2013 Boswell Bestsellers--Focus on books for Kids.

I decided to separate the books out per The New York Times and Publishers Weekly (Bookscan) bestseller lists, sorting picture books, intermediate, and young adult. The problem is of course that some early readers are clearly picture books while others are intermediate. And our young adult section straddles intermediate in teen. In the end, I consolidated our six classifications for age range into the three categories I saw on the national lists--board books were classified with picture books, chapter books were part of intermediate, and young adult and teen were grouped together as young adult. I think that left us with newborn+, age 6+, and age 10+. If I had gone with 12+ for young adult, I would have had to divide up one of our sections, and I have too many other things to do. And that's why we generally group the kids' bestsellers together, or at most separated out by hard and soft. It's just to complicated.

Picture Books:
1. I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom with illustrations by Richard Scarry
2. Locomotive, by Brian Floca
3. Mr. Wuffles, by David Wiesner
4. The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt with illustrations by Oliver Jeffers
5. Bugs in my Hair, by David Shannon
6. Jumping Penguins, by Jesse Goossens with illustrations by Mrije Toman
7. Goodnight Moon (board book), by Margaret Wise Brown
8. Goodnight Wisconsin, by Adam Gambe and Mark Jasper
9. Steam Train, Dream Train, by Sherri Duskey Rinker with illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld
10. A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip Stead with illustrations by Erin Stead
11. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury
12. Time for Bed, by Mem Fox with illustrations by Jane Dyer
13. The Lovabye Dragon, by Barbara Joosse with illustrations by Randy Cecil
14. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
15. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, by Sherri Duskey Rinker with illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld
16. You are My I Love You, by Maryann K Cusimano Love with illustrations by Satomi Ichikawa
17. The Journey, by Aaron Becker
18. The Little Mermaid, by Robert Sabuda, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen
19. Moonshot, by Brian Floca
20. The Dark, by Lemony Snicket, with illustrations by Jon Klassen
21. No, David!, by David Shannon
22. Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt
23. The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
24. Almost an Animal Alphabet, by Katie Viggers
25. Little Wisconsin, by Kathy Jo Wargin and Michael Glenn Monroe
26. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?, by Bill Martin with illustrations by Eric Carle
27. Art and Max, by David Wiesner
28. Tuesday, by David Wiesner
29. Flotsam, by David Wiesner
30. Cowboy Boyd and Mighty Callipe, by Lisa Moser with illustrations by Sebastian Van Donick

Hey, only 3 of our top ten titles in this category are event books. Compare to middle grade below, where there's only one book in the top 10 that is not connected to an author visit. We'd honestly love to get more picture book authors touring here.

Middle Grade:
1. Desmond Pucket Makes Monster Magic, by Mark Tatulli
2. Better Nate than Ever, by Tim Federle
3. Found, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
4. Doll Bones, by Holly Black
5. Hold Fast, by Blue Baillet
6. The Seven Wonders Volume 1: Colossus Rises, by Peter Lerganis
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Volume 8: Hard Luck, by Jeff Kinney
8. Mary Nohl: A Lifetime in Art, by Barbara Manger and Janine Smith
9. The Keeper of Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger
10. Penny and Her Marble, by Kevin Henkes
11. Heroes of Olympus Volume 4: House of Hades, by Rick Riordan
12. Squirrels on Skis, by J. Hamilton Ray with illustrations by Pascal Lemaitre
13. Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo
14. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
15. The Bully Book, by Eric Kahn Gale
16. The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
17. The Seven Wonders Volume 2: Lost in Babylon, by Peter Lerangis
18. The Candy Shop War, by Brandon Mull
19. The Travelers: Present in the Past, by Elaine Schmidt
20. The Missing Volume 6: Risked, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
21. The Despearate Adventures of Zeno and Alya, by Jane Kelley
22. Fablehaven Volume 1, by Brandon Mull
23. Poems to Learn by Heart, edited by Caroline Kennedy
24. Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage
25. The Beyonders Volume 1: A World Without Heroes, by Brandon Mull
26. Fortunately, The Milk, by Neil Gaiman
27. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Volume 7: The Third Wheel, by Jeff Kinney
28. Nature Girl, by Jane Kelley
29. Penny and Her Song, by Kevin Henkes
30. Wildwood, by Colin Meloy

Julie Bosman reports in The New York Times about the new position of Ambassador for Young People's Literature, appointed by the Library of Congress. The first honoree is Kate DiCamillo, who is required to appear at the National Book Festival (in DC?) and  National Children's Book Week (in New York) Should she not be able to fulfill the duties, she must relinquish the crown and the title will pass to the first runner up.

Young Adult:
1. Infamous, by Lauren Conrad
2. Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson
3. The Fault in our Stars, by John Green
4. Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
5. The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde
6. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
7. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
8. One Came Home, by Amy Timberlake
9. Divergent Volume 1, by Veronica Roth
10. Just Ella, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. Song of the Quarkbeast Volume 2, by Jasper Fforde
12. Out of my Mind, by Sharon Draper
13. Allegiant Volume 3, by Veronica Roth
14. The Maze Runner Volume 1, by James Dashner
15. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
16. The Girl who Navigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne Valente
17. Unwind Volume 1, by Neal Shusterman
18. Mockingjay Volume 3, by Suzanne Collins
19. Shadow Falls Volumes 1 and 2: Born at Midight/Awake at Dawn, by C. C. Hunter
20. The Testing Volume 1, by Joelle Charbonneau
21. Insurgent Volume 2, by Veronica Roth
22. Counting by 7s, by Holly Sloan Goldberg
23. The Hunger Games Volume 1, by Suzanne Collins
24. More than This, by Patrick Ness
25. Fault Line, by C. Desir
26. Catching Fire Volume 2, by Suzanne Collins
27. The False Prince Volume 1: Ascendance, by Jennifer A. Nielsen
28. Paper Towns, by John Green
29. The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson
30. The Knife of Never Letting Go Volume 1: Chaos Walking, by Patrick Ness

Three authors on the above lists are scheduled for events in 2014. Patrick Ness will be at Boswell for his adult novel, The Crane Wife, on Wednesday, January 29, 7 pm. Sheila Turnage will be at Boswell for the follow-up to Three Times Lucky, called The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, on Wednesday, February 19, 7 pm. And we've got something scheduled for Tim Federle on Tuesday, February 4, only the details aren't quite set in stone yet.