YALSA Teen Read Week

Tag! Teen Read Week begins today. Use it as an excuse to read. Do it now!

The theme for this year is "Read Beyond Reality."

Even if you have yet to be a teen or haven't been a teen for a long time, you can still check out some excellent YA books. Then maybe even talk to a teen in your life about one. (I know, crazy idea, right?)

Here's a list of some potential "Beyond Reality" reads that you may want to check out in honor of this week with a little bit of book banter over coffee while in a cafe:

M.T. Anderson's Feed
Monica: GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK
Shel: I still like to wander around and say "unit."

Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games and Catching Fire
Shel: So engaging! These books suck in more readers than sour candies ever could.
Monica: Ooh, see, I was going to make a comment about Catching Fire sucking, but I'm going to hold off on the catfight....

Lise Haines's Girl in the Arena
Shel: Scroll down to find out more about this one! I reviewed this one last week.
Monica: Just don't focus on the cover too much. ;)

The Ender series by Orson Scott Card
Shel: Classicy goodness.
Monica: Yup. Ender was definitely my first sci-fi crush. Plus, how great a line is "The enemy's gate is down"!?

Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time
Monica: Loves it. Just loves it. The day I met Madeline L'Engle, I couldn't even talk I was so excited.
Shel:  You...you met her?  And you didn't bring me?!  Am I going to have to end our friendship over this?  Yes, I think I might.

The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
Monica: Let's not let the future turn out like this, kay? I can't even pick out a shirt to wear in the morning, let alone what I'd want my face to look like.
Shel:  But you could always change your face again tomorrow.  No consequences!  Promise.

Annette Curtis Klause's Alien Secrets
Monica: It's not nearly as well known as Klause's Blood and Chocolate, but I read this so many times as a kid that I think I have it memorized...
Shel:  Hmm, haven't read it....

Alan Dean Foster's Orphan Star
Monica: Okay, yes, there's a dragon in this one... but he's a *space* dragon!
Shel:  Haven't read this one either....

Monica Hughes' The Keeper of the Isis Light
Monica: Kind of a blast from the past, but we all need a good classic read now and then.
Shel:  I'm starting to feel like a sci-fi failure.  I blame you're sci-fi awesomeness, Monica (the hungry reader not the author.  Although I could blame her too for not smacking me in the head with her book and demanding I read it now).

The Tripods trilogy by John Christopher
(We're ignoring the prequel, aha...)
Monica: Read the series before the poor things are turned into ridiculous movies and ruined forever and ever

To find out more about Teen Read Week, run and check out your local library. They're in the know. Trust me.