Summer Reads, Makes Me Feel Fine

You might have noticed that I haven't been as active here on LibrariYAn as I had hoped.  And there's a simple reason for that: 50 books.  That's how many books I need to read between now and the ALA Conference on June 27th.  It's also the end of the school year, and though my body is at school, I confess that my mind is sitting on the beach with a good book.

Recent articles about Summer Reading indicate that I'm not the only one with sunshine and relaxation on the mind.  Witness:

USA Today's Top 10 Young Adult Books for Summer 
Summer Reading from the Horn Book (with a downloadable PDF!)
Edutopia's Hitting the Books: Summer Reading Recommends (okay, so this one is for teachers and adults who work with teens)
The New York Times 4th Annual Summer Reading Contest has judges and is gearing up for entries
School Library Journal is hosting the online event Summer Teen 2013

And I'm sure there's more. But that's all I could cobble together for the time being.  Seen any other cool teen summer reading articles, posts or events? Leave 'em in the comments.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Wanna Know a Secret? Adults Love YA

Okay, okay, so adults reading and loving YA isn't a secret.  I still can't help myself from feeling 50% excited and 50% unsurprised when another article about adults and YA lit comes along.  This latest article from Cleveland.com is no exception.  No new ground covered, but some good (if not already widely accepted as fantastic) books are recommended.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Gay Characters in YA Lit

As you know, I'm serving on the YALSA 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults committee.  While all of us on the committee are reading broadly, we've also each taken on the responsibility to ensure that certain genres, sub-genres and niches are not being overlooked.  My special niche is books with LGBT characters.  I thought that finding books that fit the bill would be a piece of cake, but it's harder than I thought!

Sure, I know that there are resources like The Stonewall Book Awards and The Rainbow List, but they only publish a list once a year, and the books on their 2013 list were published in 2012 and thus most are ineligible for our 2014 list.  My search for blogs that review with a focus on LGBT YA titles has also been a mixed bag.  The Hub had a post in February of 2012 that gave some recommendations on award lists, blog and author pages to check out for LGBT reading recommendations.  One of the blogs that was recommended, QueerYA, had a bunch of reviews for fiction titles published since September 2012.  Score! I'm Here, I'm Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? also had a bunch of reviews, but a lot were for graphic novels and memoirs (not in our purview), or were out of our committee's designated date range.  Boo! Author Alex Sanchez has an awesome list of fiction recommendations on his website...but none are 2013 releases. I had a similar experience visiting author Malinda Lo's website.  Womp womp.  Then I came across this amazing article from The Atlantic, that was published in March, and listed a whole bunch of new and upcoming releases. Jackpot!  Between this article and QueerYA, I've put together a pretty decently-sized reading list.

Of course, I'm still on the lookout for more titles, so if you have any to recommend and/or know of some good blogs to check out, definitely send them my way.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

25 Books Every Teen Should Have on Their Bookshelf

On Tuesday, Flavorwire posted a list of 25 Books Every Kid Should Have on Their Bookshelf.  In looking over the list, I realized that there are several books on that list that I haven't read but have always meant to read (Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy, for example) and others than I have never even heard of (Jean Merrill's The Pushcart War, I'm looking at you!).

Of course, it inevitably got me thinking about if there was a list of the 25 books every teen should have on their bookshelf, and what that list would include.  And then I thought it would be fun if I created a list.  So I did.

As loyal readers know, while I've read hundreds of young adult titles, there are many classic (and even contemporary) books with teen appeal that I have yet to read.  So my list certainly isn't the be all and end all of lists.  It's just for fun.  But maybe in the comments, you can submit your "shoulds" for teen bookshelves.  I'm going to guess that people who have actually read books like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Fellowship of the Ring, Ender's Game, Watership Down or any of the others that are on my TBR list and that I just haven't gotten to yet, would probably take some of my choices off the list.  And some of you are looking at my list and thinking "I can't believe Pride and Prejudice isn't on that list!"  I've read it.  It's one of my favorite books.  But I didn't actually read it all the way through until I was 20 (just don't tell my high school junior English teacher).  And I don't think EVERY teen should have it on their bookshelf.  In fact, I'm not even sure there should exist a list of books EVERY teen should have on their bookshelf.  But I made a list despite that.

In alphabetical author order, here is my list of the 25 Books Every Teen Should Have on Their Bookshelf.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Weetzie Bat  by Francesca Lia Block
Forever . . . by Judy Blume
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Lord of the Flies, Centenary Edition by William Golding
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition by Harper Lee
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1) by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J.K. Rowling
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Night by Elie Weisel
Uglies (The Uglies) by Scott Westerfeld
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

And yes, I did put every.single.one. of the Harry Potter books on my list.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Forgotten YA Classics

If are like me, then perhaps you didn't even know that YA lit was being written during the 30s and 40s.  You (and I) would be wrong!

According to Publishers Weekly, a new imprint of Ig Publishing - Lizzie Skurnick Books - will be re-releasing classic young adult titles from the 30s and 40s, and even the 70s and 80s.  Who better to this task than Ms. Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading herself? Be prepared for a new look to come to your favorite Lois Duncan and M.E. Kerr titles.  And to think that in my weed this fall several dusty and unloved Duncan and Kerr titles found their way out the door.  Perhaps a shiny new cover and the absence of old book smell will bring the readers back.  Here's hoping!

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

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.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Young Adult (the Art Exhibit)

Some days I really feel like I live on the wrong coast.  Usually, it's when I see photos of gorgeous outdoor scenes in Northern California or when my left-coast friends complain about "chilly" temps in the 60s.  Today it's because I've learned about a totally amazing art exhibit that opens on Friday.

Art inspired by young adult literature?  I'm all about it.  If only.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Best of 2012: Time's Top 10 Fiction Books

So I've been posting all these "Best of 2012" lists on the blog, and you might have noticed that all of the lists thus far have been for "children's," "middle grade," "young adult" or "teens."  That changes today.  That changes today, because TWO, not one, but TWO books written for the under 18 set have made Time's list of Top 10 Fiction Books in their Top 10 of Everything 2012.  Yes, indeed.  On a list that features the likes of notable literary giants Junot Diaz (#10) and Zadie Smith (#8), two of the TOP FIVE titles are by Catherynne Valente, author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (#5!) and John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars (#1!).  Crazypants and huzzah!

To all the haters, I just wanna say, "Take that!"  Young adult fiction is not poorly written, slapped together, unimportant, or "just for kids."  I mean, some of it is just candy, but there are some (and not just a few) young adult books out there that eat like a meal.  There are authors who write fiction for young adults that is complex, critical, and compelling.  And I guess people are starting to realize that.  Yay!

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.