YALSA Best Books 2006

YALSA is the Young Adult Library Services Association. Each year, librarians and teens from across the country nominate and select the best books of the year written for young adults. Here is the Top 10 list from 2006. For the complete list of Best Books, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/06bbya.htm

All books are located in the Teen Room, unless otherwise noted. Click on the titles below to look up the book in the online catalog.

Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager’s Story by Said Hyder Akbar and Susan Burton (Non-Fiction 958.1047)
Obsessed since youth with a country he had never even visited, seventeen-year-old Hyder convinced his father, a member of the new Afghani government after the fall of the Taliban, to let him join him on three successive summers.

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Bartoletti (Juvenile Non-Fiction 943.086)
By the time Hitler assumed power in 1933; 3.5 million children belonged to the Hitler Youth, the largest youth group in history. In interviews with surviving members, this book explores how Hitler gained the loyalty, trust, and passion of so many of Germany's young people.

Upstate by Kalisha Buckhannon (Fiction at Pequot)
Antonio and Natasha's young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together.

Looking for Alaska by John Green (Teens)
Miles Halter is abandoning his old life by leaving for boarding school. Miles becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring, including the razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, Miles discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally .

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch (Teens)
Keir Sarafian may not know much, but he knows himself, and he knows that he is a good guy. But that is not what Gigi, his childhood friend and lifelong love, says he is. What Gigi says he is seems inexcusable -- the worst thing he can imagine, the very opposite of everything he wants to be.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Teens)
Isabella’s move to Forks, Washington could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when they fall in love, and she discovers his secret life.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld (Teens)
Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he’s infected the girlfriends he’s had since Morgan—and all have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. And it’s Cal’s job to hunt them down before they can create even more of their kind. . . .

Poison by Chris Wooding
When Poison leaves her home in the marshes of Gull to retrieve the infant sister who was snatched by the fairies, she and a group of unusual friends survive encounters with the inhabitants of various Realms, and Poison herself confronts a surprising destiny.

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic card player, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger.

November 21, 2006