Kardashian, K., Kardashian, K. and Kardashian, K. (2011). Dollhouse. NY: William Morrow. While this novel doesn’t technically qualify as a work of young adult literature, its likely YA readership, combined with its “privileged YA” plot, makes it a reasonable addition to this blog. Also, when I saw the Kardashian sisters’ novel on the “new books”…
Flack, S. (2011). Bunheads. NY: Poppy. There’s just something about a ballerina story. At its basest level, it’s similar to the gymnast’s story, and it’s similar to any story of a young girl who dedicates not only her mind but her body to a very particular form of perfection. In comparison to the sensational and…
Hirsch, J. (2011). The Eleventh Plague. NY: Scholastic. As you can tell, I’m a big reader of dystopian fiction (but really, who isn’t these days?), and so when I saw an advertisement for The Eleventh Plague, I knew what book I was going to check out next. Set in an unspecified future United States that…
Ford, M. (2011). The Poisoned House. Park Ridge, IL: Whitman. This short novel (the trim size makes it look a bit longer than it is) begins with fourteen-year-old Abi’s attempted escape from the British mansion where she works “in service.” Caught and returned to Greave Hall, Abi must face the harsh discipline meted out by…
Sheehan, A. (2011). A Long, Long Sleep. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. Much like Beth Revis’s 2011 Across the Universe, this dystopian novel by first-time YA author Anna Sheehan features a protagonist who has been kept for years in suspended animation or, in the terms of A Long, Long Sleep, stasis or “stass.” When sixteen-year-old Rosalinda “Rose”…
Wells, Robison (2011). Variant. NY: HarperTeen. 376 pages. There should totally be a rule that all slightly science fiction themed mystery trilogies should announce themselves to the reader on the first page. Variant, which I totally expected to conclude in a single volume, is one such example, and, of course, I’m foaming to read the…
Balog, Cyn (2011). Starstruck. NY: Delacorte. 244 pages. What started out as a not-too-body-hating fat-girl romance takes a sudden and unexpected turn into the fantastic in Balog’s Starstruck. Then again, the novel is set at the Jersey Shore, and we all know that anything can happen there. When, after four years away, sixteen-year-old Gwendolyn “Dough”…
Healey, Karen (2011). The Shattering. NY: Little, Brown. 314 pages. I had read and enjoyed Healey’s first novel for young adults, Guardian of the Dead, a fantasy-themed mystery set in New Zealand that incorporated elements of Maori myth and legend to inform its fantastic premise, and I have to say I liked this one even…
Wright, Bil (2011). Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy. NY: Simon and Schuster. Sixteen-year-old Carlos (sometimes “Carrlos”) discovered his talent for applying makeup at an early age. Now nearing graduation, he is looking for a way to pursue his calling and achieve his dream of becoming a famous makeup artist. After a little creative editing…
Sedgwick, Marcus (2011). White Crow. NY: Roaring Brook Press. 234 pages. A noted writer in Britain, Marcus Sedgwick is one of those YA authors that deserves more attention across the pond. Although the first American edition of his novel, Revolver (2010, Roaring Brook), was a Printz award nominee, this–and his latest, White Crow–are not Sedgwick’s…