Once again, teens from around the country have come up with a list of their favorite books from the past year. You can help choose which titles make it to the top ten for 2012 by reading the nominees and voting for your favorites in the fall. Click here to see the list. We'll post the link to the voting site when it's available.
~Sumi, YS Librarian Downtown
I couldn't put Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones down until I had savored every last word. This story about two street kids caught up in someone else's crime was suspenseful, action packed and very moving. Blink, once called Brent, left home to avoid an abusive stepfather. He saunters into upscale hotels wearing stolen preppy clothes and steals his meals off room service trays. One morning he sees something unusual, maybe a kidnapping, maybe something else. Caution, once called Kitty, has run away from a family tragedy and is currently living with a drug dealer. When she catches him cheating on her, Caution takes his hidden drug money and takes off. Blink & Caution's paths cross and re-cross as they separately, and then together, attempt to escape the danger and reconnect with their pasts. This is a beautifully written thriller. I recommend it to older teens grades 9 and up.
~Susanne Miller, Youth Services Librarian, South Hill Library
I really got caught up reading The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin. The Alice Marshall School for Girls sits inside the beautiful and magnificent Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The school is the last chance for the girls sent there. For new arrival Lida, it seems the only chance. Lida doesn't try to make friends, doesn't want to share her "Thing". (Each girl has a "Thing", the bad things they have done or experienced.) She reluctantly becomes close to Boone, the tough girl, who actually burned down a building and has a brother in prison. And she finds herself longing for Gia, a glamorous sophisticated beauty. And of course Boone and Gia hate each other. Classes at Alice Marshall are augmented by Circle Time group therapy and wilderness hikes. The final personal wilderness trek brings all the rivalries and emotions to a head in a gripping, explosive confrontation. I found this book intense, sad, painful and ultimately hopeful. I recommend it to readers who enjoy Laurie Halse Anderson and Patricia McCormick.
~Susanne Miller, Youth Services Librarian, South Hill Library
I have been hooked on science fiction since I read Space Cat by Todd Ruthven when I was in second grade. I recently picked up David Weber's new teen novel, A Beautiful Friendship. This is set in the Star Kingdom of the Manitcore System. Thirteen year old Stephanie Harrington and her parents have emigrated to the frontier planet Sphinx. Most of the planet is still unexplored forests with dangerous wildlife like the huge six-legged cat-like predators called hexapumas. The treecat clans have been observing the encroaching human settlements for years while staying hidden. They have developed a craving for terran celery. Stephanie, bored and always getting into trouble, sets out to solve the mystery of the missing celery. She sets a trap for the celery thieves. What she encounters is a small, cute, tool-using six-legged mini hexapuma. In the brief time that they gaze at each other a bond is formed. A few days later, Stephanie crashes her hang glider in the forest. Climbs Quickly, the treecat, senses her danger and brings his clan to the rescue. This is straight Space Opera, undiluted by dragons or magic, and I can't wait for the next installment!
~Susanne Miller, Youth Services Librarian, South Hill Library
If you like your romance action packed and mixed with a little fantasy, I suggest Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Karou is a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague with a secret. She was raised by a loving but nonhuman family in a small workshop accessed through magical doorways all around the world. She often runs errands for her father figure, Brimstone, who trades in wishes and teeth. Human teeth. Then beautiful winged strangers appear, marking the doors with scorched handprints. Karou feels a confusing connection to one of these angels, Akiva. He begins to explain that they are part of an otherworldly conflict between Seraphim and demons when the doorways explode, stranding Karou in the human world. For ninth graders on up.
~Susanne Miller, Youth Services Librarian, South Hill Library
One of the benefits of my job is reviewing all the new books that come across my desk. I'm not a big graphic novel enthusiast but on occasion several have pulled me in to their colorful story. The artwork of the new graphic book Smileby Raina Telgemeir, is great. Who couldn't smile and be intrigued by a happy face with braces on the cover?! When I opened the book, the two title pages caught my attention. It is a view of the city of San Francisco from Mt. Sutro. I lived in San Francisco for many years, so that view brought back many memories. I began to read this graphic memoir about Raina's tribulations with her teeth, her peers in middle school and high school and before I knew it the story was finished. It is very enjoyable and anyone who has had braces will relate, although fortunately, I didn't experience the continual dental challenges and teasing at school that Raina experienced. Through the wonderful artwork and description of the location, I could discern that Raina lived in the same apartment complex during the same time that I did! Wow, that is definitely a small world. I'm looking forward to more titles by Raina Telgemeier.
-Jill Bolon, Youth Services Librarian, Shadle Library
I really enjoyed all these things i've done by Gabrielle Zevin. The setting is New York City in the near future where paper, electricity and water are all rationed and chocolate and caffeine are illegal. Anya Balanchine, sixteen year old daughter of a (deceased) mob boss, has her hands full. Her grandmother is seriously ill and just trying to stay alive until Anya turns eighteen. Her older brother Leo is loving and sweet but brain damaged from a hit that killed their mother. Younger sister Natty is apparently a genius, but who had time to notice. Anya is trying to keep her family safe and out of the family's illegal chocolate business while starting her junior year at a Catholic high school. Then she meets Win, a cute, smart and endearing new boy, who turns out to be the District Attorney's son. She knows hanging out with him will only bring her family trouble, but her heart is telling her something else. I found this book cleverly written, romantic and exciting. I was thrilled to see it listed as the start of a series.
--Susanne Miller, Youth Services Librarian, South Hill Library
Vampires, Steampunk, Fairy Tales, The Hunger Games. What do they have in common? We've built book lists around these themes on our Teens' Recommended Reads page to give you an easy way to find books you might like. The page also has links to the Teens' Top Ten for the year, Award Winners, and Novelist, which is a database that can help you find something you'd like to read. Of course, your local librarians are always available to help if you are on the hunt for your next book.
Are there any other book lists you'd like to see? Leave a comment and we'll see what we can do.
~Sumi, YS Librarian, Downtown
All summer we've promoted the nominees for YALSA's Teens' Top Ten Award. Nine thousand teens across the country voted, and the results have been tallied. Drumroll, please.... The number one choice is: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare! To see the rest of the winners, click here. If you'd like to learn more about the award or see the complete list of nominees for 2011, check out the award's web page here. Personally, I'm a little bummed. My own favorite, Zombies vs. Unicorns, didn't make the cut. On the other hand, I really loved Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, which squeaked in at number nine on the list. I guess that makes me feel better. Now excuse me, I have to go read Clockwork Angel!
Chris L.--East Side, Hillyard, and Indian Trail
I just finished the eerily believable futuristic novel Bumped by Megan McCafferty. The year is 2036. A virus has rendered the adult population (everyone over 18) infertile. Condoms have been illegal for ten years. Teenagers are the most important section of society. Adult couples pay teen girls to have babies. Preteens wear fake baby bumps to look cool. Sixteen year old twin sisters Melody and Harmony, separated at birth, have just found out about each other. Melody turned professional surrogate at fourteen and has waited two years for the couple she contracted with to find a suitable sperm donor to bump with her to conceive their baby. Her adopted parents have lived it up on her expected earnings and are disastrously in debt. Harmony was adopted and raised in Goodside, a religious community, where couples are married at 13. Harmony unexpectedly shows up on Melody's doorstep and Melody is finally matched with the genetically perfect and extremely expensive Jondoe. Then a case of mistaken identity changes the girls' lives forever.
~Susanne Miller, Youth Services Librarian, South Hill Library
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