Teens vote for favorite young adult book
Contact: Nichole Gilbert
YALSA
312-280-4387
ngilbert@ala.org
For Immediate Release
November 6, 2006
Teens vote for favorite young adult book
CHICAGO - Teen readers across the country voted “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J.K. Rowling as their favorite book to take the #1 spot on the annual Teens’ Top Ten (TTT), sponsored by The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest growing division of the American Library Association (ALA). The vote took place during Teen Read Week (TRW), October 15-21, 2006, and gave teens an opportunity to voice their choice of the best new young adult books.
TTT is a part of YALSA’s Young Adult (YA) Galley Project, which facilitates access to advance copies of young adult books to national teen book discussion groups. These groups evaluated books that were published from January 2005 through April 2006, and created a list of 22 nominations for the best new books for young adults. Teen voters across the country then cast ballots for their three favorites, creating the 2006 Teens’ Top Ten booklist of the best new books for young adults.
Teens were encouraged to vote for their favorite young adult books during Teen Read Week from the official nomination list posted online at the Teens’ Top Ten site.
Over 5000 online ballots were cast and the results, combined with the results of a separate vote of the TTT groups, determined the final ranking of the 10 top books of the year, as selected by teen readers.
With J.K. Rowling’s sixth Harry Potter book topping the list, the 2006 Teens’ Top Ten includes:
1. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic Press, 2005).
2. "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2005).
3. "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2005).
4. "Rebel Angels" by Libba Bray (Delacorte Press, 2005).
5. "Peeps" by Scott Westerfeld (Razorbill, 2005).
6. "13 Little Blue Envelopes" by Maureen Johnson (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2005).
7. "Poison" by Chris Wooding (Orchard Books, 2005).
8. "Captain Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth" by J.V. Hart (Laura Geringer Books, 2005).
9. "If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince?" by Melissa Kantor (Hyperion Books for Children, 2005).
10."Elsewhere" by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2005).
TTT voting groups include the CHS Book Club of Central High School in Grand Junction, Colo.; Middle Creek High School Printz Club of Middle Creek High School in Apex, N.C.; Teen Advisory Board (TAB) of Downers Grove (Ill.) Public Library; Teen Literacy Initiative of Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wis.; Young Adult Advisory Council (YAAC) of City of Mesa (Ariz.) Library; Best Books for Young Adults Discussion Group of Elizabeth (N.J.) Public Library; City Library Street Team of Salt Lake City (Utah) Public Library; Danbury Library Teen Council of Danbury (Conn.) Library; Keene (N.H.) Public Library’s Keene Teens Read group; Mary Jacobs Teen Group of Mary Jacobs Memorial Library in Rocky Hill, N.J.; Stratford (Conn.) Library Youth Review Board of the Stratford Library Association; Teen Advisory Board of Tippecanoe Public Library in Lafayette, Ind.; Teen Talk Book Club of Lincoln County High School Media Center in Stanford, Ky.; Watertown-Mayer Book Club of Watertown (Minn.) Public Library; and Young Adult Advisory Council (YAAC) of Johnson County Library in Shawnee Mission, Kan.
YALSA’s YA Galley Committee coordinates TTT. Its members include Chair Edith Cummings; Annie Bergeron; Betsy Fraser; Julie Hall; Lynn Kaminski; Diane Monnier; Sydna Wexler; and consultant Sharyn November.
Final nominations for the 2007 Teens’ Top Ten vote will be posted in April at
www.ala.org/teenstopten.
For nearly 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audio books for teens.
For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to
www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail:
yalsa@ala.org.
