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books

Links of Note, 2/9/12

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Did you know there was a Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives in Star Wars? I had no clue, but this week, one of my dearest friends sent me a package with a lengthy note explaining that the figurine he sent me was a librarian. It was a fan choice for production. I love this story, and I love the idea of a librarian in Star Wars (even though reports are she was a pretty terrible librarian). If you want one of your own, you can order them here.

With that, how about the biweekly round up of interesting reads?

  • So there’s a new book discovery website, Bookish. I haven’t had a chance to check it out, partially due to time, but mostly due to the fact I’m tired of book discovery websites not developed by librarians. I won’t elaborate a whole lot more except to say that it’s been said before that digital book discovery tools already suck, and librarians are specially trained to do reader’s advisory well. But, I did want to share that Bookish apparently has some interesting terms of service, as pointed out here. 
  • Hey did you know that chick lit can harm body image? Especially when researchers pull sentences out of context and rewrite them so actually they’re not even part of the book anymore. But it’s easier to instead blame books and an entire genre for the problematic research study methods. 
  • Need to expand your reading list? Locus magazine online put together their recommended reading list of science fiction and fantasy titles published in 2012. Get cracking.
  • Fifteen movies featuring book stores. I haven’t hit the Google yet, but is there a similar post somewhere on movies featuring libraries? I can think of a few off the top of my head but I’d love to see a list if anyone has one! 
  • From the “why didn’t I think of this files” comes the Reviewer Card. You know. You flash it at restaurants so that you get preferential treatment when it comes to service and food. That way you review the meal better. Wouldn’t something like this be awesome for book reviewers, too? You know. Flash it at the bookstore or the author event? Wait. You mean…all you have to do to earn your card is pay someone for it? You can all get in line when I start the book Reviewer Card. I’ll only charge $75 for it. I will even put a picture of your favorite book on the back if you’d like. 
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks in the book world — though I guess calling the youth media awards and discussions afterward quiet is a little misleading. Has anyone read anything great? Share it in the comments. 

Doing disservice to introversion

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Reading this article this morning about a teacher — admittedly extrovert — claiming she does her students all a service by forcing class participation riled me up a bit. Read it, then come back.

What Lahey does, and what the commenters point out, is equate social anxiety and shyness with introversion. But those are entirely different worlds and spheres.

This past summer, I did a presentation with Jackie Parker at ALA Annual on passive programming in libraries. Something that was crucial for me to bring up in the discussion was how passive programming and passive readers advisory are easy ins for patrons who are quieter. Who take in their stimulation and their worlds differently, through much more internal and self-reflective means. These are the people who aren’t going to shout from the rooftops what it is they want or what it is they need from the places they’re a part of. Passive programming and passive reader’s advisory are means of reaching that demographic.

I’m an introvert. A big introvert. I took a pass in all those classes where participation was a graded component. It’s not how I learn, it’s not how I function well, and if anything, it drained me and ruined educational experiences for me. Those classes where I was called on randomly filled me with not only anger but fear. And it’s not that I am shy or afraid to speak up — I can do both just fine — but rather, I can’t learn or think like that.

I live and I function internally, with an eye toward how any and everything applies to something in myself or in my own world. It’s not a selfish world view, though. It’s taking the things I’m learning and making them applicable.

Lahey’s idea that forcing introverts to conform to the extrovert way devalues the very means by which introverts learn and apply their knowledge. It tells them they’re not good enough because they’re not loud enough and because they’re not loud enough, they’re somehow failures.

But that’s not true.

I’m thinking about how Lahey’s class works. Does she allow students to read and reflect in their own right? Are students given an option to write their thoughts out in essay form as a means of earning credit or as proof of thought? Because if the mindset is that louder is better and that talking and speaking out verbally is the means of getting ahead, then there’s something to be said about her failing to recognize the value in the internal process and mechanics of learning. More than that, it forces her students — both introverts and extroverts — to take a shallow approach to the world through immediate action and reaction. It doesn’t allow for the slow burn of knowledge to occur for either those who need that or those who may benefit from it.

It privileges the loud in a world which already does so. And that’s not to say there is anything wrong with extroversion — there absolutely is not — but it is to say that it puts further pressure on people who think and take in the world differently to conform. By conforming, they’re giving up a huge piece of themselves and the huge piece of what it is that makes them as they are. It tells introverts that the way they see and interpret the world is wrong and in this particular instance, Lahey is telling these students that they will never succeed in life if they don’t suck it up and conform.

I value quiet time in my head. I need reflection space. It’s how I get from point A to point B. Were I forced to do differently, I’d be crippled.

Introversion is why I blog. This is my space to think about the things I’ve read and the things I’ve seen. It’s my way of processing the world around me and applying it to my own life. Introversion doesn’t make me non-social — in fact, I’d say the opposite. In being aware of my introversion and in being nurturing of my own needs, I’ve developed better social relationships because I know what it is I need from them and what it is I have to give to them. It’s made me keen on how much I need to speak out and when and how to do it.

The take away here is this: respect the ways everyone takes in their world. Offer options. Don’t force conformity because it only devalues the individual. It further privileges those who are already in the privileged class. And in this instance, I do think extroverts are in a more privileged class because their outspoken, socially-fueled natures (which again, is not a knock on them in the least) mean that their voices are heard more readily and more often.

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

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The Heist Society books are, quite possibly, the most fun books I have ever read. I love a good caper, and Ally Carter’s series provides them in spades. I described the books to a friend recently as “Ocean’s Eleven in book form, if Ocean’s Eleven were a group of teenagers,” and that’s exactly what you get: socially conscious thievery, crackling repartee among the gang, a dash of romance, a con that seems to go awry but then turns out to just be a long con in the end.
Perfect Scoundrels reunites the whole crew once more: Kat, Hale, Hamish, Angus, Uncle Eddie, Gabrielle, and others. This time, they’re recruited by Marcus, the Hale family butler, to investigate Hale’s recently deceased grandmother’s will, which left the entire company to Hale, to be held in trust by the family attorney. Marcus thinks that the will may have been tampered with, most probably by the attorney, in order to steal the company’s fortune. He wants Kat and her accomplices – minus Hale, who is too close to the job – to ferret out the truth and, if possible, steal the company back for its rightful and intended owner.
There are some interesting developments with Kat and Hale’s relationship, since Kat deliberately tries to exclude Hale from any knowledge of Marcus’ suspicions. It doesn’t work, of course, which causes strife among the two. And then there’s the complication of Hale suddenly being thrust into a very large, very important leadership role in the company, something he doesn’t know how to handle.
The heists and cons in this volume are fun ones, if not obvious from the jacket copy. Kat and crew find themselves first needing to break into the Henley – again – and then devising a plan to steal something from the Superior Bank of Manhattan, which may as well be Fort Knox. And then there’s all the sneaking into offices and residences and petty thievery from said offices and residences, not to mention a very fun con where Uncle Eddie pretends to be a slightly batty (and womanizing) long-lost relative. 
I also loved reading the names of the various cons the characters consider: the Princess and the Pea, Where’s Waldo, Three Blind Mice, Cat in the Cradle, Ace’s Wild. The ones they agree to undertake are described, but the ones they dismiss are left to the reader’s imagination (or to Google), making the reader feel like a part of the con – there’s no need to explain a con to the already initiated.
Kat and her crew are the friends you wish you had (maybe you do have friends like these, in which case, please don’t tell me, I don’t want to have to lie to the police). Of course, in real life, these friends would likely be in prison with you, but in Carter’s world, they always manage to avoid the long arm of the law, just as you hoped they would. 
The resolution is a bit of a deus ex machina, but in books about cons, I feel like that’s the way it should be: we realize that, in the end, we’ve been conned too, and it’s never been so much fun. Perfect Scoundrels is a bit stronger than Uncommon Criminals – a bit better developed, a bit more fun – and should more than satisfy fans.

Finished copy received from the publisher. Perfect Scoundrels is available now.

“Best of” 2012 Lists Revisited: How Do YALSA’s “Best of” Lists Compare?

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Back in December, I did a huge post looking at the annual trade review journal “best of” lists, looking at a number of different elements of those books. After looking at those numbers, I was curious to see what and how there were any worthwhile comparisons to make against YALSA’s annual award and selection lists, including the 2013 Printz, Morris, Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) and Quick Picks (QP). So I did some more comparisons.

A few caveats before diving in: there were 89 titles on the “best of” lists. Those “best of” lists came from Horn Book, School Library Journal, Library Journal (which is not “best of” YA fiction, but best YA fiction for adult readers), Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. I did not go back into those numbers and add the books that made an appearance on the Bulletin’s “best of,” which came out on January 1. You can read that list here.
I’ve stuck to looking at only the books on those “best of” looks when comparing to YALSA lists for a few reasons. The first is that it’s a small sample and it’s broad, especially in light of Kirkus choosing to name so many titles on their best of list (though note that their editor was a member of the Morris committee). The second is that both the BFYA list and the QP list allow for titles to appear that came out in part of the year prior — for BFYA, titles published September – December 2011 were eligible for this year’s list, and for QP, titles published July – December 2011 were eligible for this year’s list. By sticking to the “best of” 2012 lists, I know I’ve got just the 2012 titles. I’ve also only looked at fiction titles. 
Like in the prior post, information about starred reviews comes from Horn Book, SLJ, Booklist, PW, BCCB, and Kirkus. I’ve pulled that information from Whitney’s amazing roundup of starred reviews. This means that only books with two or more stars have those stars noted, though in the case of my first data set on BFYA/QP crossover titles, I looked up the books that had one starred review via Publishers Weekly’s roundup of starred reviews. 
This post is full of a lot of numbers and a lot of information. It isn’t meant to convey anything but that information. If you see any glaring mathematical errors, feel free to let me know, but I think it’s fairly solid.
So first and foremost, let’s talk just about the YALSA BFYA list and the QP list. I really like to think about those titles which make both the BFYA and the QP list because there’s something to be said about them — these are books that are not only highly appealing to teens, but these are books that are well-written and among the best of the best of fiction in that given year. 
There were a total of nine books that made both lists this year:
  • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (Abrams)*
  • Croak by Gina Damico (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (Bloomsbury)
  • Bad Boy by Dream Jordan (St Martins Griffin)
  • Island of Thieves by Josh Lacey (Houghton Mifflin)
  • I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (Little Brown)**
  • This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers (St Martins Griffin)** 
  • The Final Four by Paul Volponi (Penguin/Viking)
  • Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson (Penguin/Nancy Paulson)**
* indicates the title made the BFYA Top Ten
** indicates the title made the QP Top Ten
Of those ten titles, three were included among this year’s “best of” titles in the trade journals. Those were Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (on Kirkus’s list) and Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson (also on Kirkus’s list).  
In terms of starred reviews among these nine titles, here’s a handy chart:

Worth noting is that Andrews’s book (2 stars) and Woodson’s book (3 stars), as mentioned above, were included on “best of” trade journal lists. But, there were two titles earning more than one star and spots on both the BFYA and QP lists which were absent from any of the best of lists: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers (2 stars and a Top Ten QP) and Final Four by Paul Volponi (3 stars and earned some discussion over at the Someday My Printz blog, which notes it had 4 stars — I’m assuming they’re talking about a VOYA “star” as the 4th).


I Hunt Killers got one starred review and earned a QP Top Ten spot.
I talked about format — hardcover vs paperback original — in my first post. Looking at these nine titles, I was curious whether there were any noteworthy things about that to tease out. And indeed!

This is obviously a very small sample size, but a full 1/3 of those overlapping titles were published as paperback originals. In the original data set, of the 89 “best of” titles, only 3 were paperback originals and 2 were split-runs. Taking them together, that would be 5 of the 89 books were paperback prints, amounting to roughly 6% of the total. Could there be something appealing about the paperback format for teen readers? Maybe.

The paperback originals, for anyone interested, were Croak, Bad Boy, and This is Not a Test.

Just for fun, here are debut novels making both BFYA and QP lists:

So again, 1/3 of those overlapping titles were debut novels. In the “best of” data, roughly 20% of the titles were debut novels. 
For the data nerds, why not also look at the release dates of these overlapping BFYA/QP titles, too? I did it in the original “best of” analysis. Note, as stated above, that because BFYA and QP allow for titles in the prior year to be considered for their current year’s list, these tend to weight more favorably toward earlier publication dates. In other words, books published between July and December for QP and those published between September and December for BFYA are less likely to appear than those published earlier in the year because they are eligible in the following year, as well.

Only four months were represented here: February (2), March (3), April (1), and June (3). Again, it’s a tiny sample but interesting to look at, especially in light of how the “best of” lists played out in the trade journals, where the books published in June actually represented the some of the FEWEST spots on the lists.

How about a little breakdown of what the BFYA list is itself composed of? There are a total of 112 titles by my math (the list says 102 titles, but I counted differently). I looked at both the titles published in the latter half of 2011 and those in 2012 — this data is inclusive of the entire list. Of those titles, what’s the breakdown of author gender?

Of the 115 authors — there are three books written by duos — here’s what it looks like:

That breaks down to 86 female authors and 29 male authors. 25% of the authors were male.

I also looked at the breakdown of series and stand alone novels. Caveat here: I did not include Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Drowned Cities nor Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity in the series count; Bacigalupi’s is a companion and Wein’s companion was named after the original title published, so I didn’t think it technically counted.

There were 86 stand alone titles and 26 titles that were part of a series in the BFYA list.

What about the breakdown of debut and more seasoned authors?

There were a total of 93 non-debut authors and a total of 29 debut authors on the BFYA list. The debut authors accounted for about 25% of the total list.

And data nerds looking for paperback original publications against hardcovers?

There were a total of 5 paperback originals — Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, Croak, Bad Boy, Speechless, and This is Not a Test.

When I originally did the paperback/hardcover/split run data for the “best of” list data, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was a split run title. I found the paperback edition on Barnes and Noble (and hardcover on Amazon). Now I can only find the paperback as unavailable (without a date) on Barnes and Noble. It did have a date in Amazon as April availability and one in Target as a February availability for paperback. I have a feeling the paperback release date for April will be of a reprint edition of the original paperback, but this time with the awards on the cover — in other words, they will do a more formalized paperback run this go around than when they did the split run. I’ve included it as the single split run title in this data for consistency’s sake.

There were a total of 106 hardcovers.

The last data I looked at for the BFYA was what publishers were represented. This chart is harder to read, so I’ll pull out the interesting bits below.

I compressed all of the imprints into their respective houses in this data, so Tor/St Martins Press/FSG and so forth are all beneath Macmillan. Note that Hachette refers to Little Brown Books for Young Readers. Random House had the most BFYA titles, with 14 represented. Following Random House was Macmillan, with 12 titles, then Penguin and Harper with 11 each. Candlewick held its own with 8 titles.

Since looking at the overlapping BFYA/QP titles and then the BFYA titles alone wasn’t enough, I decided to dive into the QP titles individually. There are a few important caveats: I did not look at the non-fiction titles on QP. I also did not include books that were on the list as a series — so, the Chris Lynch books, the Megan Atwood books, and the “Travel Team” series were off limits. This was done to save sanity and level the playing field in terms of data. All told, I looked at 46 QP titles.

Of those 46 QP titles, how did gender play out? There were 47 authors total, due to a writing duo.*

There were 18 male authors and 29 female. This breaks down into 38% of the authors being male. Compare that to the 25% ratio for BFYA books.

Another interest data set for the QP titles was the paperback and hardcover breakdown.

There were 12 paperback originals of the 46 total. That’s a much larger percentage than BFYA, and I would think much due in part to the Orca books represented on the list (more on that in a second).

How about the debut authors and the more seasoned writers?

There were 38 non-debut authors and 9 debuts. 19% of the authors were debut for the QP list. This is a smaller percentage than those on the BFYA list. Part might be in due to the Morris award titles on BFYA, which will be discussed further below.

And because now I’ve set the bar high, here’s how those QP titles break down by publisher. Note that Hachette refers to Little Brown Books for Young Readers. Again, imprints have been collapsed into their bigger houses.

It’s hard to read, but far and away, Macmillan had the most titles on the QP list, with 9 titles. The next closest was Penguin, with 5 titles total. Orca, which specializes in high appeal titles, made a good showing here as well. Most of their titles are paperback originals, as noted above. They had 4 titles on the QP list.

***
Now that I’ve looked at the data for those BFYA/QP overlapping titles, as well as those lists individually, let’s look at some other numbers. In this round, I only looked at the books which were among the 89 titles represented in the trade journal “best of” lists. All of the caveats and notes regarding where that information came from is at the top of this post. 
First, the Morris Finalists — Wonder Show, After the Snow, Love and Other Perishable Items, The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Award winner Seraphina.
  • These titles earned a combined total of 15 starred reviews. Seraphina earned 6, followed by 4 for Cameron Post, 3 for After the Snow, and one star each for Wonder Show and Love and Other Perishable Items. 
  • These titles earned a total of 8 “best of” list placements. Again, Seraphina took the lead with three, followed by Cameron Post with 2, and one place each for the remaining titles.
  • Seraphina was named a BFYA top ten book. 
  • Two of the titles did not make the BFYA list at all: After the Snow and Love and Other Perishable Items. Worth noting, though, that Love is eligible for next year. After the Snow is not. 
  • None of these books were on the QP list. Only one is eligible next year. 
How about the Printz honors and winner? Those titles earning honors were Dodger, Code Name Verity, The White Bicycle, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and the winner was In Darkness. 
  • These titles earned a combined total of 16 starred reviews. Dodger and Code Name Verity each earned 6 starred reviews. Both Aristotle and Dante and In Darkness earned two starred reviews each. White Bicycle is no where to be found, except for a single review written for Booklist by the Booklist consultant to the Printz committee. 
  • These titles earned a total of 12 “best of” list placements. Code Name Verity took top honors with 5, followed by Dodger on three, and two “best of” placements each for Aristotle and Dante and In Darkness. Again, no White Bicycle to be found. 
  • Code Name Verity, Dodger, and Aristotle and Dante were all named BFYA Top Ten titles. In Darkness earned a spot on the BFYA, as well. There is no White Bicycle to be found on the BFYA list, but it is eligible for next year’s list.
  • White Bicycle is the only paperback original. It’s the third book in a series of stand alone titles. It’s from a small Canadian press. 
  • None of these books were on the QP list. Only one is eligible next year: The White Bicycle. 
Let’s look broader now at the 89 “best of” titles and how they did when it came to earning spots on this year’s BFYA list. First, every single one of the BFYA Top Ten titles was on at least one “best of” list. I wanted to make a nice chart for this, but I can’t get it to work out like I want to, so more bullet points ahead.

  • Of the 89 total “best of” titles, 48 went on to earn a spot on BFYA. Now again, some will be eligible next year. Of the books that did not earn a spot on BFYA this year, 15 are eligible next year. Those are Son, Summer of the Mariposas, Love and Other Perishable Items, The Crimson Crown, Assassin’s Curse, Reached, The FitzOsbornes at War, Vessel, Pinned, Stormdancer, Be My Enemy, Broken Lands, This is Not Forgiveness, Passenger, and Passion Blue.
  • Of the titles on the “best of” lists and on BFYA, a combined 36 starred reviews were earned and a total of 36 starred reviews were earned and a total of 24 “best of” list spots were earned. Code Name Verity, The Raven Boys, and Seraphina earned six starred reviews each, followed by 4 starred reviews for Never Fall Down, 3 each for The Diviners and Every Day, and 2 starred reviews for the remaining titles, Aristotle and Dante, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Enchanted, and Boy21. In terms of appearances on “best of” lists, Code Name Verity earned 5 spots, followed by four for The Diviners, 3 each for The Raven Boys, Seraphina, and Every Day, 2 for Aristotle and Dante, and one list spot for each of the remaining titles.
  • Of the “best of” titles, only three of the 89 made the QP list. Those were Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Beneath a Meth Moon, and Girl of Nightmares (which was absent from BFYA all together). 
Another interesting note in terms of the BFYA/QP lists I wanted to point out: at the teen feedback session for BFYA that I sat in on, the teens talked a lot about how much they loved Jennifer E. Smith’s book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. It is absent from both the BFYA list and the QP list. It’s not eligible next year. 
I’m sure there are a million other ways to slice and dice this data. I could look at release dates and list making. I could look at genre or debut status across “best of” lists and the BFYA/QP lists. It’d be interesting to see what the starred reviews looked like for all of the BFYA/QP titles. But I think with what’s up here, there’s plenty to think about and chew on. And I’ll bring it all back to this: different “best of” lists look at entirely different things. It’s fascinating to me how titles which make both the BFYA and QP list and earn starred reviews can be missing entirely from the “best of” trade journal lists. Likewise, it’s fascinating that titles that were Morris honors can be absent from BFYA entirely, too. 
Were there any surprises here? Any additional thoughts? I’d love to hear.

* Worth noting — Andrew Karre pointed out to me a couple additional things worth noting here. Some of the QP authors may be using pseudonyms, so my numbers here on debuts and gender are based on my looking up the names as they are and my most educated guessing in some instances. Likewise, Orca, Darby Creek, and Saddleback titles come out as “simos,” meaning in paperback and library hardcover editions. I left the data as it is in terms of hardcover and paperback, since library hardcovers aren’t generally sold to the general public (whereas you can more readily purchase the paperback at an online retailer). 

Get Genrefied: Science Fiction

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Last month, Angela’s reader’s advisory challenge focused on horror. This month’s genre is one that both Kimberly and myself are fans of: science fiction. We’re splitting duty on this one, since our tastes in science fiction aren’t identical, and we feel like that is one of the hallmarks of science fiction. It’s such a broad genre that it welcomes readers looking for hard and fast science to those looking for more speculative works.

First, a definition. What is science fiction? Isaac Asimov called science fiction the literature concerned with the impact of scientific advancement upon humans. I think that’s a pretty solid and easy to grasp definition, and I’d add that what separates science fiction from fantasy is that it is plausible. There is a rationale behind how things happen and how they unfold. Of course, “plausible” can run the gamut from “I can definitely see that happening someday” to “That couldn’t ever happen, but I’ll buy it for the story.” Sometimes you have to have a healthy suspension of disbelief.

Science fiction has a host of subgenres within it, including aliens, space life/ships/operas/westerns, dystopia, alternative histories, cyberpunk, time travel, robots (you DO know the three laws, right?), science fantasy, and many, many more. Take some time to read through the wikipedia article on science fiction and its wide range of subgenres because it’s very well written and offers up some great further sources on the genre. If you have access to Novelist via your library, it’s worth perusing their subgenre classifications within science fiction, as well. Some of their subgenres include classic science fiction, among the stars, Christian science fiction, and others.

With the proliferation of dystopia in YA fiction, it’s been harder to tease out other science fiction titles, but there are tons out there. This is by no means a complete list, but rather, a means of showcasing the wide range of titles that are indeed science fiction. All descriptions are from WorldCat or Goodreads, and we welcome any additions you’d like to include — just drop a comment! These titles are more recent ones, and we’ve included forthcoming 2013 titles, as well, to keep on your radar.

First, if parallel worlds are of interest, Kimberly’s already written a great post with a ton of titles — these are examples of science fiction worlds because, well, they COULD happen. 

Adaptation by Malinda Lo: In the aftermath of a series of plane crashes caused by birds, seventeen-year-old Reese and her debate-team partner, David, receive medical treatment at a secret government facility and become tangled in a conspiracy that is, according to Reese’s friend, Julian, connected with aliens and UFOs. Kelly’s review

First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci: A startling novel about the true meaning of being an alien in an equally alien world. Kelly’s review

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan: Part of the first generation to be conceived in deep space, fifteen-year-old Waverly is expected to marry young and have children to populate a new planet, but a violent betrayal by the dogmatic leader of their sister ship could have devastating consequences. Kimberly’s review

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story. Kimberly’s review

Yesterday by CK Kelly Martin: After the mysterious death of her father and a sudden move back to her native Canada in 1985, sixteen-year-old Freya feels distant and disoriented until she meets Garren and begins remembering their shared past, despite the efforts of some powerful people to keep them from learning the truth. Kelly’s review

Variant by Robison Wells: After years in foster homes, seventeen-year-old Benson Fisher applies to New Mexico’s Maxfield Academy in hopes of securing a brighter future, but instead he finds that the school is a prison and no one is what he or she seems. Kimberly’s review

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad: Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back. It’s been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2-a place that no one but top government officials even knew existed until now. The three winners, Antoine, Midori, and Mia, come from all over the world. But just before the scheduled launch, the teenagers each experience strange, inexplicable events. Little do they know that there was a reason NASA never sent anyone back there until now-a sinister reason. But the countdown has already begun… Kelly’s review

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid: Tom, a fourteen-year-old genius at virtual reality games, is recruited by the United States Military to begin training at the Pentagon Spire as a Combatant in World War III, controlling the mechanized drones that do the actual fighting off-planet. Kimberly’s review

The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson: In a world ravaged by global warming, teenage Owen Parker discovers that he may be the descendant of a highly advanced, ancient race, with whose knowledge he may be able to save the earth from self-destruction.

Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate: While recuperating after a car accident in Spiker Biotech’s lush San Francisco facilities, sixteen-year-old Evening Spiker meets Solo Plissken, a very attractive, if off-putting boy her age who spent his life at Spiker Biotech. Like Evening, he’s never questioned anything … until now. Solo drops hints to Evening that something isn’t right, and Evening’s mother may be behind it. Evening puts this out of her mind and begins her summer internship project: To simulate the creation of the perfect boy. With the help of Solo, Evening uncovers secrets so big they could change the world completely. Kimberly’s review
 
The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman: After thirteen-year-old Tucker Feye’s parents disappear, he suspects that the strange disks of shimmering air that he keeps seeing are somehow involved, and when he steps inside of one he is whisked on a time-twisting journey trailed by a shadowy sect of priests and haunted by ghostlike figures. Kimberly’s review
 
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card: Thirteen-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others’
pasts, but revelations after his father’s death set him on a dangerous
quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his
destiny or kill him. Kimberly’s review
 
 
Tankborn by Karen Sandler: Kayla and Mishalla, two genetically engineered non-human slaves (GENs), fall in love with higher-status boys, discover deep secrets about the creation of GENs, and find out what it means to be human. Kimberly’s review

Across the Universe by Beth Revis: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet 300 years in the future, but 50 years before the ship’s scheduled landing, Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber. Kimberly’s review

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan: Sixteen-year-old Rosalinda Fitzroy, heir to the multiplanetary corporation UniCorp, is awakened after sixty years in stasis to find that everyone she knew has died and as she tries to make a new life for herself, learns she is the target of a robot assassin. Kelly’s review

 

 

Origin by Jessica Khoury: Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home–and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Erasing Time by C. J. Hill: Eighteen-year-old twins Taylor and Sheridan are pulled into the future and must find a way to stop the evil government from using the time machine again. Kimberly’s review


Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill: On the planet Mars, sixteen-year-old Durango and his crew of mercenaries are hired by the settlers of a mining community to protect their most valuable resource from a feral band of marauders.

Here’s a look at some of the science fiction titles out in 2013 to give an idea of how vast the genre really is.

Half Lives by Sara Grant: Follows the lives of two unlikely teenaged heroes, mysteriously linked and living hundreds of years apart, as both struggle to survive and protect future generations from the terrible fate that awaits any who dare to climb the mountain.

Coda by Emma Trevayne: Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem—the Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid. Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him?

Homeland by Cory Doctorow (sequel to Little Brother): When Marcus, once called M1k3y, receives a thumbdrive containing evidence of corporate and governmental treachery, his job, fame, family, and well-being, as well as his reform-minded employer’s election campaign, are all endangered.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey: Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke: There’s never been anyone – or anything – quite like Finn. He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task is to tutor Cat. When the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.

Proxy by Alex London: Privileged Syd and and his proxy, Knox, are thrown together to overthrow the system.

Rush by Eve Silver: Rochester, New York, high schooler Miki Jones is pulled into a sort of a game in which she and other teens battle real-life aliens and the consequences of each battle could be deadly.

Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum: Twenty years after robots designed to fight wars abandoned the battlefields and turned their weapons against humans, siblings Nick, Kevin, and Cass must risk everything when the wilderness community where they have spent their lives in hiding is discovered by the bots.

The Program by Suzanne Young: When suicide becomes a worldwide epidemic, the only known cure is The Program, a treatment in which painful memories are erased, a fate worse than death to seventeen-year-old Sloane who knows that The Program will steal memories of her dead brother and boyfriend.

The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist: Veronika. Caroline. Isobel. Eleanor. One blond, one brunette, one redhead, one with hair black as tar. Four otherwise identical girls who spend their days in sync, tasked to learn. But when May, a very different kind of girl–the lone survivor of a recent shipwreck–suddenly and mysteriously arrives on the island, an unsettling mirror is about to be held up to the life the girls have never before questioned.

Starglass by Phoebe North: For all of her sixteen years, Terra has lived on a city within a spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago seeking refuge, but as they finally approach the chosen planet, she is drawn into a secret rebellion that could change the fate of her people.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau: Sixteen-year-old Malencia (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.

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza: Sixteen-year-old Mila discovers she is not who–or what–she thought she was, which causes her to run from both the CIA and a rogue intelligence group.

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams: For the teens at The Haven, the outside world, just beyond the towering stone wall that surrounds the premises, is a dangerous unknown. It has always been this way, ever since the hospital was established in the year 2020. But The Haven is more than just a hospital; it is their home. It is all they know. Everything is strictly monitored: education, exercise, food, and rest. The rules must be followed to keep the children healthy, to help control the Disease that has cast them as Terminals, the Disease that claims limbs and lungs—and memories. But Shiloh is different; she remembers everything. Gideon is different, too. He dreams of a cure, of rebellion against the status quo. What if everything they’ve been told is a lie? What if The Haven is not the safe place it claims to be? And what will happen if Shiloh starts asking dangerous questions?

Tandem by Anna Jarzab (no cover yet): Sasha, who lives a quiet life with her grandfather in Chicago but dreams of adventure, is thrilled to be asked to prom by her long-time crush, Grant, but after the dance he abducts her to a parallel universe to impersonate a princess.

 

Mind Games by Kiersten White: Seventeen-year-old Fia and her sister, Annie, are trapped in a school
that uses young female psychics and mind readers as tools for corporate
espionage–and if Fia doesn’t play by the rules of their deadly game,
Annie will be killed.
Pivot Point by Kasie West: A girl with the power to search alternate futures lives out six weeks of two different lives in alternating chapters. Both futures hold the potential for love and loss, and ultimately she is forced to choose which fate she is willing to live through.
Fox Forever by Mary E. Pearson: Before he can start a life with Jenna, seventeen-year-old Locke, who was brought back to life in a newly bioengineered body after an accident destroyed his body 260 years ago, must do a favor for the resistance movement opposing the nightmarish medical technology. Kimberly’s review

 

The Originals by Cat Patrick: Seventeen-year-olds Lizzie, Ella, and Betsy Best are clones, raised as identical triplets by their surrogate mother but living as her one daughter, Elizabeth, until their separate abilities and a romantic relationship force a change.

Dualed by Elsie Chapman: West Grayer lives in a world where every person has a twin, or Alt. Only one can survive to adulthood, and West has just received her notice to kill her Alt.

Control by Lydia Kang: In 2150, when genetic manipulation has been outlawed, seventeen-year-old Zelia must rescue her kidnapped sister with the help of a band of outcasts with mutated genes.

Want some more resources or information about science fiction? Check out the following:

  • The SF Signal is a web-based fanzine to all things science fiction. Bookmark this and peruse it for news and information about all kinds of science fiction and all things within the science fiction world. 
  • Locus Online is the web component of Locus Magazine, which is dedicated to all things science fiction and fantasy. 
  • Who is publishing science fiction, you ask? Well, most of the publishers do, but there are imprints which focus specifically on science fiction and fantasy, such as Tor. There’s also Angry Robot and Pyr. Both of these smaller presses focus on science fiction, and they, along with Tor, do offer a number of YA titles.