Beautiful Creatures

Reader: Payton G
Age: 13
Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
Publication Date: 01/10/09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: Lena isn't like the other girls in Gatlin, South Carolina. She's as different from them as a person can get. She is a Caster. Ethan wants to be different. He hates life in Gatlin. So when he runs into Lena, almost literally, something just clicked. Can an ancient curse, a shut-in uncle, and certain doom keep them apart?
Recommend: Yes
How would you convince someone to read the book: I would say that it was a story full of adventure, magic, and the power of love. It's exciting, full of danger, and a good escape from the real world.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The most compelling aspect was the magic. Half the people in the story had magical powers, and when a mortal stumbles into that, it's a recipe for disaster.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 5P Everyone wants to read it
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover did tempt me to pick it up, because it was mysterious. It didn't entirely reflect the contents, but it did a little. I don't think it should be changed, but if it was, I would say that they should put a picture of the cameo from the locket that plays an important role in the story.

Ash

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: Ash
Author: Malinda Lo
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Publication Date: 10/??/09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: OMG, CINDERELLA'S A LESBIAN!! That's pretty much the twist of this twisted fairy tale, a retelling of Cinderella. I liked this book. It was never preachy, overbearing, or telling you what to think. The characters all seemed very flat, which seems to be a common problem in many teen fantasies. LEARN TO CHARACTERIZE, PEOPLE!!! Other than that, it was a pretty good book.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: This book had a good story. Even though I knew how it would end, (with the main character, Ash and her True Love getting together) for the first half of the book, I wasn't certain who the True Love was going to be. There were three potential candidates, each one with their strengths and weaknesses. I applaud the author for not making the True Love painfully obvious from the second the character was introduced. In most fantasies, the author might as well mention that a character has "I'M THE LOVE INTEREST" tattooed on their foreheads, it's so blindingly obvious they are indeed, the love interest.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: I liked this book, but I was a bit confused by parts of it. For instance, it's never made clear whether or not same-sex marriage is legal in the fantasy world. It's clear that such romances are socially acceptable, but it wasn't clear if they were legal, so to speak. I was also left wondering if the King's Huntress (a job position in the book) had to lesbian. I mean, if a straight woman applied, could she get the job, or would she be automatically disqualified? I think she'd probably get the job, but the only people ever mentioned as having that job were lesbian, so I was very confused.
Did the cover reflect the contents: This cover's not very good. It's basically a person in their underwear, lying fetal position in a field. If you did that in real life, those nice young men in their clean white coats would come to take you away, haha!
Age Range: 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal

Murder At Midnight

Reader: Frances W
Age: 12
Title: Murder At Midnight
Author: Avi
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Pub Date: 9/2009
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: Books don't often surprise me because I'm pretty good at predicting. Yet, this book did. Plus, the characters were likable and interesting (except for the ones you aren't supposed to like).
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The constant question of who wants to overthrow the king is mysterious and makes you want to keep reading.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: I wasn't exactly disappointed, just annoyed. Every two or three pages someone would say "As they say..." and then came some kind of wise or interesting saying that has nothing to do with the story. Now, I liked these enough until the fifth or sixth one came along and I felt irritated. They are great, but they should be MUCH less frequent.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover was extremely tempting and well done. The colors are great. It does sort of reflect the contents, but there is so much more to the book than the murder and I wish the cover and title showed that.
Age Range: Under 12, 12-13, 14-15
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

The Reformed Vampire Support Group

Reader: Mollie W
Age: 15
Title: The Reformed Vampire Support Group
Author: Catherine Jinks
Publisher: Harcourt Children's books
Publication Date: April 2009
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: Nina, a grumpy vampire is in a support group so that she doesn't prey on humans. But things start to look grimmer than ever as one of the vampires in the support group shows up dead. Will Nina be able to get to the bottom of this crime before another vampire is attacked?
Recommend: Yes
Convince to read book: The book is witty and keeps you reading. The best books are the ones that you never want to put down, and though this isn't the best book it definitely fits the criteria.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I love the main character, Nina, who is funny, sarcastic and who willingly embarks on crazy adventures. She's cool and clumsy at the same time and seems to always have something interesting to say.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: The only flaw in the book is the back, it gives away too much. Don't read it!
Did the cover reflect tempt you: The cover is pretty ordinary and didn't do much to attract or drive me away from the book.
Age Range: Under 12, 12-13, 14-15, 16-17, 18 up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Meridian

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: Meridian
Author: Amber Kizer
Publisher: Random House
Pub Date: 8/11/09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: Amber Kizer steps bravely away from the territory of her previous work, One Butt Cheek At A Time, (Which was very funny, by the way) to write an elegant gothic about people who were some angel ancestry, Fenestra. Now, my strongly rooted DnD upbringing says such people should be called Aasimars, but I'll let it slide because the author was so clever picking the name. Okay, my geeking aside, this is a great book with realistic characters and well-written suspense.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: This book did fall back heavily on a series of well-worn teen fantasy traditions. There's the Not-Quite-The-Same-Species Romantic Interest, the I'm-Wise-And-Older-Than-Time-Itself mentor, and of course, the Vaguely-Mormon-Yet-Still-Ambiguous-And-Non-Denominational-And-Therefore-Non-Offensive-Christian-Sect-Of-Evil. This book manages to rise above these overused cliches, and be a really good read. As I said, the author invented their own Not-Quite-Human-Species, rather than using the traditional vampires/werewolves/wizard set. I support this growing trend of creative non-humans.
Comments: I commented earlier about the author having written a very different genre before. Again, I'm all for that. I think it's wonderful to see authors try all sorts of different things. Hooray! Wow, this review has been uncharacteristically cheery. I feel like I should complain about something, just to keep my mean/overly negative streak going. I hate cats?
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: This book has a nice cover. It's simple, understated, and it has a sort of old lace-looking pattern on it. Note I didn't say it went with the book. The character mentions at one point her hair was red during the book, and there's nothing in the background that was in the book. -1,000,000,000 points for non sequiturs.

Fire

Reader: Sophie D
Age: 13
Title: Fire
Author: Kristen Cashore
Publisher: Dial Books
Pub Date: Sept. 2009
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: The main character is a bit self centered, but besides that I really like her because she is strong-minded and compassionate. The plot was good, and although you can easily predict some of what is going to happen, there is still a lot that surprised me when reading the book, which I love.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: My favorite part of the book is the setting. I think the Dells is a very believable and beautiful place where the characters fit perfectly. Another compelling part of the book was how most of the main characters had some secret or something you don't find out about their identity until close to the end.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: There were only two things that annoyed me: one, the way Fire complained very, very often about having to use her mind-reading powers, but she uses them at least in three times in every chapter. It would be nice if she stopped complaining at some point. Two, you think you know everything about the main characters for three quarters of the book, but then suddenly you learn all of their secrets in the last quarter. I would have liked it better if she had spread this part out more.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: I love this cover. It fits the book perfectly, partly because of the bow and arrow, which is Fire's preferred weapon, but also the colors that match Fire's hair. I like how it only shows the bottom half of her face, because then you can imagine the most beautiful woman in the world any way you want.
Age Range: 14-15, 16-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Leviathan

Reader: Luke M
Age: 16
Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westfield
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pub Date: 10/6/09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: Prince Alek, a Clanker, family has been assassinated and he is on the run with an armored walker and it's loyal crew. After meeting Deryn, a girl posing as a boy in the Darwinist navy, the two work together to stop the war in this alternate World War I story.
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to the read the book: An alternate history of World War I, fought between the mechanical armies and machines of the Central Powers and the Darwinist creatures of the Allies.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I liked many of the characters. Alek, although he acted stupidly at times, was a good person and seemed to be like a prince would be. My favorite was Deryn, as she had a great personality and I liked how she lied to join the Airforce. Volger and Klopp were good characters and had great personalities. Also, much of the book seemed like it could happen.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: I did not like Dr. Barlow. She seemed too stuck up to have a job like hers and be able to order around an airship.
Comments: I think the book would benefit from some more explanations. What side is America on? If they still have war on the ground, what do the Darwinist have that could hurt a dreadnought or even a walker?
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover was very interesting and the walker caught my attention very quickly, especially as it looked war-torn. The walker looked like what I thought it should. However, the person on the cover looked nothing like Alek—I even mistook it for Deryn for several chapters.
Age Range: 14-15
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder
Author: Julie Halpern
Publisher: Feiwell and Friends
Pub Date: Fall '09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: When Jessie's longtime friend betrays her, Jessie begins a perilous quest to the depths of the social scene to find friends who treat her well.
Recommend: Yes
How would you convince your friends to read the book: I think I stumbled upon this book at exactly the right time. In the past year or so, my friends have gained completely new interests, wildly divergent from mine, and got into the exciting habit of completely ignoring me when "cooler" people were around, and then constantly putting me down. Hooray!
Compelling Aspect of the Book: Jessie, the realistic and intelligent heroine of Into The Wild Nerd Yonder has similar problems to mine. Her friends begin to use her to get in with her older brother's punk-rock crowd, and then one of them goes after Jessie's longtime crush. Admittedly, my friends weren't being THAT big of jerks, but it was really nice to read about a character having similar issues to the ones I was having. Also, Dungeons and Dragons is in the book! How can you not like that?
Did you finish: Yes
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents: I don't really like this cover. I'm not a fan of the color pink. The musician, on the other hand, is up for debate.
Age Range: 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

VOTE NOW!

Voting for the 2009 Teens' Top Ten is now open! Teens can vote for up to three of their favorite titles from the 2009 nominees. Click this link to vote through Sept. 18.

After

Reader: Sabrina K
Age: 15
Title: After
Author: Amy Efaw
Publisher: Viking
Pub Date: Aug 20 09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Comments: This book shows the truth and reality of the "dumpster baby"—through the mothers perspective and how she dealt and deals with the fact of knowing she almost killed her own child.
Convince us to read the book: This book shows what it's like to be in juvenile jail and just how normal all the girls were -and that they’re not what people perceive criminals to be.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The mentality of Devon and how she thought she wasn't pregnant the whole time. At first it was hard to understand but at the end it really made scense and it really made you think a lot.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover did tempt me to pick up the book, it reflected the contents so well- and it was super original! I loved how one side was Devon (the main character) pregnant and dark and gloomy and the other side of her not pregnant and normal and all bright around her. It truly shows the emotions of Devon in the book and is well represented by the cover.
Age Range: 16-17, 18 up
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 5P Everyone wants to read it

The Thirteenth Child

Reader: Elise S
Age: 13
Title: The Thirteenth Child
Author: Patricia C. Wrede
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pub Date: 2009
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: Eff Rothmer was born an unlucky thirteenth child, and has been afraid of going bad since she was little. Living on the frontier with her twin brother, and double 7th son, Lan, she tries to overcome her fear of being herself.
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: The Thirteenth Child has humor, a good plot, engaging characters, magic, and is refreshingly fantasy!
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I couldn't put this book down because the characters are so real. I also enjoyed hearing about the warped American History.
Did you finish: Yes
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: I love the cover. It relates to the "frontieriness" of the story, but with magic!
Age Range: Under 12, 12-13, 14-15
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

The Espressologist

Reader: Jessica P
Age: 16
Title: The Espressologist
Author: Kristina Springer
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Pub Date: 9/15/09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: No
Compelling Aspect of the Book: So here's a simple story of this lazy teenager who gets pushed around by the 'popular' girls and has come up with a way at her work to "matchmake." It is as easy as taking out a notebook and jotting a few characteristics of costumers.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that it wasn't quite what I enjoy reading. It was “summer fluff.” I would understand that younger teens would enjoy reading this book.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover art did not capture me truly. I like the idea of an 'espressologist' even though I did not quite know what one was. So that tempted me to learn more and read the book.
Age Range: 12-13, 14-15
Quality: 3Q Readable
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal

Girl At Sea

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: Girl At Sea
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pub Date: 2007
Galley: No
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: I absolutely hate books with covers like this one. When I see the half-faced girl with Boobs of Hugeness, Skin of Eternal Tanning, and Abs of Infinite Sit-Ups I do not think "My! What an intriguing cover! That character looks just like me!" I think, "My, that model looks absolutely nothing like any character in the book! I am questioning the integrity of anyone who would agree that this cover is a good idea." Of course, if the final cover is this bad, I’d hate to see the ones that got canned.
Convince us to read the book: Petty cover complaints aside, I really liked this book. I love Maureen Johnson. She writes exactly the way I think. Her writing style is fun and quirky, and moves along at an excellent pace. This book has a larger, overlying mystery, but also has enough small stuff that reading it is still gratifying and fun.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: Okay, my literary geek, jargon-ridden recommendation wouldn't really convince anybody to read it, ever, but in more plot-y terms, this book has fun characters and lots of stuff going on. The characters seem very real and fun, and I
would like to hang out with any given one of them if only for a day or two.
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal