2004 Must-read Books From YALSA Listerserv

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things, Carolyn Mackler
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier.
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
East by Edith Pattou
My Heartbeat by Garrett Freymann-Weyr
Fat Kid Rules The World by K.L. Going
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
City of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau
Of Sound Mind by Jean Ferris
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
Godless by Hautman
Double Helix - Nancy Werlin
Stoner and Spaz by Ron Koertge
Alt Ed. By Catherine Atkins
Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner
Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
A Fast and Brutal Wing by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
Al Capone Does My Shirts
How I Found the Strong
So B. It by Sarah Weeks
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
The Faerie Wars and its sequel The Purple Emperor by Herbie Brenan
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Pirates! by Celia Rees
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
The Beckoners by Carrie Mac
Girl, 15, Charming But Insane by Sue Limb
Amaryllis by Craig Crist-Evans
Under the Sun by Arthur Dorros
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Mortal Engines and its sequel by Philip Reeve
Lord of the Nutcracker Men
The Lightkeeper's Daughter
B For Buster by Iain Lawrence
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan
Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
The Dark Horse by Marcus Sedgwick
The Fire Eaters by David Almond
The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson
Witch Child by Celia Rees
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
Saffy's Angel and Indigo's Star, by Hilary McKay
Sea of Trolls, Nancy Farmer
Feed, M.T. Anderson
An American Plague, Jim Murphy
The Gifts by Ursula Le Guin
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Curious Incident Of the Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Sight by David Clement-Davies
Raising the Griffin by Melissa Wyatt
The Golden Hour by Maiya Williams
Prophecy of the Stones by Flavia Bujor
Fat Kid Rules the World, KL Going
My Heartbeat, Garrett Freymann-Wehr
True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooks
The Weetzie Bat books by Francesca Lia Block
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
Zeises' Bringing Up the Bones
Flinn's Fade to Black (new)
Carolyn Mackler's Vegan Virgin Valentine
Luna by Julie Anne Peters
So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld
The Cup of the World by John Dickinson
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
My sister's Keeper (Jodi Piccoult)
Light on Snow (Shreve)
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
Contents Under Pressure by Lara Zeises
Raising the Griffin by Melissa Wyatt
Tithe by Holly Black
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain
Science by John Fleischman
In the Heart of the Sea by Nat Philbrick
Fight On: Mary Church Terrell's Battle For
Integration by Dennis Brindell Fradin
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
Hopeless Savages and Hopeless Savages: Ground Zero by Jen Van Meter
Georgia Nicolson novel by Louise Rennison
Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson books such as A Parallel Universe of Liars.

Book Like Alex Rider

Books like Alex Rider
(another list courtesy of the brain trust of the YALSA listserv)

Tomorrow When the War Began (series) by John Marsden
Pendragon series (MacHale)
Cirque du Freak (series) by Shan
Ice Station by Matthew Reilly
Temple by Matthew Reilly
Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly
Where Eagles Dare by Alistair Maclean
Guns of Navarrone by Alistair Maclean
The Way to Dusty Death by Alistair Maclean
Rurouni Kenshin
Beet the Vandel Buster
Rebound
Initial D
Whistle
Prince of Tennis
Kindaichi Case Files
Case Closed
Ranma ½
Naruto
Artemis Fowl (series)
Fastback Beach
Tough Trails
Bull Rider
Red Midnight by Ben Mikaelsen
Deathwatch by Robb White
Acceleration by Graham McNamee
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Tom Clancy Net Force
Robert Ludlum
Spy High by Butcher
Vampire High by Douglas Rees

The 2005 Best Books for Young Adults

The 2005 Best Books for Young Adults list is now available on the YALSA website.
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/o5bbya.htm

Biographies - Memoirs

Courtesy of YALSA listserv

Where the Flame Trees Bloom by Alma Flor Ada
Eleanor's Story by Eleanor Garner
The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler by James Cross Giblin
Geisha by Mineko Iwasaki
Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang
The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez
The Wilderness Family by Kobie Kruger
Jefferson's Children by Shannon Lanier
Destined to Witness by Hans Massaquoi
At Her Majesty's Request by Walter Dean Myers
My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
The Oasis by Petru Popescu
Black White and Jewish by Rebecca Walker
Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren

Holocaust Books For Preteens and Young Adults

Courtesy of YALSA Listserv

Cherie Bennett's Anne Frank and Me (Fic)
Clive Lawton's Auschwitz (Non Fic)
Milkweed by Jerry SpinelliFriedrich by Hans Peter Richter
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Thought of High Windows_ by Lynne Kositsky (yound adult)
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine
Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust by Allan Zullo and Mara Bovsun
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Room in the Heart by Sonia Levitin
Malka by Mirjam Pressler
One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: the diary of Julie Weiss
Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs
Bodie Thoene's Zion Covenant and Vienna Prelude
The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss (NF)
Run, Boy, Run by Orlev
In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene G. Opdyke & J. Armstrong
Sky by Hanneke Ippisch
Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli
Play to the Angel by Maurine Dahlberg
Dreaming in Black and White by Reinhardt Jung
Maus and Maus II (Graphic Novels by Art Spiegelman)
Daniel Half-Human and the Good Nazi by David Chotjewitz
Forgotten Fire by Adam Badasarian
Songbird : a novel / Walter Zacharius
Sisterland / Linda Newbery
Hana's suitcase / written by Karen Levine
The lost childhood : a World War II memoir / Yehuda Nir
Surviving Hitler : a boy in the Nazi death camps / by Andrea Warren
Lost hero : Raoul Wallenberg's by Danny Smith
The Seamstress : a memoir of survival / Sara Tuvel Bernstein ; with Louise Loots Thornton and Marlene Bernstein Samuels ; introduction by Edgar M. Bronfman
Torn Thread / Anne Isaacs
Final Journey by Gudrun Pausewang
Night by Elie Wiesel.
Flames of Tiger, by John Wilson
Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura Williams
PARALLEL JOURNEYS by Ayer/Heck
REUNION by Fred Uhlmann
Daniel's Story by Carol Matas
I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
Alicia: My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman
The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel
If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan
Tunes for Bears to Dance To by Robert Cormier
Good Night, Maman by Norma Fox Mazer
Kinderlager by Milton J. Nieuwsma
SMOKE AND ASHES by Barbara Rogasky

Books About Bullying

This list was compiled by the YALSA listerv

General:
THE MISFITS by James Howe
PROJECT X by Jim Shepard
PLAYING IN TRAFFIC by Gail Giles
TOUCHING SPIRIT BEAR by Ben Mikaelsen
HOOT by Carl Hiaasen
FAT KID RULES THE WORLD by K.L. Going
INVENTING ELLIOT by Graham Gardner
THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier
ROMIETTE AND JULIO by Sharon Draper
BAD GIRLS by Cynthia Voigt
NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME by James Adoff
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Burger Wuss by Matthew Anderson
Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins
Please Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blanco
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Walking Naked by Alyssa Brugman
Quit It by Marcia Byalick
The Goats by Brock Cole
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
On the Fringe by Don Gallo (ed.)
Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
Stitches by Glen Huser
Alice, I Think by Susan Juby
The Brimstone Journals by Ron Koertge
Stoner & Spaz by Ron Koertge
Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja
The Girls Koss by Amy Goldman
The Losers' Club by John Lekich
One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte
Hidden Talents by David Lubar
Slot Machine by Chris Lynch
Who the Man by Chris Lynch
Liar by Winifred Morris
Shooter by Walter Dean Myers
Behaving Bradley by Perry Nodelman
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
Hangman's Curse by Frank Peretti
The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci
After by Francine Prose
The Kidnappers by Willo Davis Roberts
Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write About Bullies, Cliques, Popularity
and Jealousy by Rachel Simmons (ed.)
Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser
The Shadow Place by Carol M. Tanzman

6th Grade
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
The Misfits by James Howe
The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
The River by Gary Paulsen
Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen
Brian’s Return by Gary Paulsen
Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Guts by Gary Paulsen

7th Grade
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
On the Fringe by Donald R. Gallo

8th Grade
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond
Every Day and All the Time by Sis Deans

Cirque Du Freak Look Alikes Courtesy of YALSA Listserv

The Afterlife by Gary Soto

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Klause

The Boy Who Couldn’t Die by William Sleator

Calling all Monsters by Chris Westwood

Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde

Dangerous Girls by R.L. Stine (and Taste of the Night – book 2)

The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce (Plus the other books in the series)

Demon Witch (Ravenscliff 2) by Geoffrey Huntington

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody

In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (also mentioned the other Vampire Chronicles books.)

Look for Me by Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn

Midnight Predator by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Rats by Paul Zindel

Raven’s Point by Melinda Metz

Reef of Death by Paul Zindel

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

The She by Carol Plum-Ucci

The Silver Kiss by Annette Klause

Sorcerers of the Nightwing (Ravenscliff 1) by Geoffrey Huntington

A Stir of Bones by Nina Hoffman

Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber

Grounding The Giver

A recent article out of Kansas City discussed the outrage of parents in their school district when their middle schoolers were assigned to read The Giver. It is difficult to believe that this Newbery winner, and perhaps classic of our time, is being attacked for its violence and sexual content. The article can be viewed using the link below (you may need to sign up for access to the site) but it is worth reading to remind us that the world is made up of many different people and points of view. The Giver's message of thinking for yourself and not being afraid to be your own person is an important one for all ages and one that parents should not be afraid to teach their children.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/10575220.htm