all of those bookworms out there, we have a hit list that will have
your nose in a book all winter. The Young
Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) committee
just released their 2012 Best
Fiction for Young Adults list, and we’ve got the top 10 right here
and, let’s just say, they are some serious thrillers!
relatable family dramas, you will easily fly through this list before
the year ends. Now the better question is: How many have you read
already?
The
Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
HarperCollins
Publishers/Greenwillow Books, 2011
Every
100 years someone is chosen to fulfill this prophecy, and this time
around it was Elisa, a princess who has lived in her sister’s
shadow her entire life. Now that she is the chosen one, a King has
called upon her to help his failing country, but can she do it?
Leverage
by Joshua C.
Cohen
Penguin
Group USA/Dutton Juvenile, 2011
At
Oregrove High, everybody pays the price after a football prank goes a
little too far. With the devastating consequences, unlikely
friendships are made to save the school.
Everybody
Sees the Ants by
A.S. King
Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011
To
escape his dysfunctional family life and school bully, Lucky
Linderman finds a way out—through his epic dreams in the battle
zone of Laos where he is able to be a real man, and a hero. But can
he continue to keep his reality and his dreams separate?
Under
the Mesquite
by Guadalupe Garcia
McCall
Lee
& Low Books, 2011
After
emigrating to the U.S. from Mexico, Lupita learns that the school
play and friends aren’t all that important when she discovers that
her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. To help her family, Lupita
cares for her seven younger siblings and, in order to escape the
chaos, finds comfort in her writing.
Shine
by Lauren
Myracle
Abrams/Amulet
Books, 2011
Due
to a vicious hate crime in her small southern town, Cat sets out to
put a stop to the threats, discovering there is more to her town than
what meets the eye. Cat’s determination leads her to go against
everyone that she knows in order to find justice for her best guy
friend.
A
Monster Calls
by Patrick
Ness
Candlewick
Press, 2011
Since
his mother’s treatments have begun, Conor has had the same monster
dream night after night. But when a monster appears outside his
window, he is shocked to find it is not the one that he has been
expecting. In order for the monster to leave Conor for good, he must
give it the most dangerous gift of all: The truth.
Between
Shades of Gray by
Ruta
Sepetys
Penguin
Group/Philomel Books, 2011
Lina’s
life is turned upside down when Soviet soldiers barge into her house
and separate her family, taking her brothers and herself across the
Arctic Circle to Siberia to work in a prison camp for Stalin. To keep
her hope alive, Lina continues drawing pictures in belief that one
day her father will get them and know that they are still alive.
The
Scorpio Races by
Maggie
Stiefvater
Scholastic
Incorporated/Scholastic Press, 2011
Some
defeat all, while others lives are sacrificed at the Scorpio Races,
an annual fighting event. This year it will bring together an
unlikely pair of fighters, Sean Kendrick, the shy returning champion,
and Puck Connely, who is the first girl to ever enter and in no way
prepared for what is going to happen. Will she reach the breaking
point?
Daughter
of Smoke and Bone by
Laini
Taylor
Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011
Once
black hand prints begin appearing on doors all around the world,
Karou finds herself in Prague in the middle of a harsh otherworldly
war, where secrets are revealed and her monster drawings come to
life. But once all is discovered and she finds out who she really is,
will Karou regret knowing the truth?
How
to Save a Life by
Sara
Zarr
Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011
Two
worlds come together after Jill’s father passes away and her crazy
mother decides to adopt a baby. And Mandy, a teen who knows what it
is like the have a mother that never truly wanted a child, becomes
pregnant. As their lives change, both girls learn what to hold on
to…and what to let go.
Did
any of your favorite reads make the cut? Blog about it, babes.
