YALSA List-O-Mania! Best Fiction and Great Graphic Novels

Two weeks ago I blogged about the Youth Media Awards winners and honorees.  And I also spotlighted the Amelia Bloomer and Rainbow List books.  But I haven't gotten around to other awesome YALSA lists.  You know, the awesome ones that are exactly what you need in order to do collection development! While the awards are fun, it's these lists that really help librarians figure out what to buy.  So let's look at them now, shall we?  We'll start with Best Fiction and Great Graphic Novels...

Best Fiction for Young Adults
There's no set number of books that makes the cut on this list.  Rather, committee members read 200+ nominated books (and yes, as I am on the 2014 committee, I can confirm that every committee member must read every nomination!), and then select however many of those books they agree are the "best" and put them on a list.  And then, they create a Top Ten.  These are books to put on the top of your TBR pile.

• Andrews, Jesse. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Abrams/Amulet Books, 2012.
• Bray, Libba. The Diviners. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012.
• Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina. Random House/Random House Books for Young Readers, 2012.
• Kontis, Alethea. Enchanted. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Harcourt Children’s Books, 2012.
• Levithan, David. Every Day. Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2012.
• McCormick, Patricia. Never Fall Down. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, 2012.
• Quick, Matthew. Boy 21. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012.
• Saenz, Benjamin. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Simon & Schuster/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012.
• Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. Scholastic, 2012.
• Wein, Elizabeth. Code Name Verity. Disney/Hyperion, 2012.

Great Graphic Novels
Similar to BFYA, there's no set number of books that make this list, and all have been vetted by the full committee.  I spend so much time reading fiction and nonfiction that I personally do a bad job keeping up with graphic novels.  This list was made for people like me, who desperately need assistance growing a fine graphic novel collection for their eager teens.

Non-Fiction

• Backderf, Derf. My Friend Dahmer. 2012, illus., Abrams, paper, $17.95, 978-1419702174.
• Fetter-Vorm, Jonathan. Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb. 2012, illus., Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Hill and Wang, $22.00, 978-0809094684.
• Lambert, Joseph. Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller. 2012, illus., Disney Hyperion/Disney Book Group, $17.99, 978-1423113362.

Fiction

• Bendis, Brian Michael and Sara Pichelli. Ultimate Comics Spider-man, V.1. 2012, illus., Marvel, $24.99, 978-0785157120.
• Hicks, Faith Erin. Friends with Boys. 2012, illus., Roaring Brook/First Second, paper, $15.99, 978-1596435568.
• Kwitney, Alisa, Rebecca Guay and others. A Flight of Angels. 2011, illus., DC/Vertigo, $24.99. 978-1401232009.
• Long, Mark, Nate Powell and others. The Silence of Our Friends. 2012, illus., Roaring Brook/First Second, paper, $16.99, 978-1596436183.
• Murakami, Takashi. Stargazing Dog. 2011, illus., NBM Publishing, paper, $11.99, 978-1561636129.
• Telgemeier, Raina. Drama. 2012, illus., Scholastic/GRAPHIX, $23.99, 978-0545326988.
• Waid, Mark, Paolo Manuel Rivera and Marcos Martin. Daredevil V. 1. 2012, illus., Marvel, $19.99, 978-0785152378.

Stay tuned for Quick Picks, Popular Paperbacks and Fabulous Films, coming later this week.

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