2019 Round Up ... of LINKS to Recommendations!

As a kid, I found waiting for Christmas morning painful. Then, as an adult, waiting for New Year's chimes was nerve-wracking. At this stage of life my wait-stress comes from books-for-kids-award-announcements. The first excitement of each new year comes at noon on January First when the CYBILS AWARDS release the shortlists for all the categories. 
I'm anxious to share the news about the finalists for the two categories I helped judge, but I am also craving the results in other categories-- so MANY categories!

I've prepared this post while waiting for the announcements and timed it to provide the direct link HERE once the news is official. Feel free to stop reading and go check out the lists! Please come back eventually, though, because there are more links to follow.

Welcome back, or, if you stayed with me, I hope you'll take time today, or bookmark this page to return to, when shopping for books for home, classrooms, gifts, library requests, or simply to read and enjoy. Congratulations to all, and best of luck to the panel of judges to narrow these down to eventual winners (to be announced on Valentine's Day, February 14). 

As is always the case, our panel struggled to narrow down an outstanding field of nominees to these few, making the decisions about an eventual winner very challenging. 

Those decisions are subjective and never easy, as is clear from the VARIED posts sharing opinions about "BEST OF 2019" titles in each category. I'm including some links to a few of my favorite posts sharing such opinions. 
Can you imagine why I chose these? Naturally, it's because I respect their opinions greatly, and also because they have included so many titles with which I agree. They also tend to find and feature at least a few titles that are unknown to me. I have the luxury (and joy) to actively pursue reading as many new releases each year as possible. When a calendar turns over a new year and outstanding titles have missed my attention, they are quickly added to my library hold list. 

In the category of nonfiction books, and many others, check out the lists of recommendations from a favorite blog, NERDY BOOK CLUB. In particular, here's the link to the list of nonfiction picture books. Another link to explore is on the blog NONFICTION DETECTIVE. Finally, I encourage you to click on this post by the librarian/author/blogger/booster Betsy Bird. She posted "31 Best of" lists during the 31 days of December, with this link taking you to a page that includes links to each of the 31 category-lists of recommendations. Do the math. With ten or more titles in each list, that post alone provides more than three hundred titles across every audience and genre. Wow!

Since I am waiting to post this until after the Cybils Awards are announced, I am including here the results of the two categories in which I shared judging responsibilities. I urge you to find them, read them, and share them with others in the coming weeks and months. 

(Cover image are in no particular order.)

If you had other favorites, or authored other titles in these categories, please click on this link to posts written by author and wise woman, Kate Messner, nearly nine years ago. It is evergreen and true to this day, and on into infinity. Even if you never click on any of the above, please read her short but important poem here.