2015 Teens' Top Ten Nominations

The nominations for the Teens' Top 10 were announced April 16 (Celebrate Teen Literature Day). The Teens' Top 10 is a list voted on by teens about their favorite books of the previous year. Voting for the top 10 begins August 15 and runs through Teen Read Week in October. Readers ages 12-18 may vote at ala.org/yalsa/reads4teens. Download a PDF copy of the nominees here, or check out the list below:

	Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid During her cross-country adventures following the tragic death of her family, Leila touches the lives of four strangers--Hudson, Bree, Elliot, and Sonia. While forever changing the lives of these four, Leila also discovers an important truth about herself.
	Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout Seventeen-year-old Sam seems to have everything until she and her best friend, Cassie, disappear one night and now Sam has returned with amnesia, striving to be a much better person and aware that her not remembering may be the only thing keeping her alive.
	Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne Kyra, a highly skilled seventeen-year-old thief, joins a guild of assassins with questionable motives. Tristam, a young knight, fights against the vicious Demon Riders that are ravaging the city
	Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake The escalating war between the gods takes Athena and Cassandra across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and the great warrior, Achilles, and although their alliance is fragile, they must find a way to work together or all is lost.
	The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare A collection of eleven short stories, previously published online, that illuminate the life of the enigmatic, flashy, and flamboyant High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, a character in The Mortal Instruments series.
	The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer In an alternate nineteenth-century America that is still a colony of Britain's industrial empire, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees' struggle to survive is interrupted by a newcomer with no memory, bearing secrets about a terrible future.
	Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister's mysterious death, her mother's departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.
	Into the Dark: The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain In this modern retelling of the Persephone myth, Haden Lord, the disgraced prince of the Underrealm, is sent to the mortal world to entice a girl into returning with him to the land of the dead.
	To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent.
	Unhinged by A.G. Howard Life gets complicated once again for teenaged Alyssa when her mother returns home from an asylum and the mysterious Morpheus tempts Alyssa with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland.
	The Young Elites by Marie Lu Adelina Amouteru survived the blood fever, a deadly illness that killed many, but left others with strange markings and supernatural powers. Cast out by her family, Adelina joins the secret society of the Young Elites and discovers her own dangerous abilities.
	Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas Royal assassin Celaena must travel to a new land to confront a truth about her heritage, while brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world.
	Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson Quiet Emily's sociable and daring best friend, Sloane, has disappeared leaving nothing but a random list of bizarre tasks for her to complete, but with unexpected help from popular classmate Frank Porter, Emily gives them a try.
	The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen Young King Jaron has had nothing but trouble with his advisors and regents since he ascended the throne of Carthya, and now King Vargan of Avenia has invaded the land and captured Imogen--and Jaron must find some way to rescue her and save his kingdom.
	My Life with the Water Boys by Ali Novak Devastated when her parents are killed in a car accident, sixteen-year old Jackie moves from New York City to Colorado to live with her mother's best friend, who has twelve children, including two boys who start to show an interest in Jackie that goes beyond brotherly.
	The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson On the morning of her wedding, Princess Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive--and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets--even as she finds herself falling in love.
	The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski An aristocratic girl who is a member of a warmongering and enslaving empire purchases a slave, an act that sets in motion a rebellion that might overthrow her world as well as her heart.
	Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott Tella's brother Cody is sick and getting worse, so when she finds instructions on how to become a contender in the dangerous Brimstone Bleed race where she can win a cure for him, she jumps at the chance--but there is no guarantee that she will win, or even survive.
	I Become Shadow by Joe Shine Abducted at age fourteen and trained by the F.A.T.E. Center to become a Shadow, guardian of a future leader, Ren Sharpe, now eighteen, is assigned to protect college science student Gareth Young, but with help from her secret love and fellow Shadow, Junie, she learns that F.A.T.E. itself is behind an attack on Gareth.
	Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith Austin Szerba narrates the end of humanity as he and his best friend Robby accidentally unleash an army of giant, unstoppable bugs and uncover the secrets of a decades-old experiment gone terribly wrong.
	The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy Patterson and seventeen-year-old Owen Buckley meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally, in this story set over the course of one year.
	Boys Like You by Juliana Stone When Monroe Blackwell, who is spending the summer at her grandmother's Louisiana bed-and-breakfast, meets Nathan Everets, who has a court-appointed job there, they share, and begin to recover from, their respective feelings of loss and guilt.
	We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist The Paralympic ski racer, YouTube star, and motivational speaker documents his coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor and his efforts to investigate past dates gone wrong to discover why he was still single.
	Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley In 1959 Virginia, Sarah, a black student who is one of the first to attend a newly integrated school, forces Linda, a white integration opponent's daughter, to confront harsh truths when they work together on a school project.

Celebrate Teen Literature Day!

Today is Celebrate Teen Literature Day, and the nominations for the Teens' Top 10 have just been announced. The Teens' Top 10 is a list voted on by teens about their favorite books of the previous year. Voting for the top 10 begins August 15 and runs through Teen Read Week in October. Readers ages 12-18 may vote at www.ala.org/yalsa/reads4teens. Download a PDF copy of the nominees here, or check out the list below:

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett
Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for "magickind," sixteen-year-old Destiny Everhart feeds on the dreams of others, working with a handsome human student to find a killer.

Of Triton by Anna Banks
When her mother's reappearance in the Syrena world turns the two kingdoms -- Poseidon and Triton -- against one another, Emma must risk everything she loves and reveal herself -- and her Gift -- to save a people she's never known.

Siege and Storm by Leah Bardugo
Hunted across the True Sea and haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret.

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block
After a devastating earthquake destroys the West Coast, causing seventeen-year-old Penelope to lose her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother, she navigates a dark world, holding hope and love in her hands and refusing to be defeated.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Sixteen-year-old Malencia (Cia) Vale is chosen to participate in The Testing to attend the University; however, Cia is fearful when she figures out her friends who do not pass The Testing are disappearing.

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner
Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology. When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called upon to seek him and his secrets out.

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards
Only the disabled are living on Earth in 2788. Eighteen-year-old Jarra decides she wants to prove to the norms that she is the same as they are.

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason
In 1889 London young women are turning up dead, and Evaline Stoker, relative of Bram, and Mina Holmes, niece of Sherlock, are summoned to investigate the clue of the not-so-ancient Egyptian scarabs--but where does a time traveler fit in?

Maybe I Will by Laurie Gray
The story describes how one secret act of violence can change everything: how best friends can vanish when needed most; how the parents, teachers, counselors, and police officers who are supposed to help may prove skeptical; how difficult it is to know who to trust and how easy it is to slip into drinking, stealing, and lying; how the choice may come down to ending it all or starting over. Throughout it all, the gender of the protagonist remains ambiguous, emphasizing that so many of these acts of violence aren't about gender or sex.

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry
She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her. And that she must run. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.

Splintered by A.G. Howard
A descendant of the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, sixteen-year-old Alyssa Gardner fears she is mentally ill like her mother until she finds that Wonderland is real and, if she passes a series of tests to fix Alice's mistakes, she may save her family from their curse.

Teardrop by Lauren Kate
Since Eureka's mother drowned, she wishes she were dead too, but after discovering that an ancient book is more than a story Eureka begins to believe that Ander is right about her being involved in strange things--and in grave danger.

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg
Tired of being known as "the gay kid", Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he goes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school--but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.

Monument 14: Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne
A group of survivors, originally trapped together in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, has split in two--one group heading to Denver airport on a repaired school bus, the other remaining in the Sanctuary trying to rebuild the community they lost. But the world outside is dark and filled with dangerous chemicals that turn people into bloodthirsty monsters.

Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards
Chloe didn't think about it much when she nodded off in study hall on that sleepy summer day. But when she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her. What happened to her? And why can't she remember?

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
Nearly a year after a failed suicide attempt, sixteen-year-old Elise discovers that she has the passion, and the talent, to be a disc jockey.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners--the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
As Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and Rithmatists are humanity's only defense, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice.

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.

Winger by Andrew Smith
Two years younger than his classmates at a prestigious boarding school, fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West grapples with living in the dorm for troublemakers, falling for his female best friend who thinks of him as just a kid, and playing wing on the Varsity rugby team with some of his frightening new dorm-mates.

A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
Decades after the filming of a horror movie is halted in the wake of three actor deaths and rumors about a haunted set, Claire, the daughter of a failing studio head, helps with a production on the same site.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April TucholkeViolet is in love with River, a mysterious seventeen-year-old stranger renting the guest house behind the rotting seaside mansion where Violet lives, but when eerie, grim events begin to happen, Violet recalls her grandmother's frequent warnings about the devil and wonders if River is evil.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.

2013 Teens' Top Ten Nominations!

The list of 2013 Teens' Top Ten Nominations was released on Support Teen Literature Day in April. Voting for the Top 10 begins in August and the Teens' Top Ten will be announced during Teen Read Week, which is October 13-19, 2013. To download a PDF version of this list, click here.

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Gifted with the unusual ability to embroider the very fabric of life, sixteen-year-old Adelice is summoned by Manipulation Services to become a Spinster, a move that will separate her from her beloved family and home forever.

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Galen, prince of the Syrena, is sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. He finds Emma and after several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, Galen becomes convinced Emma holds the key to his kingdom.

Underworld by Meg Cabot
John Hayden, a death deity, takes seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera back to the Underworld against her will to keep her safe from the Furies, but her family is still at risk and she, herself, may never escape his captivity.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, queen of Monsea, realizes her heavy responsibility and the futility of relying on advisors who surround her with lies as she tries to help her people to heal from the thirty-five-year spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities.

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
In the aftermath of a cataclysmic event, sixteen-year-old Evie, from a well-to-do Louisiana family, learns that her terrible visions are actually prophecies and that there are others like herself--embodiments of Tarot cards destined to engage in an epic battle.

Skinny by Donna Cooner
After undergoing gastric-bypass surgery, a self-loathing, obese teenaged girl loses weight and makes the brave decision to start participating in high school life, including pursuing her dream of becoming a singer and finding love.

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross
When sixteen-year-old Mira runs away to discover her secret past, she finds a place where Grimm's fairy tales come to life, and she cannot avoid her accursed fate.

Croak by Gina Damico
A delinquent sixteen-year-old girl is sent to live with her uncle for the summer, only to learn that he is a Grim Reaper who wants to teach her the family business.

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda
Seventeen-year-old Gene has passed as a vampire for years, carefully following every rule, but now, just as he finds a girl worth fighting for, he is chosen to participate in the hunt for the last remaining humans among ruthless vampires who soon suspect his true nature.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
In 2019, teens Mia, Antoine, and Midori are selected by lottery to join experienced astronauts on a NASA mission to the once top-secret moon base, DARLAH 2, while in a Florida nursing home, a former astronaut struggles to warn someone of the terrible danger there.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept and develop her extraordinary musical talents.

Wake by Amanda Hocking
In the quiet seaside town of Capri, sixteen-year-old Gemma enjoys a close bond with her sister Harper and a growing attraction to next-door neighbor Alex, but everything changes when, after partying with newcomers Penn, Lexi, and Thea, Gemma discovers she has powers that will force a terrible choice.

Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
Three teens, connected by their parents' bad choices, tell in their own voices of their lives and loves as Shane finds his first boyfriend, Mikayla discovers that love can be pushed too far, and Harley loses herself in her quest for new experiences.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
When Sunday Woodcutter, the youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week, kisses an enchanted frog, he transforms back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland--a man Sunday's family despises.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Brittany, seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where she learns that the god of Death has blessed her with dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny.

Butter by Erin Jade Lange
Unable to control his binge eating, a morbidly obese teenager nicknamed Butter decides to make a live webcast of his last meal as he attempts to eat himself to death.

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne
Trapped inside a chain superstore by an apocalyptic sequence of natural and human disasters, six high school kids from various popular and unpopular social groups struggle for survival while protecting a group of younger children.

Every Day by David Levithan
Every morning A wakes in a different person's body, in a different person's life, learning over the years to never get too attached, until he wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.

Son by Lois Lowry
Unlike the other Birthmothers in her utopian community, teenaged Claire forms an attachment to her baby, feeling a great loss when he is taken to the Nurturing Center to be adopted by a family unit.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Seventeen-year-old Jazz learned all about being a serial killer from his notorious "Dear Old Dad," but believes he has a conscience that will help fight his own urges and right some of his father's wrongs, so he secretly helps the police apprehend the town's newest murderer, "The Impressionist."

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Rendered a subject of gossip after a traumatic night that left her with terrible scars on her arms, Echo is dumped by her boyfriend and bonds with bad-boy Noah, whose tough attitude hides an understanding nature and difficult secrets.

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen
In the country of Carthya, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king's long-missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war.

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult
Told in their separate voices, sixteen-year-old Prince Oliver, who wants to break free of his fairy tale existence, and fifteen-year-old Delilah, a loner obsessed with Prince Oliver and the book in which he exists, work together to seek his freedom.

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
A fantasy about three kingdoms on the brink of war and the destiny of one princess.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
As war surges in the dystopian society around her, sixteen-year-old Divergent Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Immortal City by Scott Speer
Jackson is the hottest Angel in the city, soon he'll be a full Guardian and people will pay for him to save them. Then he falls for Maddy who likes him for who he is and not for his celebrity, but a serial killer is loose.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Though she is from a family of clairvoyants, Blue Sargent's only gift seems to be that she makes other people's talents stronger, and when she meets Gansey, one of the Raven Boys from the expensive Aglionby Academy, she discovers that he has talents of his own--and that together their talents are a dangerous mix.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

How many books on this list have you already read? Are there any books you think got left out? Which books are you intrigued to read?