The entire Top 10 List ishere. 

Here are 3 of the picks:

3. Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta

Welcome to Moundville, where it’s been raining for longer than Roy McGuire has been alive. Most people say the town is cursed—right in the middle of their big baseball game against rival town Sinister Bend, black clouds crept across the sky and it started to rain. That was 22 years ago . . . and it’s still pouring.

Baseball camp is over, and Roy knows he’s in for a dreary, soggy summer. But when he returns home, he finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch. As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival, the sun comes out. No one can explain why the rain has finally stopped, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball. It’s time to get a Moundville team together and finish what was started 22 years ago. It’s time for a rematch.

Mudville is not just a baseball book but reads like a retold fable and a modern classic with a twist of magical realism. Yes, it’s true in Mudville that it rains every single day and has for years due to a fairly recent Indian curse until one days it stops.  It should be an ancient Native American story passed orally down for generations. It just has that feel and is best read aloud around a campfire.

2. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Mark the tenth anniversary of Kate DiCamillo’s cherished story with a beautiful gift edition featuring the author’s signature stamped on the cover.

Millions of people around the world are devoted to the novels of Kate DiCamillo — and it all began with Because of Winn-Dixie. Ten years ago, this unforgettable novel about a lonely girl whose life is transformed by her friendship with a scruffy dog was awarded a Newbery Honor. Since then, it’s become a runaway bestseller in more than twenty-five countries and has been turned into a major motion picture. Now readers can experience Kate DiCamillo’s debut novel in a collectible signature edition that celebrates her ten years as a beloved storyteller.

If I could claim only one book as my favorite all time book, I’d choose Because of Winn Dixie. Each chapter reads like a lyrical short story and each character you meet is fully formed, breathing on the page. The sum is definitely more than the parts added together. Still, every now and then, my kids will tell me about a kid in their class who didn’t like it which feels like a dagger through my heart. My kids, however, succumbed to the magic of this short chapter book perfect for 3rd grade.

1. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future.

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.

Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”

Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.

If you like Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech then this is the heir to another Newbery winner. It’s small town mystique at it’s best that also seems to bring out the best in people that live there.