For our annual “Off the Cuff” awards, we canvassed retailers around the country. The winners of our poll (and selected bookseller comments) appear below.

Favorite Picture Book of the Year

Toy Boat by Randall de Sève, illustrated by Loren Long (“a beautiful and timeless new classic”)

Favorite Middle Grade Novel

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (“it made me laugh, made me cry, and begs to be read aloud”)

Favorite YA Novel

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Most Unusual Picture Book of the Year

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (“it’s very sophisticated, but almost entirely visual”)

Best Book Title

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Honorable mention: I’d Really Like to Eat a Child; Do Unto Otters

Most Memorable Character in a Lead Role

Kek in Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate (“he has such an unusual voice, and its cadence stays with you”)

Best Sequel

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (“no contest!”)

Honorable mentions: Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems; Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy by Jane O’Connor, illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser; The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (“hooray for Percy Jackson! he’s the new Harry!”)

Favorite Book Jacket

How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Jacques Prévert, illus. by Mordicai Gerstein

Funniest Book (tie)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (“good slice of middle-school life”); The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

Most Promising New Author (tie)

Linda Urban; Jeff Kinney

Most Promising New Illustrator

Kevin Sherry, illustrator of I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean! (“so bold, so simple, and so funny”)

Favorite Series

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Honorable mentions: The Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer; Harry Potter

Best Nonfiction Treatment of a Subject

The Wall by Peter Sís

Most Innovative/Unique Book (tie)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick ('different, imaginative and stunning”); Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder

Favorite Book to Handsell

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Honorable mentions: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (“it’s so great to convince both teenagers and their parents to read it!”)

Best Novel for Young Readers That Adults Would Love If They Knew About It (tie)

The Wednesday Wars (“every child of the ’60s would love this book”); Spud by John van de Ruit

Hottest Selling Book to Go Out of Stock

Gallop!

Honorable mentions: Diary of a Wimpy Kid; The Arrival, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Book We Could Have Sold More of with a Better Jacket

The Wednesday Wars; Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (“I couldn’t get customers past it, no matter how much I enthused”)

Oddest Request by a Customer

“A customer brought the Fancy Nancy standee to the desk and said she was offended by the explicit nature of the drawing.”

Most Unusual Complaint

“These books are printed in China. Can’t you get them printed in the U.S.?”

Funniest Thing a Kid Said in Your Store

“A child said to a staff member, 'Do you live here?’ ”

“Our storytime reader greeted the children with 'Does anyone want to come and listen to some stories?’ and a four-year-old boy replied, 'Yes. I watch too much TV.’ ”