You didn’t think I’d forgotten, did you? How could I forget the silliest, most pointless, and maybe most fun post of the year? Because it absolutely makes total sense to give high school yearbook awards to the books I read over the course of a year.

Brainiest. She’d be devastated if she wasn’t valedictorian, so I have to give this year’s award to bookish, awkward, good-hearted Mary Bennet. Janice Hadlow gives Mary the happy ending I think we all rooted for, and it’s lovely to read.

Best Looking. It’s unfair to have so many good-looking people in one family, but the Mitford sisters have to take this one. I know Diana was viewed as the most conventionally beautiful, but I can’t really get away from her politics. Nancy was a beauty, but Deborah Devonshire, the youngest of the family who eclipsed them all by becoming a Duchess, is just gorgeous.

Best Friends. You have to be really good friends to go into business together, especially a business you know nothing about (like running a small hotel!) and come out of it still friends – Verily Anderson and her wartime partner-in-crime, Julie, have what it takes. At least when it comes to friendship. They suck as hoteliers.

Class Clown. Nancy Mitford will always take class clown. She’s the kind of clown, though, that will make you snicker while also wondering, a little uncomfortably, if she’s laughing at you.

Biggest Jock. It’s a group award this year, and it goes to all the women who make their way down an overgrown path to swim at the Hampshire Ladies Pond – especially those intrepid souls who dive in all year round.

Teacher’s Pet. Who wouldn’t want to be Madge Bettany’s pet? Well – her sister, Jo Bettany, would rather forge her own path at the school that Madge founds in the Austrian Tyrol.

Biggest Nerd. Inspector Alan Grant isn’t usually a nerd, but when he’s laid up in hospital, recovering from a leg injury (sustained while chasing a criminal, so add that to the not-nerdy side of his ledger) he dives way deep into solving the historical mystery did Richard III murder the Princes in the Tower, and if not, whodunit? It doesn’t get much nerdier than a British Library-powered obsession with a three-hundred-year-old cold case.

Most Creative. Every so often you come across a project that really knocks your socks off, and Amber Share‘s tour de force through the U.S. National Parks, as experienced by their “least impressed visitors,” is that. So creative, and such a complete delight.

Most Opinionated. If you have a question – or a topic of conversation – or just a random thought… Mr. Mulliner has words for you, lots and lots and lots of words, and a story about one of his relatives to make his point clear. Sit down. He’s telling a story.

Most Likely to End Up in Hollywood. A windswept Scottish island, a terrifying peat bog, and a high fashion wedding collide in a totally gripping, completely wild story that is just screaming to be made into a movie. Will I see The Guest List if it ever does hit theatres? Probably not – too scary.

Biggest Rebel. When your fiance is arrested for murder, you’re supposed to sit quietly and wait for him to be vindicated according to the normal workings of the law. Right? Not according to Emily Trefusis, and thank goodness, because she is the only person in The Sittaford Mystery with any sense at all. And she has enough sense not to depend on social institutions to clear her beloved’s name. That’s being a rebel with a very good cause.

Biggest Loner. If you can be alone in the middle of a loud, raucous family and a bunch of rowdy neighbors, Gerry Durrell is – but he has his menagerie of animals, so he’s good.

Prom King. There was a contingent that tried to stuff the ballot box as a joke this year and throw this vote to Captain Ahab, but fortunately they were caught and foiled and the right man won. Jean-Benoit Aubery, better known as “the Frenchman” (swoon, ladies) is clearly the only choice for 2021’s prom king. That is – if he shows up. It’s 50-50, because social events aren’t exactly his thing. But then he might come to claim his crown just to bother the jocks.

Prom Queen. There’s no one like Lily Bart for sheer audacious vivacity, and that’s really what we need in a prom queen. Where did she get her dress? Wouldn’t you like to know.

Cutest Couple. I’ve been shipping Queen Beatrice and Teddy since American Royals, and in Majesty what was supposed to be a marriage of convenience deepens into something more real. Did I enjoy the romance I predicted way too much? Yes, yes I did.

Most Likely to Succeed. It’s gotta be the first woman to hold national office! Kamala Harris shares her incredible life story and it’s wonderful – I saved it to read during Inauguration Week.

What high school yearbook awards would you give to your 2021 reads?