Books for Young Adults

Every year the American Library Association names the Alex Awards, the 10 best books published in the previous year written for adults with a special appeal to readers ages 12-18.

“The 2012 Alex Awards will take readers from rural New Hampshire to the robot apocalypse to Katrina-ravaged Mississippi to a magical circus. The Alex Award winners are as diverse and eclectic as the teens who will read them,” said Karen Keys, chair of the 2012 Alex Awards Committee.”

2012 Winners:

Big Girl Small, by Rachel DeWoskin, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

In Zanesville, by Jo Ann Beard, published by Little, Brown & Company

 The Lover’s Dictionary, by David Levithan, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (ISBN: 9780374193683)

The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, by Brooke Hauser, published by Free Press

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, published by Doubleday

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, published by Crown Publishers

Robopocalypse: A Novel, by Daniel H. Wilson, published by Doubleday

Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward, published by Bloomsbury USA

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures, by Caroline Preston, published by Ecco

The Talk-Funny Girl, by Roland Merullo, published by Crown Publishers

2012 Notable Children’s Books

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2012 list of Notable Children’s Books in March. The list is divided into four categories: younger readers, middle readers, older readers, and all ages. The books are judged to be of “special interest, quality, creativity and value to children 14 years of age and younger.” A selection of the titles are listed below along with links to the Minuteman Library Network with a full annotated list of the selected books is located on ALA’s website.

Younger

All the Water in the World. By George Ella Lyon, Illus. by Katherine Tillotson, Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

A Ball for Daisy. By Chris Raschka, Illus. by the author, Schwartz & Wade Books.

See Me Run. By Paul Meisel, Illus. by the author. Holiday House.

Tales for Very Picky Eaters. By Josh Schneider, Illus. by the author, Clarion Books.

Me…Jane. By Patrick McDonnell, Illus. by the author. Little, Brown.

Middle

Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade. By Melissa Sweet, Illus. by the author. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Breaking Stalin’s Nose. By Eugene Yelchin, Illus. by the author, Henry Holt.

The Great Migration: Journey to the North. By Eloise Greenfield, Illus. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. HarperCollins Children’s Books/Amistad.

Inside Out and Back Again. By Thanhha Lai. HarperCollins.

The Lily Pond. By Annika Thor. Trans. by Linda Schenck. Delacorte Press.

Soldier Bear. By Bibi Dumon Tak, Illus. by Philip Hopman. Trans. by Laura Watkinson. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Underground. By Shane Evans, Illus. by Shane Evans. Roaring Brook Press.

Older

Between Shades of Gray. By Ruta Sepetys. Philomel Books.

Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. By Karen Blumenthal. Roaring Brook Press.

Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. By Margarita Engle. Henry Holt.

Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein. By Susan Goldman Rubin. Charlesbridge.

The Scorpio Races. By Maggie Stiefvater. Scholastic Press.

Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem. By Rosalyn Schanzer, Illus. by the author. National Geographic Society.

All Ages

Can We Save the Tiger?, By Martin Jenkins, Illus. by Vicky White. Candlewick Press.

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. By Kadir Nelson, Illus. by the author. Balzer + Bray.

Never Forgotten. By Patricia McKissack, Illus. by Leo and Diane Dillon. Schwartz & Wade Books.

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature. By Joyce Sidman, Illus. by Beth Krommes. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

YALSA’s 2011 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults

The Young Adult Library Services for Young Adults has created a top 10 list of Fiction published in 2011 from their full list of the Best Fiction for Young Adults list.

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker

Donnelly, Jennifer. Revolution

Marchetta, Melina. Finnikin of the Rock

Matson, Morgan. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour

McBride, Lish. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Mulligan, Andy. Trash

Perkins, Mitali.  Bamboo People

Reinhardt, Dana. The Things a Brother Knows

Saenz, Benjamin. Last Night I Sang to the Monster

Sedgwick, Marcus.  Revolver

Boys Read: a web site for boy’s literacy

A web site based in Seattle, WA. that supports boy’s reading.  It has lots of suggested readings and lots of resources to help develop boy’s literacy.

Reading is Fundamental -Summer Reading List

A reading list with the theme of olympic sports.  The titles are organized by age.

College Bound Reading List

Thanks to the Arrowhead Library System ( Janesville, WI) this is an extensive list of books organized by subject. Each title has a brief annotation. A comprehensive list!

http://als.lib.wi.us/Collegebound.html

Young Adults – Mystery and Suspense

A list of YA mystery and suspense titles with brief summaries.

The list is organized by author.

2008 ALEX Awards: Best Adult Books for Teens

10 Best Adult Books that are great reads for teens.

Best Books for Young Adults 2008

Best books for young adults. This is a list of 85 books chosen by a YALSA committee

teenreads.com

This is a comprehensive web site that includes reviews and book lists. Reviews include manga titles, new titles, new series and more.