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Top 2009 Young Adult Books

    image Ballad by Maggie StiefvaterJames and Deirdre join a school for musicians where talent attracts soul-snatching faerie Nuala. As Halloween�the day of the dead�draws near, James will have to battle the Faerie Queen and the horned king of the dead to save Nuala’s life and his soul.

    image Calling Out Your Name by Ned White

    A Georgia teenager sets off on a cross-country adventure to find his missing younger brother Tick , who disappears from a nearby home for troubled youth. A unique and surprising twist at the end of Woody’s journey helps him to fully understand earlier events in his life and leaves the reader with a satisfying ending.

    image Choices by Kate Buckley

    Binge drinking, date rape, family secrets and teen pregnancy collide in Choices, a compelling coming-of-age journey for fifteen-year-old Kara MacNeill. A sophomore at a Catholic all-girls academy in Colorado, Kara finds herself crossing the line into womanhood after one crazy night of partying.

    image Dutch Clarke: The Early Years by Brian D. Ratty

    A story that relates the events that shaped Dutch’s life in an edge-of-your-seat survival saga. Manipulated by the terms of his dead grandfather’s will, Dutch undertakes his ordeal in the rugged wilderness of British Columbia in 1941. This is a classic story of one man’s personal struggle to come of age against all odds.

    image Eli the Good by Silas House

    For ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former war protester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself.

    image Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

    A unique young adult novel that portrays two US teenagers’ involvement in the Chilean freedom struggle. Written in a way that is suitable for Young Adult readers, Gringolandia is a must-read for any adult, high school or college student concerned about the horrors of torture and political repression.

    image Hellie Jondoe by Randall Platt

    It’s 1918. A war of nations is ending and a worldwide flu epidemic just heating up, but to thirteen-year-old Hellie, the only battle that counts is her own survival. Forced to steal at an early age in order to survive, she becomes wily and head-strong. Not really knowing the difference between love and simple bonding, she learns a lesson of attachment when she ends up in the west.

    image Shadow Boxing by Sherie Posesorski

    16-year-old Alice is struggling to cope with the death of her mother, after a long depilating illness. Her father has shut her out of her life and her aunt is only worried about her next spa appointment and the two are conspiring to send her away. Her angst is so deep it cuts like knife, will she ever feel whole again?

    image Shadow of the Leopard by Henning Mankell

    Sofia struggles to keep her family together in this powerful story set in war-torn Mozambique. Vivid details of Sofia�s struggle will stay with readers: how she dreams of having electricity in her home; walks miles on her crutches; cares for her children, including the baby on her back; takes off her legs every night before bed; and confronts her husband about his infidelity.

    image Summer of Fire by Karen Bass

    Defiant Delora is sent to live with her sister in Germany and finds a connection to a diary from WWII.

    image The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

    A time travel thrill ride � even guys like it. Abby Beatrice Edmunds is starting her senior year of high school, is wanting no limits in her already set life, with a boyfriend who’s always got things planned. In walks Dante Alexander, a foreign exchange student from Italy, to turn her life upside down.

    image The Wheel of Nuldoid by Russ Woody

    Inspired by The Hobbit and The Wizard of Oz, The Wheel of Nuldoid is a dark tongue-in-cheek look at the very center of our world, where a society of short, quarrelsome creatures live and operate the machinery that rotates the earth.

    image Vanishing Girl by Shane Peacock

    In this third The Boy Sherlock Holmes series title, the 13-year-old gifted detective determines to find a government official�s daughter, who has seemingly disappeared without a trace. A ransom note clue, though, draws Sherlock into an increasingly suspenseful and dangerous investigation.

    image Youthanasia by S. P. Perone

    Escaping their school’s mind control scheme and not being able to trust their memories, teens discover a secret group of elders that has hatched a diabolical plan directed at the nation’s youth. The plan threatens an entire generation; the fate of millions of youth is at stake.