Friday, December 27, 2013

Official 2013 Teens' Top Ten List

And the Winners are: 2013 Teens' Top Ten.

Don't want to watch a video clip? Here's the print list: YALSA Teens Top Ten 2013 .

You like Tumblr? Take a look at Young Adult Readers' Tumblr page:

Voting for the 2014 Top Ten begins in April, 2014. 

YALSA's Teen Book Finder is a free app to help teens and anyone who loves YA literature have access to the past three years' of YALSA's awards and lists on their smartphone.

Have an iPod Touch, an iPhone or an iPad? Download the app now!

Android version coming in 2014.

Anna Reads--blogging new YA books





annareads.com  


Anna reviews YA romance. She's good. Check her out if you're looking for new authors.


















Great Funny Books Written by and for Guys



Calame, Don, Swim the Fly 
Cook & Halpin, Notes from the Blender
Wizner, Jake, Spanking Shakespeare**
Paulsen, Gary, Crush: the Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Love
Rudetsky, Seth, My Awesome Awful Popularity Plan 
Schmidt, Gary D., Okay for Now**
Scieszka, Jon, editor, Guys Read: Funny Business
Levithan & Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Vizzini , Ned, Be More Chill (scifi crossed with humor)
Alexie, Sherman, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian**
Pratchett, Terry, The Wee Free Men** (fantasy + humor)
Bagdasarian, Adam, First French Kiss and Other Traumas
Fleischman, Paul, A Fate Totally Worse Than Death
Koertge, Ron, Confess-O-Rama
Wizner, Jake, Spanking Shakespeare 
Nodelman, Perry, Behaving Bradley
Paulsen , Gary, The Schernoff Discoveries
Paulsen, Gary, Harris & Me**
Pinkwater, Daniel, 5 Novels
Snicket, Lemony, A Bad Beginning
Strasser, Todd, How I Spent My Last Night on Earth
Azuma, Kiyohiko, Yotsuba&!: Volume 1.
Gaiman & Pratchett, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch**
Groening, Matt, Simpsons Comics Barn Burner
Korman, Gordon, No More Dead Dogs
Martinez, A. Lee Gil's All Fright Diner by
Moore, Christopher, Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story

Payne, C.D., Frisco Pigeon Mambo
Rees, Douglas, Vampire High
Shusterman, Neil, The Schwa Was Here**
Smith, Jeff, Out From Boneville
Watterson, Bill, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book***
Wilson, Daniel H., How to Survive a Robot Uprising
Ghislain, Gary, How I Stole Johnny Depp's Girlfriend 


**highly recommended by Anne

Thursday, December 12, 2013

YA Romance List



Straight YA Romance in Normal Settings:



This is What Happy Looks Like- Jennifer E. Smith


Eleanor and Park- Rainbow Rowell


Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell


Second Chance Summer- Morgan Matson


Amy and Roger's Epic Detour- Morgan Matson


Coffeehouse Angel- Suzanne Selfors

Love and Leftovers- Sarah Tregay


Instructions for a Broken Heart- Kim Culbertson


The Symptoms of My Insanity- Mindy Raf


45 Pounds- K.A. Barson


Saving Francesca- Melina Marchetta

YA Romance with Fantasy/Sci-Fi extras:



Thief Eyes- Janni Lee


Scarlet- A.C. Gaugher


Dragonfly- Julia Golding


Conjured- Sarah Beth Durst


Ice- Sarah Beth Durst


Swan Kingdom- Zoe Marriott


Chalice- Robin McKinley


Sunshine- Robin McKinley


Wicked Lovely- Melissa Marr

Chime- Franny Billinsley


The Treachery of Beautiful Things- Ruth Frances Long


Blood and Chocolate- Annette Curtis Klause

City of a Thousand Dolls- Miriam Forster

recommended by Roseanne


Thursday, December 5, 2013

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

"To: Headmaster:

I, Frankie Landau-Banks, hereby confess..."

Pranks galore at Alabaster Prep and Frankie's the mastermind.

It's laugh out loud funny

Check it out.







recommended by Roseanne

Saturday, November 23, 2013

No Flying, No Tights--graphic novel blogging at its best

For Kids, Teens, and Adults. 

Staff Picks, News, and Views.


See what's hot and what's not.


http://noflyingnotights.com/

Brigid Alverson's manga blog




Reviews, interviews, latest news on the manga aisle.




http://mangablog.mangabookshelf.com/author/brigid/

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness







"This monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
 "It wants the truth."





recommended by Anne. "Heartbreaking"

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Girl Power gone BAD--gritty, fast paced. 


An 15th century assassin with a dry sense of humor.


First in a trilogy.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigallupi

Wow, just wow. A kid has one slim chance to escape his dangerous dead-end life as a metal scavenger--IF he has the guts. 



a roaring adventure highly recommended by Anne

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Interested in other YA book blogs?



YA Book Blog Directory is your new friend.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind--if you know it, you can call it to do your bidding. Adult fantasy, but a perfect tale for YA readers. 

Read it now. I'm guessing it's going to be a movie before long.



noted by Anne, who's busy reading it--all the time.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

After Rose's plane is forced down in German territory late in 1944, she is sent  to Ravensbruck, the infamous Nazi women's prison, where, with the help of other inmates, she struggles to survive. 

Rose is tough, but she has no idea what's in store for her. Will the bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners be enough to keep her alive?

Difficult reading about the abject cruelty and medical torture masquerading as scientific research performed on innocent and unwilling prisoners. 



strongly recommended by Anne

Friday, October 18, 2013

Who Done It? by Jon Scieszka and 80-odd Other Authors

"Can you imagine the most cantankerous book editor alive? Part Voldemort, part Cruella de Vil (if she were a dude), and worse in appearance and odor than a gluttonous farm pig? A man who makes no secret of his love of cheese or his disdain of unworthy authors? That man is Herman Mildew."

This short story anthology opens with an invitation to a party, care of this insufferable monster, where more than 80 of the most talented, bestselling and recognizable names in YA and children’s fiction learn that they are suspects in his murder. All must provide alibis in brief first-person entries. The problem is that all of them are liars, all of them are fabulists, and all have something to hide...."
<from Amazon>

recommended by Anne.

Two Companion Novels by Paolo Bacigalupi






Ship Breaker: After the ice caps have melted, people survive by scavenging parts from washed up oil tankers.

When a young scavenger decides helping a shipwrecked girl might win him a different future

Printz Medal, National Book Award Finalist



The Drowned Cities: Teen refugees, a bioengineered war beast and ruthless child soldiers--a story of war, of friendships, of loyalty, and the choices that must be made.










recommended by Anne

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater



Ronan's dreams materialize--

Why does the  Grey Man attack Ronan's brother, Declan?

How could Cabeswater Forest  disappear?


Book Two in The Raven Cycle is here at last.

and it's  GREAT!



recommended by Anne


H.I.V.E. The Higher Institute of Villainous Education by Mark Walden

"The worst, the most cunning, the most miscievous minds from around the world"--are the tweens who have been kidnapped and flown to H.I.V.E., a private school where leaving is not an option.

Can Otto and his friends find a way to escape?









recommended by Anne

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan (Leviathan #1) by Scott Westerfeld. Emily says it's the best book she ever read. STEAMPUNK!

BZRK by Michael Grant

BZRK,  group of teen hackers fighting a 21st century nano-technology war for the free will of humanity. 


"He called back, 'Tell me something, Noah. Which is more important: freedom or happiness?'

"What was this, a game? But Nijinsky wasn't smiling.

"'You can't be happy unless your free,' Noah said.

"The American nodded. "Skip school tomorrow.'"


recommended by Anne

The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer





Beecher White, archival librarian, is about to discover the truth: that during the course of a hundred years, all four <presidential> assassins were secretly working together. What was their purpose? For whom do they really work? And why are they planning to kill the current President? (Amazon summary).

Action, adventure, adrenaline--they're all here.




I've been asking teens in the library to recommend authors and/or books for this blog. Brad Meltzer was mentioned yesterday, so here's his 2013 book.If YOU have a favorite book or author, let us know at the Circulation Desk so we can post it.

The Immortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare




Clary joins the Shadowhunters and descends into Downworld, an alternate New York full of danger.



After City of Bones comes City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls. The last book entitled City of Heavenly Fire' will be published. Sept 2014.
The first movie, The Immortal Instruments: City of Bones, was released in August.


Is this an original series or Harry Potter fan-fiction?? You decide (or read this review: http://www.amazon.com/review/R15Y4O48QBA4CW/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1416955070&nodeID=283155&store=books#wasThisHelpful), and let us know what you think.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Love horror? Want to be scared? Try this one. 



VERY VERY DARK.



Recommended by a YA library member.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

  
Suffering and loss, softened with humor



 "The language and sexual situations are aptly and realistically drawn, but sophisticated in nature."  from School Library Journal



 











Recommended to us by a local teen.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Think living LBGT is hard here? Imagine in Iran where beatings, prison or death await you.





 recommended by Anne

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Cancer, lots of humor, pathos. It's all here.






recommended by Anne

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Growing up traumatized by a fundamentalist family.

A graphic novel.



recommended by Lily

Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Girl switches places with boy in order to attend his school in 19th century England.


suggested by Roseanne

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

All Francesca wants to do is fit in.


Recommended by Roseanne

Period 8 by Chris Crutcher

"Period 8. An hour a day. You can hang out. You can eat your lunch. You can talk. Or listen. Or neither. Or both. Nothing is off-limits. The only rule is that you keep it real; that you tell the truth."

If only.... 

from Booklist review

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks

Robots, romance and school elections--

and it's a graphic quick read! 








Read by Anne

Monday, July 22, 2013

Ukiah Reads 2013

Great books from UkiahReads now on the YA shelves

Big Brother, Beautiful Creatures, The Fault in Our Stars.

Seen the new furniture in the Ukiah YA Space yet?

 Those pods on the right are surprisingly comfortable--kind of like beanbag chairs. Come try them out.