Top Ten Tuesday - New to Me Authors

The TTT theme this week New to Me Authors. Check out others' TTT picks over at BrokeandBookish.

Well, I skimmed over the 333 books I've read so far this year (falling short of my 2014 Goodreads goal), only 20 were by authors who were new to me. Granted, I didn't check the picture books and non-fiction titles as carefully, but I wonder what that says about my reading? 10 were debuts.

1. Daniel Kraus: I haven't read anything by him despite compelling reviews because his books are decidedly more mature for my crowd. There are only so many way-YA books I can read in a year since my priority is middle grade to younger-YA. But Scowler won the Odyssey Award and I always read the award winners and Kirby Heyborne is one of my favorite narrators; so I listened. And was haunted. Yikes, the imagery in this one will follow me till the day I die. <shudders>

2. Christine Heppermann: File under too YA for my crowd as well but I needed to read Poisoned Apples: poems for you, my pretty to satisfy my feminist fix. Excellent stuff.

3. Celine Kiernan: I received Into the Grey for review and it's one of my 2014 favorites. Atmospheric, suspenseful and compelling. Definitely going to read more by her.

4. Sarwat Chadda: Read the first two books in his Ash Mistry trilogy at the recommendation of one of my students. I had to send to the UK for the third book since plans to bring it to the U.S. are not yet set and fans needed to know what happened!

5. Kwame Alexander: I'm a huge fan of verse novels as well as basketball so The Crossover would've caught my eye even without all the starred reviews and Newbery buzz. I got He Said, She Said in my ALAN box, although I believe this is also one that skews a bit old for my crew.

6. Liz Prince: is a graphic novelist who made her YA debut this year with, Tomboy, which I got a chance to review for a blog tour. I will definitely be on the lookout for her if she does any more for a younger audience. 

7. Patricia Newman: One of my favorite informational books this year was Plastic Ahoy: investigating the great Pacific garbage patch. Not only was it fascinating on a variety of levels, but fit so perfectly into a seventh grade science unit. 

8. George Hagen: made his children's debut this year with, Gabriel Finley and the Ravens Riddle. He also visited my school and got all the fifth and sixth graders riled up solving riddles. The book has appeal for middle grade fantasy lovers, especially fans of Rick Riordan's books or Suzanne Collins' middle grade series, Gregor the Overlander. 

I'll end my list with two favorite debuts (in a year of amazing debuts):

9. Megan Jean Sovern: The Meaning of Maggie. I cannot believe I didn't review this! Definitely one to give to your middle grade students who love weepies. I adored this family and Maggie's voice. 

In a very strange coincidence, there's another novel not only dealing with MS, but also set in the seventies AND a debut to boot. It also made my favorites of 2014 list - Nest by Esther Erlich. (I know, I snuck in an 11th author.)

10. Tracy Holczer: The Secret Hum of Daisy is just lovely. I'm so looking forward to reading Tracy's sophomore novel, The Encyclopedia of Small Things coming in May, 2016.