What to do:
1. Start now by reading at least 2 books on the list.
2. Starting in November you'll be able to submit your vote for your favorite by February 1, 2013 at http://www.state.lib.la.us/literacy-and-reading/louisiana-young-readers-choice/
This year's Teen Readers' Choice books are listed below.
1. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Mean girl Samantha
dies in a car crash but she is given chances to rewrite history and save
herself. What she discovers about her life and who she is forever alters
reality. IL: UG - BL: 5.4
- AR Pts: 18.0
2. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra
Clare. Tessa Gray, a 16-year-old orphan, travels from American to London to
meet her brother. She gets wrapped up in a Steampunk adventure involving
vampires, werewolves, clockwork people and other supernatural beings. This
exciting first book in a new series is being marketed as a prequel to Clare’s
“Mortal Instruments” series. IL: UG
- BL: 5.6 - AR Pts: 21.0
3.
Coming Back
Stronger : Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity by Drew Brees. This
is a behind the scenes look at the 2010 NFL Super Bowl champions, the New
Orleans Saints’ quarterback. At one point in his professional football career,
Drew Brees, wondered if he would ever be able to play again due a severe
shoulder injury which caused him to have to relearn how to throw a ball. After
Hurricane Katrina, the Saints had to play every game on the road until the
Superdome was repaired. This is Drew’s encouraging and inspirational story of
how each challenge has made him stronger. No AR Test available.
4.
Matched
by Ally Condie. The Society has always been responsible for matching their
citizens at a matching ceremony. When Cassia sees her best friend Xander on
screen as her ideal mate, she’s thrilled until Ky Markham’s face flashes for an
instant and the screen turns black. The Society claims it’s a glitch, but now
that the seed of doubt has been planted, Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky.
As Cassia begins to fall for Ky and doubt the Society, she must decide between
Xander and the life she knows or Ky and the mysteries of the unknown. IL:
UG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 13.0
5.
Ship Breaker by Paolo
Bacigalupi. Nailer, a teenager living on the Louisiana gulf coast in the
distant future, lives in poverty and works as a ship breaker, a person who
scavenges wrecked ships. He finds an abandoned ship filled with valuables,
including a potentially valuable girl who may or may not be who she says she
is. Will Nailer sell the girl for some quick cash or risk trying to help her
get home? IL: MG+ - BL: 4.4
- AR Pts: 11.0 Printz
Award Winner
6. Somebody Everybody Listens To by Suzanne Supplee. After
graduation, 18 year-old Rhetta Lee Jones says farewell to her job at the local Starling,
Tennessee diner and heads for Nashville with her guitar, an old car, $500 and a
plan to succeed. After she is mugged, Rhetta is reduced to sleeping in her car
until she finds a job as a secretary for a local tow-truck owner. Staying true
to dreams, she continues to write music, sing at a local hotel, and find her
own voice while trying to earn herself a big break. IL: UG
- BL: 5.3 - AR Pts: 9.0
7.
Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick. Having
been kicked out of their apartment by her mother’s latest boyfriend, Amber, her
doggie Bobby Big Boy and her mother are currently living in her mother’s school
bus, a.k.a. Hello Yello. No matter what Amber is going through, she finds time
to help others in her community with humor, an optimistic attitude and great
friends. IL: MG+ - BL: 5.4 - AR Pts: 10.0
8.
Split by Swati
Avasthi. After being beaten up by his father and kicked out of his home,
16-year-old Jace drives cross country to find his estranged brother and a tries
to start new life. All the while Jace deals with guilt over leaving his mother
behind and not being there to protect her. Together the brothers must overcome
emotional scars in order not to become their father. IL: UG - BL: 4.1 - AR Pts: 10.0
9.
White
Cat: Curse Workers Book 1 by Holly Black. All the members
of Cassel’s family are curse workers, they have the power to affect people with
just a touch. Cassel feels like an outcast because he doesn’t seem to have a
magic touch and he lives with a horrible secret: he killed his best friend
Lila, but doesn’t remember doing it. As Cassel struggles to fit in, he uncovers
more family secrets that may help him discover the person he really is. IL: MG+
- BL: 4.5 - AR Pts: 11.0
10. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by
G. Neri. Illustrated by Randy DuBurke. Yummy named after his love of candy is
hiding out from the police. This book, based on a true account, tells the true
story of a gang member Robert “Yummy” Sandifer. Everyone knows Yummy killed
Shavon, a teen from the neighborhood when he was aiming at a rival gang member.
Yummy’s days are numbered now that the police and his own gang members are
looking for him. IL: UG - BL: 3.4
- AR Pts: 1.0 Coretta
Scott Honor
