Loan Stars Junior lists roundup: Winter and Spring 2022

Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows library staff across Canada to collaboratively select their favourite forthcoming titles. Using CataList, the online catalogue service and order management tool available for free to libraries, library staff can endorse the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Juvenile, and Young Adult titles they want to recommend to their patrons. The titles with the most recommendations become Loan Stars picks!

Join us as we go back in time and recap what happened in the Loan Stars world in the winter and spring seasons of 2022 — the January-February, March-April, and May-June Junior lists (click here to see the full lists).

Library circulation

Thanks to LibraryData, BookNet’s national library collection and circulation analysis tool, we were able to determine which of the 30 books on the three lists were the most popular among library patrons from their publication dates up until August 9, 2022.

These are the results:

1. 5 Worlds: the Emerald Gate by Mark Siegel and Alexis Siegel, illus. by Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun (January & February 2022 list)

2. Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman (January & February 2022 list)

3. Middle School Misadventures: Dance Disaster by Jason Platt (March & April 2022 list)

4. Operation Do-Over by Gordon Korman 🍁 (March & April 2022 list)

5. The Aquanaut by Dan Santat (March & April 2022 list)

6. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (March & April 2022 list)

7. Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome by Kat Zhang, illus. by Charlene Chua (May & June 2022 list)

8. Bright Brown Baby by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illus. by Brian Pinkney (January & February 2022 list)

9. The Blur by Minh Lê, illus. by Dan Santat (May & June 2022 list)

10. A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin 🍁 (March & April 2022 list)

Subject popularity

The Juvenile Fiction and Young Adult Fiction subject categories thrived with 15 and 13 titles respectively. There were also 2 Juvenile Non-Fiction titles chosen to be on the lists during this period.

The Juvenile Fiction categories that were present in the lists were Comics and Graphic Novels (4), People & Places (2), Social Themes (2), Animals (1), Fairy Tales & Folklore (1), Fantasy & Magic (1), Superheroes (1), Clothing & Dress (1), Visionary & Metaphysical (1), General (1).

Canadian 🍁 contributors

How many Canadian contributors — authors, illustrators, translators, or editors who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada — made these three lists? Of all 30 titles, 20% were by Canadian contributors.

ICYMI, these are the titles that made it to the lists

January & February Loan Stars Jr. List

1. Bright Brown Baby by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illus. by Brian Pinkney (Scholastic Inc.)

2. Ashes of Gold by J. Elle (Simon & Schuster)

3. Heartstopper: Volume 4 by Alice Oseman (Scholastic Inc.)

4. Big As a Giant Snail by Jess Keating 🍁, illus. by David DeGrand (Random House Children’s Books)

5. Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Children’s Books)

6. The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman (HarperCollins)

7. Signs of Survival by Renee Hartman & Joshua M. Greene (Scholastic Inc.)

8. Coming Back by Jessi Zabarsky (Random House Children’s Books)

9. African Town by Charles Waters & Irene Latham (G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)

10. 5 Worlds: the Emerald Gate by Mark Siegel & Alexis Siegel, illus. by Xanthe Bouma & Matt Rockefeller (Random House Children’s Books)

Find all these titles in this CataList Catalogue

March & April Loan Stars Jr. List

1. The Silent Unseen by Amanda McCrina (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

2. Operation Do-Over by Gordon Korman 🍁 (Scholastic Canada Ltd.)

3. A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin 🍁 (Feiwel & Friends)

4. Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor (Razorbill)

5. The Aquanaut by Dan Santat (Scholastic Inc.)

6. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (Razorbill)

7. Wrong Side of the Court by H.N. Khan 🍁 (Penguin Random House Canada Teen)

8. Agents of SLAM by Dave Scheidt, illus. by Scoot McMahon & Heidi Black (Oni Press)

9. Middle School Misadventures: Dance Disaster by Jason Platt (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

10. All the Best Liars by Amelia Kahaney (Flatiron Books)

Find all these titles in this CataList Catalogue

May & June Loan Stars Jr. List

1. Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino (Scholastic Press)

2. Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome by Kat Zhang, illus. by Charlene Chua (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

3. Be a Good Ancestor by Leona Prince 🍁 & Gabrielle Prince 🍁, illus. by Carla Joseph (Orca Book Publishers)

4. TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo 🍁 (Viking Books for Young Readers)

5. Goodnight Racism by Ibram X. Kendi, illus. by Cbabi Bayoc (Penguin Young Readers Group)

6. A Dress with Pockets by Lily Murray, illus. by Jenny Lovlie (Pan Macmillan)

7. The Blur by Minh Lê, illus. by Dan Santat (Knopf books for Young Readers)

8. The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton, by Khadijah Khatib (Henry Holt & Co.)

9. Itzel and the Ocelot by Rachel Katstaller (Kids Can Press)

10. Noodle and the No Bones Day by Jonathan Graziano, illus. by Dan Tavis (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

Find all these titles in this CataList Catalogue

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