Young Adult

This page features staff recommendations from our 2010 Winter Newsletter

Other Children's Book recommendations in our 2010 Winter Newsletter:

  • Picture Books
  • Beginning Chapter Books for New Readers
  • Powerful Short Novels
  • Great New Novels for 9- to 12-year-olds 

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    Finnikin of the Rock (Hardcover)

    By Melina Marchetta
    $18.99
    ISBN-13: 9780763643614
    Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
    Published: Candlewick, 2/2010
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    Can Melina Marchetta do no wrong? This Printz Award–winning author of the searing, nonlinear narrative Jelicoe Road and perfect teen humor Saving Francesca has made another bold but completely successful shift, this time to fantasy. Those who loved Tamora Pierce when they were younger, or Kristin Cashore’s Graceling now, will admire idealistic macho/sensitive Finnikin and Evanjalin who is to this novel what Lisbeth Salander is to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (only less damaged and more in control). An utterly innovative fantasy for ages 14 and up. —GA

    The White Horse Trick (Hardcover)

    By Kate Thompson
    $17.99
    ISBN-13: 9780062004161
    Availability: On Our Shelves Now
    Published: Greenwillow Books, 9/2010
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    Kate Thompson has simply outdone herself in this final volume of a trilogy that began with The New Policeman and continued with Last of the High Kings (now in paperback). In a world ravaged beyond repair by global warming, and as the situation becomes ever more dire, climate change refugees begin to pour into Tir na n’Og. All the beloved, familiar characters—Jenny, (who is both 16 years old in the fairy realm and an elderly woman in the mortal realm), Aengus Og, the Dagada, the puka, and J.J. Liddy—have a part to play in this unfolding drama. Thompson’s sparkling wit, droll humor, and nimble plotting are on full display here, but this book is more ambitious than its predecessors in that its theme packs the heaviest punch; the human race is our family and Earth is our home—and we would do well to act accordingly. —Horn Book

    Ghost Medicine (Hardcover)

    By Andrew Smith
    $17.95
    ISBN-13: 9780312375577
    Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
    Published: Feiwel & Friends, 9/2008
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    After the death of his mother, 16-year-old Troy Stotts leaves his emotionally absent father behind at their ranch to spend the summer with friends Tom Buller, Gabe Benavidez, and Gabe’s sister Luz on the Benavidez ranch in the mountains above Los Angeles. A western in the tradition of Wallace Stegner or James Galvin, Smith’s debut novel is at once spare and lyrical, the story’s landscape unfolding around the reader with each sentence. With clear, calm language, Smith crafts an explosive story, a deeply sophisticated and timeless coming-of-age tale. Ages 14 & up. —Holly & GA

    A Conspiracy of Kings (Hardcover)

    By Megan Whalen Turner
    $16.99
    ISBN-13: 9780061870934
    Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
    Published: Greenwillow Books, 4/2010
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    In this fourth book (all can be read as stand alones, except maybe book two), Turner returns to the world created in her Newbery Honor book, The Thief, the focus shifting this time from Eugenides to Sophos and his reluctant ascension as king of Sounis. Characters, as usual, are complex and motivations initially difficult to unravel; this is a fantasy less about sword, battle, and quest than about political alliance and intrigue—a beautifully crafted series. Grades 7 & up. —GA

    For the Win (Hardcover)

    By Cory Doctorow
    $17.99
    ISBN-13: 9780765322166
    Availability: On Our Shelves Now
    Published: Tor Teen, 5/2010
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    Great for AFTER reading HUNGER GAMES!

    “Doctorow is indispensable. It’s hard to imagine any other author taking on youth and technology with such passion, intelligence, and understanding. Although perhaps less urgent than [his book] Little Brother, this effort is superior in every other aspect; scope, plot, character, and style” (Booklist, in a starred review). But I don’t know. Little Brother, set in San Francisco, is pretty terrific. Certainly in my top five YA novels of the past couple of years, and now available in paperback. I’d read both. —GA

    Monsters of Men: Chaos Walking: Book Three (Hardcover)

    By Patrick Ness
    $18.99
    ISBN-13: 9780763647513
    Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
    Published: Candlewick, 9/2010
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    Great for AFTER reading HUNGER GAMES!

    Monsters of Men is the final book in this riveting science fiction trilogy, expanding “the series litany of heavy themes (genocide, extremism, civil war, terrorism, redemption), all while delivering some of the most pulse-pounding action around.”—Booklist.

    Incarceron (Hardcover)

    By Catherine Fisher
    $17.99
    ISBN-13: 9780803733961
    Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
    Published: Firebird, 1/2010
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    Great for AFTER reading HUNGER GAMES!

    Finn is a fighter—crazy, fearless, a member of the gang-like Comitatus, jailed in the vast sentient prison Incarceron (shiver). Claudia is the daughter of the warden, smart, privileged, but about to be trapped in a marriage to the cruel prince of the Realm. A dystopic, steampunky, futuristic novel—elegant, gritty, and enthralling. —GA

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