My 2012 Year in Review

Hello All. I hope that you all had a fabulous year in 2012...even amidst the natural disasters, man-on-man violence, and predicted apocalypses every other month! I managed to have a pretty great year and I sincerely hope for a happy and healthy year in 2013 for all of us!!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some of the things that made my 2012 pretty great...and since this is a book blog, I'll also finish out the post with the list of books I read this year in case anyone wants to scroll through them all (I'm warning you now...it's A LOT of books and you may not want to take the time...).


Personal Things:
*Three of my best friends had their first babies (Addison, Zackary, and Beau) and I became forever more known as "Auntie Librarian" LOL.

*One of my best friends had the most gorgeous winter wedding.

*I finished writing the first draft of my YA novel and began the editing process. (Here's to self-publication in 2013 *fingers crossed*!)

*One of my best friends self-published her first book, The Secret World of Alaina Downs.

*I lost 17 pounds in 4 1/2 months (and that includes the holiday season!).

*I kissed a pig! A big pig. A bookish pig...and it was hilarious!

*Have been living vicariously through a High School friend's adventures in Australia... you can check out her blog here.



Work Things:
*I hit my one year anniversary at my new job, which I still LOVE!

*I not only read over 80 books just for this year's nutmeg selection committee, but I became Co-Chair of the 2015 Teen Nutmeg Selection Committee (CT State book award nomination committee for grades 7 & 8) which will be starting officially in February.

*I started a second book blog for my job, which you can find here. It's called Flippin' Pages at WSPL.

*I created Pajama Storytime at my Library...mostly so that I can wear pajamas to work once a month!!

*I discovered that Pinterest is a WEALTH of potential craft ideas for storytime and that I am an excellent craft replicator. :)



Bookish/Blog Things:
*Hit my 1000th post on the blog

*Created an online scavenger hunt for author, Alex Lidell, whose debut book, The Cadet of Tildor, will come out next week!

*Found out my blog was mentioned on a thank you page in the paperback copy of Marissa Meyer's Cinder!

*Participated in Roecker Sisters' The Lies that Bind Vlog Tour.

 *Interviewed 5 traditionally published and 2 self-published authors on the blog.
 
 *I attended BEA for the fourth year in a row, and attended the Children's Author Breakfast for the first year. I even covered the event for YALSA's The Hub!  

*...and speaking of The Hub, I started blogging for them in January 2012.  

*I was a judge for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award in the Young Adult category for the third year in a row...and this year one of my choices to push through to the next tier of judging actually WON the whole thing!! So exciting.

*I got over my insane fear of circus books (delayed trauma from a book I was forced to read in college that scarred me FOR LIFE!!) and read Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, which was fabulous!   

*Realised that my Hunger Games Party post on the blog has been viewed more than 15,000 times!
  *I read 432 books this year (including picture books for storytime, chapter books, middle grade, YA, and adult books)...you can check out the list if you want!  

1: The Pledge

2: Vampire's Kiss

3: Laddertop

4: Hidden

5: First Kill

6: The Night Circus

7: Anna Dressed in Blood

8: Thief's Covenant

9: Steampunk!

10: Wolf! Wolf!

11: The Wolf's Chicken Stew

12: The Dog Who Cried Wolf

13: Footprints in the Snow

14: Salt

15: Troy High

16: The First Time

17: The Unknowns: A Mystery

18: Dead Is Not an Option

19: Bear Snores On

20: Otto Has a Birthday Party

21: Boo to You!

22: The Fantastic Mr. Wani

23: Little Pink Pup

24: Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex

25: I'll Be There

26: Doggy whys?

27: Chicken Butt's back!

28: Bear's New Friend

29: Nobody's Diggier Than a Dog

30: Bark, George

31: Biker Pups

32: The Patterson Puppies and the Midnight Monster Party

33: The Summer I Learned to Fly

34: Everneath

35: In the Artic (Learn With Animals)

36: Jeremy Draws a Monster

37: Where's Walrus?

38: Sailing Off to Sleep

39: Tacky the Penguin

40: Way Up in the Arctic

41: If You Were a Penguin

42: Daddies

43: What Dads Can't Do (Mini Edition)

44: My Father the Dog

45: My Dad's Job

46: The Daddy Book

47: My Dad

48: Lenobia's Vow

49: Oh, Daddy!

50: The Death-Defying Pepper Roux

51: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

52: Bed Hogs

53: Polar Bear Night

54: How I Became a Pirate

55: Katie Loves the Kittens

56: Clinton Gregory's Secret

57: The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters

58: Blood Red Road

59: The Book of the Maidservant

60: Arise

61: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

62: Fighting Ruben Wolfe

63: Owly and Wormy, friends all aflutter

64: Tweak Tweak

65: Tom's Tweet

66: There's a Dragon in the Library

67: Wodney Wat's Wobot

68: 999 Tadpoles

69: The three little aliens and the big bad robot

70: E-mergency!

71: Too Many Pears!

72: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

73: Adventures of Cow, Too

74: Sakes Alive! A Cattle Drive

75: Cow Who Clucked, The

76: Millie Waits for the Mail

77: Texas Gothic

78: Why We Broke Up

79: How to Save a Life

80: Dragonswood

81: Addie on the Inside

82: Ghostopolis

83: Every Other Day

84: Library Lily

85: Lola Loves Stories

86: Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed

87: Maybe a Bear Ate It!

88: Georgia's Greatness

89: Reading Makes You Feel Good

90: Tiptoe Into Kindergarten

91: New Socks

92: Dino Pets

93: Carlo Likes Colors

94: Giraffe Trouble

95: Fuchsia Is Now

96: Cinderella Penguin

97: Wolves

98: Ship of Souls

99: Cinder

100: Clumsy Crab

101: This Is the Ocean

102: Yummy, Yummy! Food for My Tummy!

103: I'm The Biggest Thing in the Ocean

104: The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Extreme Junior Edition

105: Chime

106: Touch of Power

107: Spring is here

108: A Bedtime for Bear

109: Children Make Terrible Pets

110: The Bear Who Shared

111: What About Bear?

112: Bears! bears! bears!

113: Bedtime for Bear

114: Feyland: The Dark Realm

115: The Fox Inheritance

116: The Aviary

117: The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

118: A Girl and Her Gator

119: Rain School

120: The Greedy Python [GREEDY PYTHON-BOARD] [Board Books]

121: A Turtle in the Toilet

122: Epitaph Road

123: Mudkin

124: A Mud Pie for Mother

125: Stuck in the Mud

126: Green as a Bean

127: Lizette's Green Sock

128: Where Is the Green Sheep?

129: There's an Alligator under My Bed

130: Duck in the Truck

131: A Frog in the Bog

132: Mud

133: I Wanna Iguana

134: A Beautiful Evil

135: except if

136: Bedtime for Mommy

137: Foxy and Egg

138: My Mom Has X-ray Vision

139: Mama, Mama

140: My Mother Is Mine [MY MOTHER IS MINE-BOARD] [Board Books]

141: What Moms Can't Do [WHAT MOMS CANT DO] [Hardcover]

142: What Mommies Do Best / What Daddies Do Best

143: Hunwick's Egg

144: Mama, Do You Love Me?

145: A Mother for Choco

146: The Happy Egg

147: Daisy and the Egg

148: Monster Mama

149: An Extraordinary Egg

150: My Mom

151: My Mommy

152: Your Kind of Mommy

153: The Cow That Laid an Egg

154: Egg Drop

155: Fever

156: Enchanted

157: Alice in Wonderland

158: Jane Eyre

159: The Mostly True Story of Jack

160: Looking for Luna

161: Duck Tents

162: Do Not Disturb

163: Monk Camps Out

164: Cat Skidoo

165: Sheep Take a Hike

166: Where I Belong

167: Love-a-Duck

168: Scrawl

169: Article 5

170: Otto the Book Bear

171: Stay Close to Mama

172: College success for students with physical disabilities

173: Under the Mesquite

174: Tall Story

175: The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin

176: Promise the Night

177: My Name Is Not Easy

178: Edenbrooke

179: Island's End

180: Dead Is a Battlefield

181: ABNA 1a

182: Perception

183: Dinosaur vs. the Library

184: Dinosaurumpus!

185: Dinosaur, Dinosaur

186: ABNA 2a

187: ABNA 3a

188: The Blood

189: ABNA 4a

190: ABNA 5a

191: Starters

192: Freshman

193: Page by Paige

194: Circus Galacticus

195: Body of Water

196: Mangaman

197: Spell Bound

198: Magritte's Marvelous Hat

199: The Summer My Life Began

200: A Million Shades of Gray

201: Chopsticks

202: A World Away

203: If I Stay

204: Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth

205: The Future of Us

206: The Council of Mirrors

207: Yummy

208: Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop!

209: Press Here

210: The Selection

211: Smile

212: Pinkalicious

213: I don't want to be a pea!

214: Cloudette

215: 172 Hours on the Moon

216: Insurgent

217: Vespers Rising

218: Mindblind

219: Kick

220: Black Dawn

221: Brave New Love

222: Five Flavors of Dumb

223: What the dog said

224: Partials

225: Partners in Crime

226: Curveball

227: Americus

228: Playground

229: The Goddess Hunt

230: Struck

231: Paper Covers Rock

232: The Wild

233: Kill Me Softly

234: Dirty little secrets

235: The Lions of Little Rock

236: The Fairy Ring

237: Something to Hold

238: Dead End in Norvelt

239: The Apothecary

240: Kiss the Dead

241: The Warlock

242: Sleepover Stakeout

243: The Garden Intrigue

244: Fairie-ality Home: Inspirations from Nature

245: Scary School

246: The Enchantress

247: Timepiece

248: Black Howl

249: What Happened to Goodbye

250: Graveyard Shift

251: The Assassin and The Desert

252: Wings of the Wicked

253: The Traitor and the Tunnel

254: The Shepherd's Tale

255: Loss

256: The Man in the Moon (Guardians of Childhood)

257: The Scorpio Races

258: The Fear

259: Fairest of All

260: Glow

261: The Land of Stories

262: Crunch

263: Michael Vey

264: The Man in the Moon

265: Draw the Dark

266: Innocent Darkness

267: This Dark Endeavor

268: Hothouse

269: Spark

270: Throne of Glass

271: Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception

272: No T. Rex in the Library

273: The Lion & the Mouse

274: Sorry

275: A Dinosaur Called Tiny

276: How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?

277: YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND!

278: Wildwood

279: Bedtime for Monsters

280: Robot Zombie Frankenstein!

281: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

282: Show Me a Story: Writing Your Own Picture Book (Writer's Toolbox)

283: How to Raise a Dinosaur

284: Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10 (Miss Malarkey)

285: A Good Night Walk

286: Yoyo Goes Next Door (Yoyo)

287: Sidewalk Trip (Growing Tree)

288: How to Catch a Star

289: Blue Sky

290: Summer Days and Nights

291: Blackout

292: Zoom, rocket, zoom!

293: Masque of the Red Death

294: Bluefish

295: The Girl Is Murder

296: Camo Girl

297: The End of Infinity (Jack Blank Adventure)

298: Home Is Beyond the Mountains [HOME IS BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS] [Hardcover]

299: The 10 PM Question

300: The Initiate

301: The Peculiars

302: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

303: The Assassin and the Empire

304: Queen of Hearts

305: Sweet Shadows

306: If I Grow Up

307: The Red Umbrella

308: Fever Moon

309: Payback Time

310: Wicked Business

311: Freaks

312: Heartless

313: Flesh and Blood So Cheap

314: Biting Cold

315: What's New at the Zoo?

316: Origin

317: Winter's Passage

318: Prized

319: Rift

320: Bad Hair Day

321: Tiger Lily

322: All the Awake Animals Are Almost Asleep

323: Live Through This

324: Pandora Gets Greedy

325: The Name of the Star

326: The Girl Is Trouble

327: Framed & Dangerous

328: Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 7

329: Dust Girl

330: Seraphina

331: Palace of Stone

332: Two Weeks' Notice

333: Rocket Writes a Story

334: Three little dinosaurs

335: Chloe

336: Dragons Love Tacos

337: All by Myself!

338: The Insomniacs

339: Nighttime Ninja

340: Oh No, Little Dragon!

341: No Go Sleep!

342: The Unruly Queen [ THE UNRULY QUEEN BY Redmond, E S ( Author ) Feb-28-2012

343: A Giraffe Did One by Pallotta, Jerry, Mai-Wyss, Tatjana [Hardcover]

344: The Drowned Cities

345: Dead & Gone

346: It's Kind of a Funny Story

347: Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 8

348: City of Lies

349: How To Be a Good Cat

350: Cat Secrets

351: Fuddles

352: Some Cat!

353: Our Cat Flossie (Unicorn Paperback)

354: I Love Cats

355: Castles, Caves, and Honeycombs

356: The Perfect Nest

357: Over the River

358: April Foolishness (Albert Whitman Prairie Paperback)

359: Where To, Little Wombat?

360: The Grandpa Book

361: When Papa Snores

362: Jake Gander, Storyville Detective: The Case of the Greedy Granny

363: 10 Fat Turkeys

364: Gobble-Gobble Crash, A Barnyard Counting Bash: A Barnyard Counting Bash

365: The Ultimate Guide to Grandmas & Grandpas!

366: Animagicals: Homes: Handprint Books (Animagicals)

367: How to Babysit a Grandpa

368: Where's my t-r-u-c-k?

369: The Present

370: Ivy loves to give

371: Good Night, Harry

372: Bath Time

373: Amy & Ivan

374: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

375: Splintered

376: Island of Silence

377: My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer

378: Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal

379: Girl of Nightmares

380: Thank You for Me!THANK YOU FOR ME! by Bauer, Marion Dane (Author) on Mar-23-2010 Hardcover

381: Thanks, Mom

382: Thank You, World

383: A Fractured Light

384: Light the Candles

385: My First Kwanzaa

386: Suzy Goose and the Christmas Star

387: Dolphin Finds a Star (Glitter Book)

388: A Confusion of Princes

389: Liar & Spy

390: Dying to Meet You

391: Iced

392: Hidden

393: See You at Harry's

394: Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet

395: Merge / Disciple: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion

396: Nightsong

397: Dead Is a Killer Tune

398: Tempestuous

399: The Tempest

400: Craft-a-Day: 365 Simple Handmade Projects

401: The Humming Room

402: The Heretic

403: The Iron Queen

404: One cool friend

405: The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?

406: Oink-a-Doodle-Moo

407: The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!

408: Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo

409: Personal Effects

410: Path of Beasts

411: Fake Mustache

412: Scent of Magic

413: The Island of Thieves

414: Farm Flu

415: Snowballs

416: Farmer Duck

417: Click, Clack, Moo

418: Cock-a-Doodle-Moo!

419: Snowball Fight

420: First Snow

421: The Pig's Picnic

422: Old Macdonald Had A Farm

423: Mouse In Love

424: What Do You Love?

425: Froggy's First Kiss

426: The Day Leo Said I Hate You!

427: I love my daddy

428: I Loathe You

429: Big Hugs Little Hugs

430: Navigating Early

431: Bad Yeti

432: The One and Only Ivan

I've probably forgotten to mention some things...and that's okay. Every year packs so much in that it's hard to keep track. Anyway, here's to a great 2013!! See you in the New Year!!