In celebration of National Library Week (April 7-13), we are held a March Madness style tournament to help us determine the Adult Services Book of the Year! To start, we selected twenty-four books in four different categories:
Staff Picks – throughout the year, library staff recommend dozens of books – we picked the six that most commonly appeared on those recommendation lists.
Best of the YPL Book Clubs – The Yorkville Library is home to six different book clubs who read a different book together every month. We asked each of our book clubs to select their favorite book of the year.
NY Times Best Sellers – The New York Times Bestseller list is a goal for every author, so we selected the six best-selling hardcover books of the year (taking out any that appeared on our previous lists)
Goodreads Choice Award Winners – Goodreads is a popular social media platform for readers. Each year they ask their millions of users to vote for the best books in dozens of different genres and categories. We selected six of the winners to participate in our tournament.
We asked library patrons to vote each week in April to help their favorite books move on in the tournament.
Below is the tournament bracket, which will be updated after each round.
2023 Winner
Local Division
In the end, the local author won the hearts and votes of the people in the community, and Around the World in 80 Sandwiches by Mike Curtis defeated The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden to be crowned the 2023 YPL Book of the Year.
A big thank you to all that voted throughout the month of April. We look forward to another Battle of the Books next spring!
National Division
On the national side, The Housemaid’s Secret by Frieda McFadden has plowed through the competition. Emerging from the Goodreads Choice Awards bracket, McFadden’s book won the Goodreads Mystery/Thriller of the Year and is now one week away from the slightly less prestigious YPL Adult Services Book of the Year.
Who will take home the prize – the best-selling mystery writer or the local guy who loves sandwiches? Submit your vote today!
