Monday, January 31, 2011

Book of the Week 2/1

Here is the YA book you should be paying attention to, due in bookstores this Tuesday...


Delirium (Lauren Oliver) - In a world where love is diagnosed as a disease, and it is treated when people come of age, Lauren Oliver's follow-up to Before I Fall brings to mind the recent - and much better - bestseller Matched by Ally Condie.  But those who can't get enough of books with echoes of The Hunger Games, this one's for you.


The Demon Trapper's Daughter (Jana Oliver)
The Trust (A Secret Society novel) (Tom Dolby)
Sweep (Volume 3): The Calling, Changeling, Strife (Cate Tiernan)
The Vampire's Promise: Deadly Offer, Evil Returns, Fatal Bargain (Caroline B. Cooney)
Consumed (Kate Cann)
Trapped (Michael Northrop)
Kick (Walter Dean Myers)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Haunted (Joy Preble)
Phantoms In the Snow (Kathleen Benner Duble)

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Jenny Han

With below zero temperatures outside and snow storms that leave inches, if not feet, at your doorstep (especially in the Midwest like, say Milwaukee), it's certainly nice to escape into a book oozing with images of the beach, sun and surf like this first book in Jenny Han's Summer novels.  The Summer I Turned Pretty follows sixteen-year-old Belly as she returns to the beach house she's spent every summer of her life at, during a time when she's beginning to flower into a beautiful young woman.  With her mother and brother, they stay at this summer house with her mother's best friend Suzanne and her two boys, who are just a little older than Belly, funny, friendly Jeremiah and broody Conrad, who she's had a crush on her entire life.  Jeremiah and Conrad have always treated her like a pesky little sister, often hanging out more with her brother Steven than her, a group of boys that made her feel like an outsider, but she loves the beach and this year is different.  I really like the format that Han uses with this novel, with different chapters often delving into the past and flushing out certain times that have been referenced or just illustrate a relationship that Belly's had with one or other of the characters.  It really does give you a feeling of summer and vacationing, with the bonfires and midnight swims, and of course that first boy she goes on a date with, Cam.  The Summer I Turned Pretty is a wonderful coming-of-age story that sees Belly learn to understand the complicated people that she's known for a long time a little better, as well as herself amid the secrets and longings going on around her.  I was deeply engrossed by this book and loved escaping to Belly's beach house, a place I will be revisiting again very soon.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Book of the Week 1/25

Here is the YA book you should be paying attention to, due in stores on Tuesday...


Red Riding Hood (Sarah Blakley-Cartwright & David Leslie Johnson) - This book hit stores early, so it should be available at your local store now.  It's a re-imagining of the classic fairy tale, soon to be a movie starring Amanda Seyfried.  Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight film, is directing the film adaptation, and is obviosuly hoping for another paranormal romance success.

Other Noteworthy Releases


Blessed (Cynthia Leitich Smith)
The Iron Queen (Julie Kagawa)
Vesper (A Deviants Novel) (Jeff Sampson)
Dark Goddess (Sarwat Chadda)
Famous (Todd Strasser)
The Meltdown (L. Divine)
The Charmed Return (Frewin Jones)
Drought (Pam Bachorz)
Throat (R.A. Neslon)

Monday, January 17, 2011

Book of the Week 1/18

A pretty slow week this time around, here are the few YA books hitting bookstores on Tuesday...


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

2011 Printz Award

Congratulations are in order for the winner of the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, which was also on the short list for a National Book Award this year.


2011 Printz Honor Books:


Stolen (Lucy Christopher)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz  (A.S. King)
Revolver (Marcus Sedgwick)
Nothing (Janne Teller)

Also, congrats to the recipient of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston.


2011 William C. Morris Finalists:



Hush (Eishes Chayil)
Guardian of the Dead (Karen Healey)
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Lish McBride)
Crossing the Tracks (Barbara Stuber)

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Year Ahead

2011 holds plenty of good material in store from favorite authors and new installments in established series.  The following is a timeline of bigger releases for young adult titles scheduled to come out this year, as estimated by the publishers, although these dates could easily change at a moment's notice.  Some releases toward the end of the year don't have specific dates, only months, and then even some are slated for release sometime this year.  I've provided covers for those that were available.

February

2/1/11


Delerium (Lauren Oliver)

2/8/11


Cloaked (Alex Flinn)


Blessed (Cynthia Leitich Smith)

2/15/11


Angel (Maximum Ride #7) (James Patterson) (2/14)


Demonglass (Hex Hall #2) (Rachel Hawkins)


Desires of the Dead (The Body Finder #2) (Kimberly Derting)


Angelfire (Courtney Allison Moulton)

2/22/11


Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely #5) (Melissa Marr)

March

3/8/11


Afterlife (Evernight #4) (Claudia Gray)

3/15/11


Midnight (The Vampire Diaries: The Return #3) (L.J. Smith)


Shimmer (Alyson Noel)

3/22/11


The Dark and Hollow Places (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #3) (Carrie Ryan)


Invincible (Chronicles of Nick #2) (Sherriltn Kenyon)

3/29/11


Entwined (Heather Dixon)

April

4/5/11


City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) (Cassandra Clare)


Plague (Gone #4) (Michael Grant)


Where She Went (If I Stay #2) (Gayle Forman)


Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider #9) (Anthony Horowitz)

4/12/11


The Gathering (Darkness Rising #1) (Kelley Armstrong)


The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (Stephenie Meyer)

4/19/11


Eona (Alison Goodman)


The Black (Morpheus Road #2) (D.J. MacHale)


Defiance (Strange Angels #4) (Lili St. Crow)

4/28/11


We'll Always Have Summer (Jenny Han)


Illusions (Wings #3) (Aprilynne Pike)

May

5/3/11


Bite Club (The Morganville Vampires #10) (Rachel Caine)

5/10/11


What Happened To Goodbye (Sarah Dessen)


Nocturne (Claire de Lune #2) (Christine Johnson)

5/24/11


The Warlock (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5) (Michael Scott)


Chain Reaction (Perfect Chemistry #3) (Simone Elkeles)


Beauty Queens (Libba Bray)

June

6/7/11

The Power of Six (Lorien Legacies #2) (Pittacus Lore)

Everlasting (The Immortals #6) (Alyson Noel)

6/14/11


Passion (Fallen #3) (Lauren Kate)


Trial By Fire (Raised By Wolves #2) (Jennifer Lynn Barnes)

July

Twisted (Pretty Little Liars #9) (Sara Shepard)

7/1/11


Fins Are Forever (Fins #2) (Tera Lynn Childs)

7/5/11


Original Sin (Personal Demons #2) (Lisa Desrochers)

7/12/11


Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) (Maggie Stiefvater)


Wolfsbane (Nightshade #2) (Andrea Cremer)


Starstruck (Cyn Balog)

7/21/11

Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society #2) (Ally Carter)


Ripple (Mandy Hubbard)

7/26/11


Strange Fate (Night World #10) (L.J. Smith)

August

8/9/11


Thirst #4 (Christopher Pike)


Ingenue (Flappers #2) (Jillian Larkin)

8/23/11

Bloodlines (Richelle Mead)

8/30/11

Hades (Halo #2) (Alexandra Adornetto)

September

Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2) (Kiersten White)

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) (Cassandra Clare)

9/13/11

The Isle of Blood (The Monstrumologist #3) (Rick Yancey)

Goliath (Leviathan #3) (Scott Westerfeld)

9/20/11


Beautiful Days (Bright Young Things #2) (Ana Godberson)

October

Lost In Time (Blue Bloods #6) (Melissa de la Cruz)

10/18/11

(Hush, Hush #3) (Becca Fitzpatrick)

November

Mastiff (Beka Cooper #3) (Tamora Pierce)

11/1/11

Crossed (Matched #2) (Ally Condie)

Sometime in 2011

Shur'tugal (Inheritence #4) (Christopher Paolini)

Bitterblue (Kristin Cashore)

The Death Curse (Maze Runner #3) (James Dashner)

Vanish (Firelight #2) (Sophie Jordan)