YA+books

Please post YA books here!!

//The Confession// by John Grisham- John Grisham knows how to tell a story. We begin with a confession by a notorious serial rapist; nine years ago he raped and killed a popular teen age girl in a small town in Texas. He is free living in a half-way house in Kansas, but a young black man convicted of this exact crime eight years ago is about to be put to death inTexas for a murder he didn't commit. Twists and turns will leave you breathless as you feverishly read the book wondering-will ithe innocent man be set free, will the guilty pay, or will the flaws in the justice system prevail ? Whether you are for the death penaly or against it, this book will cause you to think more deeply about what the death penaly really means to all involved- and could make for important discussion on a controversial subject! Grisham will not dissapoint in //The Confession//!

(RAA) -- I've been reading books that have multiple voices telling the story. Simone Elkeles PERFECT CHEMISTRY (which was recommended to me by a high school junior), WHEN IT HAPPENS by Susane Colasanti, and SEEDFOLKS by Paul Fleischman have been in my hands this week. Elkes & Colasanti tell love stories. SEEDFOLKS was a story of stories. Have you read it? It's a short book (less than 100 pages), about a community garden. There are 13 voices, each telling their story of the garden. The interesting thing is the way the stories wrap around one another and we get to see the way lives intersect and make the world better for one another. At the end of the book is an essay by Fleischman, "From Seed to Seedfolks," in which he shares the story to how SEEDFOLKS originated. I love reading the story behind a story and this essay did not disappoint.

I read __Thirteen Reasons Why__ this summer. Terrific story that brings bullying, and just the way teenagers treat one another, to the forefront. A girl commits suicide but before she takes her life she leaves behind thirteen tapes she has recorded: one for each person who played a role in her death. Wow! Powerful! Every high school and upper middle school student must read it.

__Ten Miles Past Normal__ by Frances O'Roark Dowell is another good one. The main characters wants to just be normal and make her way through high school without sticking out. She thinks blending in is the best way to survive. Until, that is, she meats Monster and decides to step outside of her comfort zone.

__The Tension of Opposites__ by Kristina McBride is a good book about a girl that was kidnapped. Instead of focusing on her life while she was with her kidnapper, it deals with how she handles life once she escapes from the kidnapper. After years in captivity, can she handle returning to her old life? After years searching for a best friend, daughter, sister can everyone close to her cope with the girl she has become?

For a middle school audience, I recommend __Red Kayak__ by Priscilla Cummings. Three teenage boys live in rural Maine where many people make their livelihoods on the water just like Brady's father. Brady knows that the waters can be dangerous. So, when he sees his new neighbor out on his kayak one morning when the cold rough water is unforgiving he looks to his buddies and tells them that they should yell out a warning. The other two aren't thinking the same way so all the boys go on their way to school without saying a word. When a tragedy occurs that day, the story starts to unravel. This is a terrific realistic fiction/mystery novel for students in grades 5-9.

__Kite Runner__ and __A Thousand Splendid Suns__ by Khaled Hosseini are amazing realistic fiction stories about life in the Middle East. In seventh grade we study the Middle East region quite extensively. I wanted to use __Kite Runner__in class because of its historical accuracy and the eye opening way it allows the reader into the life of a boy in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, there is one scene where a boy is raped by other boys. It is only one or two pages in length but... Both books are recommended for high school readers and up. //__Revolution__//__,__ Jennifer Donnelly's remarkable new novel, weaves together the lives of Andi Alpers, a depressed modern-day teenager, and Alexandrine Paradis, a brave young woman caught up in the French Revolution. While in Paris with her estranged father, a Nobel geneticist hired to match the DNA of a heart said to belong to the last dauphin of France, Andi discovers a diary hidden within a guitar case--and so begins the story of Alexandrine, who herself had close ties to the dauphin. Redemption and the will to change are powerful themes of the novel, and music is ever present--Andi and Alex have a passion for the guitar, and the playlist running through //Revolution// is a who's who of classic and contemporary influences. Danger, intrigue, music, and impeccably researched history fill the pages of //Revolution//, as both young women learn that, "it is love, not death, that undoes us."--//Seira Wilson// //--This text refers to the [|**Hardcover**] edition.//

__Hold Me Closer Necormancer__ by Lish McBride is wonderful. . Not the kind of book I'd normally pick to read myself but oh my, it's so witty and so funny. It's a "you have to read" this one!

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up—This sometimes goofy, sometimes gory debut novel introduces Sam, a fast-food employee in Seattle who has grown up unaware of his ability to raise the dead. After a bizarre encounter with a customer, he gets a beating from a stranger, and his coworker shows up missing her body below the neck (a misfortune that does not affect her positive attitude). It seems that Douglas, an evil local necromancer, has become aware of Sam's powers and views him as a threat. With the help of his friends—and a very attractive werewolf girl—Sam must try to tap into his necromancing abilities to beat Douglas at his own game. Some of the jokes, like the punning chapter titles that quote song lyrics from the likes of the Eurythmics,'70s-era Paul Simon, and Timbuk 3, may be lost on many of today's teens. However, for fans of horror-humor hybrids like the film //Shaun of the Dead//, this book may hold some appeal.—//Hayden Bass, Seattle Public Library, WA// (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.

__Elliot Rosewater list for 2011-12__

__Ghosts of War: The Story of a 19-Year-Old GI__ by Ryan Smithson Instead of going to college and in response to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, seventeen year old Ryan joins the Army Reserve. When he is nineteen he is called to serve in Iraq. In his own words he tells of his year in Iraq and of the months immediately following his safe return home. This is a powerful and well written memoir. __Going Too Far__ by Jennifer Echols Meg relishes her role as bad girl. John is a dedicated cop. When he finds her on his bridge, her punishment is a week-long, ride-along with a cop, him, instead of Spring Break at the beach. She has a reason to push the limits. He has a reason to be fascinated with that bridge. As they discover themselves and a mutual attraction, will they push each other too far? __Hate List__ by Jennifer Brown Told in four distinct parts, Hate List chronicles the life of Valerie after her boyfriend, Nick, opens fire in the school cafeteria and commons area during the spring of their junior year. His targets were people on their “hate list”; a list of people who, in one form or another, bullied Nick and Valerie. Valerie must come to terms with the aftermath after she decides to reenter school in the fall as a senior. How will her peers react to her? How will she deal with the sights, sounds and memories? How will she deal with her parents who no longer trust her? __If I Stay__ by Gayle Forman On a snowy day, Mia and her family go on a drive that ends in heartache. After she loses both of her parents and her little brother in a car accident that has left her in a coma, seventeen year old Mia must make a choice between staying and learning to live with their loss, or following them into death. In a series of flashbacks she revisits some of the best times of her life and the history she shares with her family and her boyfriend, Adam. __The Juvie Three__ by Gordon Korman Mr. Healy is a former juvenile delinquent; he knows what it‟s like. He hatches a plan to save three young criminals from rotting in jail. That‟s how Gecko, Terence, and Arjay suddenly spring from their juvenile detention centers to an experimental halfway house in New York, with Mr. Healy as their mentor. Their second chance explodes when Mr. Healy falls three stories during a fight. A head injury leaves him with no memory, of his identity or of his boys. What now for the ”Juvie Three”? __The Knife of Never Letting__ Go by Patrick Ness In the all male world in which Todd has grown up, there area surprising number of secrets, considering the fact that all male‟s thoughts are audible. When he discovers a girl in the swamp, the two of them, along with Todd‟s talking dog, are forced to flee the thought noise of Pretistown and the sinister men whose desire for power compels them to cut a path of terror in the New World. __Last Night I Sang to the Monster__ by Benjamin Saenz Eighteen-year-old Zach does not consider himself an alcoholic, after all, he just drinks to have fun with his friends. But after his latest blackout, Zach wakes up in rehab. He doesn‟t remember anything about the events that led to his involuntary commitment and doesn‟t think he really belongs in treatment. However, as Zach begins counseling he starts to face the truth about himself, his family and his drinking. __Little Brother__ by Cory Doctorow Marcus and his friends skip school to participate in a city wide scavenger hunt when a terrorist attack takes place. They are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and are detained by Homeland Security. Once they are released, Marcus discovers that San Francisco is in a police state where everyone is treated like a potential terrorist. What does Marcus decide? He decides he must take down Home Land Security himself. __Marcelo in the Real World__ by Francisco Stork As Marcelo approaches his Senior year, his father gives him an ultimatum: work in the mail room at his law firm for the summer, or leave the sheltered world of his private school for students with special needs to attend public high school next year. Marcello‟s Asperger‟s syndrome makes learning to navigate the “real world” a challenge at first, but by the end, he finds he has a friend and the clarity and courage to make the right choices in a very complex situation. __Maze Runner__ by James Dashner Thomas wakes in the middle of a maze with no memory of his life or how he came to be in this unusual prison. He finds the maze full of teenage boys like him. No one has any memories and they all want to escape no matter what the cost. __My Most Excellent Year__ by Steve Kluger Three clever friends, that you‟d love to have, navigate the process of growing up with grace and wit. It‟s hard to imagine how Mary Poppins figures into a story about moving on, falling in love, speaking your mind, and coming out, but she does and the result is delightful. __North of Beautiful__ by Justina Chen Headley Terra Cooper, daughter of an eccentric cartographer father, tries to find her way in life. She has a boyfriend, is doing well in school and has perfect hair. But in her eyes, she has one major imperfection: a large port-wine stain birthmark on her right cheek. She wants to escape by going to a college out East. However, her father has other plans for her at a nearby college. Her life is further complicated after she meets Jake and goes on a trip to visit her brother in Shanghai. Terra learns the value of true beauty, friendship and family. __Perfect Chemistry__ by Simone Elkeles On the surface, Alex Fuentes, a Latino gang member with a bad boy reputation appears to have nothing in common with his assigned lab partner, Brittany Ellis, a wealthy cheerleader. However, this urban romance goes beyond the surface to touch on the commonalities of peer pressure and family conflict to create an unputdownable read. Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman Persephone lives in the most gorgeous place in the world. But her overprotective mother, Demeter, makes this paradise more like a trap than an oasis. Just when Persephone has almost given up hope of escaping the life that's been planned for her, a mysterious