Charles And Emma: The Darwins' Leap Of Faith, Deborah Heiligman; Henry Holt And Company

Best Books for Young Adults, 2010
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner, 2010
Printz Honor Book, 2010

“Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, his revolutionary tract on evolution and the fundamental ideas involved, in 1859. 150 years later, the theory of evolution continues to create tension between the scientific and religious communities. This same debate raged within Darwin himself, and played an important part in his marriage: his wife, Emma, was very religious, and her faith challenged Charles as he worked on his theory of evolution. Deborah Heiligman’s new biography of Charles Darwin is a thought-provoking account of the man behind evolutionary theory: how his personal life affected his work and vice versa. The end result is an engaging exploration of history, science, and religion.”

The Monstrumologist, Richard Yancey; Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

Best Books for Young Adults 2010
Printz Honor Book, 2010

“These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me…and the one who cursed me.So begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore War throp, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a grueso me find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?”

Punkzilla, Adam Rapp; Candlewick Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010
Printz Honor Book, 2010

“An award-winning writer and playwright (“33 Snowfish”) hits the open road for a searing novel-in-letters about a street kid on a high-stakes trek across America.”

Almost Astronauts: The True Story Of The "Mercury 13" Women, Tanya Lee Stone; Candlewick Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist 2010

“When NASA was launched in 1958, 13 women proved they had as much of the right stuff as men to be astronauts, but their way to space was blocked by prejudice, insecurity, and a scrawled note written by one of Washington’s most powerful men. This is the true story of the Mercury 13 women.”

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, Phillip M. Hoose; Melanie Kroupa Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist 2010

“‘When it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, “This is not right.”’ – Claudette ColvinOn March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff inBrowder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and many others, Phillip Hoose presents the first in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure, skillfully weaving her dramatic story into the fabric of the historic Montgomery bus boycott and court case that would change the course of American history.”

The Great And Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life Of Showman P.T. Barnum, Candace Fleming; Schwartz & Wade Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist, 2010

“Step right up! Meet the astounding . . . the amazing . . . P. T. Barnum! The award-winning author ofThe Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary,Our Eleanor, andBen Franklin’s Almanacbrings us the larger-than-life biography of showman P. T. Barnum. Known far and wide for his jumbo elephants, midgets, and three-ring circuses, here’s a complete and captivating look at the man behind the Greatest Show on Earth. Readers can visit Barnum’s American Museum; meet Tom Thumb, the miniature man (only 39 inches tall) and his tinier bride (32 inches); experience the thrill Barnum must have felt when, at age 60, he joined the circus; and discover Barnum’s legacy to the 19th century and beyond. Drawing on old circus posters, photographs, etchings, ticket stubs—and with incredible decorative art by Ray Fenwick—this book presents history as it’s never been experienced before—a show-stopping event!”

Written In Bone, Sally M. Walker; Carolrhoda Books

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist, 2010
Best Books for Young Adults, Top Ten, 2010

“Join author Sally M. Walker as she works alongside scientists investigating colonial-era graves near Jamestown, Virginia: a teenage boy, a ship’s captain, an indentured servant, a colonial official and his family, and an enslaved African girl. All are reaching beyond the grave to tell us their stories, which are written in bone.”

Stitches: A Memoir --, Small, David; W.W. Norton & Co.

Best Books for Young Adults 2010
Alex Award 2010

“One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die. In Stitches , Small, the award-winning children’s illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama where David’s highly anxious yet supremely talented child all too often became the unwitting object of his parents buried frustration and rage. Believing that they were trying to do their best, David’s parents did just the reverse. Edward Small, a Detroit physician, who vented his own anger by hitting a punching bag, was convinced that he could cure his young son’s respiratory problems with heavy doses of radiation, possibly causing David’s cancer. Elizabeth, David’s mother, tyrannically stingy and excessively scolding, ran the Small household under a cone of silence where emotions, especially her own, were hidden. Depicting this coming-of-age story with dazzling, kaleidoscopic images that turn nightmare into fairy tale, Small tells us of his journey from sickly child to cancer patient, to the troubled teen whose risky decision to run away from home at sixteen with nothing more than the dream of becoming an artist will resonate as the ultimate survival statement. A silent movie masquerading as a book, Stitches renders a broken world suddenly seamless and beautiful again.”

Jumping Off Swings, Johanna Knowles; Candlewick Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“One pregnancy. Four friends. It all adds up to a profound time of change in this poignant, sensitively written YA novel. Ellie remembers how the boys kissed her. Touched her. How they begged for more. And when she gave it to them, she felt loved. For a while anyway. So when Josh, an eager virgin with a troubled home life, leads her from a party to the backseat of his van, Ellie follows. But their “one-time thing” is far from perfect: Ellie gets pregnant. Josh reacts with shame and heartbreak, while their confidantes, Caleb and Corinne, deal with their own complex swirl of emotions. No matter what Ellie chooses, all four teenagers will be forced to grow up a little faster as a result. Told alternately from each character’s point of view, this deeply insightful novel explores the aftershocks of the biggest decision of one fragile girl’s life — and the realities of leaving innocence behind.”

Hold Still, ; Penguin USA, Inc.

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction dear caitlin, there are so many things that I want so badly to tell you but I just can’t. Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid and Caitlin herself.”

Liar, Justine Larbalestier; Bloomsbury Children's Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Micah freely admits that she’s a compulsive liar. Over the years she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and her parents. But when her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances, the shock might be enough to set her straight. Or maybe not.”

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, Kristin Levine; G.P. Putnams Sons

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Set in 1917 and inspired the by the author’s true family history, this novel tells the poignant story of an unexpected friendship between a white farm boy and an African-American city girl—and the ripples it sends through a rural Alabama town.”

The Treasure Map Of Boys: Noel, Jackson, Finn, Hutch, Gideon--and Me, Ruby Oliver, E. Lockhart; Delacorte Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Ruby is back at Tate Prep, and it’s her thirty-seventh week in the state of Noboyfriend. Her panic attacks are bad, her love life is even worse, and what’s more: Noel is writing her notes, Jackson is giving her frogs, Gideon is helping her cook, and Finn is making her brownies. Rumors are flying, and Ruby’s already-sucky reputation is heading downhill. Not only that, she’s also: running a bake sale, learning the secrets of heavymetal therapy, encountering some seriously smelly feet, defending the rights of pygmy goats, and bodyguarding Noel from unwanted advances. In this companion novel toThe Boyfriend ListandThe Boy Book,Ruby struggles to secure some sort of mental health, to understand what constitutes a real friendship, and to find true love—if such a thing exists.”

The Rock And The River, Kekla Magoon; Aladdin

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Set in 1968 Chicago, this powerful debut novel follows 13-year-old Sam Childs, the son of a known civil rights activist who questions the possibility of change after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Purple Heart, Patricia McCormick; Balzer & Bray

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“While recuperating in a Baghdad hospital from a traumatic brain injury sustained during the Iraq War, eighteen-year-old soldier Matt Duffy struggles to recall what happened to him and how it relates to his ten-year-old friend, Ali.”

The Devil's Paintbox, Victoria McKernan; Alfred A. Knopf

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“In 1865, fifteen-year-old Aiden and his thirteen-year-old sister Maddy, penniless orphans, leave drought-stricken Kansas on a wagon train hoping for a better life in Seattle, but find there are still many hardships to be faced.”

Fire, Robin McKinley; Penguin USA, Inc.

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, the team behind Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, collaborate again to create five captivating tales incorporating the element of fire.In McKinley’s “First Flight,” a boy and his pet foogit unexpectedly take a dangerous ride on a dragon, and her “Hellhound” stars a mysterious dog as a key player in an eerie graveyard showdown. Dickinson introduces a young man who must defeat the creature threatening his clan in “Fireworm,” a slave who saves his village with a fiery magic spell in “Salamander Man,” and a girl whose new friend, the guardian of a mystical bird, is much older than he appears in “Phoenix.“With time periods ranging from prehistoric to present day, and settings as varied as a graveyard, a medieval marketplace and a dragon academy, these stories are sure to intrigue and delight the authors’ longtime fans and newcomers alike.”

Surface Tension: A Novel In Four Summers, Brent Runyon; Alfred A. Knopf

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“The cottage on the lake is always the same, but Luke is changing. At thirteen he’s excited. At fourteen he’s cool. At fifteen he’s pissed off. At sixteen he’s in love. Through four summers’ worth of trips to the emergency room, campfires and house fires, parties and feuds with neighbors, Luke is doing his best to navigate life. He makes discoveries, makes mistakes, freaks out, and comes to see things in a new light. Brent Runyon has crafted a remarkable portrait of a boy at four distinct points in his life and literally shows us his coming of age. It’s a story that explores what is ever-changing and what is timeless, and how we are shaped by both the people and places we love.”

The Forest Of Hands And Teeth, Carrie Ryan; Delacorte Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—-between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?”

Love You Hate You Miss You, Elizabeth Scott; HarperTeen

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“With sarcastic humor, cutting insight, and beautiful prose, Scott delivers a searing story of a teenage girl who thinks she may have killed her best friend, and her struggle to put the pieces of her life back together.”

In The Path Of Falling Objects, Andrew Smith; Feiwel And Friends

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, are on their own. They set out to find what’s left of their family, carrying between them ten dollars, a backpack full of dirty clothes, a notebook, and a stack of letters from their brother, who is serving a tour in Vietnam. And soon into their journey, they have a ride. With a man and a beautiful girl who may be in love with Jonah. Or Simon. Or both of them. The man is crazy. The girl is desperate. This violent ride is only just beginning. And it will leave the brothers taking cover from hard truths about loyalty, love, and survival that crash into their lives. One more thing: The brothers have a gun. They’re going to need it.”

Flygirl, Sherri L. Smith; G.P. Putnam's Sons

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“When America enters World War II, the Army creates the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). Having always dreamed of flying, Ida Mae Jones, a young African-American woman, suddenly sees a way to fly as well as do something significant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific.”

How To Say Goodbye In Robot, Natalie Standiford; Scholastic

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“The new girl in town, Beatrice is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet loner who hasn’t made a new friend since third grade.Something about him, though, gets to Bea, and soon they form an unexpected friendship. It’s not romance, exactly, but it’s definitely love. Still, Bea can’t quite dispel Jonah’s gloom and doom, and as she finds out his family history, she understands why. Can Bea help Jonah? Or is he destined to vanish?”

When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead; Wendy Lamb Books

Best Books for Young Adults, Top Ten, 2010

“Four mysterious letters change Miranda’s world forever. By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.”

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception, Maggie Stiefvater; Flux

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“A dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, “Lament” follows 16-year-old Dierdre Monaghan, who discovers that she is a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Dierdre soon finds herself trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war.”

Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater; Scholastic

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - is a haunting presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human—until the cold makes him shift back again.Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears and the temperature drops, Sam must fight to stay human or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.”

Marcelo In The Real World, Francisco X. Stork; Arthur A. Levine Books

Best Books for Young Adults, Top Ten, 2010

“This summer, Arturo Sandoval declares, his son Marcelo will learn about the real world. He will work in the mailroom of Arturo’s law firm. He will interact with everyone in the office. He will be normal, as Arturo has always said he is, and not have a highly functioning form of Asperger’s Syndrome, as Marcelo knows he does. And Marcelo, reluctantly, must agree to his father’s terms. He soon learns reality isn’t easy. Wendell, the son of Arturo’s partner, offers friendship to further his own ends. The law firm hides an injustice that will transform Marcelo’s world. But through it all, there is Jasmine, his beautiful and tenacious coworker, his true friend - and perhaps more. Reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in the intensity and purity of its voice, this extraordinary novel encompasses a legal battle, a subtle love story, and the primal coming-of-age narrative: discovering the truth of one’s own capabilities.”

Heroes Of The Valley, Jonathan Stroud; Disney/Hyperion Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“From the “New York Times”-bestselling author of the Bartimaeus Trilogy comes an epic new adventure—a hero’s saga as well as a surprising look at what bravery really means.”

Tales From Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan; Arthur A. Levine Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“An exchange student who’s really an alien, a secret room that becomes the perfect place for a quick escape, a typical tale of grandfatherly exaggeration that is actually even more bizarre than he says… These are the odd details of everyday life that grow and take on an incredible life of their own in tales and illustrations that Shaun Tan’s many fans will love.”

Gringolandia, Lyn Miller-Lachmann; Curbstone Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“In 1986, when seventeen-year-old Daniel’s father arrives in Madison, Wisconsin, after five years of torture as a political prisoner in Chile, Daniel and his eighteen-year-old “gringa” girlfriend, Courtney, use different methods to help this bitter, self-destructive stranger who yearns to return home and continue his work.”

Alligator Bayou, Donna Jo Napoli; Wendy Lamb Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Talullah, Louisiana. 1899. Calogero, his uncles, and cousins are six Sicilian men living in the small town of Tallulah, Louisiana. They work hard, growing vegetables and selling them at their stand and in their grocery store. To 14-year-old Calogero, newly arrived from Sicily, Tallulah is a lush world full of contradictions, hidden rules, and tension between the Negro and white communities. He’s startled and thrilled by the danger of a ’gator hunt in the midnight bayou, and by his powerful feelings for Patricia, a sharpwitted, sweet-natured Negro girl. Some people welcome the Sicilians. Most do not. Calogero’s family is caught in the middle: the whites don’t see them as equal, but befriending Negroes is dangerous. Every day brings Calogero and his family closer to a a terrifying, violent confrontation.”

Gentlemen, Michael Northrop; Scholastic Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Michael and his friends Tommy, Mixer, and Bones aren’t just from the wrong side of the tracks: they’re from the wrong side of everything. Except for Mr. Haberman, their remedial English teacher, no one at their high school takes them seriously. Haberman calls them “gentlemen,” but everyone else ignores them or, in Bones’s case, is dead afraid of them. When one of their close-knit group goes missing, the clues all seem to point in one direction: to Mr. Haberman. Gritty, fast-paced, and brutally real, this debut novel takes an unflinching look at what binds friends together and what can tear them apart.”

Why I Fight, J. Adams Oaks; Atheneum Books For Young Readers

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Left alone for days on end, 12-year-old Wyatt Reeves burns down the family house. His uncle, Spade, whisks Wyatt away to safety, but soon sees potential in the boy to earn money in the bare-fist fighting racket. The two travel across America for the next six years, and soon Wyatt develops a sense of who he is—and isn’t.”

Miles Between, ; Henry Holt

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“October 19th never turns out well, but this year is different as Destiny takes off on a road trip with three classmates in a convertible left by a mysterious stranger.”

We Were Here, Matt De La Peña; Random House Children's Books

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Miguel, sentenced to a group home for a horrible crime, must overcome his self-hatred while on the run with two other criminals.”

Lips Touch: Three Times, Laini Taylor; Arthur A. Levine Books

Best Books for Young Adults, Top Ten, 2010

“Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers’ souls: Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today’s savvy girls? Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse. Hatchling: Six days before Esme’s fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?”

Creature Of The Night, Thompson, Kate; Roaring Brook Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Bobby lives a reckless life in Dublin, so his mother moves the family to the Irish countryside. But Bobby suspects their cottage may not be as quaint as it seems, in this spooky novel about the darkness that lurks in forgotten corners and in tough teenagers.”

Broken Soup, Jenny Valentine; HarperTeen

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

” After the death of her brother, Rowan’s family falls apart. Then a cute boy shoves a photo negative into her hands. She has the negative developed and discovers a photo of her brother smiling. Rowan’s heartrending journey from despair to hope begins with this new mystery.”

Same Difference, Siobhan Vivian; PUSH

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Emily needs a change of scenery. She’s been pegged as the party girl by the kids in her school, even her own friends. There’s some truth to that… but there’s also more to the way she sees the world than drawing or painting. Nobody seems to understand, and that’s not going to change any time soon. So when Emily gets the chance to go to an art program in Philadelphia for the summer, she jumps at it. A new cast of characters enters her life…and suddenly she has to figure out who she wants to be. She’s gone from the suburbs where everyone’s trying to be the same to a school where everyone is trying to be unique. The rules may have changed, but a lot of the pressures remain the same. With wit and empathy, Siobhan Vivian goes straight to the heart of a teen girl’s search for identity including the pain and heartache we have to go through to figure out who we are.”

Breathless, Jessica Warman; Walker Books For Young Readers, Distributed To The Trade By Macmillan Publishers

Best Books for Young Adult 2010

” Largely based on the author’s own experiences, “Breathless” is a stunning debut that explores illness and health, love and lust, friends and enemies, and the moneyed world of prep school with a deft, expert hand.”

Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld; Simon Pulse

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.  Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.  Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.  With the Great War brewing, Alek’s and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.”

The Chosen One, Carol Lynch Williams; St. Martin's Griffin

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much—-if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle—-who already has six wives—-Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.”

Jumped, Rita Williams-Garcia; HarperTeen

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“An acclaimed Coretta Scott King Honor author delivers a fast-paced, gritty narrative about the intertwined lives of three girls during one violent day in an urban high school. Told with refreshing honesty, this is an insightful look at high school dynamics and a revealing portrait of bullying.”

Funny How Things Change, Melissa Wyatt; Farrar Straus Giroux

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“In this powerful novel, the author vividly depicts a rich and beautiful place as she tells a story of a young man who, over the course of a summer, learns how much he must give up for a girl, and how much he needs to give up for a mountain.”

The Uninvited, Tim Wynne-Jones; Candlewick Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Part gripping thriller, part family drama, this fast-paced novel plays out in alternating viewpoints as a master of suspense plumbs the unsettling goings-on in a picture-perfect woodland cottage.”

Eternal Smile, Gene Yang; First Second/Roaring Brook

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“A fantastical adventure through the worlds we live in and the worlds we create. From two masters of the graphic novel — Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference and Other Stories) come three magical tales: The story of a prince who defeats his greatest enemy only to discover that maybe his world is not what it had seemed. The story of a frog who finds that just being a frog might be the way to go. The story of a women who receives an e-mail from Prince Henry of Nigeria asking for a loan to help save his family, and gives it to him. With vivid artwork and moving writing, Derek Kirk Kim and Gene Luen Yang test the boundaries between fantasy and reality, exploring the ways that the world of the imagination can affect real life.”

Once Was Lost: A Novel, Sara Zarr; Little, Brown

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“From the National Book Award Finalist (Story of a Girl) comes a novel about a local calamity and a personal tragedy paralleling in the eyes of a 15-year-old girl as she begins to question the faith she always thought she’d have.”

An Off Year, Claire Zulkey; Dutton

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Cecily has always done everything as she was supposed to: taken the right classes, gotten the right grades, applied to the right colleges. But after a lifetime of following the rules, she surprises everyone by arriving for her freshman year of college . . . and turning around. There are infinite possibilities for Cecily’s unexpected gap year. She could volunteer, or travel around the world—but, for now, Cecily is content to do absolutely nothing. What follows is a year of snarkily observed self-doubt and selfdiscovery during which Cecily must ask herself, for the first time, what does she really want to do with her life?”

The Elements: A Visual Exploration Of Every Known Atom In The Universe, Theodore W. Gray; Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Distributed By Workman Pub. Co.

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Based on five years of research and photography, the pictures in this book make up the most complete, and visually arresting, representation available to the naked eye of every atom in the universe, organized in order of appearance on the periodic table.”

Before Columbus: The Americas Of 1491, Rebecca Stefoff; Atheneum Books For Young Readers

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“A companion book to Mann’s groundbreaking bestseller “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus,” this is a fascinating, full-color journey that presents the Americas as young readers have never seen them before. Full color.”

Truce: The Day The Soldiers Stopped Fighting, Murphy, Jim; Blue Sky Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“On July 29, 1914, the world’s peace was shattered as the artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began shelling the troops of the country to its south. What followed was like a row of falling dominoes as one European country after another rushed to war. Soon most of Europe was fighting in this calamitous war that could have been avoided.This was, of course, World War I. But who could have guessed that on December 25the troops would openly defy their commanding officers by stopping the fighting and having a spontaneous celebration of Christmas with their enemies? In what can only be described as a miracle, this beautiful and heartrending narrative will remind everyone how brotherhood and love for one another reach far beyond the boundaries of war and politics.”

Marching For Freedom: Walk Together, Children, And Don't You Grow Weary, Elizabeth Partridge; Viking

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“An award-winning author leads readers straight into the chaotic, passionate, and deadly three months of protests that culminated in the landmark march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery in 1965. Photos.”

Chasing Lincoln's Killer: The Search For John Wilkes Booth, James L. Swanson; Scholastic Press

Best Books for Young Adults 2010

“Based on rare archival material, obscure trial manuscripts, and interviews with relatives of the conspirators and the manhunters, this fast-paced thriller that tells the story of the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth and gives a day-by-day account of the wild chase to find this killer and his accomplices. Based on James Swanson’s bestselling adult book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, this young people’s version is an accessible look at the assassination of a president, and shows readers Abraham Lincoln the man, the father, the husband, the friend, and how his death impacted those closest to him.”