Sean Ashby, fabulous illustrator and nascent author (his drawing, at left, from http://sean-ashby.blogspot.com/) asked in a comment if I had read all the ALA Best Books for 2008.Er, no. My excuse of the day will be that Young Adult books skew slightly old for middle school, as well as boring. No, no. That's rude. Not a good fit. That's the phrase. Here's the list:
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/bestbooksyoung.cfm
Of the top ten, I've read Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (too old), Skulduggery Pleasant (Could not buy it after this sentence: Page 168: "The gap was gaping. It was a gaping gap."), and The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which I have warmed to a bit. Very clever. Did request The Arrival, Tamar, and Before I Die from the library from the top ten, as well as others from the list of 63 so I can read them. Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Sean!
I also read and liked Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Notes from the Midnight Driver, The New Policeman, One Good Punch, Unwind, Peak , My Mother the Cheerleader,and Memoirs of A Teenage Amnesicac .
Books that were not a good fit for my library were:Thirteen Reasons Why, Firestorm, Boy Toy, The Wednesday Wars, Freak Show, and Story of a Girl.
I read Before I Die last week, and it was one of the most deeply sad books I have ever read. Not to say it was all sad, but just looking at the title, you know you're in for it. It is incredibly well done, so that much harder to take. I could barely breathe by the end. Some of the subject matter is not appropriate for middle school, so I won't be buying it, but it was very well written.
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