It is always hard to keep my top ten lists to a ten, and this week proved no different. So here is a dozen for you for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl and I am really looking forward to these books, and hoping to get started with reading them soon.

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Really Looking Forward to these Books

From Picture Books to YA

• A Bit of Earth by Karuna Riazi. (8 – 12 years, and up). A Secret Garden as well as Other Words for Home reference – that is all I needed. Plus the sweet cover and all else this story entails. This ensured the book is here on this list.
• How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander. (4 – 8 years, and up). Well, of course it is on this list. First, Kwame! Second, I read and totally enjoyed his How to Read a Book a while ago.
• The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate. (8 – 12 years, and up). I need to read this one but first want to read The One and Only Ivan again (read it with my teens when they were littler and can’t recall everything) and then read the second book in the series before getting to this (started it but couldn’t finish it for lack of time then).
• Once Upon a Book by Kate Messner and Grace Lin. (4 – 8 years, and up). This power duo means I have to / must / need to read this book soon.
• When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left by Marc Colagiovanni and Peter Reynolds. (4 – 8 years, and up). Such a cool take on being optimistic and choosing our own way in life! I know I need to read this, and I am sure it will help anyone and everyone regardless of age. I recently read and reviewed (and fell in love with) Reynold’s The Word Collector!
• While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai (Teen and YA). So much to look forward to in this book that I am not sure what to expect and also what I will end up loving this book for (see, I am sure I will love it already!)

And the Rest

• The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson. The title of the book is enough to draw me in. Given that I somehow always end up reading any books about WWII as well as those about books/libraries/reading itself, this one is a must-read for me.
• The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian. This series has so much promise and I hope more books keep coming for me to keep reading! And those creative covers!
• Letters to a Writer of Color edited by Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro. For some reasons, books which contain collections of letters from/to/about writers call to me. Having read Writers’ Letters earlier, I know I will enjoy this one too.
• The Spectacular by Fiona Davis. Another author who is becoming a must-always-read-her-books author. And having recently watched the movie See How they Run somehow makes me want to read this book sooner! (Have you seen that movie yet? If you haven’t watch it now! So very spectacular!)
• Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo. Given how much I loved The Poet X, I should have devoured the rest of her books (and if you look at this earlier post, I wrote pretty much the same thing – worded a little differently!) Okay, this is my year of finishing all her books.
• The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende. I keep adding books by Allende to my lists, and this time I plan to finish reading this one. I truly enjoy her writing but somehow seem to start reading her books right after I need to return them to the library or they expire. So maybe it is time to own a few 🙂 Plus, the title and that beautiful cover!

The Ones that Got Missed (or Did they?)

I have a few (well, who am I kidding? It is many, many, many) more on my list including

• Mirror to Mirror by Rajani LaRocca
• Lois Lowry’s The Windeby Puzzle : History and Story
• The Power of Language by Viorica Marian
• 100 Poems To Break Your Heart by Edward Hirsch
• On Air with Zoe Washington by
• The Woman in the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Helped Fly the First Astronauts to the Moon by Richard Maurer
• Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller
• The Paper Daughters of Chinatown: Adapted for Young Readers from the Best-Selling Novel by Heather B. Moore; Allison Hong Merrill

Related Reads

Other similar lists plus books similar to or related to ones on the above list

• The Paris Library, another wonderful WWII book based around a library. Read my thoughts here.
• The Book of Lost Names

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you read or heard about any of these books? What are your thoughts and recommendations?