Here’s a list, via Mitali Perkins, of the book nominated for the The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) list of Best Books for Young Adults. “The Best Books for Young Adults committee each year selects and annotates a list of significant adult and young adult books, as well as chooses a list of top ten titles from the full list. It is a general list of fiction and nonfiction titles selected for their proven or potential appeal to the personal reading tastes of the young adult.” The lists are presented at the ALA Midwinter meeting in January, so these books are nominated for the 2010 list.

I haven’t read any of the nominated books, but these are the ones I’m interested in reading:

Anderson, Laure Halse. Wintergirls. Penguin/Viking Books. 2009. 978-0-670-01110-0. $17.99
Lia is haunted by her best friend’s death from anorexia, as she struggles with the same eating disorder.

Boorhaem, Ellen. The Unnameables. Houghton Mifflin. 2008. 978-0-15-206368-9. $16.00.
In a place where everything has a name and every name has a meaning, outsider Medford Runyuin struggles in vain to follow the rules of his adopted home.

Burg, Anne E. All the Broken Pieces. Scholastic. 2009. 978-0-545-08092-7. $16.99.
12-year-old Matt struggles to cope with his memories of family left behind in war-torn Vietnam with the help of his adoptive parents, his music teacher, and his baseball coach.

Clayton, Emma. The Roar. Scholastic/Chicken House. 2009. 978-0-439-92593-8. $17.99.
The government is making thousands of children strong, agile and competitive, but why? Twelve-year-old Mika plays along, hoping the training will lead him to his kidnapped twin.

Davies, Jacqueline. Lost. Marshall Cavendish. 2009. 978-0-7614-5535-6. $16.99.
Essie, 16, sews all day for pennies at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to help feed her fatherless family and now to forget her little sister’s death. Then the fire happens.

George, Jessica Day. Princess of the Midnight Ball. Bloomsbury. 2009. 978-1-59990-322-4. $16.99.
When the decade long war ends, professional solider Galen finds work as a gardener in the king’s garden, only to help solve the puzzle involving twelve dancing princesses.

Headley, Justina Chen. North of Beautiful. Little, Brown and Company. 978-0-316-02505-8. $16.99.
Terra Cooper is held back in life by her facial port-wine stain, her controlling father and herself. When she meets Jacob’s family, she and her mother begin to escape.

Howell, Simmone. Everything Beautiful. Bloomsbury. 2008. 978-1-59990-042-1. $19.99.
Riley is intent on escaping the Christian camp her father has sent her to before the week is out, but meeting Dylan Luck, who uses a wheelchair, challenges her own beliefs and plans.

Libby, Alisa M. The King’s Rose. Penguin/Dutton. 2009. 978-0-525-47970-3. $17.99.
A pawn to her family’s ambition, Catherine Howard tries to give Henry VIII a son.

Livingston, Leslie. Wondrous Strange. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-157539-6. $16.99.
Faeries, pixies, Janus guards, and struggling actresses populate this fantasy that weaves Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream with a contemporary New York City Setting.

Smith, Sherri L. Flygirl. Penguin/G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 2009. 978-0-399-24709-5. $16.99.
During WWII Ida Mae Jones must go against her family and heritage to join the Army’s WASP program and fulfill her dream of being a pilot.

I love picking books off lists and adding them to my list. Have you read any of these? Are you interested in reading any of them?