For our annual “Off the Cuff” awards, we asked booksellers around the country for their picks in a variety of categories. The winners (and selected comments) appear below.
Favorite Picture Book of the Year
The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (“a masterpiece”)
Honorable mention: Otis by Loren Long (“a wonderful classic feel and a great story of friendship”)
Favorite Middle Grade Novel of the Year
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (“blew everything else out of the water”)
Honorable mentions: The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (“she's worked her magic again”); The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech (“characters, language, and message so endearing”)
Favorite YA Novel of the Year
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (“well written, real feelings, complex plot”)
Honorable mentions: If I Stay by Gayle Forman; Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Favorite Book Title
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Honorable mention: Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett, illus. by Adam Rex
Most Memorable Character in a Lead Role
Marcelo on Marcelo in the Real World
Honorable mentions: Micah in Liar by Justine Larbalestier (“I don't know whether to believe her, but she stayed with me”)
Favorite Sequel
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Honorable mentions: Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko; The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Favorite Jacket
The Lion & the Mouse
Honorable mentions: Otis; The Curious Garden by Peter Brown; Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Funniest Book
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney (“his snarky comments transcend generations”)
Most Promising New Author
Jacqueline Kelly for The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Favorite Book to Handsell
When You Reach Me (“parents are thrilled to find a smart middle-grade novel that isn't an issue book”)
Honorable Mention: Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel (“he visited and had everyone howling”)
Favorite Series
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (“why won't they give us ARCs for #3?!?”)
Honorable mention: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (“a great handsell for reluctant readers”)
Favorite Poetry Book
The Tree That Time Built by Mary Ann Hoberman
Favorite Audiobook
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (“we love books read by their authors!”)
Best Nonfiction Treatment of a Subject
14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy (“opens the doors for questions, reflection, and discussion of 9/11”)
Most Innovative Book
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (“we don't know where to shelve it, but we love it”)
Book You Couldn't Shut Up About
When You Reach Me (“I was handselling it even when it wasn't in stock”); Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Most Overdone Subject
vampires/paranormal romance
Honorable mention: “feisty girls in early chapter books”; “turning awesome songs into lame picture books”
Hottest Book to Go Out of Stock
LEGO Star Wars
Honorable mentions: Bubble Trouble and Ounce Dice Trice (“thanks to NPR”)
Most Disappointing Book (in Terms of Sales)
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus, illus. by Mark Burgess (“the Hundred Acre Wood changed too much and lost its magic”)
Most Effective Marketing Campaign
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (“large standee, bookmarks, etc.!”)
Happiest to See Back in Print
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Honorable mentions: Life Story by Virginia Lee Burton; “the last six books in the Betsy-Tacy series”
Oddest Request by a Customer
“Do you have children’s books?” “Well, yes, this is the children’s section.”
“It’s about a little girl, I think she had a yellow dress on but the story was not about that, and it was written a long time ago.”
Boy, about six: “Do you have books for kids? Like books not for adults, but for kids? Like short novels? But books not for adults?”
“A child was looking for ‘the third Penderwicks book,’ which she claimed to have seen online. The title of it was Die Penderwicks. Turns out she had seen a listing for the German-language edition, not a book about the demise of the beloved Penderwicks.”
Most Garbled Title Request
Tales of a Loser and Nerdy Kid
“Do you have Angela Lansbury's A Raisin in the Sun?”
