2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers

The Quick Picks list, presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting suggests books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read. The committee also selected a top ten list, denoted here by an asterisk.

At Blackstone Library

Nonfiction

Beecroft, Simon. Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. DK, 2011. From Admiral Ackbar to Yoda.

*Beever, Julian. Pavement Chalk Artist: The Three-Dimensional Drawings of Julian Beever. Step into street art.

Bragg, Georgia. How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous. Illus. by Kevin O'Malley. Walker & Company, 2011. The down and dirty on great deaths in history.

*Dugard, Jaycee. A Stolen Life: A Memoir. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Eighteen years in captivity—in her own words.

Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records 2011. Guinness Worlds Records, 2010.. The biggest, fastest, and strongest.

Scholastic. Ripley's Believe It or Not! Special Edition 2012. Scholastic, Inc./Ripley's Publishing, 2011. Strange but true!

Tebow, Tim. Through My Eyes: A Quarterback’s Journey. HarperCollins Publishers/Zondervan, 2011. Up-close and personal with a Heisman Trophy winner.

Fiction

Beam, Cris. I am J. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011. J was born a girl but feels like a boy.

Blake, Kendare. Anna Dressed in Blood. Tom Doherty Associates/Tor Teen, 2011. Cas kills the dead, it's his job.

Brosgol, Vera. Anya's Ghost. Macmillan/First Second, 2011. Anya's new best friend is a ghost with a secret!

Gidwitz, Adam. A Tale Dark and Grimm. Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group, 2010. Hansel goes to hell and Gretel slays a demon.

Harrington, Kim. Clarity. Scholastic/Point, 2011. One touch can solve a murder.

Harris, Carrie. Bad Taste in Boys. Random House/Delacorte, 2011. Can Katie save her town from a zombie virus AND land the hot boy?

Riders of the Apocalypse Series: Kessler, Jackie Morse. Hunger. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Graphia, 2010. While battling anorexia, Lisabeth becomes Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Lewis, Stewart. You Have Seven Messages. Random House/Delacorte Press, 2011. Was everything in Luna's life a lie?

Lore, Pittacus. I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies #1). HarperCollins Publishers/Harper, 2010. Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are dead. Now they are coming for number 4.

Marcus, Kimberly. Exposed. Random House Children's Books, 2011. Who should Liz believe? Her best friend or her brother?

McMann, Lisa. Cryer's Cross. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, 2011. Missing teens and mysterious messages.

Mlynowski, Sarah. Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have). HarperCollins Publishers/HarperTeen, 2011. April's crazy junior year starts with one big lie.

Northrop, Michael. Trapped. Scholastic Press, 2011. Seven teens stranded. Who will survive?

*Patterson, James. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. Illus. by Lara Park and Chris Tebbets. Little, Brown and Company, 2011. It all started going wrong in middle school...

Peirce, Lincoln. Big Nate on a Roll. HarperCollins/Harper, 2011. Antics of a funny kid.

Santat, Dan. Sidekicks. Scholastic, Inc./Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011. Captain Amazing is getting old and needs to choose a sidekick.

Schroeder, Lisa. The Day Before. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, 2011. Amber and Cade each hope for one perfect day.

Schreiber, Joe. Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. One exchange student + 1 borrowed Jaguar + 5 assassinations = 1 epic prom night

Shepard, Sara. The Lying Game. HarperCollins Publishers/HarperTeen, 2010. Your best friends just may be your enemies.

Summers, Courtney. Fall For Anything. Macmillan/St. Martin's Griffin, 2010. Eddie has unanswered questions about her father’s suicide.

*TenNapel, Doug. Ghostopolis. Scholastic, Inc./Graphix, 2010. Garth finds a new reason to live in the land of the dead.

Van Cleave, Ryan G. Unlocked. Bloomsbury Publishing/Walker Books for Young Readers, 2011. Will Alex betray his best friend?

Vrettos, Adrienne Maria. Burnout. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2011. Halloween nightmare or reality?

Wells, Robison. Variant. HarperCollins Publishers/HarperTeen, 2011. Playing by the rules can be deadly.

In LION SYSTEM (Place a hold on these; not at Blackstone) Nonfiction

*Almerico, Kendall and Tess Hottenroth. Whoogles: Can a Dog Make a Woman Pregnant?...and Hundreds of Other Searches That Make You Ask "Who Would Google That?” 2010. Google has all the answers to every question, even the ones you never thought to ask.

Barton, Chris. Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, 2011. Spies, robbers, runaways . . . could you get away with it?

Benson, Richard. F in Exams, The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers. 2011. “Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? At the bottom.”

Black, Jake. The Ultimate Guide to WWE. 2011. Your favorite WWE wrestlers all in one place!

Bleiman, Andrew; Eastland, Chris. ZooBorns: The Newest, Cutest Animals From the World's Zoos and Aquariums. 2010. Baby animals...Awwwwww!

Brady Games. Guinness World Records, Gamers Edition 2011. Top characters, high scores, and all the best games.

Buchholz, Rachel. How to Survive Anything 2011. From embarrassing parents to shark attacks.

Claybourne, Anna. 100 Most Awesome Things On The Planet. 2011 Mount Everest, nanomachines, the Great Wall of China, and more.

Conrad, Lauren. Lauren Conrad Style. 2010. Exceptional style for every day.

Cowsill, Alan. Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide. 2010. Heroes and villians, from A-Z.

*Haugen, Brenda. The Zodiac Killer: Terror and Mystery. 2010. The killer that got away with it.

Kaelin, Lauren and Sophia Fraioli. When Parents Text, So Much Said...So Little Understood. 2011. LOL!

Levy, Joel. Phobiapedia: All the Things We Fear the Most! 2011. Does anyone suffer from xanthophobia? The fear of yellow.

Murrie, Steve and Matthew Murrie. Every Day on Earth. 2011. 2,740 miles of Twizzlers are made every day.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Curioddities. 2011. Off-the-wall facts like fingernails that are 33 feet long.

Sherman, M. Zachary. Fighting Phantoms. 2011. Shot down behind enemy lines.

Shoket, Ann. Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Style: How to Find Your Perfect Look 2011. What’s your look? Girly, glam, or indie?

Shoreline Publishing. Year in Sports 2012. Big shots, big wins, and big buck (prior years in system)

*Snider, Brandon T. DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide. 2011 From Aquaman to Wonder Woman.

Tibballs, Geoff, Judy Barratt, and Sally McFall (eds). Ripley’s Believe it or Not!: Strikingly True. 2011. Unbelievably weird!

Fiction

50 Cent. Playground. Illus. by Lizzi Akana. 2011. How a bully became an artist.

*Aguirre, Ann. Enclave. 2011. The fight to survive continues underground.

Barnholdt, Lauren. Sometimes it Happens. 2011. Sometimes you fall for your best friend's boyfriend.

Binns, B. A. Pull. 2010. What happens after dad murders mom?

*Booth, Coe. Bronxwood. 2011 Too much pressure, too many choices, not enough options.

Brooks, Kevin. iBoy. 2011. After Tom’s head-on collision with an iPhone, he’s out for revenge.

Busch, Jeff. Zombie High Yearbook '64. 2011. Not your typical yearbook.

Cerrito, Angela. The End of the Line. 2011 Can Robbie change or will he be stuck in his own prison forever?

*Elkeles, Simone. Chain Reaction. 2011 Will Luis choose the girl or the gang?

Ford, Christopher. Stickman Odyssey: An Epic Doodle Book One. 2011 The Odyssey, like you’ve never seen it.

Greenman, Catherine. Hooked. 2011 Seventeen and pregnant. Where do you turn?

Hopkins, Ellen. Perfect. 2011. What is the price of perfection?

Hunter, Travis. Two the Hard Way. 2010 Two brothers, two paths.

Riders of the Apocalypse Series. Kessler, Jackie Morse. Rage. 2011 Missy is a cutter, now she wields a larger

blade as War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Lancaster, Mike A. Human.4. 2011 Alien invasion or something else?

Littman, Sarah Darer. Want to Go Private? 2011. Is Abby's online friend responsible for her disappearance?

McClintock, Norah. She Said/She Saw. 2011. Two friends are dead. What did Tegan see?

Nelson, Blake. Recovery Road. 2011. Does rehab love work in real life?

Proimos, James. 12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn. 2011 The mission: find the unattainable and beautiful woman.

Restrepo, Bettina. Illegal. 2011 Nora will do anything to find her father.

Roth, Veronica. Divergent. 2011 In a perfect world, being different can be deadly.

Sanchez, Alex. Boyfriends with Girlfriends. 2011. Sergio and Kimiko, Lance and Allie—but who's attracted to whom?

Urban Underground Series

Schraff, Anne. To Catch a Dream. 2010. Able's job at the donut shop may be in jeopardy.

Schraff, Anne. The Fairest. 2011. The girls at Tubman High will stop at nothing to win Princess of the Fair.

Schraff, Anne. The Quality of Mercy. 2011. Alonee and Oliver investigate who is vandalizing the school.

Schraff, Anne. Wildflower. 2010. Chelsea rebels against her father's rules.

Schraff, Anne. Leap of Faith. 2011. Ernesto witnesses a robbery.

Schraff, Anne. The Lost. 2011. Is Carmen’s new boyfriend in a gang?

Schraff, Anne. No Fear. 2011. Naomi stands up to her abusive father.

Schraff, Anne. The Stranger. 2010. Ernesto, the new boy at school, falls for Naomi.

Smith, Alexander Gordon. Death Sentence (Escape From Furnace #3). 2011 Alex fights to keep his identity while transforming into what he hates most.

Springer, Kristina. My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours. 2010 Tell me about your boyfriend.

Strasnick, Lauren. Her and You and Me. 2010. Caught between a brother and a sister.

Surviving South Side Series

Fontes, Justine. Benito Runs. 2011. Benny's father returns from Iraq with PTSD.

Korman, Susan. Bad Deal. 2011. Everyone wants what Fish is selling.

Simon, Charnan. Shattered Star. 2011. How far will Cassie go for fame?

Simon, Charnan. Plan B. 2011. When Lucy gets pregnant, will Luke do the right thing?

Weyn, Suzanne. Beaten. 2011. Paige's “perfect” boyfriend is not so perfect.

Weyn, Suzanne. Recruited. 2011. Are the offers too good to be true?

Wilkinson, Lili. Pink. 2011. New school, new friends, new look.