Tayshas and Lonestar Lists are out!

The 2011 Lonestar List (with PDF) - recommended Middle School reading for the year

Author	Title
Paolo Bacigalupi	Ship Breaker
Cathleen Davitt Bell	Little Blog on the Prairie
Robin Brande	Fat Cat
Ally Carter	Heist Society
Tera Lynn Childs	Forgive My Fins
Ally Condie	Matched
Carl Deuker	Payback Time
Erin Dionne	The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet
Brian Falkner	Brain Jack
Catherine Fisher	Incarceron
Donna Gephart	How to Survive Middle School
Julia Golding	Dragonfly
Jason Henderson	Vampire Rising
David Klass	Stuck on Earth
Polly Shulman	The Grimm Legacy
Neal Shusterman	Bruiser
Jordan Sonnenblick	After  Ever After
Francisco X Stork	The Last Summer of the Death Warriors
Deborah Wiles	Countdown
Richard Yancey	The Monstrumologist

The 2011 Tayshas list: (with PDF) - recommended High School Reading for the year

Author	Title
Elaine Marie Alphin	An Unspeakable Crime: the Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
Ariela Anhalt	Freefall
Pam Bachorz	Candor
Paolo Bacigalupi	Ship Breaker
Susan Campbell Bartoletti	They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group
Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier, ed.	Zombies vs. Unicorns
Jennifer Brown	The Hate List
Deb Caletti	Six Rules of Maybe
Kristin Cashore	Fire
Elisabeth Combres	Broken Memory: a Novel of Rwanda
Eireann Corrigan	Accomplice
Matt De La Pena	We Were Here
Susanne Dunlap	The Musician's Daughter
Stephen Emond	Happyface
Margarita Engle	The Firefly Letters: a Suffragette's Journey to Cuba
Catherine Fisher	Incarceron
Sharon G. Flake	You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys
John C. Ford	The Morgue and Me
John Green & David Levithan	Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Ellen Hopkins	Fallout
Silas House	Eli the Good
Jennifer Hubbard	The Secret Year
Brian Katcher	Almost Perfect
Jo Knowles	Jumping Off Swings
Jacqueline Kolosov	A Sweet Disorder
Nina LaCour	Hold Still
Carolyn Mackler	Tangled
L. K. Madigan	Flash Burnout
Kekla Magoon	The Rock and the River
Carmelina Marchetta	Finnikin of the Rock
Albert Marrin	Years of Dust: the Story Behind the Dust Bowl
Patricia McCormick	Purple Heart
Frederick McKissack Jr.	Shooting Star
Lyn Miller-Lachmann	Gringolandia: a Novel
Todd Mitchell	The Secret to Lying
Jandy Nelson	The Sky is Everywhere
Caragh M. O'Brien	Birthmarked
Lauren Oliver	Before I Fall
C. J. Omololu	Dirty Little Secrets
Elizabeth Partridge	Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary
Charlie Price	The Interrogation of Gabriel James
Matthew Quick	Sorta Like a Rockstar
Catherine Ryan Hyde	Diary of a Witness
Lisa Schroeder	Chasing Brooklyn
Marcus Sedgwick	Revolver
Maggie Stiefvater	Shiver
Francisco X Stork	Last Summer of the Death Warriors
Todd Strasser	Wish You Were Dead
Allan Stratton	Borderline
Laini Taylor	Lips Touch Three Times
Rachel Ward	Num8ers
Scott Westerfeld	Leviathan
Carol Lynch Williams	Glimpse
Rita Williams-Garcia	Jumped
Jill Wolfson	Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Rick Yancey	The Monstrumologist
Sara Zarr	Once Was Lost

And the Maverick List for 2011 will be out shortly after November 12, when I go to Austin to help select the titles that will be on the list... there are some really great nominees, and I can't wait to vote in their favor!

Recent Returns

the dead and the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer - sequel to Life as We Knew It -- Alex Morales is an ordinary teenager living in NYC with his Mom, Dad and two younger sisters. His biggest worry is getting elected Senior Class President, when a comet strikes the moon and causes terrible effects on the earth. Soon Alex finds himself alone, responsible for his younger sisters, trying to avoid flooding, starvation, and bitter cold. Can he survive? Can he save his sisters? Will he ever find his mother? 30 circs for the book, and 17 for the audio. We also have it as a downloadable audio.

Royal Blood: a Vampire Kisses Novel by Ellen Schreiber - the continuing romance of Alexander and Raven is strained when his parents announce they're coming home for a visit - but Raven is the last one to meet them... what secret could Alexander be hiding? And what does it mean for their future? 9 circs for this romantic vampire saga.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer - Bree Tanner can barely remember her first life - but she loves this one; the mystery, the hunt, her new friends. But when she begins to realize that everything she knows is based on lies, she must decide what course to pursue. 106 circs for this very popular title.

Hero by Mike Lupica - Zach's dad was an advisor to the president - which really meant he was a hero, out completing missions in odd corners of the world. But when Tom's plane crashes, Zach finds himself trying to fill his dad's shoes, to become a superhero himself. Can he succeed? Will he be able to stop "the Bads"? Or will this 14 year old lose his own war? 14 circs for this high adrenaline adventure.

Candy by Kevin Brooks - When Joe meets Candy, all he cares about is his music, but he's soon drawn into her seedy, unhappy world. When he discovers how grim her world really is, he has to decide; is it worth risking everything he has for the hope he and Candy share? 38 circs for this realistic adventure story.

New YA Books

Beautiful Friendship by David Weber -- Stephanie Harrington, aged 12, wants to be a ranger. When she's dragged to a new planet, Sphinx, she makes a marvelous discovery while out exploring. She discovers the telepathic Tree-Cats! But not everyone is happy with her discovery...
Bluefish by Pat Schmatz -- 13 year old Travis enters a new school with a hurtful secret, but when he makes friends with a sassy girl and gets a fabulous teacher, life starts looking up for him.
Apothecary by Maile Meloy -- When Janie and her family move to London in 1952, she meets Benjamin, a fascinating boy who wants to be a spy. When Ben's father disappears, they must put all their skills to the test to find and rescue him; their experiences include uncovering alchemical secrets, avoiding Russian spies, and a race to rescue nuclear secrets.
The Surge by Roland Smith -- After barely surviving a terrifying hurricane, Chase and his friends Nicole and Rashawn have made it to the safety of Nicole's family farm, which is also the winter home of the Rossi Brothers Circus, where flood waters are rising and dangerous circus animals are on the loose.

Recent returns

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough -- Tamsin is from a powerful magical family, but she has no Talent of her own, despite her grandmother's prophecy to the contrary. She's always longed to be respected for herself, but when she finally meets a stranger who mistakes her for her powerful sister, Tamsin can't resist the situation. But will she survive the adventure that follows? 15 circs for this marvelous paranormal (and a sequel!)

Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes -- 5 very different kids end up in detention, and form a band to compete in the school talent show. But when they end up becoming popular, things go from crazy to worse! 12 hilarious checkouts - and 16 for the movie!!

Searching for Dragons by Patricia Wrede -- second in the "Enchanted Forest Chronicles". Those evil magicians are back at work, draining power from the enchanted forest - so King Mendanbar and Princess Cimorene are forced to ally with each other to solve the problem, hopefully once and for all! 165 checkouts for this perennial favorite.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and Richard Appignanesi (adapted) - a steampunky, graphic novelization of a romantic comedy - in which Viola, her twin brother Sebastian, Countess Olivia and Duke Orsino fall in and out of love, mistake each other's identities, and create much confusion. A wonderful play, and a wonderful adaptation. 1 circ for this new GN.

Batman, the Return of Bruce Wayne by Grant Morrison -- after being blasted back in time, Batman has no memory, but finds himself leaping forward from era to era, all the while his friends of the future hunt for him to stop a terrible accident. 13 circs.

Teen Top Ten 2011 Winners!

Every year, teens have the opportunity to vote for their 10 favorite novels in October. This year's winners have just been announced! You can watch a video of the announcement, see authors accepting their wins, and see the list.

And the winners are:

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (Simon & Schuster)
2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
3. Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster)
4. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (HarperCollins)
5. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (Harlequin)
6. Matched by Ally Condie (Penguin)
7. Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson (Little, Brown & Company)
8. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (HarperCollins)
9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins)
10. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (Penguin)

New Books

Wonderstruck: a novel in words and pictures by Brian Selznick -- Having lost his mother and his hearing in a short time, twelve-year-old Ben leaves his Minnesota home in 1977 to seek the father he never knew in New York City, and meets there Rose, who is also longing for something missing from her life. Ben's story is told in words; Rose's in pictures.

Game Over by James Patterson -- Daniel X, book 4 - In Tokyo, fifteen-year-old Daniel X faces two of the most dangerous aliens on the planet, who are plotting to use video games to control children and turn them into an army of doom.

Vanish by Sophie Jordan -- sequel to Firelight - To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: she betrayed the most closely guarded secret of her kind. Now, she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again -- and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will's memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater -- When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their love moved from a curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives. That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt. Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world?  

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles -- When he returns to Illinois and the gang culture on the south side of Fairfield after six years in Colorado, high school senior Luis Fuentes, who dreams of becoming an astronaut, falls for a girl and enters a dark world after learning some disturbing news about his family.

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick -- Hush, Vol 3 - Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for -- and their love -- forever.

Recent Returns

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott: first of the Secrets of the  Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Fifteen year old twins Sophie and Josh are swept up in a quest to keep a book containing the secrets of immortality from the hands of the evil alchemist John Dee. 111 checkouts on 4 copies, plus 5 more checkouts of the audiobook!

Divine Confidential: a Novel by Jacquelin Thomas - Divine was a Hollywood high-life teen until she moved to Georgia to live with her aunt and uncle; can she deal with small town life and have a romance as well? Or will trouble arrive in ways she never expects? 21 circs for this series paperback.

Origins: Stefan's Diary Vol 1 (Vampire Diaries) by L.J. Smith - in 1864, during the Civil War, Stefan falls for Katherine, a dark eyed, sultry beauty, who is also a vampire... 5 circs.

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard - what if you had a long-lost twin? What if she vanished the day you were supposed to meet? How far would you go to find out what happened? 16 circs on 2 copies.

Astro City: Shining Stars by Kurt Busiek - a collection of superheroic short stories in Graphic format. A beautiful, thoroughly enjoyable book even if you don't like Superhero stories or Graphic novels. 4 circs for this fairly new title.