The Children’s Book Review | September 8, 2016
Popular Books for Teens
Our top selling book for teens is the self-motivating journal Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration. This month Lady Midnight, by Cassandra Clare, and the Glass Sword, by Victoria Aveyard, are in our hand-picked list from the Best Selling Young Adult HardCover books listed on The New York Times. The best selling young adult titles also includes Rainbow Rowell’s poignant and ever-popular Eleanor and Park.
The Children’s Book Review’s Best Selling Book for Teens
Start Where You Are: A Journal For Self-Exploration
Created by Meera Lee Patel
Publisher’s Synopsis: Start Where You Are is an interactive journal designed to help readers nurture their creativity, mindfulness, and self-motivation. It helps readers navigate the confusion and chaos of daily life with a simple reminder: that by taking the time to know ourselves and what those dreams are, we can appreciate the world around us and achieve our dreams.
Featuring vibrant hand-lettering and images that have attracted a large following for her stationery and textile line in boutiques across the country, Meera Lee Patel’s uplifting book presents supportive prompts and exercises along with inspirational quotes to encourage reflection through writing, drawing, chart-making, and more.
Featuring inspiring quotes from writers, artists, and other visionaries paired with open-ended questions and prompts, with plenty of room for writing and reflecting, this appealing full-color book will make a perfect gift and keepsake as well as being a powerful tool for positive change.
Ages 14-101 | Publisher: TarcherPerigee | August 13, 2016 | ISBN-13: 978-0997051124
Nationwide Best Selling Young Adult Books
Lady Midnight
Written by Cassandra Clare
Publisher’s Synopsis: Sam just got a hamster for a pet. But the hamster is kind of boring … he just eats and sleeps and gets his shavings wet. Inspired by her book of mythological creatures, Sam longs for a more exciting pet. But she soon realizes that taking care of these magical beasts might not be as wonderful as she thought. Sasquatches are messy, unicorns are shy, gryphons scare the dogs at the dogpark, and having a fire extinguisher handy at all times makes dragons seem like an awful lot of work. In the end, Sam realizes that her hamster is a pretty sweet and safe pet … or is he?
If I Had a Gryphon is a raucous rhyming read-aloud about fantastical beasts in everyday situations–and the increasingly beleaguered heroine who has to deal with them.
Ages 14+ | Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books | Mar. 8 2016 | ISBN-13: 978-1442468351
Glass Sword
Written by Victoria Aveyard
Publisher’s Synopsis: The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.
Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?
Ages 14+ | Publisher: HarperTeen | Feb. 9 2016 | ISBN-13: 978-0062310668
Eleanor & Park
“Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.”—John Green, The New York Times Book Review
Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.
Publisher’s Synopsis: Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.
Eleanor & Park is the winner of the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2013
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of 2013
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013
An NPR Best Book of 2013
Ages 13-17 | Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin | 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-1250012579
Six of Crows
Written by
Publisher’s Synopsis: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction–if they don’t kill each other first.
Ages 12-18 | Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. | Sept. 29, 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1627792127
A Court of Mist and Fury
Publisher’s Synopsis: The # 1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas’ spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Feyre survived Amarantha’s clutches to return to the Spring Court–but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can’t forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin’s people.
Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms–and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future–and the future of a world cleaved in two.
With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas’s masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.
Ages 14+ | Publisher: Bloomsbury | 2016 | ISBN-13: 978-1619634466
This information for the best selling books was gathered from the New York Times Best Sellers list for hardcover young adult books, which reflects the sales of books from books sold nationwide, including independent and chain stores. It is correct at the time of publication and presented in random order. Visit www.nytimes.com for their most current and up-to-date list.
For more best selling fiction Young Adult books, follow along with our Best YA tag.