For this edition of Top Shelf—our bimonthly spotlight on great 49th Shelf lists and posts—we set ourselves a challenge: could we assemble a bunch of lists and blog posts that would yield a book for just about any kind of kid? The answer was a resounding YES! So YES was it that we lost our minds a bit and far, far exceeded the 3–5-item format we promised to constrain ourselves to in the inaugural Top Shelf. Oh, well.
By consulting the lists provided below, you will find at least one book on:
*War and why we fight (e.g., Kids of Kabul, Why Do We Fight?)
*Science fiction/fantasy (e.g., Island of Doom, Seraphina)
*Changing the world for the better (e.g., Pay It Forward Kids, Our Rights)
*Bullying, discrimination (the entire Bullies Beware list)
*Anxiety disorders (e.g., Freaking Out)
*Living with a disability (e.g., Easy for You to Say)
*Homophobia (e.g., Homophobia)
*History (e.g., The Last Train, A Thousand Years of Pirates)
*Adventure (e.g., True Stories of Rescue and Survival)
*Feminism and strong women role models in general (e.g., Spectacular Women in Space, Courageous Women Rebels, and Scribbling Women)
*Yoga (e.g., I Love Yoga)
*Religion (e.g., The Kids Book of World Religions)
*Animals and nature (the entire Animal and Nature Books list)
*Halloween (the Great Halloween Books list)
*Fascinating stories for littler kids (e.g., Canada's Most Beloved Kids' Books list)
Without further ado, some amazing kids, tween, and teen book lists on 49th Shelf:
*2013 CCBC (Canadian Children's Book Centre) Awards Shortlists (and the 2012 version)
*Books for Big-Thinking Kids, Tweens, and Teens (big issue books—mostly non-fiction)
*Bullies Beware (all ages)
*Great Canadian Biographies for Kids (kids, tweens)
*Animal and Nature Books for Kids (older kids, tweens)
*Canada's Most Beloved Kids' Books (preschooler)
*For Those Who Love Children's Literature (preschooler)
*Great Halloween Books (kids)
*Mondo Middle Grade (for those "prickly" in-between years)
*Books for Older Teen Boys (YA and above)
In addition, we point you a few blog posts—which are lists in and of themselves—by our expert children's librarian columnist, Ms Julie Booker, of Up Up Up fame:
*On Real Women and Strong Girls
And finally, our Most Anticipated Kids and YA lit for Fall 2013!