2009 Teens’ Top Ten Winners announced

YALSA reports that more than 11,000 teens voted for the 2009 Teens’ Top Ten and here is the list in order of votes:

1.  Green, John Paper Towns
2.  Meyer, Stephenie Breaking Dawn
3.  Collins, Suzanne The Hunger Games
4.  Clare, Cassandra City of Ashes
5.  Hopkins, Ellen Identical
6.  Gaiman, Neil The Graveyard Book
7.  McMann, Lisa Wake
8.  Cast, Kristin & P.C. Untamed
9.  Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
10.  Cashore, Kristin Graceling

Of the 10, I have read four and enjoyed them all.

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (illustrations by Dave McKean)

Nobody Owens, Bod for short, lives in the graveyard on the same street where his family was murdered when he was a toddler.  Because his family is dead, and the killer, the man Jack, is still looking for him, he is being raised by ghosts.  And a guardian.

Bod has been given the Freedom of the Graveyard and as such can see in darkness as well as a bunch of other neat and handy tricks.  He learns his alphabet and numbers with the help of  gravestones.  He learns history from those who had lived it.  But one thing the graveyard can’t give Bod is the experience of being with the living.

I always find Neil Gaiman’s writing to be wonderful, and Dave McKean’s illustrations add to the enjoyment.  I even like how the text is arranged around the art.  Unfortunately, Bod’s clothing in the book doesn’t match up with the clothing in the drawings of him.  Where is the grey winding sheet?  There.  That is my one gripe.

The Graveyard Book is nominated for the Teens Top Ten list for 2009, because a bunch of teens love it.   Not only that, but it won the Newbery Medal for 2009, as well. That means a lot of library people thought it was the best book written for kids and teens last year.

My question to you… What would you have written on your gravestone?

Graceling – Kristin Cashore

Some people born in Katsa’s world are Graced, which means that they have one extreme skill.  Some are Graced with swimming, running or tabulating.  Katsa is Graced with killing, and this makes her a useful weapon for her king.

The Graced have eyes of two different colors; Katsa’s are blue and green. This marking makes the Graced near impossible to hide, and Katsa’s deeds are well known and far told.

We meet Katsa when she is tired of being the king’s dog, of being ordered about and used as a threat against innocent people.  She, with the help of others, created the Council, a secret organization of spies and sympathizers from across the Seven Kingdoms that worked in secret to thwart the actions of bad rulers against those they should have been protecting.

Why would an elderly prince of a peaceful land be kidnapped and held in a dungeon of another kingdom?  As far as Katsa is concerned, there can be no good reason for it, and so he must be freed.  Welcome to page 1.  Expect hand to hand combat and arrow play.  Knives, swords, whatever.  Katsa can use them all.  But, things are not always as  first they appear to be.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore is fantastic. According to her blog a prequel, called Fire, will be published in October 2009, and she is at work on a third in the series.  I am excited.

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Imagine yourself standing in a crowd of twelve to 18 year-olds. In front of you is a stage with three chairs and two large glass balls filled with slips of paper. Each slip has a name written on it. One ball is for the girls, the other for the boys. Two will be chosen to go to the Capital of Panem and compete in The Hunger Games.

Each district of the Panem has a reaping.  Twenty-four contestants will compete.  The winner will be rewarded with a life of ease.  The winner’s district will be given extra grain, oil and sugar until the next reaping day.

Don’t worry about the twenty-three other contestants. They will be killed in the games. And everyone will see it live on TV.

Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen’s name is on twenty slips of paper.  Prim, her beloved twelve year-old sister, has her name on one.  What can Katniss do other than volunteer when the name Primrose Everdeen is pulled from the ball?

The Hunger Games is powerful.  And everyone is watching.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks – E. Lockhart

Do you ever feel that you are being watched?  Do you alter your behavior because of that?  Or, do you feel that no one ever sees you?

Frankie is a sophomore at the Alabaster Preparatory Academy, a school where there is a secret society to which her father once belonged.    He speaks fondly of the Academy and talks about the old days with friends he still has from school.

The society is called the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds.  One day Frankie follows Matthew, a boy that she is dating, and discovers the all boy group.  They are planning a Halloween prank, but they need to think up a prank that will go down in history.

Frankie thinks back to her father’s dinner conversation, well, he and his pal’s dinner pledging, actually, and realizes that there is a hidden journal of past members and activities.  Frankie plans on finding that journal.  The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is the result.  The pranks she plans are complex and, it must be said, fantastic.  But, would anyone believe that it is Frankie who is planning them?

YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten list is in for 2008

1.   Stephenie Meyer. ECLIPSE. (Twilight, #3)
2.   J.K. Rowling. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.
3.   Jeff Kinney. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: GREG HEFFLEY’S JOURNAL.
4.   Richelle Mead. VAMPIRE ACADEMY. (Vampire Academy, #1)
5.   James Patterson. SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS. (Maximum Ride, #3)
6.   Cassandra Clare. CITY OF BONES. (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
7.   Libba Bray. THE SWEET FAR THING. (Gemma Doyle Trilogy, #3)
8.   Scott Westerfeld. EXTRAS. (Uglies, #4)
9.   Jenny Downham. BEFORE I DIE.
10. Laurie Halse Anderson. TWISTED.

From ALA’s YALSA Teens’ Top Ten website.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Greg Heffley’s Journal – Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal is a funny quick read.  And it is nominated for the Teens Top Ten list this year.  As the cover says, it is a novel in cartoons.  And, hey, it is not a diary. It is a journal.  I wonder why it says “diary” on the cover.  Hmm.

Greg writes about a bunch of things that happen during a full year at middle school.  I am just going to leave you with two things:  1) stay away from the cheese on the basketball court and 2) keep your eye out for the second book in the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Twilight – the movie and Book 4 Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer

Fans of Stephenie Meyer’s series Twilight: the movie will be released in the US on December 12, 2008. I expect the lines will be long. Is anyone already making plans to go? Here is the Official Movie Site.

Also, book 4, the grand finale of the series, will be released on August 2, 2008. The title is Breaking Dawn and the reserve list is already growing. Hop on. And, just for fun, here is the Official Website of Stephenie Meyer.

Pirates! – Celia Rees

Nancy’s father owns a fleet of cargo ships and is a wealthy merchant. When a storm destroys much of his fleet he makes a deal that will save his fortune. Nancy is part of this deal, and shortly she is on a ship that has set sail for Jamaica where she learns what fate her father has set up for her.

I bet you can guess part of what happens next from the title. Pirates!: the true and remarkable adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, female pirates is an adventurous read. Nancy gets separated from everyone she loves and makes a new friend, who turns out to be much more than a friend. Sometimes you don’t just let things happen to you. You stand up and do for yourself.

Before I Die – Jenny Downham

Before I Die is also nominated for the Teens Top Ten list this year. This is the story of Tessa, a seventeen year old girl who is dying of cancer. She has decided to go out on her own terms, to stop fighting her death and enjoy the time she has left. She has a list of things she wants to do before she dies. She accomplishes things on her list, for good or for ill. And the list keeps changing.

This book is both heart breaking and life affirming.  You are going to cry, so prep your reading space accordingly.