Barrows

Early readers: 15

• Cornbread & Poppy by Matthew Cordell
• Ollie & Bea by Renee Treml
• See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog by David LaRochelle
• It’s A Sign by Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey

Chapter books: 11

• Crimson Twill: Witch in the City by Kallie George
• Wednesday Wilson Fixes All Your Problems by Bree Galbraith
• Twig & Turtle 6: No Hard Feelings by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Middle grade: 116

See the first half of the year’s titles in the 2022 mid-year round-up; I still stand by all of them! Between the MCBA award titles and Heavy Medal, there have been plenty of excellent middle grade titles to read this year. Here are a few of my favorites that I read between July and December:

• Monster Club by Darren Aronofsky
• The Secret Battle of Evan Pao by Wendy Wan-Long Shang
• Focused by Alyson Gerber
• Tumble by Celia Pérez
• The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden
• Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• The Insiders by Mark Oshiro
• A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser
• A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga
• Attack of the Black Rectangles by A.S. King
• Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee
• Violet and Jobie in the Wild by Lynne Rae Perkins

YA: 38

• When the World Was Ours by Liz Kessler
• Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
• I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman
• Family of Liars by E. Lockhart
• The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
• A Year to the Day by Robin Benway
• Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
• The Peach Rebellion by Wendelin Van Draanen
• I Miss You, I Hate This by Sara Saedi
• Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore
• Whiteout by various authors

Graphic novels (overlap with other categories): 52

• Garlic and the Vampire and Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen
• Witches of Brooklyn: S’more Magic by Sophie Escabasse
• Bunnicula by James Howe
• The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat
• Lightfall (books 1 and 2) by Tim Probert
• Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
• Marshmallow and Jordan by Alina Chau
• Catherine’s War by Julia Billet
• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
• Ducks by Kate Beaton

Adult fiction: 41

Picking up where I left off in June 2022…

• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch by Rivka Galchen
• Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
• Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
• Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks
• Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

Adult nonfiction: 30

• How Old Am I? by Julie Pugeat
• How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
• Once Upon a Time We Ate Animals by Roanne Van Voorst
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• Go Back to Where You Came From by Ali Wajahat
• Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid
• Use Scraps, Sew Blocks, Make 100 Quilts by Stuart Hillard
• Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson
• Deaf Utopia by Kyle DiMarco
• What Can A Body Do by Sarah Hendren
• Things to Look Forward To by Sophie Blackall
  

  

Children’s nonfiction: 36

• Africa, Amazing Africa by Atinuke
• Dragon Bones by Sarah Glenn Marsh
• Washed Ashore: Making Art from Ocean Plastic by Kelly Crull
• Orangutans Are Ticklish by Jill Davis
• Girl Running by Annette Bay Pimentel
• Flowers Are Pretty…Weird by Rosemary Mosco
• Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Martin Briggs
• Pizza! A Slice of History by Greg Pizzoli
• How to Build A Human: In Seven Evolutionary Steps by Pamela Turner

Short stories/essays: 20

• These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
• I’ll Show Myself Out by Jessi Klein
• Mother Noise by Cindy House
• She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson
• The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken
• We Show What We Have Learned & Other Stories by Claire Beams
• The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
• Ancestor Approved by Cynthia Leitich Smith and others

Audiobooks: 17 (but actually many more if re-reads count)

• The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
• A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser
• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
• Star Crossed by Barbara Dee
• Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Coville
• Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
• The Best At It by Maulik Pancholy
• Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
• A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks
• Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

Five-star ratings: 34. A pair of nonfiction books about food (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Once Upon A Time We Ate Animals), some excellent adult fiction (Our Missing Hearts, Sea of Tranquility, True Biz, The Marriage Portrait, and Hester), and plenty of middle grade fiction and picture books, mentioned above. (But you know, I think I have to mention that fantastic page turn in Mina yet again. “Oh, I see the problem…”)

Re-reads: Unknown number, mostly picture books and chapter books or middle grade audiobooks, like the Hamster Princess series by Ursula Vernon and the Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker. And we listened to The Ogress and the Orphans on a road trip after I’d read it in print (it’s great both ways).

WeNeedDiverseBooks: 155, or 27.7% of the total, which is higher than last year (good!) but I plan to do even better next year.

LibraryThing Charts and Graphs: It looks like there’s an option to filter by year, but it isn’t working right now. Let’s assume that, as in past years, I’ve read more female and nonbinary authors/illustrators than male, and more American, Canadian, U.K., and Australian creators than those from elsewhere.

And that’s a wrap for 2022! Hat tip to Betsy Bird’s “31 Days, 31 Lists” for highlighting kidlit titles I might have missed otherwise.