This has been a great year for kid’s books and as usual I was completely conflicted about which books to choose! I’m at the point in my writing career where I’ve met some very spectacular published authors, soon-to-be authors, as well as aspiring authors. Knowing so many great people makes it tough to maintain a professional distance in writing my reactions to the book, so I’ve decided to include a few more categories. Now all of these books are books I either read this year

Cinder by Marissa Meyer Cyborg Cinderella. What’s not to love? It takes two of my favorite genres, fairy tale retellings and sci fi, and mashes them together. Wish I hadn’t taken so long to get around to reading it! I loved the world building (just enough detail, but not too much), loved her multicultural(?) characters (particularly the robot friend!), loved how she incorporated the cinderella story. I am in awe of how much she accomplished in only 87,000 words (according to