I was curious to find out what was popular this year in YA, so I looked at the top selling books for this year on amazon and here are the top 10 results:
I have read only 6 of the ten (I have indicated in bold which ones) and I have to say I am not surprised by this list. 6 of these books have been made into movies; coincidence? I think not. (those are in gray).
What do you guys think of this list? Have you read any or seen the movies? Comment below!
Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association
Time to celebrate Banned
Books Week! From ALA's webpage dedicated to Banned Book
Week,
"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information."
My library is going to
have a display with some of the librarians holding up their favorite banned
book. I'll link to this once it is put up on our Facebook page!
A Children's Librarian & Me!
Check out ALA's list of most frequently challenged books here!
What does it mean for a book to be challenged?
"A challenge is an
attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person
or group. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view;
rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library,
thereby restricting the access of others." -ALA website
To celebrate this week and the freedom to read, I
am listing my top ten favorite books that are on the most frequently challenged
book list.
Winston Smith works for
the Ministry of truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares
out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When
Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull
and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters
that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party;
they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent -
even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101...
Reasons given for challenging this book:
-its' themes include
nationalism, sexual repression, censorship, and privacy
-it's “pro communist”
-it's “anti-government”
***You know I love my dystopian books!! 1984 is what I consider
the original "dystopian" novel. One of my all-time favorite books!***
Set against the dramatic
backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's epic love story is an
unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and its
people forever changed. At the heart of all this chaos is the story of
beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O'Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett
Butler.
Reasons given for
challenging this book:
-its' portrayal of
Blacks in the 19th-century South
-seems to condone
marital rape
-the use of the words
“nigger” “damn” and “whore”
***I first read this
book as a very girl (5th grade) and I was swept away by the romance of this
book. I wasn't judging it based on its' language or racism - I was just
enjoying a good book!***
Jonas's world is
perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There
are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas
turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The
Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it
is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
Reasons given for challenging this book:
-the book's treatment of
suicide, euthanasia, & infanticide
-its' references to
death are inappropriate for young children
-it's “lewd” and
“twisted”
-depictions of
"adolescent pill-popping"
***Again, another
childhood classic of mine. Just saw the movie and it just made me love this
book even more. Another old-school dystopian book!***
Once again, Earth is
under attack. An alien species is poised for a front assault. The survival of
humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens. But
who? Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic
master. And a child. Recruited for military training by the world
government, Ender's childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battle
School. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among
geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness
taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in
real combat conditions? After all, Battle School is just a game. Right?
Reasons
given for challenging this book:
-Contains swear words
& terms inappropriate for younger children
-One parent complained
that it was "pornographic"
***I'm sorry but I can't
see this as being pornographic. If anything, I would say this book shows world
leaders committing genocide! This book (and its' sequels) got me hooked on
science fiction.***
The face on the milk
carton looks like an ordinary little girl: hair in tight pigtails, a dress with
a narrow white collar, a three-year-old who was kidnapped more than twelve
years ago from a shopping mall in New Jersey. As fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson
stares at the milk carton, she feels overcome with shock. She knows that little
girl is she. But how could it be true? Janie can't believe that her loving
parents kidnapped her, until she begins to piece together clues that don't make
sense. Why are there no pictures of Janie before she was four? Her parents have
always said they didn't have a camera. Now that explanation sounds feeble.
Something is terribly wrong, and Janie is afraid to find out what happened more
than twelve years ago.
Reasons given for challenging this book:
-contains sexual content
-depicts challenge to authority
-inappropriate for age group
***Again, one of my childhood favorites. Good psychological thriller that I was happy turned into a series.***
Melinda Sordino busted
an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to
her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest
place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's
something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the
party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to
smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth.
Reasons given for challenging this book:
-not appropriate for
teens due to the subject of rape
-it's“soft-pornography”
-it “glorifies drinking,
cursing, and premarital sex”
-it “teaches principles
contrary to the Bible”
***I wouldn't necessarily call this one of my favorite books, but it ended up on my
list here because of why it was challenged. I thought it was a powerful book
that brought to life an emotional and scarring experience that should never
happen to anyone. No one wants to talk about rape and its' victims, and I
applaud Laurie Halse Anderson for bringing it up.***
For Titus and his
friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party
during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge.
But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction,
sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for
days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who
has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human
thoughts and desires.
Reasons
given for challenging this book:
-the book is “trash” and
“covered with the F-word”
***A science fiction book
set in a creepy futuristic world? Sign me up! I'm not one to shy away from
crude language and the concept of computer chips implanted into our brains is
fascinating (and scary enough, could one day happen!)***
Offred is a Handmaid in
the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife
once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of
words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back
once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age
of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their
ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and
made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her
daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But
all of that is gone now...
Reasons given for challenging this book:
-it's “sexually explicit,
violently graphic and morally corrupt”
-it's “detrimental to
Christian values.”
***Got to love these
classic dystopian books!! This was the only book in my AP lit class that I
read. I also just discovered there is a film adaptation - I must now go find
it!***
It was a dark and stormy
night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come
down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of
a most disturbing stranger. Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth
dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has
come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can
they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping
journey through space?
Reasons
given for challenging this book:
-it's "pro-communist"
-contains offensive
language
-"it undermines
religious beliefs and challenges the idea of God"
-contains references to
several Biblical verses and is overtly Christian
-"the characters are
really witches practicing black magic under the guise of 'New Age'
religion"
-it promotes occult
practices & sadism
-employs Satanic
suggestions
***I think this is just a
wonderful fantasy kid's book that I highly enjoyed as a kid.***
Eleanor...
Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying
beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and
never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He
knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes
before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just
below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the
course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed
sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but
brave and desperate enough to try.
Reasons given for challenging this book:
-the use of
profanity
-its' treatment of
sexuality
-themes of
"bullying, poverty, racism, and abuse"
***Though
this book isn't a favorite (I only gave it 3 stars), I was surprised to see it
on the challenged list for 2013. A realistic fiction book that deals frankly
with tough issues. Doesn't hurt that it is set in my hometown of Omaha ;)
***
What are your favorite books that have made the challenged list?
Comment below!!
Hey guys! Grad school has started and I am going
to be so busy it looks like! I do want to inform you of the Young Adult Library
Services Association's Top Ten Best Fiction Titles for young adults.
The
Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett
Dusty Everhart, a
Nightmare, (literally!), has been trying to escape the shadow of her mother's
reputation, and one night, while dream-feeding, she sees the crime scene of a
murder victim who attends her high school, a school for supernatural children.
When she arrives back on campus, she finds, to her horror, that the dream had
come true. Now she must use dreams to find the killer and save victims-to-be in
order to stop an ancient darkness from returning.
After Emma’s mother, the
long lost Poseidon princess returns to the sea, the Syrena begin to bring her
identity into question. When all hope seems lost, and appears the Royals have a
revolution on their hands, Emma has the opportunity to use her Gift to save
those that she loves. But at what cost will her choices bring to not only her,
but also to those she considers her family.
Alina, a sun summoner on the run from
the evil Darkling, is searching for a way to increase her power and save the
ones she loves. But as her power grows she falls deeper in the Darkling’s grasp
and farther away from her best friend and love, Mal. When the time comes Alina
must choose between her love, her power, or her lust for the Darkling and all
of his power.
Love
in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block
Penelope believes she is
the last person alive in the city of Los Angeles after a massive earthquake
destroyed the majority of the earth. After encountering a group of survivors,
however, she begins to have hope in whatever may be left of the world, whether
it be love, trust, and, just maybe, her family. Modeled after Homer's Odyssey,
Pen goes on a post-apocalyptic journey filled with Giants and butterflies in an
attempt to find her way home.
Cia is chosen to
participate in The Testing, a government program that will select the brightest graduates who show
potential for becoming future leaders in this post-apocalyptic world. Cia’s
excitement of being chosen soon dies when her father warns her of the
experiences he faced when he was chosen. Cia must trust no one if she hopes to
come back alive. However, will she be able to face the dark, unholy truth about
the testing? One kept whether you leave… Or don't?
Michael is an average kid
who plays video games, but this video game, the Virtnet, is different than
others. You can die in it physically and mentally, and that happens to a girl
named Tanya who rips out her core and commits suicide. Suddenly, Michael is
whisked away by the designers of the VirtNet and is given a mission by them to
find a cyber terrorist, named Kaine, who is suspected of killing gamers.
In 2788 humanity has
developed technology that allows them to portal between many habitable worlds
except for those are deemed “the handicapped”, those who are born with a one in
a thousand chance of having an immune system that cannot tolerate other
planets. Jarra, a handicapped 18-year old student with a passion for history,
creates a false identity for herself and enrolls in a college course for
students from other planets in an attempt to get revenge for the way the
handicapped are looked down upon.
The niece of Sherlock
Holmes, the world’s first consulting detective, and the half-sister of Bram,
the vampire slayer, are thrown together to find out why high society girls are
being murdered and what a mechanical scarab beetle has to do with it.
One life-altering,
life-changing event that dramatically affected Sandy will leave you thinking.
And no, not in the good sort of life-changing event like winning the lottery or
having a kid. Finding true friends and activities that allow Sandy to really be
free and let off steam is all that keeps Sandy sane. They are also important factors
in putting Sandy's life back together once again.
Book Trailer:
(Yay, a book that's NOT a part of a series!)
The
Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry
Cady wakes up in a dark,
torn apart cottage hearing someone tell another man to “finish her off.” To
make things worse, not only does she not know why she’s in the cabin or why the
men are trying to kill her, she also doesn’t remember who she is. Eventually,
she escapes and meets up with Ty, a boy who is willing to help her even at the
risk of losing his own life. Together they attempt to figure out what happened
to make her lose her memory.
Book Trailer:
Splintered by A.G. Howard
Alyssa, a girl already
struggling with life in general, is pulled into something dark and mysterious.
She follows in the footsteps of her ancestor, Alice, and goes down the rabbit
hole to right the wrongs that Alice caused to cure her family of their
"curse". Instead of finding Lewis Carroll's Beautiful wonderland she
finds a dark and twisted version with monstrous creatures that aren't as nice
as the ones in the novel or as pretty.
Eureka has only ever
cried once in her life and the one time she did, her mother told her to never
cry again. Ever since then, she has never shed a tear; not even when her mother
was killed in a tragic freak accident. Unbeknownst to Eureka, she was also
supposed to die, but Ander couldn’t bring himself to let her die despite the
threats that Eureka possesses because of her tears.
Book Trailer:
*This is Book #1 in the Teardrop series. Book #2, Waterfall, is due to come out October 28th
Openly Straight By Bill Konigsberg
Rafe has been out of the closet for years. After
transferring to an all-boys boarding school, however, he decides to keep his sexual orientation to
himself. But when he meets Ben, a teammate on his soccer team, he wonders if their friendship-turned-more
is worth outing himself for.
Book Trailer:
Monument
14: Sky On Fire by Emmy Laybourne
When disaster strikes in
the city of Monument, 14 kids are huddled in a Greenway store for shelter and
survival. They decide their only chance of living through this nationwide
disaster is to make their way to Denver International Airport where the
military is evacuating people to safety. Will they make it alive or will they
meet their doom like others have?
Chloe Spinnaker is an
average student just barely making the grade. But one day spring day, after
falling asleep in study hall, she wakes up to snow and an empty classroom. Six
months of her life has passed and she has no clue what happened except that now
she is popular and has lots of friends that is, except Maggie, the one true
friend she had before everything changed. Bewildered by the sudden time lapse
in her life, Chloe decides to embark on a mission where she stops at nothing to
figure out what happened to her and to get her memories back.
Book Trailer:
Eleanor
& Park by Rainbow Rowell
The year is 1986 when
Eleanor arrives in town to live with her family and abusive step-father. It's
been a year since the last time she lived with them, and she doesn't expect
life to be any better. Park's life, on the other hand, is going steady. He's
got a spot in the popular crowd and he's about to get his driver's license. But
when the two meet on the bus, things change drastically. Even though they both
know high school romances never last, they're going to try everything they've
got to make it work. But in end, will everything they have be enough?
Elise Dembowski is a high
school loser. After reaching the tip of the iceberg and facing suicidal
thoughts just months before, Elise is searching desperately for a way out of
her nearly friendless life. When she accidentally finds a dance club called
Start, Elise's life finally takes off as she meets new people, makes new
memories, finds a new passion, and discovers herself.
Ten years ago, Calamity
came; a light in the sky that appeared one day and many believe that somehow it
was connected to the rise of the Epics. These beings, once human, now have all
kinds of amazing and dangerous powers that have enabled them to take over the
world, and one could argue the most dangerous one is Steelheart. Able to bend
the elements to his will and turn any non-living substance to steel, many say
he's invincible because they've never seen him bleed -- except for David, who
will stop at nothing to get his vengeance and see Steelheart bleed again.
Book Trailer:
*This is Book #1 in the Reckoners series. Book #2, Firefight, is due out January 6th, 2015.
The
Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Joel wants to be a
Rithmatist more than anything. Rithmatists have the power to bring two
dimensional beings called Chalklings to life and defend against the wild
chalkings that threaten to overcome the Rithmatists. Joel is student at
Armedius Academy, a prestigious school where Rithmatists and wealthy children
go to learn. When a string of kidnappings begin to occur Joel must gain
assistance from the Rithmatists at Armedius Academy in order to bring order
back to the academy.
Book Trailer:
*This is Book #1 in the Rithmatist series. The next book is currently untitled and due out
some time next year.
This
is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Ellie is the girl from
Middle-of-Nowhere, Maine, and Graham Larkin is the hot superstar sensation from
Middle-of-Everything, California. While Ellie hides from the media, Graham is
constantly being watched by the paparazzi. However, an email mistake from
Graham to Ellie starts an online relationship between these two teens, marking
the start of a friendship and something more. Can Ellie accept Graham despite
all the publicity? Or will the media be the demise of this couple's happiness?
Book Trailer:
Winger by Andrew Smith
Ryan Dean West is a
fourteen year old junior trying to make everyone else blind to the one thing
that makes him different than everyone else, his young age. This is not easy
though, as he must prove himself to everyone - the girl of his dreams, his
scary roommate, his friends, and the rugby team. As Ryan Dean tries to survive
his junior year, he encounters horrifying injuries, moments of ecstasy, and
shattering heartbreak.
Book Trailer:
*This is Book #1 in the Winger series. Book #2, Stand-Off, is due January 14th, 2015
A
Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
Claire, a girl with a dream
to become an actress, finally gets her chance when her parents decide to remake
Mayhem Manor, a movie that was never finished because of 3 real deaths. As the
camera starts rolling on the remake, strange things begin to happen. Like the
little hairy man Claire meets by the makeup trailer one day. Who or what could
be the cause of these actors’ deaths?
Book Trailer:
Between
the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke
Violet, a sassy,
independent, and sharp-tongued young lady, rents out the side cottage on her
parent's estate in the hopes of making a little extra money to pay the bills.
Her easygoing customer is as dangerous as he is mysterious, and murders and
madness soon sweep her little home town. She takes it upon herself to
understand him and the events, but only finds a darkness she can only hope to
escape with her sanity and safety.
It’s the fall of 1918:
The Spanish Influenza and the horrors of World War I grip the world with
terror, and spiritualist photography, as the face of death seems to greet every
household in America, has become increasingly popular. After her father is
arrested as a suspected traitor, Mary Shelley Black travels to San Diego,
hoping to escape the flu while living with her Aunt Eva. Only a few days after
arriving, Mary Shelley is told that
Stephen, her sweetheart who recently became a soldier, has been killed in
France. But Stephen’s spirit hasn’t left yet, and he desperately needs Mary
Shelley’s help.
Book Trailer:
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Present day – the aliens have invaded the planet, or as Cassie
likes to call them, the Others. Almost everyone has been killed off by the 4th
Wave, and now, Cassie one of the few survivors living now during the 5th wave,
roams the country while trying to stay alive to find her brother – that is, if
he's still alive. When she's taken in by a boy named Evan, she realizes that
he's different. He's not like her, but he's all she's got. Cassie has to overcome
her doubts and trust issues if she wishes to survive the 5th wave.
Book Trailer:
*This is Book #1 in
the 5th Wave series. Book #2, The Infinite Sea, will be out in a couple weeks on
September 16th. Book #3 is current untitled and due out August 2015
Voting has started and
will continue through Teen Read Week (October 12th - 18th).
