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There is no better way to improve your writing skills than by reading a great
book. Another writer is the best place to find inspiration, great lines, great
names, and terrific style. Pick up a book and start banking from the best!
2008 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Illus. by
Ellen Forney. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01368-0; $16.99. (some
adult themes)
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Farrar, Straus &
Giroux/Sarah Crichton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-10523-5; $22.00.
Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Random House/David Fickling, 2007; ISBN13:
978-0-385-75155-1; $15.99.
Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath.
Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83799-9; $15.99.
Jones, Lloyd. Mister Pip. Dell Publishing/Dial Press, 2007; ISBN13:
978-0-385-34106-6; $20.00.
Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant. HarperCollins, 2007; ISBN13:
978-0-06-123115-5; $17.99.
Peet, Mal. Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal. Candlewick,
2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3488-9; $17.99.
Polly, Matthew. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend
of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China. Penguin Group USA/Gotham Books,
2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59240-262-5; $26.00.
Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel. Illus. by Brain
Selznick. Scholastic, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-439-81378-5; $22.99.
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Illus. by Shaun Tan. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine,
2007; ISBN13: 978-0-439-89529-3; $19.99.
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2007 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the
Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party. Candlewick, 2006. $17.99. (0-7636-2402-0;
9780763624016).
Gratz, Alan. Samurai Shortstop. Penguin Group USA/Dial, 2006. $17.99.
(0-8037-3075-6; 9780803730755).
Hartnett, Sonya. Surrender. Candlewick, 2006. $16.99. (0-7636-2768-2;
9780763627683).
McCormick, Patricia. Sold. Hyperion, 2006. $16.99. (0-7868-5171-6; 9780786851713).
Sayres, Meghan Nuttall. Anahita’s Woven Riddle. Abrams/Amulet, 2006. $16.95.
(0-8109-5481-8; 9780810954816).
Smelcer, John. The Trap. Henry Holt, 2006. $15.95. (0-8050-7939-4; 9780805079395).
Turner, Megan Whalen. The King of Attolia. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2006.
$16.99. (0-06-083577-X; 9780060835774).
Werlin, Nancy. The Rules of Survival. Penguin Group USA/Dial, 2006. $16.99.
(0-8037-3001-2; 9780803730014).
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. Roaring Brook/First Second, 2006.
$16.95. (1-59643-152-0; 9781596431522).
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. $16.95.
(0-375-83100-2; 9780375831003).
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2006 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults from the American Library Association
Akbar, Said Hyder and Burton, Susan. _Come Back to Afghanistan: A California
Teenager's Story_. Bloomsbury, 2005. $24.95. (1-58234-520-1).
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. _Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow_.
Scholastic, 2005. illus. $19.95. (0-439-35379-3).
Buckhanon, Kalisha. _Upstate_. St. Martin's, 2005. $19.95. (0-312-33268-8).
Green, John. Looking for Alaska. Dutton, 2005. $15.99. (0-525-47506-0).
Lynch, Chris. Inexcusable. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. $16.95.
(0-689-84789-0).
Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight: A Novel. Little, Brown/Megan Tingley, 2005.
$17.99. (0-316-16017-2).
Vaughan, Brian K. Runaways: Volume 1 HC. Illus. by Adrian Alphona. Marvel,
2005. $34.99. (0-7851-1876-4).
Westerfeld, Scott. Peeps. Penguin/Razorbill, 2005. $16.99. (1-59514-031-X).
Wooding, Chris. Poison. Scholastic/Orchard, 2005. $16.99. (0-439-75570-0).
Zusak, Markus. I Am the Messenger. Knopf, 2005. $16.95. (0-375-83099-5).
OTHER GREAT PICKS:
THE DOOR WITHIN trilogy by Wayne Batson.... Our very own resident author.
There is an unseen world of good and evil where nightmares are fought and hope
is reborn. Enter The Door Within.
Aidan Thomas is miserable. And it's much more than the strange nightmares
he's been having. Just when life seemed to be coming together for Aidan, his
parents suddenly move the family across the country to take care of his
wheelchair-bound grandfather. When strange events begin to occur, Aidan is
drawn into his grandfather's basement where he discovers three ancient scrolls
and an invitation to another world.
No longer confined to the realm of his own imagination, Aidan embarks on an
adventure where he meets knights, warriors, kings and mysterious Glimpses who
can travel between worlds. Aidan joins them in the struggle between good and
evil. With the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance, Aidan faces
Paragory, the eternal enemy. Will Aidan be willing to risk everything and
trust the unseen hand of the one true King? The answer comes from The Door
Within.
CRISPIN by Avi
"Time was the great millstone, which ground us to dust like kerneled wheat.
The Holy Church told us where we were in the alterations of the day, the year,
and in our daily toil. Birth and death alone gave distinction to our lives, as
we made the journey between the darkness from whence we had come to the
darkness where we were fated to await Judgment Day."
CRISPIN is the name of the 13-year-old peasant main character; although, the
only name he's known for himself is "Asta's Son." That is until his mother
dies,and in his blinding grief he stumbles upon a secret meeting in the woods
between John Aycliffe--the steward of the manor--and a wealthy stranger. In a
flash he finds himself the target of a plot in which he is falsely accused of
a theft and declared a "wolf's head," allowing anyone to kill him on sight. On
his way "out of town" the village priest tells the boy his real name, tells
him to hide out for 24 hours until he can round up some provisions, and
promises to reveal some more vital information the next day. Then the priest
proceeds to get his throat slit and Crispin is on the run with the theft AND
the priest's murder hanging over him. What happens to him is one of those
stories that is so well crafted that you can taste and smell the settings, as
well as hear the sinister growl in Aycliffe's throat, as you anxiously wait
for something to go right for Crispin.
THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION by Nancy Farmer
Fields of white opium poppies stretch away over the hills, and uniformed
workers bend over the rows, harvesting the juice. This is the empire of Matteo
Alacran, a feudal drug lord in the country of Opium, which lies between the
United States and Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Field work, or any menial tasks,
are done by "eejits," humans in whose brains computer chips have been
installed to insure docility. Alacran, or El Patron,has lived 140 years with
the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich
men in this world.
The intelligence of clones is usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, the latest
of Alacran's doubles, has been spared because he belongs to El Patron. He
grows up in the family's mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal
and pampered and educated as El Patron's favorite. Gradually he realizes the
fate that is in store for him, and with the help of Tam Lin, his bluff and
kind Scottish bodyguard, he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other "lost
children" are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return
to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, SPYMASTER by Thomas Allen
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-Codes and ciphers, invisible ink and secret messages, spies and
counterspies! Covert operations win the Revolutionary War under mastermind
Washington in this intriguing take on early American history. Allen presents
the facts with a gleeful edge, clearly enjoying his subject and writing with
vigor. The author relates the main events of the Revolution chronologically,
consistently revealing the shadowy role of intelligence and
counterintelligence. Members of the Culper Ring, the "mole" in the Sons of
Liberty, and daring women worked as spies, fighting on the secret front where
Patriots and Tories looked and sounded alike. Washington's role as spymaster
adds a fascinating and fresh perspective on the life of this revered founding
father who did far more than cross the Delaware. This small-format book looks
like a publication from the 1700s.
Set in an antique typeface, it is well illustrated with black-and-white
reproductions of archival art and Harness's charming pen-and-ink
sketches. Messages written in the Talmadge code (1783) appear throughout, with
a key in the appendix. Even the chapter titles are historically appropriate,
such as "Franklin's French Friends. IN WHICH a wise man from Philadelphia goes
to Paris and outfoxes spies of two nations." This is well-documented,
appealing history. It's a good companion to Shannon Zemlicka's Nathan Hale,
Patriot Spy (Carolrhoda, 2002),which offers similar coverage on a famous
Patriot whose work as a spy cost him his life. Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest
Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division
of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
MESSENGER by Lois Lowry
This is the final book of The Giver trilogy and is an excellent ending.
These books are a thoughtful read: The Giver, Gathering Blue, and then Messenger.
Strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that
prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to
all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous
Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village"s closing and try to
convince Seer"s daughter to return with him before it"s too late. But Forest
has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his
way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or
understand.
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX by Kate DiCamillo
Newberry Medal: 2004
"Reader, you must know that an interesting fate awaits almost
everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform...They say he was born with his
eyes open." The Tale of Despereaux is an incredible story about a mouse, a
rat, and a princess. Each are trying to make the world right for them because
it darkens their lives. So they go on a journey to right it.
A BREAK WITH CHARITY by Ann Rinaldi
Susanna desperately wants to join the circle of girls who meet every week at
the parsonage. What she doesn't realize is that the girls are about to set off
a torrent of false accusations leading to the imprisonment and execution of
countless innocent people. Susanna faces a painful choice. Should she keep
quiet and let the witch-hunt panic continue, or should she "break charity"
with the group--and risk having her own family members named as witches?
REBECCA by Daphine Du Maurier *classic*
"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again." So the second Mrs. Maxim de
Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past
their beaches to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast.
With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense
estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter,
the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten...her suite of rooms never
touched, her clothes ready to be worn,her servant -- the sinister Mrs. Danvers
-- still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her
heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate
of Rebecca...for the secrets of Manderley.
SPEAK by Laurie Anderson * (note to parents: this is a
book that deals with a troubled high school freshman and adult themes)
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now
her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her
from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But
even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think
about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would
blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would
have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the
imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.
**AWARDS GIVEN FOR SPEAK BY LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON**
A 2000 Printz Honor Book
A 1999 National Book Award Finalist
An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
A 1999 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
Winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Quick Pick
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Top Ten First Novel of 1999
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Fanfare Title
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen *classic*
Scatterbrained, social climbing Mrs. Bennet makes one demand of her five
daughters. Marry. Marry well. Marry rich. The ironic first line of the novel
is well-known: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in
possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." With that great
opener, we are off and running.
Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous,
sensible, incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her sound
like an insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a completely hip
character, who if provoked is not above skewering her antagonist with a piece
of her exceptionally sharp -- but always polite -- 18th century wit. The point
is, you spend the whole book absolutely fixated on the critical question: will
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy hook up?
THE YEAR OF THE HANGMAN by Gary Blackwood
The year is 1777. The rebellious American colonies have been soundly
defeated by the powerful British redcoats. General George Washington has been
captured and is to hang from the end of a gibbet. The rest of the
revolutionary leaders have gone underground. What if the British had won the
Revolutionary War? This didn't happen, but it could have.
MILKWEED by Jerry Spinelli
He’s a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Runt. Happy. Fast. Filthy son of
Abraham. He’s a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He’s a boy who steals
food for himself and the other orphans. He’s a boy who believes in bread, and
mothers, and angels. He’s a boy who wants to be a Nazi some day, with tall
shiny jackboots and a gleaming Eagle hat of his own. Until the day that
suddenly makes him change his mind. And when the trains come to empty the Jews
from the ghetto of the damned, he’s a boy who realizes it’s safest of all to
be nobody.
FEVER 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop
with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding
chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest
Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.
Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning
Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees
the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is
everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned
frantic with disease.
MISSING MAY by Cynthia Rylant
Newberry Winner 1993
This wonderful book revolves around a few delightfully named characters:
Summer, Uncle Ob, Aunt May and Cletus Underwood. After being passed among
relatives, Summer joins her aunt and uncle and marvels at the couple's deep
love for one another. But after Aunt May dies, Summer and Uncle Ob are brought
together in their struggles to come to terms with the death. Cletus, a
neighbor boy, comes along to help provide an answer.
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