Best YA Reads

I don't want to become a blogging failure, so let's resuscitate this thing with a list of my favorite YA reads this year. Some are 2008, I know, but it took me awhile to get to them. I don't want you to make the same mistake!

In no particular order...

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Taylor tries to work out the connection between her Mother who left her, her relationship with Hannah, a mysterious military man, a boy who visits her dreams, and the story of five friends who lived on the Jellicoe Road years ago. This was one of those books that you just can't really figure out for the first 100 pages and then after that you can't put it down and then when you finish it you want to tell your friends to read it, but you don't know how to explain it to them.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
This is the sequel to The Hunger Games, so I won't reveal a lot about the plot, but Katniss has inspired a revolution and the Capitol is pissed. An amazing series.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house for years. One yellow-eyed wolf is different. He is her wolf. Sam lives two lives. In Winter, he lives with the pack. In summer, he gets his chance to be human until the cold turns him wolf again. Grace and Sam meet and must fight against the chilling temperatures that threaten to take Sam away forever. This book is your Twilight antidote.

Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
Francesca Lia Block has been my favorite author since I was thirteen. I own and have read every book she's published. I know vampires are the thing right now, but this book is a must-read because it is FLB's Los Angeles vampire-style. These vampires drink good wine, eat good food, and have regrets. This book is a return to FLB's Weetzie-era form.

Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Jenna wakes up from a coma and doesn't remember her life. As memories slowly return, so do more and more questions. Is she still the same girl she was before the accident? This book makes you consider some big issues: the human soul, medical ethics, religion vs science. How far would you go to save someone you love?

The Ultimate Showdown @ Your Library!

During March Madness, a lot of libraries and YA book blogs were running bracket-style tournaments to battle great YA books. I wanted to do something like this at our library, but I always worried about long request lists making it impossible for our teens to read every book.

I have already posted the video awesomeness that is The Ultimate Showdown, but watching it again gave me an idea. This summer, the kids who attend our summer program will participate in an event featuring battles between characters from pop culture- books, TV, comics, and movies!

Our very own Ultimate Showdown!

We dreamed up a list of 64 characters like Wolverine, SpongeBob SquarePants, Harry Potter, Alaska Young, and Harriet the Spy. Haven’t you ever wondered who would win a battle between Curious George and The Jonas Brothers? I know I have.

We also included some lesser-known, but incredibly amazing book characters. We can’t miss the opportunity to talk up a good book!

So I know you’re wondering how these characters will be judged.

The 64 characters are judged not on their fighting skills. This is not that sort of battle. Instead, the characters are judged in five categories:

Hearts (what’s inside, do they use their heart?) 1-3 points
Smarts (do they use their brain?) 1-3 points
Originality (are they totally unique? Is there no one else like them?) 1-3 points
Game Changer (everyone knows them) 1 point
Coolness Bonus (is this character just really cool?) 1 point

The kids who participate will debate and discuss each battle, come to a group decision, and the winner of each pair will move on to other battles until we have an Ultimate Champion at the end of the summer.

We will have rounds of battle on Thursdays and Saturdays through the summer program.

June 25, June 27, July 2, July 7 - 64 characters, 8 battles each day
July 11 and July 16 - 32 characters, 8 battles each day
July 18 - 16 characters, 8 battles (Sweet Sixteen)
July 23 - 8 characters, 4 battles (Elite Eight)
July 25 - 4 characters, 2 battles (Final Four)
July 30 - 2 characters, 1 battle (Ultimate Champion!)

Visit this blog often for updates!

Let the battle begin!


Credit is due to the original creator of The Ultimate Showdown song and video, Lemon Demon.

Give YA and peace a chance

If you're not reading books because their cataloged as Young Adult. Please, get over yourself, and pick one up. You're missing out on some amazing writing.

A lot of YA authors also blog some completely wonderful stuff. Please take a moment and go over to Libba Bray's blog and read this post. I promise you won't regret it.