Inspired by Tara, The Librarian Who Doesn’t Say Shhh, and her end-of-the-year Superlatives Awards.

I. Books

Book I’m always recommending: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Best re-telling of a popular story: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson (it’s a fresh look at Peter Pan)

Best companion book: Fire by Kristin Cashore (companion to Graceling, but it works as a standalone)

Most original and imaginative: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Biggest tear-jerker: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, followed closely by A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Like reading my own biography: Kissing Doorknobs by Terri Spencer Hesser

Most interesting premise: Every Day by David Levithan and Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Deepest meaning: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Best prose: three-way tie between The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and Peace Like a River by Leif Enger and The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

Best story arc in a series: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Everything-Falls-Into-Place Award: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and HP & the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Creepiest: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Best book for boys: tie between Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and Wrestling Sturbridge by Rich Wallace

Hard book to get into but totally worth it: That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

Best short stories: The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

II. Characters

Most different character: tie between Stargirl Carraway of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and Quintana of Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Best boyfriend: three-way tie between Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars), Jonah Griggs (Jellicoe Road), and Will Trombal (Saving Francesca)

Most chilling: Mr. Loomis in Z for Zachariah

Best best friends: Taylor and Raffy in Jellicoe Road and Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Harry Potter

Best animal character: Charlotte A. Cavatica in Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Best narrator: Death in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Sweetest child: Eva in Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Most changed character: Jean Valjean in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Character I want to be friends with: Rae in Rosie by Anne Lamott

Character I love to hate: Dolores Umbridge in HP & the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Character I just plain hate: Simon Price in The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Character you want to live next door to: Sam Hamilton in East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Chaz Santangelo in Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

III. Scenes

Best theological discussion in fiction: a large portion of Perelandra by C.S. Lewis and East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Most intense scene: Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Steamiest scene: Jace and Clary, all the time, but especially in City of Glass and City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Best sexual tension: Perry and Aria while he teaches her how to tell if berries are poisonous (yes, really!) in Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Sweetest: when Eleanor and Park hold hands for the first time in Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Most disturbing: you’ll know it when you read it in Unwind by Neal Shusterman (I thought I was going to throw up)

Most fascinating conversation in the face of great danger: walking through the Red Bull’s lair in The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

Best opening line: “What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died?” in Love Story by Erich Segal

Biggest cliffhanger: Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta