Moore Teens Unite!!!

YALSA drops it's Best fiction for Teens list like it's hot! And it is!

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:06:00 +0000

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced their best of lists. You can read their best fiction list here and their best graphic novels list here. Below are their top teen fiction books and our call numbers. Check them out!

Carson, Rae. The Girl of Fire and Thorns YP FIC CARSON

Cohen, Joshua C. Leverage YP FIC COHEN

King, A.S. Everybody Sees the Ants YP FIC KING

McCall, Guadalupe Garcia. Under the Mesquite YP FIC MCCALL

Myracle, Lauren. Shine YP FIC MYRACLE

Ness, Patrick. A Monster Calls. Illus by Jim Kay YP FIC NESS

Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray YP FIC SEPETYS

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Scorpio Races YP FIC STIEFVAT

Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone YP FIC TAYLOR

Zarr, Sara. How to Save a Life YP FIC ZARR

Walter Dean Myers named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:50:00 +0000

But not everyone is happy about it.

Commentator and former public school teacher, Alexander Nazaryan has written a scathing rebuke of the choice in a blog for the New York Daily News, calling Myers work 'insipid'. He claims that all Myer's work does is reflect the worst of life and failing to inspire or elevate beyond it. Instead he believes kids and teens should be reading the classics such as Homer's The Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid. However, he doesn't ever say why kids and teens couldn't or shouldn't read both classics and contemporary literature, which is something that Myers can do in his role as ambassador. The fact that Myer’s spends a great deal of his time traveling to juvenile halls, halfways houses, inner city schools, and many other places where teens need inspiration to encourage reading and education, shows that he already is an ambassador.

As a young adult librarian I have read many of Myer’s novels and personally think that Nazaryan is not just off base, but insultingly so. The off repeated refrain that teens need to read the classics and not the ‘trash’ that they enjoy is a classic exercise in faulty reasoning. Of course teens should read classic literature, but if it is not preceded by a love of reading, it is doomed to fail. How do you build a love of reading, how about by encouraging teens to read authors they already love?

You can read Nazaryan’s missive here and decide for yourself if Myer's is the best choice for ambassador. To help listen to this NPR interview with Myers himself here. Also, check out his wonderful books in our childrens, young adult, and biography sections. Ask a librarian and he or she will gladly help you find our full holdings of his titles.

Maoh: Juvenile Remix by Megumi Osuga YP FIC OSUGA

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Ando blends in. He learned at a very young age the Japanese idiom “the hammer that sticks up, gets nailed down first,” was true. Thus, he relies on his not popular/not unpopular enough for daily beatings status and tries to always have the same exact views and interests as his friends. Everything changes when the Grasshoppers show up. A group of young vigilantes pledged to saving the city led by a charismatic leader named Inukai, the Grasshoppers have a dark side that scares Ando. This fear and admiration lead Ando to start standing up for himself and others and using his long secret gift: the power to make others say whatever he is thinking. Unfortunately, his new found resolve and long hidden power also put him directly in the sight of the Grasshoppers and in the line of fire!

This is an exciting new series. It has very dynamic and exciting art (however some of the female designs are gratuitously fan service to a degree that birders on self-parody) and I quite like the character design. The art is nicely detailed and it feels like a premium title. The story has a very Deathnote feel, special powers, mysterious deaths, teen violence just under the surface of a normal city, etc., but that’s not a bad thing. This manga may not be the most unique I’ve read, but it moves fast, has excellent art, and has a truly intriguing mystery. The main character is a very believable coward. I certainly wouldn’t want to get brutally beaten for sticking up for fellow classmates and I DEFINITELY wouldn’t tell my high school chums that I have Special Secret Powers! It was one of the better examples of reluctant hero that I’ve seen in manga in a while and I hope the series can keep up the realistic character growth, because it really helps ground the more fantastic elements. Check it out otaku, it might become your new favorite series!

Big Questions, or, Asomatognosia: Whose Hand is it Anyway? by Anders Nilsen YP FIC NILSEN

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:37:00 +0000

A staggering, surreal fable in which birds, an owl, a snake, a bomb, a crazed pilot, and an idiot struggle with Big Questions and try not to die too horribly while pondering them.

Asmomatognosia is a disorder in which your brain doesn’t recognize the sensation of one or more limbs. It’s a fitting subtitle to this book in which most every central character loses one’s self or life searching for a greater meaning. This is a 600 page epic of over 15 years work. The art style is haunting and stark. Nilsen’s simple designs make his largely animal protagonists indistinguishable from each other, but this has a larger thematic point. This book uses animals to look at the deepest philosophical questions humankind face, but as the title suggests, this tome contains big questions not big answers. A must read for fans of comics as an artistic medium, but probably a little dry and offbeat for fans of the average manga or superhero comic. Check it out and give it a chance, it just might wrinkle your brain a bit!

Mangaman by Barry Lyga Illustrated by Colleen Doran YP FIC LYGA

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Ryoko Kiyama is not your typical transfer student. He isn’t from Japan. He’s from Japanese comics. Now he’s stuck in a world that he doesn’t understand, a world that fears and distrusts him: high school. When he meets Marissa Montaigne he falls in love and has a dilemma: go home or stay with Marissa.

This is a great concept. Eastern comics meeting ‘realistic’ Western comics. Ryoko has all the manga clichés we know and love: speed lines, giant sweat drops, deformed features in response to emotion, etc. You can see how seeing these things from a person in real life would be very upsetting. All this would make for a fun examination of some of manga’s sillier tropes, but Lyga does more with this story. He uses it to examine the fabric of reality and the nature of the comic medium. This is an absolute must read for manga fans and I think non-manga fans will enjoy it as a parody of manga.

Americus by M.K. Reed Art by Jonathan Hill YP FIC REED

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Life in a small town like Americus is tough for a lonely freshman nerd that loves books in a town that seems to hate them. Neil Barton loses his best (and only) friend to military school after his friend’s mom discovers he SHUDDER reads fantasy books. Now Neil is all alone in the frozen wasteland that is a Small Town America high school with only his favorite fantasy series, Apathea Ravenchilde, to keep him company, but when his best friend’s mom takes her war against Neil’s favorite books to the city council, he faces losing his only source of joy and hope. Can he take inspiration from Apathea and fight the forces of darkness?

This is a sweet, funny look at growing up and coming of age in a small town. The fact that it sort of elevates libraries and young adult librarians to a heroic status didn’t figure in my positive review at all.* The art has a simple, cartoony appeal and I loved the Apathea Ravenchilde fantasy interludes. Americus takes a close and hilarious look at censorship, alienation, the power of literature and imagination, and dark side of unquestioning certainty. The villains of the piece aren’t the dragons and orcs of Neil’s fantasy series, but the small-mindedness that seems to follow teenagers everywhere. A great read for fans of realistic, slice-of-life comics. I also think that fans of the Harry Potter books could really enjoy this skewering of anti-Harry Potter hysteria.

*Okay, maybe it did a little tiny bit.

7 Billion Needles Volumes 2, 3, and 4 by Nobuaki Tadano YP FIC TADANO

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:58:00 +0000

Hikaru thought Maelstrom was completely obliterated, but instead something unimaginable has happened. It has changed. And now it wants to break the endless cycle of obliterating all life until Horizon destroys it, only to repeat the actions on a new planet. However, when the cycle is broken it has consequences that could nullify all life on the planet or reduce everything to its original evolutionary form. Only Hikaru can unite Maelstrom and Horizon fight the new evil threat, and stop the Moderator hitting the big reset button on all life on Earth.

Volume 1 was a great start to this 4 part series (you can read my review here), but the rest of the series is even better than I hoped. The plot manages to enlarge greatly in scope while still keeping focus on the characters it started with. The stakes are greater, but the action is grounded by a human element at all times. It really kept me invested in what happened beyond just loving the super cool artwork. And the artwork is definitely great. The mutated monsters are gory, grisly, and gruesome and the human characters are all very well designed, too. You never get that samey look where all the characters look alike except for the hair, which plagues so much manga. Best of all this is a four volume series with a very satisfying beginning, middle, and end. A great read for any fans of Sci-Fi looking to get into manga or any manga fan that likes a great story and isn’t squeamish about gore.

Bokurano Ours by Mohiro Kitoh YP FIC KITOH

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Want to play a game? You get to hang out with your friends and use a giant robot to defend the Earth from aliens! Sound fun? Well, sign on up. One more thing…it’s a REAL giant robot, real alien, and you and countless innocent civilians can and probably will die. 15 young friends stumble on a scientist in a cave and sign on for the most dangerous game of their lives.

This is a clever twist on the mecha (giant robot) genre. Kids piloting mechs and questioning the morality of their action isn’t brand new(Neon Genesis Evangelion did it ages ago), but Bokurano has a different take. The kids choose to sign up for the game and play out of boredom and a sense of adventure. It looks at the drive for violence in people and how the line between simulated and real violence is quickly blurred. This is especially timely as warfare often uses remotely controlled drone aircraft to kill from afar. I’m not sure if this is meant to be a direct comparison, but it definitely fits as a metaphor. This is a fast paced series, with a main character being axed in the very first volume, so readers get pulled in fast. The art has an appealing rough quality to it. All the characters are drawn with sketchy uneven lines. I look forward to future volumes eagerly and strongly recommend manga fans of all tastes give Bokurano a chance.

What You Wish For: Stories and Poems for Darfur YP FIC WHAT

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:02:00 +0000

Stories and poems about wishes (the ones that come true and the ones that don’t). Francisco X. Stork, Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Meg Cabot, and many more pen poems and short stories with some proceeds of the book going to Darfur refugees.

This is a wonderful and surprising collection. I expected this to be a book about Darfur and to be grim, humorless, and depressing, but this book is filled with stories of life, love, magic, and hope. Also, it’s not about Darfur it’s just FOR Darfur. Sort of confusing. Also, the fact that it is about ‘wishes’ feels a little too general for a collection for short stories. That out of the way it is a really GOOD collection of short stories. My favorites personally were “Nell” a dark retelling of an old Danish short story, “The Protectionist” a funny story about a economics obsessed kid looking for a bodyguard, and “The Conjurers” a comic from the always wonderful Nate Powell. There is a lot of gems and no real clunkers, so it’s a really good way to read a lot of stories to find new authors to follow.

Bad Island by Doug TenNapel YP FIC TENNAPEL

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:35:00 +0000

Reese didn’t even want to go on vacation. He was happy just staying home and hanging out with friends, but nooooo. His dad just HAD to drag the family on a boat trip. A boat trip about as successful as the one on Gilligan’s Island (readers: do young adults know about the Gilligan, Skipper, et al.?). His family is shipwrecked on an island inhabited by unearthly plants and creatures that want them dead. Their only hope is to solve the secret of the strange island’s existence.

Bad Island is not a Bad Comic. Actually, it is a Very Good Comic. Unfortunately, I was always thinking that it could have been A Truly Great Comic with just more time and pages. The book has a crackling sense of movement and flow. The story moves form beat to beat with speed and drive. You will rip through the book in no time and greatly enjoy the excellent cartoonish art. Then you will likely find yourself wishing there was more to it all. This isn’t the fault of the writer/artist, but because of his strengths. His art and design are so good I want to spend more time in his world than he gives us. I think that with the right project TenNapel could make a book as great as Jeff Smith’s masterpiece Bone, but it is certainly difficult to get long running independent comics financed in this day and age. In the meantime, readers will have to be satisfied with Mr. TenNapel’s very good work and hope for more, larger books and more of them. While you wait, check out more of his work in YP FIC TENNAPEL and J FIC TENNAPEL.

Notes from the Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin YP FIC COOK

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Declan and Neilly have nothing in common. He’s a social leper who loves Finnish death metal, violent as possible video games, and internet sites with a minimum of three ‘X’s. Neilly is the mean girl, queen bee, ruler of the school. Declan ~~loves~~ lusts Neilly from afar and wishes it were from aclose. Now dreams come true for Declan and nightmares for Neilly as they find that they are brand new siblings with the surprise marriage of their parents. Also (on the SAME DAY), Neilly is dumped by her boyfriend, betrayed by her BFF, and her social stock is plummeting faster than the actual stock market! Can these total opposites ever coexist?

I am a big, big fan of alternating viewpoints from different authors when done well and Notes from the Blender does it very well. The narrators are so different that their POVs on the same events are wildly divergent. Declan is hilarious, but hard to like as is Neilly. They are pretty realistic and VERY honest, so there is some definite TMI. Unfortunately, most the secondary characters were flat and never feel like real people. Also, the ending feels a little too ‘Happy Ever After’. These problems keep a fun and funny read from ever achieving greatness, but a fun and funny read is always great in its own way. Fans of Rachel Cohn, Lauren Myracle, and other YA humor authors should definitely give this one a spin.

Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera YP FIC PERERA

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:33:00 +0000

Khalid is guilty until proven innocent. A 15 year old British citizen, he is stolen from his family while on vacation in Pakistan. He is imprisoned without trial, lawyer, or hope in Guantanamo Bay. The only way to escape the nightmare of loneliness, fear, pain, and torture is to ‘confess’.

Even though this is a fictional story it is inspired by all too real events. Anyone that is interested in the War on Terror will find a lot to think about in Guantanamo Boy. The political message is very direct and many readers may feel differently from the author, but I think people should give the book a chance. The writing style is very plain and sometimes dialogue is a bit stiff, but the straightforward style makes the horrifying descriptions of torture very effective. This is a raw and edgy story that never shies away from the ugly truths of ‘enhanced interrogation’. I won’t say I ‘enjoyed’ this book, but I am glad I read this moving and frightening story of how innocence and freedom can be stolen.

Hunger Games, the movie: Will you watch?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivi) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:05:00 +0000

The latest trailer for the movie version of Suzanne Collins' mega-popular The Hunger Games dropped this week. It stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the girl with the deadly archer's aim, as well as Liam Hemsworth as Katniss' hunting buddy Gale Hawthorne and Josh Hutcherson as the bread-baking Peeta Mellark.

Never heard of those actors? Give it time. The Hunger Games has echoes of the same momentum behind it that we all saw behind the Twilight franchise, although there's no sparkly vampires or teen werewolves here: The Hunger Games is about a dystopian future where a totalitarian government requires each of its district to send two young "tributes" to duke out it in Battle Royal-style fight to the finish.

If you haven't checked out the The Hunger Games trilogy yet, get thee to our young adult section, post-haste. We've got all three: Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. You'll find them all at YP FIC COLLINS. We've also got Mockingjay on audiobook (YP AD FIC COLLINS), as well as The Hunger Games Companion: The unauthorized guide to the series (YP FIC COLLINS).

So what are its odds? Will you be watching The Hunger Games?

Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff YP FIC BREZENOF

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Kid loved a junkie named Felix until he disappeared and left Kid with nothing more than pain and the questions of who started the fire. Scout comes along and gives Kid a shot at reclaiming the life, love, and music Kid that had disappeared forever.

This is a true original. Kid is our narrator and he always talks directly to ‘you’. However, in this case ‘you’ isn’t an imaginary, unnamed audience. ‘You’ is Scout. We learn all about Scout through Kid’s eyes and eventually more about Kid. This is not only a way to keep the reader wondering about who the characters are, but also allows for the story to be very ambiguous in a wonderful and surprising way. We NEVER find out the gender of Kid or Scout. The book never reveals if Kid is male or female or Scout is male or female, so this story is universal. No matter gender or orientation, you can see yourself as a reader in Kid, Scout, or both. This doesn’t just feel like a gimmick, because the story is all about identity, love, loss, and how easy all three get mixed up together. Kid feels like Felix took away love, music, and Kid’s identity. They are all rediscovered in Scout. I liked Brezenoff’s previous book The AbsoluteValue of -1 or l-1l for short, but found it sometimes lacked focus with the multiple narrators, but Brooklyn Burning is a perfect and original use of the single narrator. This book is honest, gritty, and raw. It would be good for fans of edgier contemporary fiction.

Lewis & Clark by Nick Bertrozzi YP FIC BETROZZI

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Lewis and Clark’s epic journey west changed the fate of our nation forever. This comic retelling of their great adventure takes a comic look at the adventures and misadventures that befell the famous duo.

Lewis and Clark were hardcore! They were fighting, shooting, hallucinating (Lewis at least), fearless explorers. The amount of ridiculous stubbornness they show in crossing the country is hilarious, inspiring, and hard to believe. What is left out of many accounts of the famous expedition is how Lewis suffered from bizarre mood swings and eventually took his own life. This is a funny but dark look at a wonderful true adventure. The expedition is filled with unusual characters and surprising dangers. The art is lively and inventive. Bertrozzi keeps things fresh by playing with panel placement and size and excellent linework. He makes America seem new again! If you like comics or historical fiction, check out this two-fisted, hair raising, bear shooting good time!

Every You, Every Me by David Leviathan YP FIC LEVIATHAN

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:13:00 +0000

“A picture is worth a thousand lies.”

Evan has a secret. He loved Ariel even though she was with Jack. Now Ariel is gone and all Jack and Evan have is each other and their memories. But someone else has a secret. Pictures start coming to Evan, pictures no one should have been able to take. Pictures that unearth memories Evan wants to stay buried. Reality, memory, lies, and truth are all part of the same picture.

This books is ~~unabashedly Emo~~ truly original. We get to see all the photos Evan is sent and that adds a lot of impact to this book. The photographs were sent to the author and he wrote his chapters as they came in, so Evan’s confusion and slow realization feels real. The narrator’s use of ~~strikethrough~~ to illustrate his fractured ~~occasionally whiny~~ thoughts really works to get you inside his head and see how his world is slowly unraveling. This is a very quick read with diary style entries that are brief and many pages that have a single photo or just a few lines of text. This makes this an easy nook to fly through to solve the mystery. The books strange design and narration style are its greatest strength and weakness. This really feels like a love it or hate it title, which I always love. It’s quirky, original, and a great look at a single point of view. It really tackles some big ideas about how we are all stuck inside our own versions of how we see reality and how that can affect us. I recommend it to anyone that wants something that will challenge them and make them think.

This Girl is Different by J J Johnson YP FIC JOHNSON

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:08:00 +0000

Evensong Sparkling Morningdew did not have the average upbringing as her name so cleary attests. However, home schooled Evie has decided to join the crows and go to a REAL school for her senior year, but high school can be a minefield, a battlefield, or all sorts of other bad fields. Not only are the rigid structure and the seemingly arbitrary rules maddening, but when she speaks out she ignites a giant controversy. When she decides to make big changes in the system she starts unlocking secrets and truths she isn’t ready to face. Revolution is harder than it looks!

This book shines because Evie is believably intelligent and mixes her expansive knowledge about academic pursuits with a total naiveté about how the world works. Her narration is always interesting and funny and pushes the story forward at a brisk pace. There are a few sort of cliché characters, but some characters really work. I really respected that Johnson has the adults in the books be a mixture of good and bad in a believable way. After all, usually even pretty lame schools have some good and bad in the staff. It made the story better and richer than had Evie been up against all villains with the adults. I thought the ending verged towards an almost Hollywood happy ending, which is surprising because the book is mainly realistic throughout. However, it wasn’t so unbelievable that I threw my book down in disgust, vowing never to read it again. In fact, some people will probably like it a lot. Besides, the rest of the book is so good I doubt most people will care at all. Looking for something ‘different’ *? This is your book!

*Sorry, I am biologically unable to resist terrible puns.

Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones YP FIC JONES

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Serena Shaw is finally in the spotlight, but her life behind the scenes threatens to eclipse the on stage drama. Serena got the lead of her school’s version of The Wiz and she should be happy, but she has to raise her own family since her mom died and her Dad came down with the blue. Just when she thinks she can’t possibly handle all the responsibilities in her life she starts to learn that if she trusts other people she doesn’t always have to.

This is a short and bittersweet tale of personal growth and overcoming serious problems, but never feels like a Problem Novel. This is due to Traci L Jones’ excellent understanding of how to sketch characters with just the right few chosen words. Both Serena and her brother Henry are really well realized characters. I liked Serena a lot even though she was often less than likable. People going through serious hardship usually aren’t all that easy to get along with and her move towards opening up felt real, natural, and earned. The book doesn’t give a rosy all-too-perfect ending and strikes the right balance of realism and hope. My only complaints are because the book is so short some plot elements felt rushed and some secondary characters seem shallow. A good read for people that like realistic fiction and want a quick read.

A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan YP FIC SHEEHAN

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Rosalinda Fitzroy is woken from a 62 year slumber by a kiss, but the world she knew is completely changed. She missed the Dark Times that killed millions and is a world completely changed by technology and aliens walk amongst us. Maybe the greatest change is that her parents are dead and her inheritance includes control over an interplanetary empire making her the most powerful person on the planet, but Rose just wants to finish high school. All this is becomes even more difficult when a plastic robot assassin comes to kill her, forcing her to face her past once and for all.

This is a crazy blend of fairy tale, post-dystopia (because the future Rose wakes up in is AFTER the dystopia), and family drama. What’s crazier is that it all mixes really well. Rose is beaten down, defeated, self loathing, and terrified. This makes it hard to like her or want to follow her tale, but if you stick with her you won’t regret it. As the story progresses and we learn her past, her character makes a lot more sense and becomes a lot more sympathetic. What works best is that Sheehan has built a very interesting future world with danger, romance, and amazing technology, but it’s the human relationships that end up being the most interesting. This is a very promising first novel and I’d love to see what other stories Sheehan has in her.

Superman: The Black Ring by Paul Cornell Art by Pete Woods YP FIC CORNELL

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:57:00 +0000

Lex Luthor tasted the ultimate power during Blackest Night (evil black Power rings raised people from the dead and made them evil) when he gained the power of the Orange Lantern. Now Luthor searches for the remnants of the Black Rings source of power to shape the destiny of the universe.

Luthor is a perfect choice for a villain based comic, because he sees himself as Earth’s greatest hero. Lex believes he has to save humanity form aliens and other super powered beings. The fact that he is a cold blooded mass murder just means he’s efficient, right? this comic really has fun with Luthor and has him at his egotistical best. It’s fun following him on his zany adventures with his Robot Lois Lane companion. He fights some of DC’s zanier characters like a mind controlling worm, a mind controlling and brain eating gorilla, and he even meets Death the teenage girl (made famous in DC’s arty Vertigo line of comics). All this makes for great silly fun and a welcome dose of weirdness that sets it apart from your average superhero yarn. I do wish this volume didn’t end on a cliff hanger, but that is part and parcel for comic book collections these days, so I think most readers are used to it by now.

Teens' Top Ten for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Vivi) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:56:00 +0000

A whopping 10,000 votes from teens poured in between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15 in answer to the question "What's your favorite book?" asked by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). YALSA made the big announcement of the top 10 titles last Monday in conjunction with Teen Read Week, which ran from Oct. 16-22.

Here's the list, along with their call numbers here are Moore Memorial Public Library:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
YP FIC CLARE

The year is 1878. Searching for her missing brother, sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray descends into London's dark supernatural underworld and finds herself up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork demons, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her Shadowhunter allies can stop them.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
YP FIC COLLINS and on audiobook, YP AD FIC COLLINS

Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking trilogy promises to be one of the most talked-about books of the year. Start with the first book, The Hunger Games (YP FIC COLLINS).

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
YP FIC FITZPATR and on audiobook, YP AD FIC FITZPATR

Despite starting a relationship with Patch, her guardian angel (whose title is the only angelic thing about him), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking good for Nora Grey. Aside from fearing her boyfriend is interested in her nemesis, Nora is haunted by images of her father and becomes obsessed with understanding his disappearance. As Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, she begins to wonder whether her Nephilim blood line has something to do with it. And since Patch isn't answering her questions, Nora has to start finding the answers on her own. But does she really want to know the truth — or will her desire for Patch outweigh any possible peace she could find?

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
YP FIC LORE; the movie's at DVD I

Nine alien teenagers are hiding on Earth. Three are dead. Number Four is next.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
YP FIC KAGAWA

Meghan Chase has never fit in at her small-town high school, and now, on the eve of her 16th birthday, she finally discovers why. For when her half-brother is kidnapped, Meghan is drawn into a fantastical world she had never imagined — the world of Faery.

Matched by Ally Condie
YP FIC CONDIE

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate … until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson
YP FIC PATTERSO

In the seventh book in the bestselling series, evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution. Worse, they're trying to convince her that her perfect mate is Dylan, the newest addition to the flock. The problem is that, despite herself, Max is starting to believe it. Fang travels the country collecting his own gang of evolved humans, but the two separate flocks must unite to defeat a frightening doomsday cult whose motto is Save the Planet: Kill the Humans. And this time, the true heroine, for once, might just be little Angel.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
YP FIC WHITE

Evie's always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours. But Evie's about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. So much for normal.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
YP FIC OLIVER

After she dies in a car crash, teenaged Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
YP FIC CREMER

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything — including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor YP FIC OKORAFOR

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Sunny was born and raised in New York, but lives in Nigeria. They call her “Akata,” an insulting term for Americans. The fact that she is an albino makes her even more of an outsider. When she sees a vision of Armageddon in the flame of a candle she knows she is truly different. Soon she finds friends that are different too and discovers she is part of a secret world. The good news is that she has magic powers, the bad news is she’ll need them to hunt down a black-hatted child killer, creatively named Black Hat.

This is my kind of fantasy. Set firmly in the real world, with characters you believe in, Akata Witch makes you believe in magic. Okorafor lets you really get to know Sunny and explores her life in Nigeria before the magic really starts moving the plot forward. This means, that the book has a slow start, but I really didn’t mind. It also has a super fast ending, but I was able to forgive some plotting problems because so much about the book is really good. It was as interesting to me to see life in modern Nigeria as it was to learn about a secret group of magic users. That’s what makes this book pretty special, you care about the world beyond just the cool powers AND the cool powers are really super cool! It’s also has a super evil and genuinely menacing villain. I’m always looking for paranormal that isn’t so normal and Akata Witch is way better than normal.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young YP FIC YOUNG

noreply@blogger.com (Librarian Luke) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:52:00 +0000

Saba and her twin brother Lugh have always been inseparable. Living on a small farm in a wasteland called Silverlake (which hasn’t had a lake as long as Saba’s been alive) they egt by one day at a time. When a dust storm brings with it four horsemen dressed in black, it also brings the destruction of Saba’s world. Her father is murdered, Lugh kidnapped, and she set to the winds of the wasteland with her little sister in tow. She learns fast that to survive on the road you must pay a toll of blood: yours or someone else’s. Thus her epic journey from girl to warrior begins.

This is one of the best dystopian novels I’ve read in a while and I have to read about 3 a day (slight exaggeration)! Fans of the Hunger Games need look no further for a new series to seek their teeth into. This has all the blood, carnage, tragedy, character, and world building that make Hunger Games so great. Saba is tough, cool, and a worthy successor to Katniss. She’s a bit tough to like at times, though. She has a hard time accepting friendship or help and her single-minded drive to achieve her goals makes her hardcore but also off putting. I loved seeing her turn from normal girl into gladiator and warrior, but at times her awesomeness seems kind of unrealistic. Besides a great main character it also has a really interesting writjng style. Everyone speaks in this odd dialect that takes a while to get used to, but draws you into this new world very well. What I love was the brave decision to make Saba the narrator, so that we are in her head and that the whole story is in her unique voice. Great action packed plot, wonderful prose, great strong female protagonist, that clinches it, Blood Red Road is my must read pick for any and all readers!