Day 9: Books for YA Readers

   So one thing I deal with almost everyday is a lack of student interest when it comes to reading. We all have listened to someone in our lives tell us how hard reading is or that they just aren't interested in books, but what they are really trying to saying is that they just haven't found the right book yet. 

     I know how this feels, because I was that student. I hid behind a mask of disinterest not because I didn't want to read, but because as a young adult, reading wasn't easy. Looking back on it, I am glad now that reading isn't easy; that reading is something that requires hard work and dedication to pursue and offers itself up only after a period of hours/days to truly enjoy.  That through this you become friends and family with the characters and immerse yourself in their world far more so than any movie or T.V. show can ever boast about and that there is no bigger truth than, "The book was better than the movie." 

     So over the next few weeks I will be promoting some of my favorite must reads for those of you who just haven't found the right book yet. 

FANTASY:

     Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

     Eli Monpress is talented. He's charming. And he's a thief.  But not just any thief. He's the greatest thief of the age - and he's also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls - he's going to put his plan into effect. The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he'll need to steal some big things. But he'll start small for now. He'll just steal something that no one will miss - at least for a while. Like a king. 

   

    Nathaniel is a magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hot-shot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of his elders, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who's boss. With revenge on his mind, he summons the powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion.


                                                                  

    Originally published in 1968, Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea marks the first of the six now beloved Earthsea titles. Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

    It begins in Chickentown, USA. There lives Candy Quackenbush, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future might hold. When the answer comes, it’s not one she expects. Welcome to the Abarat, a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day. Candy has a place in this extraordinary land: She is here to help save the Abarat from the dark forces that are stirring at its heart—forces older than Time itself, and more evil than anything Candy has ever encountered. She’s a strange heroine, she knows. But this is a strange world. And in the Abarat, all things are possible.