Best of...YA Bloghop

"Best of" Books is a bloghop hosted by Diane Estrella at That's What I'm Here For

Picking the 5 best YA books I have read this year is no easy task, there were so many good books to chose from.  These are the ones I finally picked:

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
I loved Code Name Verity and was hesitant about this second WWII novel, but Elizabeth is genius and has written one of the most gripping novels about a young American female pilot who finds herself in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp.  Rose Under Fire is definitely my favorite book of 2013.
Read my review here

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
This was just such a fun novel to read, yet it opens up lots of questions about the legality/legitimacy of fan fiction.  When twin Cath gets to college, she has a hard time making real friends and leaving the world of fanfiction writing behind, while her sister Wren has no problem leaving it behind for campus partying.  Both girls have reasons to escape life, but both have some coming of age work to do.  Fangirl is a novel very much of today.

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
This is an edgy novel set in a Nazi-like dystopian 1950s England.  Standish Treadwell, 15, is a severely dyxlectic teen, with one brown and one blue and naturally, the brunt of bullying at school by both teachers and students.  But when he befriends Hector, a new boy, things change.
Read my review here

The Archived by Victoria Schwab
This first novel in a forthcoming series introduces us to a library of a different kind - a place where the dead are archived to preserve their stories.  But sometimes they wander out of the archive and it is the job of Keepers to return them to the library.  That's what MacKenzie Bishop, 15, does.  She is the youngest Keeper ever and has some real conflicts of interest that interfere with her Keeper duties.  Great science fiction, and I can't wait to read Book 2.

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz
Imagine surviving 1 ghetto, 10 concentration camps and 2 death marches.  In the novel based on a true story, this is exactly how Yanek Gruener spent his adolescence and survived to talk about it.  Despite the horrors witnessed by Yanek, there are some read heartwarming moments in his young life.  A definite must for fans of historical fiction.

Be sure to visit the following blogs to see what their Best of 2013 YA books choices are:

Best of..Children's/Middle Grade Bloghop

"Best of" Books is a bloghop hosted by Diane Estrella at That's What I'm Here For

Picking the top five children's/middle grade books that I read this year isn't an easy task, I have read so many good one and there are still some that I missed.  But of all there books that I did read, I think these are the best:

Top 5 Children's Books:

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
This was hands down a favorite.  It was delightful and laugh out loud funny.
Read my review here

The Story of Fish & Snail written and illustrated by Deborah Freedman
Done is soft pastels, this is a charming story of friendship and taking chances, and some meta-fiction thrown in for good measure.
Read my review here

This is the Rope, a Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by James Ransome
A multigenerational story of a family and how one simple piece of rope connects their stories together.
Read my review here

Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber, illustrated by Brian Lovelock
Follow Scout as she leaves her bee hive to collect nectar and pollen and learn about the serious disappearance/collapse of bee colonies about the world at the same time.
Read my review here

Building Our House written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean
This gentle story follows a family as they change and grow and as they carefully build thier house in the country over time.
Read my review here

Top 5 Middle Grade Books:

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt
The Bayour Tourterelle is in danger of being destroyed and it is up to one 12 year old boy and two raccoon brothers to save it.  When it came to MG books, this was my hands down favorite.
Read my review here

P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia
This sequel to One Crazy Summer brings the Gaither sisters back to Brooklyn and new adventures in the pivotal year1968.  Williams-Garcia depiction of the times is just so spot on.
Read my reviw here

Doll Bones by Holly Black
Normally, I hate doll stories because I find them to be too creepy, but this novel has just the right about of creepiness to make it a fun coming of age novel to read.
Read my review here

Africa is My Home by Monica Edinger, illustrated by Robert Byrd
Based on a true story, it tells the story of Sarah Kinson, formerly Margru, who was sold to slave traders at age 9 and taken on the Amistad to be sold to a Caribbean plantation.  The Amistad Revolt on board ship changed her destiny forever.
Read my review here

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
This was a fun mystery about finding your way our of a state of the art library using games, technology and literature.  Clever and entertaining, I couldn't put this book down.
Read my review here

Be sure to visit the blogs below to see what their Best of 2013 Children's and Middle Grade choices are: