help me do my job, part 2

[orangerful]

I've done this before and it worked out well! You guys are all such big readers! I'm working on my school visit booktalks for elementary and middle school for later this month. A "book talk" is sort of like a commercial for a book - not a summary, but a teaser trailer.

I know you guys have read some great children's and teen books this past year. I'm looking for newish titles (2014-2016) that you have read and loved and would be willing to tell me more about. I'm talking 5 sentences, your best "IN A WORLD" trailer write up.

If you have a title in mind, please comment! I want all kinds of books and stories because the more I have, the more kids, tweens and teens I have a chance of getting to pick up a book that probably wouldn't. :)

Thank you!!!

Comments

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

Any of the Rick Riordan novels. He had a new one based on Norse mythology come out in the fall, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, plus a new Percy Jackson this past Tuesday, Trials of Apollo. The norse mythology book is in the same world as Percy Jackson so some knowledge makes the book richer, but it's not required.

[the_rck]

My twelve year old daughter really loves Kerstin Gier who is a German author of YA and adult books. The YA is being translated by Anthea Bell for publication in the US. There are two series, The Ruby Red series (involving time travel) and The Silver Trilogy (I have no idea what those are about), and the second book in The Silver Trilogy just came out Tuesday. My daughter begged and pleaded for the book and has almost finished it.

Marissa Meyer has a new book coming out in the fall, a standalone. She's another author my daughter loves.

There's the Arcadia series by Kai Meyer. (I'm looking at my daughter's Amazon wishlist right now.)

Lisa T. Bergren has some time travel books, the River of Time series, that look midway between romance and fantasy. My daughter has labeled them as 'highest' priority on her wishlist.

My daughter has also wishlisted books by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Gordon Korman, Lauren Myracle, and Andrew Clements. Oh, and the entire Tuesdays at the Castle series by Jessica Day George and the House of Secrets series by Chris Columbus.

I'll ask her if she has any other ideas. I don't know that anything she's reading is particularly obscure. She's going partly by GoodReads and partly by her friends.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Doesn't need to be obscure because I want to appeal to both big readers and reluctant readers. Ask her to describe the book for you like she was trying to convince you to read it. that's really what I need as I don't have time to read all the books! :)

[hamsterwoman]

The YA books I was going to recommend all seem to be older than 2014, though I read them in the last two years -- The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (2013), Holly Black; Seraphina (2012), Rachel Hartman (although there's a more recent sequel); Guardian of the Dead (2010), Karen Healey.

I did enjoy the 2014 Stranger (and self-pub sequel Hostage) by Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown. It wasn't my favorite book ever, but it's doing enough interesting things that I've rec'd/gifted it to some (open-minded) teenagers of my acquaintance. One of the POV protagonists is gay (this was in fact the book behind the "say yes to Gay YA" thing from a couple of years ago) and there's also canon poly, so not sure if that is too "out there" for a book talk.

Not new book itself but it had a sequel and a movie adaptation come come out in 2014-15 -- would this also be of interest?
The sequel is Smek for President, and the movie adaptation is Home, and the book I'm actually recommending is The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. It's midgrade sci-fi with an awesome first-person protagonist (diverse, too), and very funny. The sequel is not as good, and the movie adaptation, while cute, is sadly not much like the book at all.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

I'm still stuck on things like 'Ronia, Robber's Daughter' and the Narnia series. :D

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

The Selection serues by Kiera Cass. Sometime in the future, the world is a whole different place. America is in love with her childhood sweetheart who, along with her family, convinces her to enter a contest that will give her a chance to marry into royalty. She unwillingly enters and is selected to be on a reality show so that the world can root for their potential new princess. I know it sounds lame, but I've been eating this up. It's the behind the scenes version of reality TV meets a dystopian world shrouded in some mystery.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I'm pretty sure you've heard of this one so I'm going to keep it short. Fairy tales + a dystopian steampunk world = AMAZING.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. Sophie is a teenage witch who has been sentenced to attend a supernatural boarding school as punishment. Her crimes? Teenage supernatural shenanigans that almost outed the supernatural world. There's a lot of cliches but it's humor meets the politics of the supernatural world.

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross. idk if this one applies since it was published in 2013, but I'm going to rec it anyway because it's amazing. It exposes the underworld of wealthy French socialites. Families hire "ugly" women to accompany their daughters during their their seasons. They are meant to make their daughters look more beautiful in their company and serve as a human accessory that's always having their flaws pointed out. The work is demeaning and eventually gets flipped on its head, showing that looks aren't everything. This is such a good read. Being someone who has been considered ugly much of my life, it really resonated with me, which is why I'm reccing it.

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco. THIS BOOKS IS AMAZING. The spirit of a murdered woman spends her afterlife killing serial killers. She believes that she can never find peace because she has dipped into the dark side, but things change when she becomes fascinated by a boy who is possessed by a demon.

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed. Naila’s life is turned upside down when her parents discover that she has a boyfriend. They trick her into a trip to visit their family where she is held against her will, drugged, and forced into an arranged marriage that she fights to escape. I cried in this one.

[spaciireth.livejournal.com]

Seconding icecoldrain for The Lunar Chronicles. The last one only came out last November.

I would also put up a vote for The Girl from Everywhere, which apart from the inevitable love triangle, felt really refreshing in an age of clone-like YA series. Lots of diversity in both characters and setting!

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

My sister-in-law gave me a trilogy called the School for Good and Evil for Christmas, and I loved it. It's about a forest village where every few years, two kids are kidnapped to attend the school for good and evil. The books follow the two girls abducted in the current year. The first book is about which belongs in Good and which belongs in Evil, the second is Boys vs Girls, and the third is ONLY SCHOOL FOR EVIL and whether or not that should be permanent.

All three books are about the girls trying to figure out who they are, who their friends are, whether they want friends or boyfriends, whether those things are mutually exclusive for a happy ending, and a lot of other lessons it took me a lot longer to figure out than three years.

I loved them and read all three basically nonstop.

[meepalicious.livejournal.com]

Seconding The School for Good and Evil!

[domluver.livejournal.com]

Rick Riordan novels for sure! He's got the Norse Mythology one, and one that just came out this week about a Apollo being turned into a teenager.

I'd also say Lost Stars by Claudia Gray it's a Star Wars novel but it was so beautifully written that it wouldn't matter.



Those are all that I could really think of, I haven't read a lot of younger books lately.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - very much a later teen book. It's dark, beautiful and heartbreaking.

The Voices In Between by Charlene Challenger -I've possibly mentioned this one to you before and think it's a small press and Canadian release... still love it! It dared to go where a lot of YA doesn't often go with a not perfect heroine who lives a pretty gritty life.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik - this fantasy grabbed me at the first sentence and I knew that I'd love it. Strong female characters in a gorgeous magic world :) This one gets a bit more racy so it depends on what the library is comfortable with but it's not like Fifty Shades or VC Andrews racy.

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters -Winters has fast become one of my must read authors. I love her twisting together history and the supernatural and coming up with something that's utterly engaging to read.

The Splintered series by A.G. Howard, the last of which was released in 2015. I really liked this twist on the Alice story. The love triangle grated at me a bit at times but I did enjoy this look at Wonderland.

If any of those float your boat let me know :)