Graceling fans take note: Kristin Cashore's Fire is on order and available for holds. If you missed Graceling, check it out (or if you didn't, reread it again).
If your teen reader is not a huge fan of scary stories and/or fantasy, pick up Jane Smiley's The Georges and the Jewels. It's a horse story set on a California ranch in the 1960s. I haven't read it (I've read good reviews), but I'm guessing that the main character learns a lot about life and family in this story, while tending to her horses. I, for one, am eager to read it.
I'm sure teen readers who just can't get enough of stories involving teens with tragic illnesses (don't laugh! I was one of them, and Lurlene McDaniel, with her seemingly endless supply of illnesses and accidents, remains popular...it was partly because of her books and similar books that I started volunteering at Children's Hospital in New Orleans when I was in high school) will want to scoop up Libba Bray's Going Bovine. Bray fans should know that this is far removed from her Gemma Doyle stories (which are pretty awesome). Is this the first YA book about mad cow disease? Or one involving a "video-obsessed dwarf?"
Or how about historical fiction and mermaids? I'm really curious about Kathryn Lasky's (such a great author) Daughters of the Sea: Hannah.
Imagine you're a compulsive liar. Now imagine that your boyfriend is murdered. Even if you decide to tell the truth, would anyone believe you? I've been waiting to read Liar for several months now, and hope it's as good as it sounds.
A novel centered around 19th century New York and ghosts? Freaky twins who have to deal with an ancient prophecy? Sign me up! I'm sure this will be very popular at our branches (hello, look at the cover). Borders had a *huge* display of this when I recently made a trip there; I went back to work and immediately put Prophecy of the Sisters on order!
If you think a ghost story set in 19th century New York sounds great, wait till you hear about Ruined. Try a ghost story set in New Orleans. Ruined is definitely #1 on my TBR (to-be-read) list.
Some teens gravitate toward realistic and very gritty stories. Shooting Star, focused on a high school football star who gets involved with performance-enhancing drugs, sounds very promising.
I haven't forgotten about YA "chick-lit" fans. The Sweetheart of Prosper County , set in a small Texas town, involves an independent teen living in a sleepy town, facing up to a bully, making new friends, and dealing with her widowed mother. Sounds like a great read. Love that cover, too.
Finally, Virginia author Adriana Trigiani enters the YA world with Viola in Reel Life. Although authors of adult fiction aren't always successful (creatively and otherwise) when they try their hand at YA or children's fiction, I've heard positive things about this one. It seems like an appealing read for teen girls (girl goes to boarding school, with all the trials and tribulations that follow), and apparently, there's a bit of the supernatural in it as well. Sounds like a fun read (I've read a few of her Big Stone Gap books, and loved them). Cover has the ubiquitous headless girl/woman on the cover, however. Oh, well...everything can't be perfect!
Next time, I'll tell you about the great children's nonfiction that's out or headed our way, including a fabulous book by Candace Fleming.
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