For this edition of Top Shelf—our bimonthly spotlight on great 49th Shelf lists and posts—we set ourselves a challenge: could we assemble a bunch of lists and blog posts that would yield a book for just about any kind of kid? The answer was a resounding YES! So YES was it that we lost our minds a bit and far, far exceeded the 3–5-item format we promised to constrain ourselves to in the inaugural Top Shelf. Oh, well.

By consulting the lists provided below, you will find at least one book on:

*War and why we fight (e.g., Kids of Kabul, Why Do We Fight?)

*Science fiction/fantasy (e.g., Island of Doom, Seraphina)

*Changing the world for the better (e.g., Pay It Forward Kids, Our Rights)

*Bullying, discrimination (the entire Bullies Beware list)

*Anxiety disorders (e.g., Freaking Out)

*Living with a disability (e.g., Easy for You to Say)

*Homophobia (e.g., Homophobia)

*History (e.g., The Last Train, A Thousand Years of Pirates)

*Adventure (e.g., True Stories of Rescue and Survival)

*Feminism and strong women role models in general (e.g., Spectacular Women in Space, Courageous Women Rebels, and Scribbling Women)

*Yoga (e.g., I Love Yoga)

*Religion (e.g., The Kids Book of World Religions)

*Animals and nature (the entire Animal and Nature Books list)

*Halloween (the Great Halloween Books list)

*Fascinating stories for littler kids (e.g., Canada's Most Beloved Kids' Books list)

Without further ado, some amazing kids, tween, and teen book lists on 49th Shelf:

*2013 CCBC (Canadian Children's Book Centre) Awards Shortlists (and the 2012 version)

*Books for Big-Thinking Kids, Tweens, and Teens (big issue books—mostly non-fiction)

*Bullies Beware (all ages)

*Great Canadian Biographies for Kids (kids, tweens)

*Animal and Nature Books for Kids (older kids, tweens)

*Canada's Most Beloved Kids' Books (preschooler)

*For Those Who Love Children's Literature (preschooler)

*Great Halloween Books (kids)

*Mondo Middle Grade (for those "prickly" in-between years)

*Books for Older Teen Boys (YA and above)

In addition, we point you a few blog posts—which are lists in and of themselves—by our expert children's librarian columnist, Ms Julie Booker, of Up Up Up fame:

*Enviro Fiction for Kids

*On Real Women and Strong Girls

*Poetry for Children

And finally, our Most Anticipated Kids and YA lit for Fall 2013!