In today’s first of a 4-part series, we’re going to highlight a bunch of titles from the current list of nominees for the Teens’ Top Ten awards. Voting (for teens!) starts August 15th, here. The Teens’ Top Ten list is always one of my favorites, because I love to see what, y’know, actual teenaged bookworms loved reading last year.
An annotated list (for reader’s advisory) of all the nominees is here. The annotations below focus on supplemental and promotional materials for each title, as well as where to find the authors online; if the young adults you serve are anything like the ones in my library, they love to follow their favorite authors in every medium available, and they’re definitely using authors as a resource to find more reading. Hopefully these spotlights will help you and your readers to discover more about each of the nominees!
I’m also going to break down some stats about the nominees in each post. To start, here are some stats about the authors: out of 24 nominated titles, 4 of the nominated authors are male, and the other 20 are female. I’m pretty uncomfortable assigning or guessing someone else’s racial identity based exclusively on pictures available online, so about the racial diversity of the nominated authors I will just say that it’s mostly a very white-looking crowd. 7 of the nominated authors have had a book nominated for a Teens’ Top Ten list before, and 5 of those 7 have made the list with a previous book or books.
Below, our first batch of nominees (they’re just broken into smaller groups for posting purposes, alphabetically by author’s last name, no significance to order!):
Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid. Numerous reviews are comparing Alsaid’s writing style to none other than John Green, so I think it’s fair to say we can expect more from him in the future! Let’s Get Lost was his debut novel; his second, Never Always Sometimes, comes out in August. He blogs here, there’s a nice landing page for Let’s Get Lost here, and a video shoot + author interview here. Alsaid is also on Twitter.
Don’t Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Armentrout is already a bestselling author with a *deep* backlist; great news for readers looking for their next pick after finishing Don’t Look Back (although, fair warning, not everything she’s published is YA), and this suspenseful mystery was already recognized on the 2015 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list. Her official author’s page is here, and she’s also on wattpad here. She’s active on Twitter, and Facebook, as well.
Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne. First in a projected series (with a prequel, Poison Dance, available now as well), Midnight Thief is Blackburne’s first traditionally published novel, and readers anxious to follow the narrative thread will be relieved to know the sequel, Daughter of Dusk, comes out August 4th. Blackburne’s author page is here, and she also blogs here, and is on Twitter.
Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake. Second in Blake’s Goddess War series (the first book, Antigoddess, was featured in a previous Hub post by Brandi Smits as a perfect pick for Glory, Buffy’s Season 5 Big Bad; the third book, Godless, comes out in August). Blake’s author page is here, she’s on Twitter, and she’s got a Goodreads interview from the fall on video here.
The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare. Clare could really be crowned the Queen of Teens’ Top Ten by now; she’s had a book on the list of winners four times already (Teens Top Ten 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 lists). The Bane Chronicles is a collection, originally published exclusively online, of stories by Clare and YA heavy-hitters Maureen Johnson (herself a previous Teens Top Ten author) and Sarah Rees Brennan, featuring fan-favorite character Magnus Bane. It’s an awesome opportunity for readers wanting more of the fantasy world Clare’s put forward in her two bestselling series to immerse themselves again. There is website for all things ShadowHunter here, Clare has a very thorough author’s page here, a Tumblr account here, and she’s on Twitter and Facebook.
The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer. The first in a new steampunk series by bestselling author Cremer, whose book Nightshade was on the 2011 Teens’ Top Ten list. The Inventor’s Secret is an alternate history where the American Revolution was unsuccessful. Cremer’s author page is here (where she also has a blog), and she’s on Twitter and Facebook.
I hope these links help you get to know the nominated books and their authors a little better; stay tuned we work our way through the nominated books in future posts, and please share fun facts you may have about the nominees and their authors in the comments!
-Carly Pansulla, currently reading Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
Thanks for doing this special on the “Top Ten”. It will definitely help with learning about the books I have not read. Also I can use this information during readers’ advisory with teen readers.
I’m so glad this is useful, Jeanenne. Let me know if there is anything specific you’d like to see added to the future posts to make them more helpful!