| Counterfeit Son by Elaine Marie Alphin | This book is a glimpse into what it would be like to have your mind messed with by a serial killer. It hurts to read it, but do it anyway. |
| Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson | When I opened this book, I stopped noticing I was on my bed, reading. I felt like I was really living in the story. The voice is so authentic. I mean, are you sure Laurie Halse Anderson didn't steal some poor kid's journal and sell it? I loved this character. And I so totally believed the situation that he got into. I don't want to ruin it for anybody, but when he did the right thing, I had this bad feeling in my stomach. You just know he isn't going to be rewarded for it--by anybody. |
| Thirsty by M.T. Anderson | About a boy who discovers he is turning into a vampire and he does everything in his power (ultimately —nothing at all) to stop it. Also hilarious. |
| Well Wished by Franny Billingsley | A great story about identity. About two girls who switch bodies and a wishing well with a mind of its own. Haunting, but not too scary, and superbly written. You won’t forget these characters or what happens to them. |
| Tithe by Holly Black | A dark fantasy not for the young crowd of Spiderwick. I liked it because it made hard choices, but didn’t break my heart. |
| Ironside by Holly Black | Another great, great book! I love Holly Black's vision of the fairy world, a dark place that mirrors the worst reality of our own world--and maybe a bit of the best, too. I loved the romances in this book. I find that I can't love a romance if that is all the book is about, but when the romance is wrapped around real-life choices, around betrayal and courage, self-sacrifice and self-knowledge, then I want to stand up and cheer. |
| Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci | I loved Egg (aka Victoria) and her obsessiveness. I was so obsessive when I was a teenager (still am, I suppose) and I have a daughter who is just like me. It’s hard to find people who will tolerate us, so it’s good to have a book that shows us how to come out of the shell a bit, so to speak. |
| Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko | This is the book I wanted to write about autism. I marvel at Choldenko's ability to make an autistic child so sympathetic. And funny! |
| Fire-Bringer by David Clement-Davies | I’m not a big fan of fantasies with animals as the main characters, but I made an exception for this one and I was glad I did. |
| love that dog by Sharon Creech | This is a great book for kids who are struggling with reading. Not only is it easy to read, but it has multiple layers for discussion. And I loved it, too, because I love poetry, and this book reminds me why. |
| The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo | I read this out loud to my kids. They just sat there, unmoving, silent, begging for more. A great story about a rabbit who becomes something more. |
| By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle | This is a fun fantasy romance, but that’s not what it is primarily. It’s also a were-wolf story and a story about a choice. A very hard choice that one person has to make for herself, and for the one she loves. Does she love him enough? |
| The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson | An Edgar nominee for best mystery, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page |
| The Thief-Lord by Cornelia Funke | I really liked how Funke slowly wove the fantasy into this story. A great story about kids who live without adults, and also of adults who live without kids, and the way they come together. |
| Coraline by Neil Gaiman | A spooky fantasy about slipping into a world with another father and another mother. They want your soul and they’ll pretend they love you. But the only thing you want is to get home. Neil Gaiman has a twisty mind. |
| Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George | One of the funnest fantasies I've read in a while. Doesn't follow the conventions, but has everything you want to keep you satisfied. Plus, who doesn't love to hear about a dragon who collects slippers instead of gold? |
| Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters by Gail Giles | After I read this book, I decided that anything that comes out by Gail I will read. This is a scary book about a family who has lost a daughter and the girl who comes to convince them they haven’t. Who wouldn’t want to believe? |
| Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix | A fun near-future novel about a boy who is a “third,” and illegal. He discovers there are others like him and they band together to revolt. But it doesn’t turn out as you’d expect. One of the few science fiction novels written for children but intelligent enough to be enjoyed by adults. |
| Enna Burning by Shannon Hale | This was a sequel better than the original. Deeper, darker (and you know I love dark). I also recommend Shannon's upcoming novel Austenland. If you love Jane Austen, don't miss it. |
| The First Part Last by Angela Johnson | This is a book about a young man who is trying to be a father to his motherless daughter. He is trying to be so many things to so many people he doesn’t have time to be himself. But being yourself is the most important job of being an adolescent. How else can you go on to be an adult? |
| Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause | This is a book with feeling. It evokes the passion the young girl is experiencing throughout and afterwards, you will never think of humans the same again. |
| Black Juice by Margo Lanagan | The whole price of this book is worth it for the first story, "Singing My Sister Down." And for a bonus, you get all of the others. I don't want to spoil it by telling you any of the great details, but I will say that this is a dark book, and that there is something dark inside of me that revels in it. |
| Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt | An incredible story that engaged me all the way through. I wanted one ending so much at first, and then gradually found myself wanting a different ending instead. About a girl who is caught in the forest by death and has to tell a story each day to stay alive. Also about a lot more than that. |
| The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine | Even better than Ella Enchanted. A fun story about two very different sisters and how they must learn from each other to succeed. Warning—the ending may disappoint. |
| Haunted Sister by Lael Littke | A thriller about a girl whose twin sister died years before, but comes back in a mysterious and dangerous way. |
| Hidden Talents by David Lubar | A fun story about kids at an "alternative" high school who discover that there is a reason they're all there, and it isn't because they're bad. |
| The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley | A classic. I don’t think there is another YA fantasy that compares with this one. What else is there to say? |
| Queen of Camelot by Nancy MacKenzie | MacKenzie sets herself a challenge from the beginning: to make Mordred a hero, to make Guinevere and Lancelot’s love true but spotless, and to recreate a king no one would ever betray. She does it well, and she does it all without changing the hallmarks of the traditional story. |
| Sold by Patricia McCormick | This is such a great book written in poems. It could be too horrifying to read, but the author offers only little glimpses and allows the reader to imagine as much more as we can bear. About a girl who is sold into sexual slavery, as so many are in second and thir-world countries. But also about her courage to demand freedom for herself once more. |
| The Silver Child by Cliff McNish | A weird little book about a group of five children with odd magical abilities, and how they all sacrifice for each other--and for us all. |
| Twilight by Stephenie Meyer | Another book that I am guiltily admitting I liked. I checked the first one out from the library, but when I found myself in the bookstore looking for the second one, I couldn't resist. It was the perfect book for my depression at the time. |
| Rhymes with Witches by Lauren Myracle | This is one of those books I wish I'd written. And if I were as good a writer as Lauren I would have. It’s about the worst side of high school, the girls who seem so high above everyone else in all realms, and the secret of how they got there. You can, too, so long as you’re willing to pay the price. Think it can’t be that bad? It is. |
| A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck | Truly hilarious. A great read-aloud. And I sent a copy to my mother for her birthday. She grew up on a farm in Paris--Idaho! Small-town America during the Depression, and she loved this book, too. |
| Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer | I devoured this book in a few hours, and I think the most telling thing I can say about it was that every time I looked up or had to go to the bathroom or get food for the kids I had to remind myself that I wasn't still living inside the book. I felt like I was as cold as the main character was. I kept checking the cupboards to see how many cans of food we had in them. |
| Lirael by Garth Nix | A very different fantasy, where a world of magic and non-magic live side by side. Until . . . Also the story of a girl with the power to hold back the dead. And the price she has to pay to keep the world in balance. My second daughter’s favorite series currently. She is ten. |
| Holes by Louis Sachar | This is one of those great books that both children and adults will love. Utterly original. |
| Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith | I loved her spunky heroine and her hero, too. She made old things a little newer and a little truer. |
| Everlost by Neal Shusterman | I read this out loud to my kids and they always begged to hear more. About a girl and a boy who get killed in a car accident, and are trying to "get where they are going." Lots of surprises. |
| Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith | A fun vampire story with an ending I'm still trying to accept. Also the menu--makes me shiver. Here's looking forward to the sequel. And check out Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog--she has all the information on everyone. |
| The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner | One of my all-time favorites. I read it to my 7-year old probably before she was ready for it, but she wanted to be the thief for Halloween that year. The voice is perfect. I loved the surprise ending. But more than that, I loved the reality of the gods at work here and the setting in a pseudo-Greece with all the old-honor codes that were true for that time and alas—not anymore. Read the sequels: The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia , too. They're even better than the original. |
| Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde | About a girl who gets stuck in a video game set in medieval England. She's the king's heir, only she has no idea what's going on or who her real allies are. Until she finds out, it's real dangerous>br/> to have that crown on her head. Like a big, red target. What was most fun for me was the story form. It made me want to try experimenting in my next books. We'll see what happens. |
| Hunchback by Randall Wright | A novel set in a medieval kingdom that never was, starring a hunchback with a heart of gold, who eventually gets something right. |
| The Killer’s Cousin by Nancy Werlin | This was an amazing book. I loved how the author kept me guessing. What had happened? Who had done it? Why did they not know it themselves? And the way the two characters come together in the end—genius. It’s about two cousins, and one of them is a killer. Now go read the rest. |
| Peeps and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld | Peeps is about the black plague and vampires, and a future where we're going to need them both. Uglies is about a world where everyone becomes beautiful at age sixteen, through a government-mandated operation. But what else does being "pretty" do to you? And what if you don't want it? |
| Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaugh Zimmer | This is about a girl who has cerebral palsy, but it's really about everyone who needs love and freedom and the chance to be seen truly. Written with achingly beautiful poetry. Great for reluctant readers. |
| Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr | I loved this book. It is about a girl caught making a big mistake, who pays for it every day afterwards. Other people have trouble forgiving her, but she has trouble forgiving herself most of all. There is a wonderful series of journal entries that are really poetry, and one one of the last ones is about rescue. For everyone who ever wanted to be rescued and wasn't, this book is for you. |
| i am the messenger by Marcus Zusak | There should be more books like this one in the world today. Fun, engrossing, utterly un-put-downable. But it's also at heart, a story about morality. |
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