Best Fiction for Young Adults
PAST PERFECT made YALSA’s 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults list! My roommate and I celebrated with cupcakes.
The full BFYA list is here: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/bfya/2012. What follows is my annotated list of the BFYA titles that I’ve read so far. Get ready for some personal anecdotes that don’t tell you anything useful about the books in question.
CHIME, by Franny Billingsley: This was my favorite book of the past year. Briony is an amazing character.
STRINGS ATTACHED, by Judy Blundell: 1950s showgirls!
BEAUTY QUEENS, by Libba Bray: Read this for book club.
WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, by Sarah Dessen: I actually entered in copyediting changes for this. That was a long time ago.
THREADS AND FLAMES, by Esther Friesner: My claim to fame with this book is that I noticed an early draft of it used the phrase “kina hora” incorrectly. I pointed this out to the editor so that Esther could change it. I was like, “If there is one thing my mother taught me, it is when to say ‘kina hora.'”
RUBY RED, by Kerstin Gier: Time travel!
LEGEND, by Marie Lu: This is not in my typical genre, but when I saw that it got five stars, I had to check it out. Guys, it was so good.
EXPOSED, by Kimberly Marcus: Counting this title on this list may be cheating, since I read this as a manuscript on submission like three years ago. Presumably it has changed since then. I’m just trying to get my numbers up here.
THE APOTHECARY, by Maile Meloy: London, history, and magic– they get me every time.
DELIRIUM, by Lauren Oliver: All-around amazing, cannot wait to read the follow-up.
ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, by Stephanie Perkins: I would totally make out with St. Clair, which is probably weird, since he is many, many years younger than I am.
DIVERGENT, by Veronica Roth: As you may recall from a previous blog post, my team won children’s book trivia, in part because I remembered all five factions of DIVERGENT. Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite. BOOM.
OKAY FOR NOW, by Gary Schmidt: I just finished this book. It was also amazing. It’s not about topics that I would think I would care about, but the writing is so extraordinary that it simply didn’t matter.
WONDERSTRUCK, by Brian Selznick: I read this the week after I saw HUGO. I was having a very Brian Selznick time.
THE SCORPIO RACES, by Maggie Steifvater: Magical horse races! It’s like horse races, which are my favorite, only MORE MAGICAL.
THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING, by Catherynne Valente: Read this for book club, too.
So counting my own book, I’ve read 17 out of the 113 BFYA titles. That’s kind of impressive. But I’m sure I can read more. Can and will.