12 Great Books for Gift-Giving (12/12/12)

Happy holidays! Have you finished your holiday shopping? Or started it? I have to admit we have no presents under the tree yet. This is a busy time at school (as you all know) so I'm always one of those last-minute shoppers. If you have any book-lovers on your list, here's some great books for gift-giving. I included a mix of young adult, contemporary, and a classic thrown in, as well. (Images courtesy of www.Amazon.com)

For The Hunger Games fan:

1. The Panem Companion by V. Arrow

For anyone (especially those that like tear-jerkers):

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

For females who enjoy dystopia love-triangles:

3. The Matched Trilogy Box Set by Ally Condie

For the conspiracy-theory fan:

4. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

For fans of The Giver:

5. Son by Lois Lowry

For those who love suspense-thrillers, with some twisted reality thrown in:

6. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

For Gary Paulsen (a.k.a. adventure, survival) fans:

7. The River by Gary Paulsen

More for The Hunger Games fans:

8. Blood Red Road (Dustlands, book 1) by Moira Young

and the sequel to Blood Red Road:

9. Rebel Heart (Dustlands, book 2) by Moira Young

For the Divergent fan:

10. Free Four: Tobias Tells the Divergent Story (Kindle edition) by Veronica Roth

For Stephanie Plum fans:

11. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

For anyone (especially those who appreciate the timeless classics):

12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Worth mentioning:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (This deluxe pocket edition is so cute.)

The Chaos Walking Trilogy (Kindle edition) by Patrick Ness (Includes The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men)

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (Don't expect a book like Harry Potter, though!)

Threat Vector by Tom Clancy

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson

The Mortal Instruments Box Set: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Finale (Hush, Hush series) by Becca Fitzpatrick 

For more suggestions, check out my pinboards on Pinterest for book lovers:

Books Worth Reading: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-worth-reading/

YA Literature: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/young-adult-ya-literature/

Books for Boys: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-for-boys/

Books for Girls: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-for-girls/

Do you have book suggestions? PLEASE post them below! :)

Happy Holidays, Friends!

The Best Pin Boards on Pinterest for Young Adult Books

To continue the celebration for the ALA's Banned Books Week, here are my favorite Pinterest pin boards to follow to keep up with the best and newest titles in Young Adult (YA) literature. Share the boards with your students when they are looking for a new book to read.

Top 5 YA Lit Book Boards on Pinterest

My Top 5 Picks for Young Adult Literature Book Boards:

1. New in Young Adult Fiction by GoodReads: At the start of every month, we'll post the most popular new releases in young adult fiction, the books that Goodreads members are adding to their to-read shelves!

2. Oakland Public Library TeenZone: "Books, movies, videogames, events & more! Our 6 TeenZones are your spot to have fun, meet up, explore and participate! Come visit us. http://www.oaklandlibrary.org." I can't choose just one of their pin boards. Seriously. You'll want to follow all of them.

3. Scholastic has several boards that feature YA book choices, so I'm lumping them together:

  - Dystopian Picks: Who doesn't love a good dystopia? And in YA lit, there's plenty of great new ones.

  - Summer Reading Picks: Even though this board contains many children's books, there are several good YA books, as well.

  - Baseball Picks: I love baseball and baseball-themed books. My only complaint is I wish there were   more books on the board!

One board I'd LOVE to see from Scholastic is a "BookBeat" board with links to all their titles from their BookBeat catalog. So how 'bout it, Scholastic? ;)

4. YA Favorites by Random House Kids: features some new titles you may not see elsewhere.

5. Young Adult Literature by Little Rock AFB Library: Offers a great selection of books for a variety of readers.

Worth Mentioning:
Greece Public Library's Teen Books is another awesome pin board for YA fiction. Actually, they have a great assortment of so many boards, they are worth a "Follow All"!

And the icing on the cake for those looking for YA authors to follow is YA Highway's post with a plethora of links to authors on Pinterest: YA Authors on Pinterest

If you are a teen librarian, an excellent collaborative board to follow is the Teen Programming in Libraries (a collaborative board)

Collaborate With Me!?
I've looked for collaborative boards that focus solely on YA title picks. I haven't come across too many,  and mine (Young Adult (YA) Literature) is a little sad and needs more pins. I tend to pin more on my Books for Boys and Books for Girls boards, so I'd love to make it a collaborative board. With 2,000+ followers, it might be a good opportunity to get some exposure, too. If you are interested, leave your Pinterest address below and I will add you.

Also, leave a link to any other boards I've forgotten (I know there are many more!).