Sunday Salon: Unsung YA Books

I’m a little late to this party, but since Kelly at YAnnabe made the suggestion that I throw my hat into the ring, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. So, my two cents about the best YA books you’ve probably never read.

The Order of the Odd-Fish, James Kennedy: I keep plugging James’s book, but you aren’t reading it. Why? Seriously, people, read this book.

Nothing But Ghosts or House of Dance, Beth Kephart: if you haven’t experienced the lyricism that is Kephart’s writing, you really ought to.

Flygirl, Sherri L. Smith: a quietly feminist book, one that makes you want to stand up and cheer!

Secret Keeper, Mitali Perkins: a book about love, a book about India, a book about sisters. Almost perfect.

Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about the Grapes of Wrath, Steven Goldman: Clever, snarky, and geeky extraordinaire. Can’t go wrong with that.

Saving Juliet, Suzanne Selfors: Yeah, it’s fluff. But it’s fun fluff, and it’s fun to see how it works with the Shakespeare.

Fly By Night, Frances Hardinge: Fuse #8 loves Hardinge, and for good reason: she’s a fabulous writer.

There you have it: my thoughts. What’s the best unsung YA book that you’ve read recently?

10 thoughts on “Sunday Salon: Unsung YA Books

  1. I loved Flygirl! Such an excellent book all around.

    The book I was championing this year was Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters, and I was disappointed to see it end up on only one year end list (that I've found so far, anyway): the Rainbow List from the GLBT Round Table at ALA.

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  2. I'm late to the game, too, but the only one of these I've read is Nothing But Ghosts and I was just meh about that one, probably because I read it on the Kindle and have discovered that format doesn't work too well for me unless I also have a physical copy to look at.

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  3. I recently read Whirligig by Paul Fleischman, which did win the ALA Best Book award, but looks so sad and tattered on our library's shelf. I really ended up enjoying it! Thanks for the recommendations.

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