Pam's Picks - Best Young Adult (YA) Books of 2010

I've already talked about my TOP Kidlit and Middle-Grade reads this year, and now it's time to talk about the more adult books that have crossed my path. To put it simply my Young Adult reading this year has been fabulous, even more successful than that in the Middle-grade and Kid categories. No explanation, I just lucked upon some excellent reads.

That said I also had more books in the YA category that truly disappointed me. Amongst them were the two Emily the Strange books I read recently. Far from being edgy and fun, they were boring. And surprise of surprises, I found a Gary Paulsen book I didn't like. "Transall Saga" was just pretty darn juvenile and uncreative.

The other book that fell into the 'waste of time' category was I Am Number Four. Just hideously awful with it's cliches and derivative dialog that was probably stolen from 1950's books and movies.

So what were the GREAT BOOKS?

Best Series:

The Queen's Thief

1. The Thief
2. The Queen of Attolia
3. The King of Attolia
4. A Conspiracy of Kings

by Megan Whalen Turner
Phenomenal and complex writing.

Chaos Walking

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go
2. The Ask and the Answer
3. Monsters of Men

by Patrick Ness
Brilliant science fiction.

Best Single Books:

The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors by Francisco Stork
As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
Riding Invisible by Sandra Alonzo

Now my friends are probably scratching their heads right now because these books don't fall into what I would call my 'core' genres of interest. They aren't scifi/fantasy adventure books, and they aren't dystopias. Instead what they are is extremely well written books that had me returning to think about them day after day. They are books that speak to the heart. That have their own inner magic. I love them and I hope you'll check them out.

Below is a list of the 65 Young Adult books I read last year. I've added **starred review** to those volumes that I thought were outstanding.

The 2010 List of YA Reading

1. The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors **Starred Review**
2. The Knife of Never Letting Go ( Chaos Walking) **Starred Review**
3. Malice - (For those that like Goosebumps, a step up. Listed as YA, it was more MG to me.)
4. The Ask and The Answer **Starred Review**
5. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (Very Good)
6. Queen of Attolia **Starred Review**
7. Day of the Scarab (merely okay)
8. The King of Attolia **Starred Review**
9. The Underneath
10. Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen
11. Skinned (more skimmed than read)
12. Raider's Ransom (Very Good!)
13. Pretties (Very Good)
14. Crown Duel (Good)
15. Winter's End (Unique)
16. Alanna: the first adventure (The Song of the Lioness) by Tamora Pierce
17. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
18. Tracker by Gary Paulsen
19. Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen
20. NightJohn by Gary Paulsen
21. Dogsong (Excellent)
22. Canyons by Gary Paulsen
23. Sarny by Gary Paulsen
24. In the Hand of the Goddess (The Song of the Lioness)
26. First Test (Book 1 of the Protector of the Small Quartet)
25. Page (Book 2 of the Protector of the Small Quartet)
26. Squire (Book 3 of the Protector of the Small Quartet)
27. Lady Knight (Book 4 of the Protector of the Small Quartet)
28. The Haymeadow by Gary Paulsen
29. Birthmarked (Very good dystopia)
30. The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen (THIS one is terrible)
31. Truancy by Isamu Fukui (fascinating anti-school treatise and adventure story)
32. Split by Aswati (Very good)
33. The Island by Gary Paulen
34. The River by Gary Paulsen
35. Conspiracy of Kings **Starred Review**
36. Incarceron
37. The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen (This is a scifi story that I though was suitable for MG)
38. Fire Will Fall (Somehow overlooked by most reviewers, I really liked this action packed, quickly paced book)
39. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden (An older style mystery that slowly unfolds into creepy horror)
40. Alchemy and Meggy Swann
41. The Legend of Beka Cooper (Tamara Pierce fans will love the longer venue)
42. The Prince of Mist (another book that was more MGish to me than YA. Gothic styled horror)
43. The Boneshaker by Kate Milford (MGish but very good)
44. Dewey: The True Story of a World-Famous Library Cat
45. Smells Like Dog (MGish but so much fun. One of my Fave books in the MG/YA category.) **Starred Review**
46. The Thin Executioner (I was a few chapters into this book when I found myself saying that 'this is a book I want my son to read when he's older. Totally overlooked gem. Gruesome warning.)**Starred Review**
47. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (fun and trite)
48. Wolf Pack of the Winisk River (Poetic and overlooked. This is a book worth tracking down)
49. As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth **Starred Review**
50. I Am Number Four (trite and cliche)
51. Riding Invisible**Starred Review**
52. Mockingjay
53. The Kneebone Boy**Starred Review** (A very funny and spry mystery)
54. Journal of Curious Letters (meh)
55. The Timekeeper's Moon (book 2 of 3)(Good)
56. Tyger Tyger: A Goblin Wars Book (First book of a fantasy series. I liked it.)
57. "Guts" by Gary Paulsen (non-fiction)
58. Plain Kate (Liked this one two. Fantasy)
59. The Curse of the Wendigo (a fun continuation of Rick Yancey's "The Monstrumologist")
60. "Emily the Strange: Let There Be Dark"
61. "Emily The Strange: Chairman of the Bored"
62. "Sea of Trolls"
63. "Land of Silver Apples"
64. "Across the Universe (not out yet but gets a star)
65. Wither (not out yet but gets a star)


Check out My Top #Kidlit reads here.
And My Top #Middle-Grade reads here.


Shan's Top Lists of Picture books can be found here.
Her Top List of books for Middle-Schoolers can be found here.