The Teen Top Ten for 2009!

The votes are in and the winners have been announced! Drum roll please...

Number 10: Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. This is a great read for fantasy fans.

Number 9: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart. Contemporary fiction about a most unusual high school girl.

Number 8: Untamed, by P.C. & Kristin Cast. It's easy to get hooked on the House of Night series about a vampyre finishing school. Don't miss it!

Number 7: Wake, by Lisa McMann. Believe me, you don't want dreams like Janie gets in this book.

Number 6: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. How would you like to grow up in a graveyard, with ghosts for parents and friends? For a special treat, check out the audio version read by the author.

Number 5: Identical, by Ellen Hopkins. You can always count on this author to deliver a heavy-duty, gut-wrenching story. This one's no exception. Not for the faint of heart.

Number 4: City of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare. If you liked the first in this series, City of Bones, you'll love this one. Our Teen Book Club gave it 5 stars!

Number 3: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. You won't be able to put this one down, and luckily you can jump right into the sequel, Catching Fire. I loved these books!

Number 2: Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer. Enough said.

And the best book of 2009, according to teens across the country, is:

Number 1: Paper Towns, by John Green. This book would be most appreciated by high schoolers who have suffered through a difficult relationship. Serious and funny at the same time, it really makes you think.

There are some really great books here, so check one out the next time you're in the Library!

Make Your Voice Heard - Vote Now!

Now's the time to vote for your favorite book of 2009. Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year. Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year. Readers ages twelve to eighteen can vote from August 24th through September 18th. Click on the image to start voting!


There are some great books on the list of nominations this year. It wouldn't surprise me if some of you have read most of them on the list! Make your voice heard, and vote today!

Back to School

Summer Reading Wrap-Up

We had great participation in the Teen Summer Reading Program, with lots of entries into the weekly drawings. Seven winners received gift certificates for iTunes, the Candy Store on Main Street, and Paradise Hamburgers and Ice Cream.


Our grand prize winner of a beautiful blue iPod Nano was Brigette! She wrote lots of book reviews and had a good number of entries into the drawings. See - it pays to read!

Our new Teen Book Club got off to an exciting start with The Hunger Games, a gripping story of survival. At our meeting to discuss the book, we had food that might have appeared in the book. It was great fun with a turnout of 10 teens! If you'd like to join the book club, contact me at 415-789-2665, ext. 238 or email me at jschafer@bel-tib-lib.org.


School Starts! I hope you all get the classes you want and the best teachers available. Stop by the Teen Lounge on Tuesdays after school for snacks, games, socializing, and, oh yeah, homework! Starts September 1st.

Help Choose the Best Books of 2009

Impossible, Evermore, Identical, Paper Towns, The Hunger Games, Graceling – What do these books have in common? They are just six of the 25 books nominated by teens for the best young adult books of the year, the Teen Top Ten. You can vote for your favorites starting August 24th. Voting ends September 18th, and the results will be announced during Teen Read Week, October 18-24.

In the meantime, start reading! Check out as many of these books as you can, lobby your friends, and vote in October. If you can’t find a book on the shelf in the library, ask the Teen Librarian or a Reference Librarian to request it for you (it's free).

Here are some of the nominees:

The full list of nominees is:

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Untamed by Kristin & P.C. Cast
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Truancy by Isamu Fukui
Truancy: Origins by Isamu Fukui
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Paper Towns by John Green
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
Identical by Ellen Hopkins
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott
Wake by Lisa McMann
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Bloodline by Katy Moran
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Evermore by Alyson Noel
Geek Charming by Robin Palmer
Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee

If this isn't enough for you, check out last year's winners!

Teen Top Ten for 2008

The 2008 Teen Top Ten!

After months of anticipation and a week of voting, here are the results of the latest Teen Top Ten - the favorite books of 2008 as voted on by 8,000 teens across the country. Drum roll please...

1. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
4. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
5. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
6. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
7. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
8. Extras by Scott Westerfeld
9. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
10. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

How many of these books have you read? Come on by the library and check them out. They are very popular, so you might want to call ahead and have the book you want held for you before making the trip.