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Friday, September 23, 2016
Teens' Top Ten Nominees for 2016
Have you read any of the nominees for this year's Teens' Top Ten? I've read six, but there are a few more I'd like to read. This year the books for Teens' Top Ten were nominated by 15 teen book groups from across the country. Now it's your turn; if you are a teen you may vote for up to three of the nominated books. You have until October 15th to vote.
Alive, by Chandler Baker,2015. After finally receiving a heart transplant, 17-year-old Stella throws herself into her new life, but her recovery is marred with strange side effects and hallucinations, and when she meets Levi Zin, a mysterious new boy at her Seattle prep school,Stella soon realizes that she and Levi have more in common than she could ever imagine. Paranormal fiction. Thriller/Suspense.
Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo, 2015. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction--if they don't kill each other first. Fantasy fiction.
The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black, 2015. In the town of Fairfold, where humans and fae exist side by side, a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives awakes after generations of sleep in a glass coffin in the woods, causing Hazel to be swept up in new love, shift her loyalties, feel the fresh sting of betrayal, and to make a secret sacrifice to the faerie king. Fantasy fiction.
The Witch Hunter, by Virginia Boecker, 2015. Set in an alternative 16th-century England, Elizabeth Grey is the only girl in the king's elite group of witch hunters. When she's framed for being a witch herself, Elizabeth finds freedom at the hands of the world's most wanted wizard and her loyalties are tested. Historical fantasy.
The Game of Love and Death, by Martha Brockenbrough, 2015. In Seattle in 1937 two 17-year-olds, Henry, who is white, and Flora, who is African-American, become the unwitting pawns in a game played by two immortal figures, Love and Death, where they must choose each other at the end, or one of them will die. Magic realism. Romance.
Powerless, by Tera Lynn Childs, and Tracy Deebs. 2015. Kenna feels inferior because everyone else has some talent or power, so when villains break into the lab where she interns she will not let criminals steal the research that will make her extraordinary too, but secrets are spilled and one of the villains saves her life, leading her to think what it means to be powerful and powerless. Science fiction. Superhero story.
Mechanica, by Betsy Cornwell, 2015. A retelling of Cinderella about an indomitable inventor-mechanic who finds her prince but realizes she doesn't want a fairy tale happy ending after all. Steampunk fiction. Fairy tale/Folklore inspired.
You and Me and Him, by Kris Dinnison, 2015. Maggie Bowers thinks she knows what to expect her junior year of high school, but when she and her out-of-the-closet best friend Nash have feelings for the same boy she wonders if winning someone's heart means losing her soul mate. Realistic fiction.
The Summer After You & Me, by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski, 2015. A year after Superstorm Sandy, Lucy's life is returning to normal at the New Jersey shore, where she has grown up surfing with her twin brother, crabbing and long-boarding with friends, and working at Surf Taco, but the torch she holds for summer resident Connor, the center of The Big Mistake, still burns. Romance.
The Devil You Know, by Trish Doller, 2015. Exhausted and rebellious after three years of working for her father and mothering her brother, 18-year-old Arcadia "Cadie" Wells joins two cousins who are camping their way through Florida, soon learning that one is a murderer. Thriller/Suspense.
Charlie, Presumed Dead, by Anne Heltzel, 2015. Told in separate voices, Lena and Aubrey, each hiding her own secrets, set off in search of the truth about Charlie, including if he is really dead, after meeting at his funeral and learning that he was dating both of them. Mystery.
Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman, and Jay Kristoff. 2015. The planet Kerenza is attacked, and Kady and Ezra find themselves on a space fleet fleeing the enemy, while their ship's artificial intelligence system and a deadly plague may be the end of them all. Science fiction.
When, by Victoria Laurie, 2015. Sixteen-year-old Maddie Flynn cannot help but see the death date of everyone she meets or sees in a photograph or on-screen, and her alcoholic mother exploits this by having her do readings for money, but when Maddie predicts the death of a young boy, she becomes the center of an FBI investigation. Paranormal fiction. Thriller/Suspense.
The Novice: Summoner: Book One, by Taran Matharu, 2015. When Fletcher, a blacksmith's apprentice, learns he can summon demons, he travels with his demon to an academy for adepts where he is to train as a Battle mage in the Empire's war against the orcs, but he discovers that all is not as it seems. Fantasy fiction.
Mark of the Thief, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, 2015. Forced to enter a sealed cavern that reputedly holds the lost treasures of Caesar, slave boy Nic discovers an amulet imbued with divine power and finds himself at the center of a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and spark the Praetor War. Historical fantasy.
All the Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven, 2015. Told in alternating voices, when Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school--both teetering on the edge--it's the beginning of an unlikely relationship, a journey to discover the "natural wonders" of the state of Indiana, and two teens' desperate desire to heal and save one another. Realistic fiction.
I Am Princess X, by Cherie Priest, Illustrated by Kali Ciesemier, 2015. Libby and May invented Princess X when they were in 5th grade, but when the car Libby is in goes off a bridge, she is presumed dead, and the story came to an end--except now, three years later, Princess X is suddenly everywhere, with an underground culture focused on a webcomic, and May believes her friend must be alive. Mystery. Graphic novel hybrid.
Hold Me Like a Breath, Tiffany Schmidt, 2015. Penny Landlow, 17, the overprotected daughter of a powerful crime family, has rarely left the family estate due to a blood disorder but when tragedy strikes and she is left alone in New York City, she must prove she is not as fragile as everyone believes. Thriller/Suspense. Fairy tale/Folklore inspired.
Con Academy, by Joe Schreiber, 2015. Con man Will Shea may have met his match in scammer Andrea Dufresne as they make a high-stakes deal that will determine who gets to stay at ConnaughtonAcademy, one of the most elite and privileged preparatory schools in the country, and who must leave. Realistic fiction.
The Ghosts of Heaven, by Marcus Sedgwick, 2015. Four linked stories of discovery and survival begin with a Paleolithic-era girl who makes the first written signs, continue with Anna, who people call a witch, then a mad twentieth-century poet who watches the ocean knowing the horrors it hides, and concluding with an astronaut on the first spaceship from Earth sent to colonize another world. Science fiction.
The Glass Arrow, by Kristen Simmons, 2015. Stolen from her home, and being groomed for auction, Aya is desperate to escape her fate and return to her family, but her only allies are a loyal wolf she's raised from a pup and a strange mute boy who may be her best hope for freedom ... if she can truly trust him. Science fiction. Dystopian.
Black Widow Forever Red, by Margaret Stohl, 2015. Natasha Romanov, called the Black Widow, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, rescues a young girl from Ivan, the man who once trained her as an assassin--and eight years later she is called upon to protect the teenage Ava from a threat from the past--and possibly from S.H.I.E.L.D itself. Superhero story.
Every Last Word, by Tamara Ireland Stone, 2015. Consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off, a girl coping with Purely-Obsessional OCD learns to accept herself and take control of her life through her experiences in poetry club. Realistic fiction.
Zeroes, by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti. 2015. Told from separate viewpoints, teens Scam, Crash, Flicker, Anonymous, Bellwether, and Kelsie, all born in the year 2000 and living in Cambria, California, have superhuman abilities that give them interesting but not heroic lives until they must work as a community to respond to a high stakes crisis. Science fiction. Superhero story.
Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls, by Lynn Weingarten, 2015. They say Delia burned herself to death, but June does not believe it was suicide, because she and Delia used to be closer than anything, but a year ago everything changed when they and June's boyfriend Ryan let their good time get out of hand, and now, June owes it to Delia to know if her best friend committed suicide or was murdered. Mystery.
Everything, Everything, by Nicola Yoon, 2015. The story of a teenage girl who's literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challengeseverything she's ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more. Romance.