The Shortlist for the 2010 Morris Award was announced several days ago. In case you are unfamiliar with the Morris Award, it is in its second year and honors a young adult novel written by a newly-published author. This is one of those awards I get very excited about, because it means I am guaranteed to read a number of well-written books by someone I had never read (or possibly even heard about) before.
Ash, by Malind
a Lo
This one has been on my to-read list since I discovered it’s a retelling of Cinderella with a GBLT twist (and plenty of magic).
Beautiful Cr
eatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
A huge doorstopper of a book advertised as a Southern gothic thriller with plenty of mystery and romance. Normally right up my alley, but I confess the length (626 pages!) is daunting.
The Everafte
r, by Amy Huntley
The book that has (in my opinion) the most unique concept of those on the list: Teenage Maddy has died, and she finds herself in a place filled with glowing objects from her life. Upon touching these objects, she is able to re-experience parts of that life and in the process unravel the mystery of her death.
Flash Burno
ut, by LK Madigan
It’s difficult for me to determine what this book is about – most blurbs describe it as a book about a teenage boy with a complicated life that involves juggling two girls: a friend and a girlfriend. Probably the one I’m least excited about.
Hold Still, 
by Nina LaCour
Kelly read and reviewed this book about teen suicide a few weeks ago.
What do you think of the list? Had you heard of most of these books before the shortlist was announced? I’m actually quite surprised that I had – that was not the case last year.
I've had Beautiful Creatures on my desk for months – MONTHS. I'm intimidated. But I'm more intimidated to hear it's supposed to be a 6 or 7 book series. You know how I feel about series – I'm SICK of them. I get why they do it, but it's time for the madness to stop.
That said, I'm not feeling ANY of these titles this year. I thought "Hold Still" was okay but definitely not fantastic. The other titles were all meh in my radar, too, and according to their circ stats, the kids feel that way at my library, too.
I'm quite disappointed some of the absolutely fantastic titles I read by first time authors this year didn't make the cut. But I'm not on the committee, so my opinion doesn't count, either. That's why we blog, right? 🙂
I'm going to also try to read another couple before they make an announcement. I kind of agree with you on "The Everafter," though it sounds like a readalike to "The Lovely Bones" for me.
Good looking books on the list; none of which I have read. The only one I've never heard of is Flash Burnout.
I'll be looking forward to reading them to see if I think they deserve the short list merit!