What are some good Young Adult books for the upcoming winter break?

I had a YA Lit. class this summer and was pleasantly surprised by The Book Thief. Outside of the YA section have you read the Wheel of Time? Now that’s some good fantasy.*
*People talk and such, and there are actually women who kick ass and are more than tits and damsels in distress. Amen.

are more than tits and damsels in distress You know me so well.

I’m not exactly sure what constitutes a YA book. As far as fluffy reading goes I enjoyed Good Omens and Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. Though I can’t remember if your aversion to grotesqueries extended to books so that last one might not be for you. It isn’t a horror, but there is necromancy so, you know, walking corpses. Good Omens is a pretty ridiculous take on the impending apocalypse.

The Hunger Games series is excellent. I’d recommend those to anyone, of any age.

In addition to seconding The Hunger Games series, I would recommend The Maze Runner trilogy. Others recommendations in a different vein: If I Stay, Going Bovine and Last Night I Sang to the Monster.

The Dark is Rising sequence of five books by Susan Cooper is my favorite YA fantasy series. Lots of connections to Arthurian legend and the medieval Mabinogian work.

Kathy Reichs has started a series of YA books that are quite good. Virals is the first book and Seizure is the second.

Perks of Being a Wallflower
Looking for Alaska (anything, by John Green, really, but Alaska is his best work)
Elsewhere
Staying Fat for Sara Byrnes

I enjoyed the book next to the sign on your picture: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. I second The Book Thief, it was excellent. So is the Hunger Games series and my daughter tells me the Maze Runner books are also good.

You might get some good ideas from the Kirkus Book Review Best Teen Books of 2011. I see a couple of books I might pick up for my kid to help break her addiction to Tamora Pierce. She’s got 16 of Pierce’s books on her Christmas list. :/

I think everyone should read the classics.
Black Beauty
Anne of Green Gables
The Little House series
Old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys
Little Women/Men
Tom Sawyer
Huckleberry Finn
Uncle Toms Cabin

Note: Black Beauty was responsible for the grass roots of the humane movement and Uncle Toms Cabin for the abolishment of slavery

Timeless and a great window into history

Life As We Knew It is the first book in the Moon Crash Trilogy.

I borrowed this book from a friend who had bought it for her teenage daughter. I really enjoyed it.

oh. Coloma. Raising the bar.

On the not so fluffy side I adored Old School by Tobias Wolff. It’s a first person narrative about a boy trying to prove himself at a prestigious boys boarding school. The charm of it is that at this particular school the proving grounds is a series of writing contests hosted by the school with the top winner getting one-on-one time with a famous author the school brings in for guest lectures. The book beautifully captures the desperation and passion of a young person struggling to find their creative voice…and the unintentional humor that is often wrought by enthusiastic but inexperienced writers.

There’s a lot of love in this book, for writing and the creative struggle in general, but it isn’t blind love. What sets this book apart is it’s youthful naivete and it the main character’s gradual growing out of it. Plus the commentary on the guest authors (Robert Frost, Ayn Rand and Ernest Hemingway) is pretty priceless.

@jonsblond I just read the Moon Crash books. Pretty decent!

I agree to all the ones stated above, and add Uglies by Scott Westerfield and Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.

Yesterday I was told that Out of my Mind is a great read.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, Looking For Alaska by John Green, Paper Towns by John Green, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, and Delirium by Lauren Oliver.

These are all phenomenal books that I adore.

Would Philip Pulman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (Northern Lights aka The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) fit into YA category? I’m reading it to my 10 year old, who is loving it (starting The Amber Spyglass tonight).

Also Michael Morpurgo is a recent find of ours and is an excellent writer.

Toby Alone by Timothee De Fombelle is excellent. There’s also a sequel – Toby and the Secrets of the Tree

@Stinley I don’t know – but either way, I have had His Dark Materials recommended to me by a friend, so let’s say yes!

Ok, “Toby Alone” sounds like it’s gonna go the way of Bridge to Teribithia. Is it going to make me cry? Because BtT was rough.

@Stinley Yes, it is considered YA.

@Aethelflaed haven’t read the bridge one but will look out for it. Toby is excellent, really absorbing. But sad and a bit upsetting too. Funny as well. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard I just finished Looking For Alaska and my oldest son is at the tail end. We both thoroughly enjoyed it, great recommendation.