YALSA officially announced the 2014 Teens’ Top Ten Nominees on April 17, Celebrate Teen Literature Day. This year’s list of nominees features 25 titles that were published between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013.
All teens are encouraged to read the 25 nominees before the national Teens’ Top Ten vote, which will take place August 15 through Teen Read Week at www.ala.org/yalsa/reads4teens If you’re a teen, you can vote!
Arnett, Mindee. The Nightmare Affair.
Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for “magickind,” sixteen-year-old Destiny Everhart feeds on the dreams of others, working with a handsome human student to find a killer.
Banks, Anna. Of Triton.
When her mother’s reappearance in the Syrena world turns the two kingdoms – Poseidon and Triton – against one another, Emma must risk everything she loves and reveal herself – and her Gift – to save a people she’s never known.
Bardugo, Leigh. Seige and Storm.
Sequel to Shadow and Bone. Hunted across the True Sea and haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret.
Block, Francesca Lia. Love in the Time of Global Warming.
After a devastating earthquake destroys the West Coast, causing seventeen year old Penelope to lose her home, her parents, and her ten year old brother, she navigates a dark world, holding hope and love in her hands and refusing to be destroyed.
Charbonneau, Joelle. The Testing.
Sixteen year old Cia Vale is chosen to participate in The Testing to attend the university; however, Cia is fearful when she figures out her friends who do not pass The Testing are disappearing.
Dashner, James. The Eye of Minds.
Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology. When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called upon to seek him and his secrets out.
Edwards, Janet. Earth Girl.
Abandoned on Earth because of her inability to survive on other planets, Jarra crafts a fake background for herself to join a class of norms who are excavating the dangerous ruins of old cities.
Gleason, Colleen. The Clockwork Scarab.
In 1899 London young women are turning up dead, and Evaline Stoker, relative of Bram, and Mina Holmes, niece of Sherlock, are summoned to investigate the clue of the not-so-ancient Egyptian scarabs – but where does a time traveler fit in?
Gray, Laurie. Maybe I Will.
A novel presenting the realities of sexual assault without revealing the gender of the victim.
Henry, April. The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die.
She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her.
Howard, A.G. Splintered.
A descendant of Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 16-year-old Alyssa Gardner fears she is mentally ill like her mother and predecessors until she discovers that Wonderland is real and, if she passes a series of tests to fix Alice’s mistakes, she may be able to save her family from their age-old curse.
Kate, Lauren. Teardrop.
Since Eureka’s mother drowned, she wishes she were dead too, but after discovering that an ancient book is more than a story Eureka begins to believe that Ander is right about her being involved in strange things–and in grave danger.
Konigsberg, Bill. Openly Straight.
Tired of being known as “the gay kid”, Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school–but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.
Laybourne, Emmy. Monument 14:Sky on Fire.
Six high school kids, two eighth-graders, and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. Outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a montster hailstorm and ending with a chemcial weapons spil, seem to be tearing the world — as they know it — apart.
Richards, Natalie D. Six Months Later.
Waking up six months after dozing off in study hall to discover that she is on track to become the school valedictorian, a super jock is her boyfriend and her former best friend is not speaking to her, Chloe struggles to remember what happened and how the baffling changes occurred.
Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor & Park.
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits–smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
Sales, Leila. This Song Will Save Your Life.
Nearly a year after a failed suicide attempt, sixteen-year-old Elise discovers that she has the passion, and the talent, to be a disc jockey.
Sanderson, Brandon. Steelheart.
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners–the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny.
Sanderson, Brandon. The Rithmatist.
As Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice.
Smith, Jennifer E. This Is What Happy Looks Like.
After Graham Larkin accidentally sends Ellie O’Neill an email about his pet pig, the two begin a relationship from opposite sides of the country, but their relationship is complicated by the secrets they keep when they meet in-person.
Smith, Andrew. Winger.
Two years younger than his classmates at a prestigious boarding school, fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West grapples with living in the dorm for troublemakers, falling for his female best friend who thinks of him as just a kid, and playing wing on the Varsity rugby team with some of his frightening new dorm-mates.
Stine, R. L. A Midsummer Night’s Scream.
Decades after the filming of a horror movie is halted in the wake of three actor deaths and rumors about a haunted set, Claire, the daughter of a failing studio head, helps with a production on the same site and pursues a relationship with her crush before a series of accidents threaten their ambitions.
Tucholke, April. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
Violet is in love with River, a mysterious seventeen-year-old stranger renting the guest house behind the rotting seaside mansion where Violet lives, but when eerie, grim events begin to happen, Violet recalls her grandmother’s frequent warnings about the devil and wonders if River is evil.
Winters, Cat. In the Shadow of Blackbirds.
In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.
Yancey, Rick. The 5th Wave.
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, just one rule applies: trust no one. Now it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother — or even saving herself.
