One of the things that makes a first-round panelist’s job so hard is the act of working with everyone to narrow down the list to five to seven books. When you have nearly 100 books on the list (or more sometimes!) that means, inevitably, really great books were not going to make the shortlist. We’d like to take a minute to have some of our panelists highlight books that they feel were great but didn’t quite make the shortlist.
Sondra Eklund, a panelist on the YA Fiction/Speculative Fiction panel pointed out that these two end-of-series books were fantastic, but didn’t quite make the cut:
Return of the Thief Sonderbooks Book Review of Return of the Thief
The Queen of Nothing Sonderbooks Book Review of The Queen of Nothing
And Katie Michols, a panelist for the Easy Reader/Early Chapter Books category, thinks these early chapter books deserve another mention!
Charlie and Mouse Outdoors Katie’s Review
Princess in Black and the Giant Problem Katie’s Review
Fort Builders Happy Tails Lodge Katie’s Review
Mack Rhino and the Candy Caper Case Katie’s Review
Another Easy Reader/Early Chapter Book first-round panelist, Claire Norland seconded Princess and Black and the Giant Problem and wanted to add Layla and the Bots to the list. Keep checking back! We’re sure there will be more to add here!