TTT: Legend

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee


What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

Be sure to check out Legend by Marie Lu, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Page by Paige

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

Paige Turner has just moved to New York with her family, and she's having some trouble adjusting to the big city. In the pages of her sketchbook, she tries to make sense of her new life, including trying out her secret identity: artist. As she makes friends and starts to explore the city, she slowly brings her secret identity out into the open, a process that is equal parts terrifying and rewarding.

Laura Lee Gulledge crafts stories and panels with images that are thought-provoking, funny, and emotionally resonant. Teens struggling to find their place can see themselves in Paige's honest, heartfelt story.

Praise for Page by Paige

“Gulledge's b&w illustrations are simple but well-suited to their subject matter; the work as a whole is a good-natured, optimistic portrait of a young woman evolving toward adulthood.” –Publishers Weekly

Be sure to check out Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!



Summer Reading Survey

Summer Reading ends today!

Our Teen Summer Reading wrap-up party is today @ 2pm!

Stop by for our prize drawings, including the Grand Prize of a Samsung Galaxy Player, Skullcandy headphones, and an awesome speaker/carrycase!

We hope you had fun this summer reading lots of great books!

Please let us know what you thought about the program by taking this super short survey here.

Thank you!

Also: Stop by this September for Banned Books Month! Programming will be announced on this blog, so make sure to check back!

TTT: The Fault in Our Stars

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Be sure to check out The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Eona

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee


Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon's army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona's power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled "Emperor" Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power - and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic only Alison Goodman could create.

Be sure to check out Eona by Alison Goodman, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Scarlet

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in.

It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

Be sure to check out Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Where She Went

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Be sure to check out Where She Went by Gayle Forman, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Wither

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life.

But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Be sure to check out Wither by Lauren DeStefano, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

SYNC WEEK 10

Sync is back up!

The Whale Rider

by Witi Ihimaera

Read by Jay Laga'aia

Published by Bolinda Audio

Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the tribe.

“New Zealander Jay Laga’aia effortlessly navigates the Maori names, facilitating the listener’s entrance into another culture . . . The audio is instrumental in proving that even with such a wonderful movie, the book is better.”

–AudioFile Magazine, Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

Check out a print copy here!

The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
Read by William Roberts
Published by Naxos AudioBooks

This is the classic story of Buck, part St. Bernard and part Scotch shepherd dog, who shows the strengths of both breeds when he is stolen and sold off as a sled dog in the Yukon during the gold rush.

“. . . Roberts has a voice that could have belonged to one of this era’s gold panners . . . he lets London’s writing—especially the passages about the mysterious, enchanting call of the wild—ring with its startling beauty.”–AudioFile Magazine

Print version available here!

These downloads will only be available through August 29th, so don't miss out!

TTT: What Happened to Goodbye

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

Who is the real McLean?

Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out.

Combining Sarah Dessen's trademark graceful writing, great characters, and compelling storytelling, What Happened to Goodbye is irresistible reading.

Be sure to check out What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Tempest

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee



The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

Be sure to check out Tempest by Julie Cross, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: Abandon

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a dark, fantastical story about this world . . . and the underworld.

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Be sure to check out Abandon by Meg Cabot, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

*Don't forget! August Book Club meets tomorrow @2pm to talk about Abandon by Meg Cabot!*

SYNC WEEK 10

The last week of Sync downloads has encountered a problem. When the last two free audiobook downloads are available you can download them here.

We apologize for the delay. In the meantime, search our online digital library for more awesome teen books to listen to here!

TTT: Ashes

YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

It could happen tomorrow . . .
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

Be sure to check out Ashes by Ilsa Bick, vote for it (if it's your favorite), and view the rest of the nominees!

TTT: All Good Children

YALSA's Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

It's the middle of the twenty-first century and the elite children of New Middletown are lined up to receive a treatment that turns them into obedient, well-mannered citizens. Maxwell Connors, a fifteen-year-old prankster, misfit and graffiti artist, observes the changes with growing concern, especially when his younger sister, Ally, is targeted. Max and his best friend, Dallas, escape the treatment, but must pretend to be "zombies" while they watch their freedoms and hopes decay. When Max's family decides to take Dallas with them into the unknown world beyond New Middletown's borders, Max's creativity becomes an unexpected bonus rather than a liability.

Check out All Good Children by Catherine Austen here and vote if it's one of your three favorites!
For a full list of nominated titles visit this blog post.



Teens' Top Ten

Vote now for YALSA's 2012 Teens' Top Ten!

Teens aged 12-18 are invited to vote for their 3 favorites from the following list of nominated books until September 15th. The Top Ten will be announced during Teen Read Week, October 14-20. 

• All Good Children by Catherine Austen
• Ashes by Ilsa Bick
• Abandon by Meg Cabot
• Tempest by Julie Cross
• What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (or eBook)
• Wither by Lauren DeStefano
• Where She Went by Gayle Forman (or eBook, audiobook)
• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
• Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
• Legend by Marie Lu
• Hourglass by Myra McEntire (or eBook)
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Shine by Lauren Myracle
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd
• This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel
• Across the Universe by Beth Revis (or audiobook)
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (or eBook, audiobook)
• Divergent by Veronica Roth (or audiobook)
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (or audiobook)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (or audiobook)
• How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (or audiobook)
• All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Read the books, then vote here!

Teen Book Finder App

Not sure what to read next?

YALSA's Teen Book Finder App is the next step!

YALSA's Teen Book Finder is a free app to help teens, parents, librarians and library staff, educators, and anyone who loves YA literature access to the past three years' of YALSA's awards and lists on their smartphone.


Have an iPod Touch, an iPhone or an iPad? Download the app now!


App features include:
•a homepage featuring three titles from the database, refreshed each day
•the ability to search for books by author, title, award/list year, genre, by award, and by booklist
•a Find It! button, powered by the OCLC WorldCat Search API, that will show users where to find the book in a nearby library
•a Favorites button, to create an individualized booklist
•the ability to share books from the Teen Book Finder on Twitter and Facebook

An Android version of the app is planned for later in 2012.

The app is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. The app was developed by Ora Interactive.
Have a question or comment about the app or want to report a bug? Contact yalsa@ala.org.

Scan and Download

Use this QR code to get the app today!

NPR's Top 100 Best Young Adult Novels EVER

Your votes have been tallied and the top 100 Best Ever Teen Novels List has been compiled.

Did your favorite make the list?

Place a hold on any of these books by searching for the title or author here.

Do you agree with this list or did they miss something obvious? Let us know in comments!

SYNC WEEK 9

Skulduggery Pleasant
By Derek Landy
Read by Rupert Degas
Published by HarperAudio

When a not-so-innocent twelve-year-old girl named Stephanie inherits her eccentric uncle’s estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world from an ancient evil.

“This production is exactly the reason young adult fantasy fare can work so well as audio entertainment.” –AudioFile Magazine, Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

Download the print version here!

Dead Men Kill
by L. Ron Hubbard
Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast
Published by Galaxy Press

When several of the city’s most respected citizens are inexplicably killed by what appear to be zombies, all Detective Terry Lane has to go on is a blue-gray glove, a Haitian pharmacy bill for some very unusual drugs, and a death threat from a mysterious stranger.

“The cast members follow the lead of Hubbard . . . who paced his stories to move quickly from plot point to plot point.” –AudioFile Magazine

Download the print version here!

Pop Open A Good Book

Stop by the library for an hour tomorrow anytime between 2-7pm for popcorn and reading!

Each hour earns you an extra entry into the grand prize drawing for a Samsung Galaxy Player with Skullcandy earbuds and a carrycase/speaker!

SYNC WEEK 8

This is the last day to download this pair!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

by Laini Taylor

Read by Khristine Hvam

Published by Hachette Audio

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages–not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she?

“Hvam maneuvers her way through the fantastical characters smoothly, sharpening the contrast between ordinary and extraordinary events.” –AudioFile Magazine

Place a hold on the print version here!

A Tale of Two Cities

by Charles Dickens

Read by Simon Prebble

Published by Blackstone Audio

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .” Set before and during the French Revolution, a French aristocrat and an English lawyer compete in their love for Lucie in the menacing shadow of the guillotine.

“Here’s an undisputed classic given a fresh performance by a master audio-actor.” –AudioFile Magazine, Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

Place a hold on the print version here!