I posted 2 pictures on Instagram in December of my favorite books from 2015. First I posted my 5 favorite chapter books that I read to the kids this year: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor; Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis; Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary; Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald; and Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner.
To be honest, I didn’t read Roll of Thunder out loud to my kids. My oldest read it in 4th grade at the beginning of the year and I wanted to talk with him about it so I read it too.
I read Bud, Not Buddy and Dear Mr. Henshaw to Blake and Clark (11 and 9). And I read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Stone Fox to Isaac (7). I had read both of these books before to Blake and Clark so I knew they were good and Isaac enjoyed both of them. In fact, my husband sat down to read some of Stone Fox to Isaac, and after Isaac went to bed Dan had to read the whole book. Because it’s that good.
My 5 favorite books that I read were: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristin D. Randle.
These books all left me happy and fulfilled after reading them. Some of them had hard subjects, but I think the stories were real and dealt with the issues so well. I felt connected to the characters, which is very important to me, but they also had excellent plots. Check them out.