Gwen and Andy both are astounded that the end of the year is almost upon them, and with that in mind, they’ve picked their favorite books of 2016 for young readers. The Two People with PhDs each picked five books in the children’s category and five books in the intermediate/young adult (YA) category, but something odd happened: their lists were almost identical! In the children’s category, Gwen and Andy both chose the following four books, many of which they have already discussed on previous episodes. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Alamo All-Stars, by Nathan Hale (Harry N. Abrams) Hippopotamister, by John Patrick Green (First Second) The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo, by Drew Weing (First Second) Bera the One-Headed Troll, by Eric Orchard (First Second) Andy diverged by picking Bert’s Way Home, by John Martz (Koyama Press), the story of an orphan named Bert who’s no regular orphan, but an orphan of time and space, stranded on Earth after a cosmic accident. Gwen’s final pick in this category was Blip! a TOON Level 1 book by Barnaby Richards about a robot whose vocabulary consists of only one word (“Blip”) as he tries to find his way through an unfamiliar planet. In the Intermediate/YA category, Gwen and Andy also agree on their first four titles: March: Book Three, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf), the third and final book in the March trilogy. March: Book Three is also a noteworthy book in that it recently won the prestigious National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, becoming the first graphic novel to win the award. Camp Midnight, by Steven T. Seagle and Jason Adam Katzenstein (Image) Paper Girls, Vol. 1, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image) Snow White, by Matt Phelan (Candlewick Press) The two people with PhDs also had the great pleasure of interviewing Matt Phelan on the show last month. You can listen to that interview here. Andy’s final choice was Mighty Jack, by Ben Hatke, a title previously discussed on the show back in August. For Gwen’s final choice, she picked Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling, by Tony Cliff (First Second), a book previously discussed by Derek and Sean in its original webcomics format. This volume picks up where the first volume, 2013's Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, left off. At the end of the show, Gwen mentioned a new all ages wordless comic that she learned about on Dr. Debbie Reese’s excellent American Indians in Children’s Literature blog, Jonathan Nelson’s The Wool of Jonesy: Part I, published by Native Realities Press. Here is the blurb from the publisher’s website: Written and illustrated by Diné artist Jonathan Nelson, The Wool of Jonesy #1 tells the first story of Jonesy the Sheep and his adventures out on the rez. As Jonesy heads out to explore life after high school he finds himself discovering and dreaming. The wonderfully illustrated story gives young and old alike a simple and enchanting view of reservation life through the eyes of an amazing character! Readers can check out Debbie Reese’s review. Gwen and Andy hope that these titles might be considered for gift for the holiday season. You really can’t go wrong with any of these titles. We can’t wait to see what great comics are in store for us in 2017. You can be sure we’ll pass all the information along to you. Happy reading!