http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2014/04/17/yalsas-2014-teens-top-ten-nominations-announced/
Put your party hats on– it’s Celebrate Teen Literature Day!
This is a great day for YA lit fans, because not only is it an
opportunity for us to spread the word about how much much we love books
for teens, it also brings the announcement of this year’s
Teens’ Top Ten nominations!
The Teens’ Top Ten is a “teen choice” list where every title is
nominated and voted on by teens. Voting will start on August 15 and run
until
Teen Read Week, during which the winners will be announced. For YA lit gifs, info, and fun all year long, be sure to follow the
Teens’ Top Ten tumblr.
And now… the nominated titles for the 2014 Teens’ Top Ten list!
- Arnett, Mindee. The Nightmare Affair. Tor Teen. (9780765333339).
Dusty Everhart a Nightmare, (literally!), has been trying to escape
the shadow of her mother’s reputation, and one night, while
dream-feeding, she sees the crime scene of a murder victim who attends
her high school, a school for supernatural children. When she arrives
back on campus, she finds, to her horror, that the dream had come true.
Now she must use dreams to find the killer and save victims-to-be in
order to stop an ancient darkness from returning.
- Banks, Anna. Of Triton. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends. (9781250003331).
After Emma’s mother, the long lost Poseidon princess returns to the
sea, the Syrena begin to bring her identity into question. When all hope
seems lost, and appears the Royals have a revolution on their hands,
Emma has the opportunity to use her Gift to save those that she loves.
But at what cost will her choices bring to not only her, but also to
those she considers her family.
- Bardugo, Leigh. Siege and Storm. Macmillan/Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. (9780805094602).
Alina, a sun summoner on the run from the evil Darkling, is searching
for a way to increase her power and save the ones she loves. But as her
power grows she falls deeper in the Darkling’s grasp and farther away
from her best friend and love, Mal. When the time comes Alina must
choose between her love, her power, or her lust for the Darkling and all
of his power.
- Block, Francesca Lia. Love In The Time Of Global Warming. Macmillan/Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. (9780805096279).
Penelope believes she is the last person alive in the city of Los
Angeles after a massive earthquake destroyed the majority of the earth.
After encountering a group of survivors, however, she begins to have
hope in whatever may be left of the world, whether it be love, trust,
and, just maybe, her family. Modeled after Homer’s Odyssey, Pen goes on a
post-apocalyptic journey filled with Giants and butterflies in an
attempt to find her way home.
- Charbonneau, Joelle. The Testing. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ( 9780547959108).
Cia is chosen to participate in The Testing, a government program that
will select the brightest graduates who show potential for becoming
future leaders in this post-apocalyptic world. Cia’s excitement of being
chosen soon dies when her father warns her of the experiences he faced
when he was chosen. Cia must trust no one if she hopes to come back
alive. However, will she be able to face the dark, unholy truth about
the testing? One kept whether you leave… Or don’t?
- Dashner, James. The Eye of Minds. Random House/Delacorte Press. (9780385741392).
Michael is an average kid who plays video games, but this video game,
the Virtnet, is different than others. You can die in it physically and
mentally, and that happens to a girl named Tanya who rips out her core
and commits suicide. Suddenly, Michael is whisked away by the designers
of the VirtNet and is given a mission by them to find a cyber terrorist,
named Kaine, who is suspected of killing gamers.
- Edwards, Janet . Earth Girl. Prometheus Books /Pyr . (9780007443499).
In 2788 humanity has developed technology that allows them to portal
between many habitable worlds except for those are deemed “the
handicapped”, those who are born with a one in a thousand chance of
having an immune system that cannot tolerate other planets. Jarra, a
handicapped 18-year old student with a passion for history, creates a
false identity for herself and enrolls in a college course for students
from other planets in an attempt to get revenge for the way the
handicapped are looked down upon.
- Gleason, Colleen. The Clockwork Scarab. Chronicle Books. (9781452134680).
The niece of Sherlock Holmes, the world’s first consulting detective,
and the half-sister of Bram, the vampire slayer, are thrown together to
find out why high society girls are being murdered and what a mechanical
scarab beetle has to do with it.
- Gray, Laurie. Maybe I Will. Luminis Books. (9781935462712).
One life-altering, life-changing event which dramatically effected
Sandy, and not in the good sort of life-changing events like winning the
lottery or having a kid, will leave you thinking. Finding true friends
and activities that allow Sandy to really be free and let off steam is
all that keeps Sandy sane and is an important factor in putting Sandy’s
life back together once again.
- Henry, April. The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. (9780805095418).
Cady wakes up in a up in a dark, torn apart cottage hearing someone tell
another man to “finish her off.” To make things worse, not only does
she not know why she’s in the cabin or why the men are trying to kill
her, she also doesn’t remember who she is. Eventually, she escapes and
meets up with Ty, a boy who is willing to help her even at the risk of
losing his own life. Together they attempt to figure out what happened
to make her lose her memory.
- Howard, A. G. Splintered. ABRAMS/Amulet Books. (9781419704284).
Alyssa, a girl already struggling with life in general, is pulled into
something dark and mysterious. She follows in the footsteps of her
ancestor, Alice, and goes down the rabbit hole to right the wrongs that
Alice caused to cure her family of their “curse”. Instead of finding
Lewis Carroll’s Beautiful wonderland she finds a dark and twisted
version with monstrous creatures that aren’t as nice as the ones in the
novel or as pretty.
- Kate, Lauren. Teardrop. Random House. (9780375990694).
Eureka has only ever cried once in her life and the one time she did,
her mother told her to never cry again. Ever since then, she has never
shed a tear; not even when her mother was killed in a tragic freak
accident. Unbeknownst to Eureka, she was also supposed to die, but Ander
couldn’t bring himself to let her die despite the threats that Eureka
possesses because of her tears.
- Konigsberg, Bill . Openly Straight. Scholastic. (9780545509893).
Rafe has been out of the closet for years. After transferring to an
all-boys boarding school, however, he decides to keep his sexual
orientation to himself. But when he meets Ben, a teammate on his soccer
team, he wonders if their friendship-turned-more is worth outing
himself for.
- Laybourne, Emmy. Monument 14: Sky On Fire. Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends. (9780312569044).
When disaster strikes in the city of Monument, 14 kids are huddled in a
Greenway store for shelter and survival. They decide their only chance
of living through this nationwide disaster is to make their way to
Denver International Airport where the military is evacuating people to
safety. Will they make it alive or will they meet their doom like others
have?
- Richards, Natalie D. Six Months Later. Sourcebooks/Fire. (9781402285516).
Chloe Spinnaker is an average student just barely making the grade. But
one day spring day, after falling asleep in study hall, she wakes up to
snow and an empty classroom. Six months of her life has passed and she
has no clue what happened except that now she is popular and has lots of
friends that is, except Maggie, the one true friend she had before
everything changed. Bewildered by the sudden time lapse in her life,
Chloe decides to embark on a mission where she stops at nothing to
figure out what happened to her and to get her memories back.
- Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor & Park. Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin. (9781250031211).
The year is 1986 when Eleanor arrives in town to live with her family
and abusive step-father. It’s been a year since the last time she lived
with them, and she doesn’t expect life to be any better. Park’s life, on
the other hand, is going steady. He’s got a spot in the popular crowd
and he’s about to get his driver’s license. But when the two meet on the
bus, things change drastically. Even though they both know high school
romances never last, they’re going to try everything they’ve got to make
it work. But in end, will everything they have be enough?
- Sales, Leila. This Song Will Save Your Life. Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (9780374351380).
Elise Dembowski is a high school loser. After reaching the tip of the
iceberg and facing suicidal thoughts just months before, Elise is
searching desperately for a way out of her nearly friendless life. When
she accidentally finds a dance club called Start, Elise’s life finally
takes off as she meets new people, makes new memories, finds a new
passion, and discovers herself.
- Sanderson, Brandon. Steelheart. Random House/Delacorte Press. (9780385743563).
Ten years ago, Calamity came; a light in the sky that appeared one day
and many believe that somehow it was connected to the rise of the Epics.
These beings, once human, now have all kinds of amazing and dangerous
powers that have enabled them to take over the world, and one could
argue the most dangerous one is Steelheart. Able to bend the elements to
his will and turn any non-living substance to steel, many say he’s
invincible because they’ve never seen him bleed — except for David, who
will stop at nothing to get his vengeance and see Steelheart bleed
again.
- Sanderson, Brandon. The Rithmatist. Tor Teen. (9780765320322).
Joel wants to be a Rithmatist more than anything. Rithmatists have the
power to bring two dimensional beings called Chalklings to life and
defend against the wild chalkings that threaten to overcome the
Rithmatists. Joel is student at Armedius Academy, a prestigious school
where Rithmatists and wealthy children go to learn. When a string of
kidnappings begin to occur Joel must gain assistance from the
Rithmatists at Armedius Academy in order to bring order back to the
academy.
- Smith, Jennifer E. This is What Happy Looks Like. Little, Brown & Company. (9780316212823).
Ellie is the girl from Middle-of-Nowhere, Maine, and Graham Larkin is
the hot superstar sensation from Middle-of-Everything, California. While
Ellie hides from the media, Graham is constantly being watched by the
paparazzi. However, an email mistake from Graham to Ellie starts an
online relationship between these two teens, marking the start of a
friendship and something more. Can Ellie accept Graham despite all the
publicity? Or will the media be the demise of this couple’s happiness?
- Smith, Andrew. Winger. Simon and Schuster. (9781442444928).
Ryan Dean West is a fourteen year old junior trying to make everyone
else blind to the one thing that makes him different than everyone else,
his young age. This is not easy though, as he must prove himself to
everyone – the girl of his dreams, his scary roommate, his friends, and
the rugby team. As Ryan Dean tries to survive his junior year, he
encounters horrifying injuries, moments of ecstasy, and shattering
heartbreak.
- Stine, R.L. A Midsummer Night’s Scream. Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends. (9781250024343).
Claire, a girl with a dream to become an actress, finally gets her
chance when her parents decide to remake Mayhem Manor, a movie that was
never finished because of 3 real deaths. As the camera starts rolling on
the remake, strange things begin to happen. Like the little hairy man
Claire meets by the makeup trailer one day. Who or what could be the
cause of these actors’ deaths?
- Tucholke, April. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Penguin/Dial. (9780803738898).
Violet, a sassy, independent, and sharp-tongued young lady, rents out
the side cottage on her parent’s estate in the hopes of making a little
extra money to pay the bills. Her easygoing customer is as dangerous as
he is mysterious, and murders and madness soon sweep her little home
town. She takes it upon herself to understand him and the events, but
only finds a darkness she can only hope to escape with her sanity and
safety.
- Winters, Cat. In The Shadow of Blackbirds. ABRAMS/Amulet Books. (9781419705304).
It’s the fall of 1918: The Spanish Influenza and the horrors of World
War I grip the world with terror, and spiritualist photography, as the
face of death seems to greet every household in America, has become
increasingly popular. After her father is arrested as a suspected
traitor, Mary Shelley Black travels to San Diego, hoping to escape the
flu while living with her Aunt Eva. Only a few days after arriving,
Mary Shelley is told that Stephen, her sweetheart who recently became a
soldier, has been killed in France. But Stephen’s spirit hasn’t left
yet, and he desperately needs Mary Shelley’s help.
- Yancey, Rick. The 5th Wave. Penguin/Putnam Juvenile. (9780399162411).
Present day – the aliens have invaded the planet, or as Cassie likes to
call them, the Others.Almost everyone has been killed off by the 4th
Wave, and now, Cassie one of the few survivors living now during the 5th
wave, roams the country while trying to stay alive to find her brother –
that is, if he’s still alive. When she’s taken in by a boy named Evan,
she realizes that he’s different. He’s not like her, but he’s all she’s
got. Cassie has to overcome her doubts and trust issues if she wishes to
survive the 5th wave.
