Welcome Cori!
Let's talk books! Name your top 5 favorite YA Novels:
5. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Now I
know what you’re thinking: That’s not YA! But poetry has no age-specific
market. When I was in high school, I kept a secret copy of Leaves of Grass in my leather Bible case when I had to go to
church. I feel as though that anecdote says just about everything you need to
know about me J
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. This book!
AH! So, I absolutely love that Katsa is a sword-wielding survivor, but I also
just think this is one of the best love stories that has been written in the
last twenty years. Cashore takes her time in revealing how feelings spring up
even through the rockiest of soil, and how true love has no respect for good
intentions.
3. The Lumateer Chronicles by Melina
Marchetta. This is technically three books (Finnikin
of the Rock, Froi of the Exiles, Quintana of Charyn), but they create one
unbelievable story of a feudal world where love and gender roles and desperate
survival are all one tangled, breathtaking, high stakes cord. I fell for every
single character in these books—even the “bad guys.” Also, the titles of these
books might set off high fantasy alarms, but I assure you that these stories
are accessible to non-fantasy readers. Give them a try; you won’t be sorry.
Promise.
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This
story speaks to me. I mean, really, it whispers into my ear about how you have
to be strong. You have to face down all the personal injustices of the world
and make your own way. Your own stand. I needed this story when I was fourteen
and newly heartbroken, and I need even more now as a thirty-one year-old. Jane Eyre proves that the world is not
fair, and good people are often punished for trust and vision. But that’s not the
end of it! After a good trek across the moors, you can handle anything—like
Jane.
1. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
(again!). This novel confused me for forty pages, and then it broke my heart
into a million shiny pieces before placing them all back together again. If you
started this story and didn’t get through the first few chapters, try again,
and give in to the confusion. This book sets up a world and then turns it all
upside down in the best way. It is one of the most hard-hitting coming of age
stories, and Melina Marchetta is (in my humble opinion) the best YA writer currently
out there.
About the Book:
Breaking Sky
Sourcebooks Fire
March 2015 ● ISBN: 9781492601418
Hardcover/$16.99 ● Ages 14+
Fly to the last drop
of fuel. Fight to the last drop of blood.
Showoff. Reckless. Maverick. Chase Harcourt, call
sign “Nyx”, isn’t one to play it safe. In the year 2048, America is locked in a
cold war – and the country’s best hope is the elite teen fighter pilots of the
United Star Academy. Chase is one of only two daredevil pilots chosen to fly an
experimental “Streaker” jet. But few know the pain and loneliness of her past.
All anyone cares about is that Chase aces the upcoming Streaker trials, proving
the prototype jet can knock the enemy out of the sky.
But as the world tilts toward war, Chase cracks open a
military secret. There’s a third Streaker, whose young hotshot pilot, Tristan,
can match her on the ground and in the clouds. And Chase doesn’t play well with
others. But to save her country, she may just have to put her life in the hands
of the competition.
CORI MCCARTHY studied
poetry and screenwriting before falling in love with writing for teens at
Vermont College of Fine Arts. From a military family, Cori was born on Guam and
lived a little bit of everywhere before she landed in Michigan. Learn more
about her books at CoriMcCarthy.com.
“Strong
characterizations, action, adventure, and emotion combine to produce a sci-fi
novel that is more than just the sum of its parts.” —School Library Journal STARRED Review
“Smart, exciting,
confident—and quite possibly the next
Big Thing.” —Kirkus Reviews
“McCarthy deploys
breath-stopping depictions of high-stakes piloting with enviable ease, and the
in-your-face personal confrontations are nearly as taut.” —Publishers Weekly
