What's on my shelf?

Well, the answer to that is sometimes “dust” because I’d rather be reading, writing, and teaching than cleaning, but among the dust bunnies, my favorite books, both when I was growing up and now, include:

• Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
• Where the Lilies Bloom by Vera and Bill Cleaver
• Holes by Louis Sacher
• Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

In 2009, I added to my list five very special books to be released this year by my fellow Random House first-timers:

• Carolina Harmony by Marilyn Taylor McDowell
• The Last Synapsid by Timothy Mason
• Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry
• The Red Blazer Girls by Michael Beil
• Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta

This year, I fell in love with:

* Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech

* When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton

* When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead