Teens' Top Ten Nominees are Here!

May 04, 2011

So, you heard about this super cool thing happening at your library this summer during which you get to spend time reading and earn prizes for it, right? (*cough* Teen Summer Reading Program *cough*) You’ve gotten online, signed up for an account, and are ready to start logging your minutes. But, you’ve run into a roadblock. You suddenly realize that you don’t know what to read!!!

Have no fear; Teens’ Top Ten nominees are here!

That’s right, every year teen groups in libraries across the country (including a group just down the road at one of the Kansas City Public Library branches) read and nominate 25 YA books published the previous year to be the next Teens’ Top Ten. YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) releases these nominees in April so you can read them during the summer and vote for your favorites in August and September (August 22nd through September 16th this year). The winners are announced during Teen Read Week (the third week in October), and then the process starts all over again!

Previous winners include The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, several Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, several Sarah Dessen books, several Maximum Ride books by James Patterson, and several Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. What can I say? Teens have awesome taste in books!

Over the next couple of months, MCPL’s Teen Blogs are going to feature the nominees for the 2011 Teens’ Top Ten, giving you some great ideas of what to read. Below is a list of the 2011 nominees. Check back to MCPL's Teen Blogs often this summer for detailed blogs about each book.

• Bachorz, Pam. Drought.
• Beam, Cris. I Am J.
• Beaudoin, Sean. You Killed Wesley Payne.
• Black, Holly and Justine Larbalestier. Zombies vs. Unicorns.
• Card, Orson Scott. The Lost Gate.
• Clare, Cassandra. The Clockwork Angel.
• Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay.
• Collins, Yvonne. Love, Inc.
• Condie, Ally. Matched. 
• Cremer, Andrea. Nightshade.
• Fitzpatrick, Becca. Crescendo.
• Grant, Michael. Lies.
• Hawkins, Rachel. Demonglass.
• Hawkins, Rachel. Hex Hall.
• Kagawa, Julie. The Iron King.
• Lore, Pittacus. I Am Number Four.
• Moore, Peter. Red Moon Rising.
• Nelson, Jandy. The Sky is Everywhere.
• Oliver, Lauren. Before I Fall.
• O’Neal, Ellis. The False Princess.
• Patterson, James. Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel.
• Pearce, Jackson. Sisters Red.
• Smith, Cynthia Leitich. Blessed.
• Westerfeld, Scott. Behemoth.
• White, Kiersten. Paranormalcy.

Erin D.