At CLiF’s recent Rural Library Conference, attending librarians submitted their “hottest” book for kids and middle readers.
Kids, picture books
The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems (6 librarians picked this book as the hottest): “everyone loves pigeon!” and Elephant and Piggie: “Always popular, fun to read!”
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins (3 librarians ranked this hottest): “It’s a silly dinosaur book!”, “It’s funny and school just started.”
Llama Llama series by Anna Dewdney (2 librarians ranked these hottest): – “kids relate, clever rhyming, colorful pictures.”
Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima (2 librarians ranked these hottest): “great pictures”
Mother Bruce series by Ryan T. Higgins (2 librarians ranked these hottest): “funny, and Bruce has great eyebrows!, “it’s a funny and silly book with really interesting/engaging illustrations.”
Almost Everybody Farts! by CLiF Presenter Marty Kelley: “Duh! Gas is hysterical!”
Potato Pants by Laurie Keller: “It’s a silly book and fun to read out loud.”
Ten Little Dinosaurs by Pattie Schnetzler: “Great rhymes and googly eyes.”
The Good Egg and The Bad Seed by Jory John: “funny!”
Crinkleroot series by CLiF presenter Jim Arnosky: “because it is about nature.”
Silverlicious series by Victoria Kann: “I guess because they are ‘licious”
Dinosaurs Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri: “humor, dinosaurs, what’s not to love?”
Little Blue Truck series by Alice Schertle
Field Trip to the Moon by John Hare: “wordless, totally engaging and complex with heart.”
The Owl Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson: “subject and great illustrations.”
Hooray for Hat by Brian Won:– “we’ve read it many times as storytime – kids love the “grumpy” illustrations.”
Kids, early chapter
Tales of Sasha series by Alexa Pearl (2 librarians ranked these hottest)
Bear Grylls Adventures series by Bear Grylls (2 librarians ranked these hottest): “High interest, action,” “a diverse cast of characters.”
The Princess in Black series by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
Kids, middle grade
Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey (9 librarians ranked these hottest): “Kids love the Dog Man series,” “thick book – kids feel like readers.”
Anything by Raina Teigemier and Ben Hatke (4 librarians ranked these hottest): “kids love the graphic novels!”
Explorer and Amulet series by Kabu Kibuishi (3 librarians ranked these hottest): “boys and girls like it.”
Last Kids on Earth series by Max Brallier (2 librarians ranked these hottest): “zombie mayhem!”
The Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan (2 librarians ranked these hottest): “extension of Percy Jackson.”
Harry Potter (2 librarians ranked these hottest): “still! Magic is awesome!”
Berrybrook Middle School series by Svetlana Chmakova: “graphic novel series, it’s a graphic novel, they’re all popular!”
Refugee by Alan Gratz: “great stories, resonate with kids.”
Two Dogs in a Trench Coat series by Julie Falatko: “great book that is very funny!”
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series: “history themed.”
Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce
The Warrior series by Erin Hunter: “they love the epic world of cats!!”
Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland: “dragon!s”
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart: “just a great book, all ages.”
Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs for younger middle grade; Cherub series by Robert Muchamore for older middle schoolers
Best Friends and Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyan Pham: “best middle school graphic novel.”
I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis
Kingdom of Wrenlay series by Jordan Quinn: “It’s exciting and has nice big font for early readers.”
The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer: “the kids enjoy the twisted plots that are just the right blend of dark, surprising, and fun.”
Baby Mouse series by Jennifer Holm: “easy level graphic novel.”
