YA books to watch out for

Since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone / UK) came out - the interest in collecting Young Adult books has again been peaked. With authors like Cornelia Funke, Philip Pullman, Michael Scott, Kristen Cashore, and more to fill the Harry Potter gap - there are plenty of good YA books out there (and they don't all revolve around vampires).

To be honest, I'm not a big vampire fan. I mean, yes, I do love me some Buffy-the-vampire-slayer, but that I think has more to do with the cult of Joss Whedon than vampires.  You probably noticed that I skipped right over Stephanie Meyers in the list above (and below). I know a lot of people Love her (with a capital "L") - but I clearly missed that boat. I've tried, REALLY tried to read her books. I can't get past the first chapter in Twilight, or the first page in The Host. Clearly, I do not have access to my 16 year old self. So for those of you who adore the Twilight Saga - kudos. If you're wanting to collect her books - go for the signed first editions. 

Here are some YA books that look rather interesting:

Johannes Cabal the Detective, by Jonathan L. Howard, hardcover, 304 pages, list price: $25 (July 13)

The collectibility of this one remains to be seen - but the covers are fabulous and the story line follows a necromancer -- one of the predicted trends in YA sci-fi/fantasy lit. I plan on finding a copy to read and will give you a review once I do.

"Zombies are so passe," sniffs the titular Johannes Cabal, and he knows whereof he speaks. The dour, stiff-necked antihero of Jonathan L. Howard's witty steampunk series is himself no punk.... The second book of the series (the first,Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, appeared last year) finds Cabal fleeing a central European prison and traveling incognito aboard a luxury airship. It doesn't take long for a series of murders to get Cabal up to his old tricks.... You needn't have read the first book to enjoy Howard's latest pulpy adventure, but odds are, once you've experienced the author's dryly funny, dexterous prose — and seen how well it breathes life (as it were) into his unapologetically amoral main character, you'll want to seek it out. - NPR

Stories: All-New Tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, hardcover, 432 pages, William Morrow, list price: $27.99

While, technically, not YA - a few of the authors listed will appeal to those on the older side of that age range.
This collection contains 27 new stories from writers like Stewart O'Nan, Chuck Palahniuk, Carolyn Parkhurst, Roddy Doyle, Walter Mosley, Jodi Picoult and many others not known for their fantasy work, at least not as the term's currently defined by publishers. And that, according to anthologists Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, is the whole point. They offer up the book to argue that "imaginative fiction" can and should be a big tent, encompassing a great deal more than dungeons, dragons, swords and sorcery. All of these stories involve the uncanny, but they do so in appealingly diverse ways. -NPR

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins, hardcover, 400 pages, Scholastic Press, list price: $17.99 (Aug 2010)
Praise for the Hunger Games series: "Whereas Katniss kills with finesse, Collins writes with raw power." -Time Magazine

From the Product Description: Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

The first two books in the series, Hunger Games and Catching Fire are the big collectors' items. Mockingjay is being released August 24, 2010. It will, predictably, have a higher first print run  since the series has become more popular - so this book will have a lower value for collectors (unless it is signed). Publishers Weekly reported the first print run will be 1.2 million!

The fourth book in the New York Times bestselling series The Secrets of the Nicholas Flamel-The Necromancer

San Francisco: After fleeing to Ojai, then Paris, and escaping to London, Josh and Sophie Newman are finally home. And after everything they've seen and learned in the past week, they're both more confused than ever about their future. Neither of them has mastered the magics they'll need to protect themselves from the Dark Elders, they've lost Scatty, and they're still being pursued by Dr. John Dee. Most disturbing of all, however, is that now they must ask themselves, can they trust Nicholas Flamel? Can they trust anyone? -Barnes and Noble

This is just a fun series, and pretty well written.  If you're collecting, you'll want to get your hands on the first book in the series, in particular.  The Alchemyst was the winner of the Rhode Island Book Award and was nominated for a slew of other awards. The U.S. edition was released two days before the U.K. edition - which makes the U.S. edition the "First True Edition" and the one to find. Also of note, The Alchemyst has been optioned for a potential movie.

There will be a total of six books in the series, four have been published to date: The Alchemyst, The Magician, The Sorceress, and The Necromancer.  

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore, hardcover, 480 pages, Harcourt, list price: $17.00 (2008)

This one is actually highly suggested on the collectibles list. This is Cashore's first novel. Publisher's Weekly listed it on their "Best Books of the Year" list for 2008. It was nominated for several awards and made it onto a couple other prominent top 10 lists. Since this came out, she's published a second novel: Fire which is also getting praise.

In the course of her dark and eventful tale, Cashore plays with the idea of awkwardness, how at a certain age gifts and talents are burdens, how they make it impossible to feel comfortable in the world. And in this she writes a fairly realistic portrait of teenage life into the baroque courts of her outlandish kingdoms…In many respects Graceling is a study of mysterious angers: it offers a perfect parable of adolescence, as its characters struggle with turbulent emotions they must learn to control. The consequences are more tangible than they usually are in more mundane settings—if Katsa loses control, she breaks someone's jaw by accident—but the principle is the same. The teenage characters in this novel, like some we may know in life, grow into their graces. They realize that their monstrous individuality is not so monstrous after all. -NY Times

You can check out Kristen Cashore's Blog for more info.

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, hardcover, 320 pages, HarperCollins, list price: $17.99 (2008)

This one is just kind of a given - especially for Neil Gaiman fans.  Hugo, Locus, and Newbery Award winner in 2009 as well as a Carnegie Medal winner in 2010, this book was published first in the U.S. in Sept. 2008, then in the U.K. a month later. So you want to look for the U.S. first edition without that big gold medal sticker on the cover.  (even if you get the one with the big gold sticker, it's still a great book to have in your collection).  There is also a limited edition put out by Subterranean Press. It has a different cover and contains illustrations by Dave McKean.

Synopsis: Grade 5–8—Somewhere in contemporary Britain, "the man Jack" uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he "looks like nobody but himself," grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods.... -School Library Journal


The Akhenaten Adventure, by P.B. Kerr, hardcover, 355 pages, Orchard, list price: $16.95 (2004)

For younger readers, 8-12, check out the Children of the Lamp series by P.B. Kerr.  Kerr likes history (and has a series of adult Mysteries that are HIGHLY collectible, under the name Philip Kerr). His books are imbued with historical facts that will get your kids clamoring for more information. The stories are fun and not too scary, and center around Djinn twins - so there's plenty of magic.

And, yes, first editions of The Akhenaten Adventure are quite collectible. Published by Orchard in 2004. (The first edition cover is different from the one shown here. It is blue with a gold frame and printed gold hinges on the spine side. There is only a lamp with text on the cover - no cobra).


Going Bovine, by Libba Bray, hardcover, 496 pages, Delacorte, list price: $17.99 (2009)

This one just won a Printz Award from the American Library Association.

Cameron, a sixteen-year-old slacker, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist to save the world and perhaps his own life.




Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi, hardcover, 336 pages, Little Brown, list price: $17.99 (2010)

Bacigalupi's adult novel, The Windup Girl, has won a couple of awards and is up for a Hugo Award and Nebula Award (big sci-fi awards). Both The Windup Girl and his YA debut Ship Breaker are highly collectible and are thought to only gain in value as he continues to publish. 

This YA debut by Bacigalupi, a rising star in adult science fiction, presents a dystopian future like so many YA sf novels. What is uncommon, though, is that although Bacigalupi's future earth is brilliantly imagined and its genesis anchored in contemporary issues, it is secondary to the memorable characters. - Booklist

More:
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke
Tunnels Series by Roderick Gordon
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Sisters Grimm Series (for younger readers)

The ALA's list of Top 10 YA books for 2010. (note that David Small's Stitches is a cross-over adult graphic novel and has been getting some collector nods.)

There are, of course, MANY more Young Adult books out there worth reading and collecting. I will, in the future, post more lists and award winners, but if there's a particular book or series of books you'd like mentioned, just leave a comment.

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