Best Books 2007 lists

I love lists. One of my favorite books when I was in elementary school was a kids' book of lists. It was a big book (page wise and length wise) I think the title was The Big Book of Kids' Lists. It had an orange cover and was paperback. I checked it out numerous times from the library. Before librarians became more concerned about patron privacy, patrons would sign their name on a card (located in a pocket at the end of the book) and the circulation assistant would stamp the card, letting you know when the book was due. When used by a country library, this is awesome information to know who else has read the book. I know I wasn't the only one to read the cards, because I was informed when a friend or classmate checked out a book that I had checked out, and I did the same thing (our library was small, but well used). This can prove to embarrassing, as well as very nosy, which is why this practice has been discontinued.

Now, lest you think that my hometown was filled with nosy dorks, let me tell you that that wasn't the case. It was actually rather rare-but not unheard of-to find an acquaintance's or family member's name on the card. Which is why it was funny when it happened. Stop making fun of me. Not much else was going on in this town.

(However, the fact that all the circulation assistants/librarians either knew my mom, went to my church, was one of my friends' moms, or worked with my aunt at the local middle school, or a combination of the above, in addition to knowing me since I was in first grade, further dampened any desires to check out anything scandalous, providing that there was anything that could be thought of as scandalous in the collection.)

My name was printed (and later scripted) numerous times on the card located inside this book. The lists were annotated and covered everything from breakfast cereals to the best amusement parks. Really fun reading. I still love reading these types of books, which is why I read those fantastic Lonely Planet and those Do Whatever Before You Die books.

For list lovers and book lovers, the end of the year is a great time to scour magazines and newspapers for their 2007 best books lists. Unfortunately, there's no website (that I can find) that's keeping track of all the lists. As I find them, I'll post them here. If you're looking for holiday gifts, these are great shopping guides.

Since this is a children's/YA literature blog, I'll start with the children's/YA literature lists:

School Library Journal

Horn Book

Washington Post

New York Times Best Illustrated Books

Kirkus Review

Publisher's Weekly

Los Angeles Times

Time magazine

New York Times Notable Children's Books

Philadelphia Inquirer

Nestle 2007 Children's Book Prize (from the UK Booktrust-some titles may not be available in the States)

That's all I can find, so far. In my next post, I'll link to general 2007 lists, which may or may not include children's/YA books.