Ms. Anderson's ATM

December is always part excitement, a little anticipation, and a dose of stress. And this year is no different. How do I balance the variety of challenges and demands? Well, I read of course!

Right now I'm happily juggling three books. Each one is a delight in its own way.

But that is not the only reason I'm on reading high alert. It is also "Best of 2020" season! That's right, this is the season that publishers and reviewers announce their favorite books of the year. And as you know, lists of books make me positively giddy.

Here are the lists I anticipate each year:

• Publishers Weekly,

• New York Times,

• Seventeen,

• Horn Book Awards,

• National Book Award,

• ALA Best Fiction 2021 Nominees,

• Good Reads Choice Awards

How do I use these lists to create lists of my own? I scan through them all and jot down the titles that I notice are repeats across all of the lists. This gives me a place to start and refocus my reading for the new year. And as you may have guessed...two of the books I'm reading right now are from this very list! Becoming Ali and Cemetery Boys are both repeatedly mentioned across different lists and are the first two I'm committing to. What else is only my short list?

1. Trowbridge Road,

2. Tweet Cute,

3. We Are Not Free,

4. Felix Ever After

5. The One and Only Bob

Happy reading everyone!

Ms. Anderson