December is a festive month, but it is also a reflective month.  One of my favorite things is perusing through “Best of the Year” lists-especially books.  I love seeing some of my favorites included on these lists, but I also love adding new titles to my TBR lists (and I think Amazon loves it, too).  My own children are getting so many books this year-I might not be able to wait until they are done to start a few!

So in the spirit of giving, I offer you some of the BEST OF BEST lists I’ve enjoyed so far this season. They are by no means exhaustive, and I would welcome in the comments any lists that you would like to recommend.

Children’s Book Choice 2015 Finalists

GoodReads Choice Awards 2015 Winners

2015 Children’s Lit: The Year in Miscellanea-School Library Journal

Chicago Public Library Best of the Best

Amazon’s Best Children’s books of 2015

Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books 2015

The Best Picture Books You Didn’t Hear About in 2015 (But Should Have)

Barnes and Noble Teen Blog best of 2015

NPR’s Book Concierge 2015

New York Times Best Illustrated Books of 2015

What’s On My Book Radar?

CHALLENGER DEEP- 2015 National Book Award Winner

Caden Bosch is a talented high school student whose friends and family are starting to notice some very strange behavior.  As Neal Shusterman takes us into the mind and the deep sea world of Caden, we begin to see the world through his eyes and thoughts, and reality becomes hard to discern from fantasy.  I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it.  My understanding of and empathy for mental illness has expanded exponentially. Shusterman has his readers grapple with what is real and who’s who the way his character does with such creative compassion and clever composition-somehow describing the indescribable.  I’m not sure all teens will want to wrestle with the complexities of this incredible book, but those who do will come out the other side a changed person.