Some of my favorite YAs

As well as being a writer, I also work weekends at my local library in the teen section, which is pretty much a dream job since there is nothing in the world I love more than reading YA books (okay, there is one thing I love more and that's reading YA books and eating a big block of chocolate!) Anyway, I thought I'd talk about some of my favorite reads of the last twelve months.

First up is The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, which are the first two books in The Hunger Games Trilogy. I loved these dystopian novels that follow Katniss as she refuses to let her little sister go to the Hunger Games and fight to the death for her survival. For me the books are like Lord of the Flies meets Big Brother and I spend a good part of my day at work recommending them to everyone who crosses my path. Now I just need to wait until Mockingjay is released!!!








Graceling by Kristin Cashore. This is a fantasy novel about a world where people are gifted with different graces and for Kasta, her grace is death. Because of this, the king uses her as a henchman, until she slowly starts to discover that there is more to her grace than she thought. Truly, this book is amazing!









Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. Okay, so I love what Stephenie Meyers has done for the ya genre, not only in getting girls to read but also in getting publishers to publish more ya books, but when it comes to vampires, I like mine Richelle Mead style! Rose is a fresh-talking take-no-prisoners heroine who gets herself into plenty of trouble! Definitely my favorite of all the ya vampire series.



The Amulet of Samarkand (and the other books in The Bartimaeus Trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud. My friend's fifteen year old son actually got me onto these books after I sold my own Djinn series and boy am I pleased that I didn't read them until after I'd made my sale because I probably never would've even started my own! Anyway, they are amazing books - think Harry Potter but with djinns and evil magicians.




Of course there are plenty more, but these are just a few of my fav YA reads. What about everyone else? Have you been into the teen section lately?


Amanda Ashby
Fairy Bad Day (Puffin June 2011)
Zombie Queen of Newbury High (Puffin out now)