As 2008 comes to a close, we at Teenreads.com have compiled some of our favorite books of the year for teens. Along with the blockbusters BREAKING DAWN and BRISINGR, we spotlight THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD, a collection of five fairy tales courtesy of J. K. Rowling that gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter; THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, the first installment of a trilogy set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present; THE KINGDOM ON THE WAVES, book two in the historical epic The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, in which M. T.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Seventeen-year-old Mia had everything to live for --- a loving family, a beloved boyfriend, and her brilliant cello playing (and, very possibly, an acceptance to Juilliard). But everything changes during a tragic car accident. Now Mia hovers near the hospital bed where her physical body lies in a coma, weighing her options. Should she die, or should she stay?
Tangled by Carolyn Mackler
Jena, Dakota, Skye and Owen are all at Paradise --- the resort in the Caribbean, that is --- for different reasons, but in Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Over the course of four months, through four voices and four stories, what happened in Paradise will change them all.
TANGLED is a story of the secrets we keep, the risks we take, and the things we do for love.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.
But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper:
I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.
In WINTERGIRLS, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia and her painful path toward recovery.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Sixteen-year-old Thomas finds himself emerging from a metal box into an enclave of teen males. All he really remembers about himself is his name as he negotiates life in the wall-enclosed Glade, surrounded by a maze that might lead them home --- if they can solve it and also manage to survive the deadly monsters prowling within.
Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani
Three reasons why Viola Chesterton knows she’ll never survive her first year at boarding school:
1. She has to leave behind her best friend, Andrew
2. and replace him with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to like it there
3. "There" is South Bend, Indiana, which feels about as far away from her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, as you can get
Boarding school, though, is nothing like she thought it would be, and soon Viola realizes she's in for the most incredible year of her life. But first, she has to put the camera down, and let the world in.
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.
Maximum Ride #5: Max by James Patterson
Maximum Ride and the other members of the Flock have barely recovered from their last arctic adventure, when they are confronted by the most frightening catastrophe yet. Millions of fish are dying off the coast of Hawaii and someone --- or something --- is destroying hundreds of ships. Unable to discover the cause, the government enlists the Flock to help them get to the bottom of the disaster before it is too late.
While Max and her team are exploring the depths of the ocean, their every move is being carefully tracked by Mr. Chu --- a criminal mastermind with his own plans for the Flock. Can they protect themselves from Mr. Chu's army of mercenaries and save the ocean from utter destruction?
Black is for Beginnings written by Laurie Faria Stolarz, adaptation by Barbara Randall Kesel, artwork by Janina Görrissen
The Blue is for Nightmares series that put a spell on more than half a million readers continues --- in graphic novel format! Prophetic nightmares. Near-brushes with death. Killers pursuing her and her friends. Stacey Brown knows that being a hereditary witch isn’t all it's cracked up to be.
Maximum Ride: The Manga, Volume 1 written by James Patterson; illustrated by NaRae Lee
Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride knows what it’s like to soar above the world. She and all the members of her “flock” --- Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel --- are just like ordinary kids, except they have wings and can fly! It may seem like a dream come true to some, but for the flock it’s more like a living nightmare. When the mysterious lab known as the “School” turns up and kidnaps their youngest member, it’s up to Max to organize a rescue, but will help come in time?
Maximum Ride: The Manga, Volume 2 written by James Patterson, illustrated by NaRae Lee
Having recovered Angel, Max and the flock head to New York City to pursue a lead regarding their true identities. But where the flock goes, erasers are sure to follow! Even more troubling, though, is the voice that’s begun whispering in Max’s head. Is it really her destiny to save the world?
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
One day, David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the 14-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die.
In STITCHES, Small, the award-winning children’s illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama where David --- a highly anxious yet supremely talented child --- all too often became the unwitting object of his parents’ buried frustration and rage.
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The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. This year’s list includes 63 titles, which were drawn from 89 official nominations. The books, recommended for those ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens.
In addition, the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Committee created a Top Ten list of titles that exemplify the quality and range of graphic novels appropriate for teen audiences.
Ghostopolis written and illustrated by Doug TenNapel
A page-turning adventure of a boy's journey to the land of ghosts and back.
Imagine Garth Hale's surprise when he's accidentally zapped to the spirit world by Frank Gallows, a washed-out ghost wrangler. Suddenly Garth finds he has powers the ghosts don't have, and he's stuck in a world run by the evil ruler of Ghostopolis, who would use Garth's newfound abilities to rule the ghostly kingdom. When Garth meets Cecil, his grandfather's ghost, the two search for a way to get Garth back home, and nearly lose hope until Frank Gallows shows up to fix his mistake.
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The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2011 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selection list. The list suggests books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read.
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One of our goals each month is to inspire you to read --- and to keep reading. We have found that required reading lists for school --- especially summer reading lists --- are not exactly inspiring. Thus we have created what we think is the Ultimate Teen Reading List --- close to 400 titles that we believe are perfect choices for reading and discussing. Our dream is that schools will use this list to help them make their own for summer reading or, even better, suggest that students just read what they want from this list.
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Editorial Content for Lionheart
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
A former history major, I am nuts about the past, especially English kings and queens. But nowadays I get most of my history through fiction. Which is not as silly as it sounds, given that many historical novelists do meticulous research on the latest scholarly findings. As a result, their books often alter the conventional wisdom about celebrated personages and well-trodden events.
"LIONHEART kept me reading, rapt in the descriptions of a rough-and-tumble army camp or the sultry elegance of a Sicilian palace."
Promo
Richard I has been known mainly as an absentee king, leaving England to rot while he was off gallivanting in the Holy Land. This novel --- a stirring brew of 12th-century politics, religion and romance --- tells a more intriguing story.
About the Book
They were called "The Devil's Brood," though never to their faces. They were the four surviving sons of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine. With two such extraordinary parents, much was expected of them.
But the eldest-charming yet mercurial-would turn on his father and, like his brother Geoffrey, meet an early death. When Henry died, Richard would take the throne and, almost immediately, set off for the Holy Land. This was the Third Crusade, and it would be characterized by internecine warfare among the Christians and extraordinary campaigns against the Saracens. And, back in England, by the conniving of Richard's youngest brother, John, to steal his crown.
In LIONHEART, Sharon Kay Penman displays her remarkable mastery of historical detail and her acute understanding of human foibles. The result is a powerful story of intrigue, war, and surprisingly effective diplomacy, played out against the roiling conflicts of love and loyalty, passion and treachery, all set against the rich textures of the Holy Land.
Editorial Content for Hell and Gone
Book
Reviewer (text)
HELL AND GONE is insane. Its author, Duane Swierczynski, is not, but rather a very talented guy who has written several comic titles for the Marvel Entertainment Group. He has also penned a number of thrillers, including FUN AND GAMES, the first installment in the Charlie Hardie series, of which HELL AND GONE is the second. Read More
Teaser
After barely escaping from an outrageous shootout, ex-cop Charlie Hardie is kidnapped by a team of undercover operatives and forced to guard an underground prison that houses the most dangerous criminals on earth. Or so he's told.
Promo
After barely escaping from an outrageous shootout, ex-cop Charlie Hardie is kidnapped by a team of undercover operatives and forced to guard an underground prison that houses the most dangerous criminals on earth. Or so he's told.
About the Book
After barely walking away with his life from a shootout that will go down in Hollywood history, ex-cop Charlie Hardie discovers things can, in fact, get even worse. He is kidnapped by a team of team of undercover operatives and forced to stand guard over an underground prison that houses the most dangerous criminals on earth.
Or so he's told. As Hardie goes deeper, and finds himself behind bars, he begins to wonder: who is running the asylum and are the good guys the ones behind bars or the ones walking the halls? But, Hardie knows that the world outside hasn't stopped and that his family is in peril as he languishes in this pseudo-prison.
Soon, Hardie is plotting a desperate escape that will visit a Pandora's box of mayhem upon the state of California. He'll make some new enemies. But he'll take care of many more. Because nobody does justice like Charlie Hardie. And if you threaten his family, you better believe there'll be hell to pay.
Editorial Content for Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Like nearly everyone of my generation, I soaked up a good deal of cinematic royal lore through films like Anne of a Thousand Days (whose title role was memorably played by Canada’s own Genevieve Bujold) or TV series such as “The Six Wives of Henry VIII,”to name only a couple of many popularizations inspired by a truly fascinating period in history. Read More
Teaser
Bestselling British historian and novelist Alison Weir reconstructs the real story of the much-misrepresented Mary Boleyn. Mary was a woman whose star rose and fell in the glittering Tudor court, whose life ended in banishment and relative obscurity when she dared to marry for love.
Promo
Alison Weir reconstructs the real story of the much-misrepresented Mary Boleyn. Mary was a woman whose star rose and fell in the glittering Tudor court, whose life ended in banishment and relative obscurity when she dared to marry for love.
About the Book
Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn, she was seduced by two kings and was an intimate player in one of history’s most gripping dramas. Yet much of what we know about Mary Boleyn has been fostered through garbled gossip, romantic fiction, and the misconceptions repeated by historians. Now, in her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first ever full-scale, in-depth biography of Henry VIII’s famous mistress, in which Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncovers the truth about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age.
With the same brand of extensive forensic research she brought to her acclaimed book THE LADY IN THE TOWER, Weir facilitates here a new portrayal of her subjects, revealing how Mary was treated by her ambitious family and the likely nature of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters. She also posits new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary’s mother, Elizabeth Howard, who was rumored to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII.
Weir unravels the truth about Mary’s much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I. She offers plausible theories as to what happened to Mary during the undocumented years of her life, and shows that, far from marrying an insignificant and complacent nonentity, she made a brilliant match with a young man who was the King’s cousin and a rising star at court.
Weir also explores Mary’s own position and role at the English court, and how she became Henry VIII’s mistress. She tracks the probable course of their affair and investigates Mary’s real reputation. With new and compelling evidence, Weir presents the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of Mary’s children, long speculated to have been Henry VIII’s progeny.
Alison Weir has drawn fascinating information from the original sources of the period to piece together a life steeped in mystery and misfortune, debunking centuries-old myths and disproving accepted assertions, to give us the truth about Mary Boleyn, the so-called great and infamous whore.
