I’ve been writing books reviews on my blog since 2011, and this year I was able to publish my 1,000th review! As I work through the 125 titles I read in 2023, I’m highlighting my Top 5 favorites in the following categories:
- Top 5 Fiction Reads*
- Top 5 Nonfiction Reads
- Top 5 Christian Reads
- Top 5 Children’s Reads (this post)
* I call them “reads” not “books” because they were read (not published) in 2023.
1. A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer (1996)
From the very first page of this book, I knew I held an instant favorite in my hands. I was initially drawn to the book aesthetically, when I first saw Feiffer’s clever illustrations in the thrift store, but I fell in love with his writing when I read it aloud to my kids. Multiple times, we laughed at the absurdity of the story and Feiffer’s interactions with his readers, and it’s 100% a book we’ll return to someday. It’s a permanent fixture on our shelves now, along with Roald Dahl and others. Best book I’d never heard of.
2. The Vicar of Nibbleswick by Roald Dahl (1991)
We’d spent all of 2022 working through Roald Dahls’ books but had a few left over in the Spring. This (along with Going Solo and Boy) were among our all-time favorites. Dahl wrote The Vicar of Nibbleswick for The Dyslexia Institute, and the Vicar character suffers from an acute form of verbal, back-to-front dyslexia, which makes for some very humorous situations (and of course, this is where the name Esio Trot comes from). It was a super fun story, short but with Roald Dahl’s wit on full display.
3. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (1950)
This is an oldie but yet another goodie. I’d never read any of the Pippi Longstocking books growing up, and I thought when I started that maybe they’d be too childish for my kids (ages 10 and 12 at the time). But delving in, we found these books incredibly fun and with a character so unique she just brightens up every page. Nothing seemed to be lost in translation when these books were brought over from Swedish to English, and we enjoyed the third book, Pippi in the South Seas, almost as much as this first one.
4. Crash at Cannibal Valley by Jerry B. Jenkins (1996)
Christian fiction is not supposed to be as good as this—well, I mean it’s supposed to be, but it rarely is! Of course, most people know Jerry B. Jenkins for his role in the Left Behind series, but he’s more prolific than that. This book about a missionary plane crash in Papua Indonesia is an intense adventure—realistic, violent, deadly—on par in style with Gary Paulsen yet rising above The Brian Saga due to its biblical undercurrent. Jenkins only published 3 of these novels, and I’m sure their Christianity kept them from going mainstream, but they’re amazing books, and I’m very glad we found them.
5. The 39 Clues, Book 1: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan (2008)
It’s always a joy to discover a new-to-us series that the kids and dad both enjoy. We’re now 10 books deep into The 39 Clues, and it’s proving to be exactly that. I count this first book as one of the year’s favorites because it was the hook that drew us into the series. Much like with A Series of Unfortunate Events, this series combines mystery, danger, treasure hunts, and games in the lives of brother-and-sister orphans, though without the same quirkiness of Lemony Snicket. I thought we’d get bored with it (since they’re finding clues at a rate of less than one per book!), but so far we’ve maintained interest and look forward to what lies ahead.
©2023 E.T.