Happy 2015! Last year (yup) Geri Diorio posted a fantastic summary of the best young adult books lists from 2014 including Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. My New Year’s resolution was to annotate a title selected from each list and/or category. No, I didn’t hit every single genre (sorry poetry). But it was great fun and I conclude that 2014 was definitely wonderful year for YA books!
Here are my selections, listed alphabetically by author’s last name.
From: Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Nonfiction, 
Female Author
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia
By Candace Fleming
An examination of the Romanovs (Russia’s last imperial family), the country’s revolutions and political strife in the the years 1905-1917, and (in their own words) brutal accounts of what life was like for the common peasants of this time. Explores the notion of the “chosen” class, Russia’s last heir Alexei who was a sickly child affected by hemophilia (a secret closely held from the Russian people), and the mystery surrounding the children’s missing bodies from the grave discovered in Koptyaki Forest. Visual source materials also help portray this gripping account. Continue reading Best Of 2014 Lists: Selected Titles
