Wow, I can't believe 2018 is already almost over! It's true what they say: that each year passes a little more quickly than the one before it. Luckily, each trip around the sun also seems to bring us more beautiful and diverse picture books written by, illustrated by and featuring all sorts of different people.

If you're still looking for some gift ideas for the children in your life, consider these my suggestions! And if you don't feel like spending the money, I encourage you to visit your local public library and check some of these beauties out. Without any further ado – here are my favorite picture books of the year:
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This year there were some great (and seriously needed) books focused on breaking gender norms (Pink is For Boys, Julián Is a Mermaid​ and Teddy's Favorite Toy) and some very touching stories about serious issues that can be difficult for children to understand, like a grandparent's memory loss (The Remember Balloons [good luck not crying through that one]) and the refugee crisis (Marwan's Journey). 

There was also some very strong books promoting acceptance and understanding (All of Us and All Are Welcome), books about feeling like you might not fit in (Neon Leon and Neither) and adorable confidence boosters (I Am Enough and The Day You Begin). Of course, there were also some books with show-stealing illustrations (Yellow Kayak and Ocean Meets Sky) and heartfelt plots (Run Wild and Dad By My Side).

As an Early Literacy Librarian, I hear a lot of adults talk and ask about what books are age appropriate for their children. There are those parents of kids with advanced reading skills who closely monitor the content of what their children read for fear that the subject matter is too graphic or mature. There are also the parents who couldn't care less about what their child is reading, because really – how bad can a kid be if they want to spend their free time with a book? The later sentiment is one that resonates with me, but it is absolutely up to each parent to decide what is right for their child. 

And then of course there are those archaic rules imposed by some schools or  teachers that kids can only read books that correspond with their particular reading level. I understand the thinking behind this notion, but I cannot help but think it is absolutely crazy. Sure, reading levels are a good way to narrow down the field to match readers with potential books they might like – but it should absolutely not be the determining factor of whether or not they read it. If it's too hard, adults can read along with them to help when needed. If it's too easy, you can let them fly through it and try to steer them in the direction of something a little more challenging when they're done. In my opinion, if a kid wants to read it – let them!  Helping readers discover what they like to read does not always align with their reading level, and it doesn't have to.
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One thing is for sure – it's never too early to introduce books into a child's life. From the time a child is in the womb to the moment they take their first breath – books can make a profound impact. Below is a beautiful infographic courtesy of MomLovesBest.com about some of the benefits reading has on young minds, and how to encourage your little one to stick their nose in a book. With the holidays quickly approaching, remember that a book is a gift that keeps on giving – especially if it's the right book for the reader. In the words of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, the father of Library Science, "Every book its reader, and every reader their book."
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I love March. It starts to get warmer, the dreariness and the grey begin to seep out of the world and color returns once again. Red robins, blue skies, green grass – and then it's officially spring! But March gets even better, because it means one of my favorite times of the year is here . . .
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​One of my favorite things about being a librarian is getting to do book displays – which not only help match every book with its reader; they also give librarians a chance to boost circulation and highlight important parts of their collection that might otherwise get lost in the stacks. So naturally, March yields some wonderful Girl Power book displays.

I must point out, of course, that March shouldn't be the only time of the year strong girls and women are highlighted in your library – this should be happening every month, just as books about people of color and/or different cultures should be found in book displays year-round, not just during the months designated to honor them.

Whether you're a librarian or not, March can serve as an annual reminder for all of us about *just how important* it is to see ALL girls (and boys and others – but largely, girls) of ALL kinds represented in the media we consume and willingly and/or otherwise allow the future generation to consume!

So without any further ado, here are some of the titles I've been paying extra attention to displaying this month! Broken down into five categories, these are a few of my favorite picture books that promote women's history, feminism, bravery, strength and independence to our youngest library patrons – male, female or anything beyond and in-between!

Here are some of my favorite picture books that inspire girls to be bold, smart and strong, in addition to helping them find/embrace self-love and the true, inner beauty of themselves and others.
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Here are a few of my favorites that emphasize taking the power to the streets (and polls!), and will surely inspire future generations to be politically active, stand up and be heard, and whenever possible – lend a literal or metaphorical mic to someone else's voice that isn't otherwise being heard, perhaps maybe even because of the sound of your own.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics – they're all important fields that no child should be dissuaded from pursuing on the grounds of their identifying gender. Here are a few STEAM books that show young girls that female success in male-dominated fields is possible and important!
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There's nothing inherently wrong with girls liking pink or wanting to be a princess when they grow up. But when the vast majority of mass media and popular culture teaches girls that this is what they are SUPPOSED to like or that girls are the only one's who can like it . . . that's where I take issue. Here are a few not-so-pink and perfect stories to show just how bad ass princesses can be.

Girls are so often told to be nice, quiet and obedient while growing up. But thanks to a few noisy and persistent women banging the drum and demanding to be heard throughout history, we now are in a position where we are having mainstream conversations about equality and representation. Without these brave women paving the way for us, I don't know that we would be able to say the same.

While an unlimited flow of cash might be the ultimate pal of someone who recently purchased a house (like me!), a much more realistic and almost as helpful best bud is your local library. 

Buying a house is exciting, and if it's your first one like mine, even more so. But it can also be daunting and a bit overwhelming, particularly if you plan on doing any renovations to your new abode. While the Internet can be a great source of decoration inspiration (thank you, Pinterest), it's not always the most reliable or easy for getting reliable professional opinions – design or otherwise. And if you don't have wifi hooked up at your new house (also me, for the time being), having a physical copy of a book to look at could also be more beneficial than having YouTube tutorials eat up all your phone data.

Since my fiancé Taylor and I will have had just over a full month to work on house before we move in mid-September, we're making all (or at least most) of the cosmetic changes we want on the main floor while we are still living at our apartment. This means a couple coats of paint in every room, new hardwoods throughout, a facelift for our fireplace and a few other odds and ends ... like a new roof and new gutters, but those aren't nearly as fun or glamorous. Here are a couple of books available at my local library that I've already paged through for some design inspiration (If you belong to a public library in Kenosha, Racine or Walworth counties, just click on the book to reserve your copy today).

It just wouldn't be right if my new home did not include some built-in bookshelves, and those will be in the works soon enough. While I'm not so confident in my personal aptitude for doing the job and will be paying someone else to do it (see why the unlimited flow of cash would be nice?), if you feel handy enough to do some woodworking projects yourself, your local library also has materials that will have that covered. Looking for some landscaping ideas and tips? Your library has that too! Plumbing basics? Check. From books about being your own contractor to The Everything Guide to Flipping Houses, your library has your back. Not to mention most also have a subscription to HGTV Magazine!

So if you've recently relocated, decided to finally tackle that DIY project or are unable to suppress your HGTV obsession any longer, make sure you add a trip to your local library to your to-do list. You, your house and your wallet will be sure to thank me! ​

Why did it take me so long to read Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love? To be honest, I have no idea. That's a lie — I do have an idea. I think it was part of the title. "Eat?" Sure! I love to eat. "Love?" Absolutely! But "Pray?" Eh....

I wasn't raised religious, nor have I ever become so. If there was an official list of things I hated (maybe I'll make one?), people trying to press their religious beliefs upon others would probably be a the top of that list. For some reason I got it into my head that this is what would happen during the "Pray" section of the book, but boy, was I wrong. In fact, I think I actually ended up enjoying that part of the book the most. I didn't find it religious it all, instead I found it spiritual — and spirituality is something that I can most definitely dig. And with over 10 million copies of the book sold worldwide, I'm obviously not the only one!

Well here we are – the end of the semester and the last of my weekly book reviews for my readers' advisory class. Out of all the genres we covered, I've read more of the nonfiction titles mentioned in the class than any of the other genre books we could choose from to review. I was a journalism major in undergrad and have always loved narrative nonfiction, so it's no real surprise that I've read a lot of it.

It's easy to identify what is nonfiction in comparison to fiction, however, how to distinguish nonfiction titles from each other is much more tricky. The narrative context plays a large role. Is the book written like a novel or does it read more like interesting facts presented as research? Can an "Average Joe" (or Jane) read it easily, or does there need to be more of a specialized education to understand the material? I think the easiest way to start to narrow down what sort of nonfiction book a person is looking to read is the subject, followed by time period and/or setting. The type of nonfiction (biography, memoir, essays, letters, etc.) also plays a large role. Pacing, characterization, story line and setting are all additional determining factors for suggesting nonfiction to a reader, just as they are for fiction.

This week's assigned nonfiction title was The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, which I really enjoyed. It was rather scary though (much more of a "horror" pick for me than World War Z!) as it alluded to the likelihood of human beings causing the world's next major extinction. While I still really enjoyed the book, I found myself thinking that the pacing was a little slower than I would normally prefer, and the narrative context was a bit more scientific at times than I would have liked. However, these elements did not at all make me dislike the book. 

For the nonfiction book of my choosing, I selected Erik Larson's The Devil in White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Not only does the title sound intriguing, word on the street is that professional actor/dreamboat Leonardo DiCaprio and film genius Martin Scorsese will be reuniting for a film adaptation of the story, set to release in 2017. So naturally, I had to read the book before the movie comes out. Below is my review.

In addition to having a similar title, Joel Engel’s book L.A. '56: A Devil in the City of Angels hits on a lot of the same areas of interest as Larson’s 2002 work. Another telling of a true crime story occurring in America’s past, L.A. ’56 details Detective Danny Galindo’s quest to track down a serial rapist terrorizing the city’s young women. Detailing Los Angeles’ contentious racial relations during this historic time of segregation, L.A. ’56 is another real-life and historic thriller to be quickly read and enjoyed. Truman Capote's well-known work In Cold Blood also comes to mind as a gripping read-alike.

Out of all the genres covered in my readers' advisory class, it looks like we've saved the best genres – or at least, my favorites – for last. This week we covered mainstream fiction, which is definitely my most-read genre. To me, mainstream fiction can be determined based on how you would describe the book to another person. Some books you can clearly say, "Well it's a mystery about _____," or "It's a really exciting thriller about ____." When it comes to mainstream fiction, there isn't necessarily an easy label to describe it with like there is for genre fiction.

Mainstream fiction is more about the story itself, whereas genre fiction is about the type of story that it is, if that makes sense. Whereas I think literary fiction tends to be a bit more lofty and reminds many people of the books they've read in high school English classes, mainstream fiction generally does not require as much literature analysis, it can just be read and enjoyed for what it is while still having substance. 

This week our assigned novel was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which I absolutely loved. It had been on my to-read list for quite a while and this course finally got it pushed up a few places. I listened to the book on audio in the car and thought it was extremely well done. I'm a bit of a Francophile, so anything set it France or includes French generally gets two thumbs up from me. That, and the Museum of Natural History in Paris (where the beginning of the story takes place) is hands down my favorite museum I've ever been to. I find books and movies about WWII also tend to be pretty incredible since it was such a fascinating and devastating time in history, so there's lots for the author to work with. This book was great because it also appeals to readers of historical fiction. It checked all the boxes for me as far as character, setting, language and plot, and was the only assigned book for that class that I gave as five stars from this class (although many of them did get four). 

The mainstream fiction title of my choosing for the week was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. While I'm not always a huge fan of dystopian fiction, as I think it's been a little bit overdone as of late, I loved that this book was written in more of that literary fiction style. Below is my review.

Science fiction is a really interesting genre to me because I always sort of discounted it as not being "for me," but every Sci-Fi book I've read I've actually enjoyed. Maybe Sci-Fi is for me, I just didn't know it before. A few of the reading stepping stones I took in my readers' advisory course that made me realize I like Sci-Fi were John Scalzi's 2005 book Old Man's War and the 1979 classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy​ by Douglas Adams.

Old Man's War was the required reading for the course's Sci-Fi week, and while I initially approached it thinking, "Oh boy, a story about an old man in space ... I can hardly contain my excitement ..." I actually thought it was quite good! In particular, the humor of the book and the way it portrayed the humanity of the characters – even those who were not really "humans" – was impeccable. Overall, it was just a really well written novel with a neat concept, and one of my favorites that I've read for this class so far.

And for the Sci-Fi book of my choosing this week, I could not pass up one of the most canonical titles of the genre. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is hands down one of the funniest – if not the funniest – books I've ever read. Below is my review.

Another canonical and hilarious science fiction book is Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Similar to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this book is also a story of global destruction dripping with deadpan humor and irony, although it is a bit heavier in content. This book is another great example of a Sci-Fi “oldie, but goodie,” originally published in 1963.

Horror week in my readers' advisory class was an interesting one. I’m not one to be particularly attracted to horror generally speaking, however, once in a while it strikes me – maybe only when the moon is full? This week I found myself thinking a lot about the horror genre as it pertains to films. Many a horror book finds its way to the big screen, and generally it involves some sort of supernatural element, particularly hauntings and possessions as of late. Horror movies nowadays seem to be moving away from the psycho serial killer thing that makes up most of the classics like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween. Interestingly, the non-supernatural element that makes up canonical horror films like those listed above does not pertain to horror books, where by definition there is almost always a supernatural occurrence.

This week the assigned class horror title was World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War​ by Max Brooks, and frankly, I did not enjoy it. It was a cool concept for a book, but not for me. I listened to WWZ on audiobook, and since the book follows a whole range of global characters, the narrator changed with each person in the book, which was really neat. However, I found the book difficult to enjoy because none of the different characters or subplots really related to each other, other than the fact that they all took place after the zombie outbreak. As far as recommending this book to someone, they would definitely have to be interested in zombies to like it. A person looking for a general horror book without much interest in zombies or post-apocalyptic material would probably not enjoy this one very much. 

The horror title I chose to read for this week was Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. I personally found this one more of a supernatural thriller than a horror book, and enjoyed it quite a lot as seen in the review below. 

The next genre covered in my readers' advisory course was the one that really got me into reading. I mean, I always liked to read, but once Harry Potter hit the scene it became one of my favorite pastimes. I grew up with Harry & Co., and while waiting for the last book to come out in 8th grade, I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy to kill some time, and earlier this year finished reading all of the Game of Thrones books that have been released, so far *cough cough*. I plan to get around to the Outlander series eventually too, so I'm definitely not a stranger to big, long book series that tend to make up much of this genre!

The required class book for this week was Hounded, the first book in author Kevin Hearne's series, the Iron Druid Chronicles. While I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if I were browsing for a new book to read myself based on the cover art or book description, I found myself quite enjoying it. It has a lot of Irish folklore blended in with the usual fantastical creatures like werewolves and vampires, though not in the traditional sense. There's also some really tremendous humor in the book – particularly from the mouth of a snarky Irish wolfhound named Oberon, who can communicate with his druidic owner and the series main character, Atticus O'Sullivan. While I would read the next book in the series, I won’t be going out of my way to see what happens next. Considering all of the other great books out there I don’t feel obligated or particularly excited read the next one (at least not anytime soon).

My selected fantasy title for the week was the tremendous Neil Gaiman's, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, published in 2013 and reviewed below.