There are a couple of books I've read recently that I think older teens would really enjoy. I picked up Laurie Halse Anderson's
Twisted because it made the
Teen's Top Ten list and because I have heard good things about her other book,
Speak.
Twisted was an incredibly absorbing read. I couldn't put it down and I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it. It was about this guy who used to be labeled as a nerd at school, until he spends a summer doing lots of manual labor as part of his community service punishment for defacing school property. When he comes back to school he attracts the attention of one of the girls in the popular crowd, and all of a sudden his life starts to spiral out of control.
If fantasy adventure is more your thing, you absolutely should not pass up Kristin Cashore's phenomenal first novel,
Graceling. Katsa is a teenager who has been widely feared as a killer since childhood because of her unusual Grace (superhuman talent). Her uncle, King Rada, puts her to work as a violent thug in his service, but she secretly fights back by organizing a resistance effort. A foreign visitor named Po, who is also Graced with fighting ability, convinces Katsa to openly rebel against the king and to join him on a quest to find his kidnapped relative. This book has a little of everything: fantasy, adventure, romance, and mystery. Reader beware: at the end you will be desperate for the sequel, which won't be released until later this year.
There are a couple of books I've read recently that I think older teens would really enjoy. I picked up Laurie Halse Anderson's Twisted because it made the Teen's Top Ten list and because I have heard good things about her other book, Speak. Twisted was an incredibly absorbing read. I couldn't put it down and I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it. It was about this guy who used to be labeled as a nerd at school, until he spends a summer doing lots of manual labor as part of his community service punishment for defacing school property. When he comes back to school he attracts the attention of one of the girls in the popular crowd, and all of a sudden his life starts to spiral out of control.
If fantasy adventure is more your thing, you absolutely should not pass up Kristin Cashore's phenomenal first novel, Graceling. Katsa is a teenager who has been widely feared as a killer since childhood because of her unusual Grace (superhuman talent). Her uncle, King Rada, puts her to work as a violent thug in his service, but she secretly fights back by organizing a resistance effort. A foreign visitor named Po, who is also Graced with fighting ability, convinces Katsa to openly rebel against the king and to join him on a quest to find his kidnapped relative. This book has a little of everything: fantasy, adventure, romance, and mystery. Reader beware: at the end you will be desperate for the sequel, which won't be released until later this year.
