Well, here's the top list of YA novels updated May 1, 2009:
Abbott, Ellen Jensen. Watersmeet. Marshal Cavendish. 2009. 978-0-7614-5536-3. $16.99.
A surge in religious fervor increases the intolerance and cruelty in her settlement, so Abisina tries to find the mysterious place where her unknown father waits, called Watersmeet.
Abrahams, Peter. Reality Check. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-122767-7. $16.99
A rich girl's former small-town boyfriend comes to search for her when she goes missing from her fancy boarding school.
Alvarez, Julia. Return to Sender. Random House/Knopf. 2009. 978-0-375-85838-3. $16.99.
Tyler learns that honesty, patriotism, and the line between right and wrong are not always black and white when his family must hire migrant workers to save their Vermont dairy farm.
Anderson, Laure Halse. Wintergirls. Penguin/Viking Books. 2009. 978-0-670-01110-0. $17.99
Lia is haunted by her best friend's death from anorexia, as she struggles with the same eating disorder.
Boorhaem, Ellen. The Unnameables. Houghton Mifflin. 2008. 978-0-15-206368-9. $16.00.
In a place where everything has a name and every name has a meaning, outsider Medford Runyuin struggles in vain to follow the rules of his adopted home.
Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. Random House/Delacorte. 2009. 978-0-385-73397-7. $17.99.
Cameron knew there was something wrong when he started seeing pillars of fire and angels, but he never imagined he had mad cow disease.
Brooks, Laurie. Selkie Girl. Random House/Knopf. 2008. 978-0-375-85170-4. $15.99.
Sixteen-year-old Elin Jean, ostracized because of her webbed fingers, discovers the reason for her mother's unhappiness after finding evidence of her own mysterious origins.
Burg, Anne E. All the Broken Pieces. Scholastic. 2009. 978-0-545-08092-7. $16.99.
12-year-old Matt struggles to cope with his memories of family left behind in war-torn Vietnam with the help of his adoptive parents, his music teacher, and his baseball coach.
Calame, Don. Swim the Fly. Candlewick Press. 2009. 978-0-7636-4157-3. $16.99.
To impress a girl, unathletic Matt volunteers to swim in the boys' butterfly competition with the help of his two true friends as they face their true summer's goal.
Chaltas, Talia. Because I Am Furniture. Penguin/Viking. 2009. 978-0-670-06298-0. $16.99.
Anke watches her siblings and mother suffer at the hands of her abusive father until she finds enough strength, through involvement in volleyball, to demonstrate her needs.
Clayton, Emma. The Roar. Scholastic/Chicken House. 2009. 978-0-439-92593-8. $17.99.
The government is making thousands of children strong, agile and competitive, but why? Twelve-year-old Mika plays along, hoping the training will lead him to his kidnapped twin.
Clement-Moore, Rosemary. Highway to Hell. Random House / Delacorte Press. 2009. 978-0-385-73463-9. $16.99.
Maggie and Lisa find their spring break road trip interrupted by a cow’s carcass which launches them into a hunt for an evil demon terrorizing a remote desert.
Cody, Matthew. Powerless. Random House/Knopf. 2009. 978-0-375-89353-7. $15.99.
In Nobles Green there are six kids with superpowers, but the night they turn 13 the powers, and their memory of them, disappear.
Crowley, Suzanne Carlisle. The Stolen One. Harper Collins/Greenwillow. 2009. 978-0-06-123200-8. $17.99
In searching for her identity, Spirit finds that she is the daughter of a former queen and realizes who she truly loves, at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.
Davies, Jacqueline. Lost. Marshall Cavendish. 2009. 978-0-7614-5535-6. $16.99.
Essie, 16, sews all day for pennies at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to help feed her fatherless family and now to forget her little sister's death. Then the fire happens.
Dessen, Sarah. Along For the Ride. Penguin/Viking. 2009. 978-0-670-01194-0. $16.99.
Auden’s summer becomes one of second chances, not just for her but for her family and friends as well. The more chances she takes, the more she discovers about herself.
Echols, Jennifer. Going Too Far. Simon Pulse/MTV Pocket Books. 2009. 978-1-4165-7173-5. $11.00.
Meg is the blue haired girl in a small town, John is the cop who picks her up one night, and the relationship that develops causes all sorts of problems.
Ellis, Ann Dee. Everything Is Fine. Little, Brown and Company. 2009. 978-0-316-01364-2. $16.99.
Mazzy spends her summer making art and heating up marshmallows in the microwave, mainly because her mother won’t get out of bed and her father has left her alone.
Fantaskey, Beth. Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. Harcourt. 2009. 978-0-15-206384-9. $17.00
Jessica Packwood begins her senior year unaware that she’s destined to become the bride of an arrogant vampire prince who expects to establish his birthright and claim his prize.
Foxlee, Karen. The Anatomy of Wings. Random House / Knopf. 2009. 978-0-375-95643-0. $16.99.
Jenny’s beautiful sister is dead and nothing makes sense anymore. The only way for Jenny to right her world is to analyze the events leading up to her sister’s death.
George, Jessica Day. Princess of the Midnight Ball. Bloomsbury. 2009. 978-1-59990-322-4. $16.99.
When the decade long war ends, professional solider Galen finds work as a gardener in the king’s garden, only to help solve the puzzle involving twelve dancing princesses.
Gill, David Macinnis. Soul Enchilada. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-167301-6. $16.99.
When a repo demon comes for her Cadillac, Bug Smoot finds that her deceased grandfather pledged both her soul and her car as collateral on a deal.
Goodman, Alison. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn. Penguin/Viking Books. 2008. 978-0-670-06227-0. $19.99.
Sixteen-year-old Eon is the unlikeliest candidate for Dragoneye, but she holds great power and a dangerous secret that just might make her the greatest Dragoneye for centuries.
Gringas, Charlotte. Pieces of Me. Kids Can Press. 2009. 978-1-55453-242-1. $17.95.
Pieces of Mira: her crazy domineering mother, her mostly absent father, her artistic talent, her first friend Cath, the birdman. Will the pieces come together to free her to be herself?
Hartinger, Brent. Project Sweet Life. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-082411-2. $16.99.
Three friends spend the summer scheming to raise enough money so they won't have to get summer jobs but find this may be harder than actually working.
Headley, Justina Chen. North of Beautiful. Little, Brown and Company. 978-0-316-02505-8. $16.99.
Terra Cooper is held back in life by her facial port-wine stain, her controlling father and herself. When she meets Jacob’s family, she and her mother begin to escape.
Herlong, M.H. The Great Wide Sea. Penguin/Viking. 2008. 978-0-670-06330-7. $16.99.
His mother is dead and his father is missing at sea. With a horrific storm brewing, can sixteen-year-old Ben and his younger brothers survive?
Hernandez, David. No More Us for You. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-117333-2. $16.99.
Carlos has a cheating girlfriend, a mystery man urinating on the floor at work, and a friend in a coma. Can Isabel—still grieving her dead boyfriend—help him cope?
Howell, Simmone. Everything Beautiful. Bloomsbury. 2008. 978-1-59990-042-1. $19.99.
Riley is intent on escaping the Christian camp her father has sent her to before the week is out, but meeting Dylan Luck, who uses a wheelchair, challenges her own beliefs and plans.
Jones, Carrie. Need. Bloomsbury. 2008. 978-1-59990-338-5. $16.99.
Zara moves to Bedford and discovers that not everything is what it seems in the small Maine town.
Libby, Alisa M. The King’s Rose. Penguin/Dutton. 2009. 978-0-525-47970-3. $17.99.
A pawn to her family's ambition, Catherine Howard tries to give Henry VIII a son.
Livingston, Leslie. Wondrous Strange. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-157539-6. $16.99.
Faeries, pixies, Janus guards, and struggling actresses populate this fantasy that weaves Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream with a contemporary New York City Setting.
Magoon, Kekla. The Rock and the River. 2009. 978-1-4169-7582-3. $15.99.
In 1968 Chicago, Sam struggles to decide whether to support his father's nonviolent approach to civil rights or his brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party.
Mass, Wendy. 11 Birthdays. Scholastic. 2009. 978-0-545-05239-9. $16.99.
On Amanda's eleventh birthday everything goes wrong, and she is celebrating without her best friend. When she wakes up the next morning, it's her birthday again...and again...and again.
McKernan, Victoria. The Devil’s Paintbox. Random House/Knopf. 2009. 978-0-375-83750-0. $16.99.
Orphaned siblings Aiden and Maddy have survived Kansas, barely, setting out on the Oregon Trail just to have regular meals. But the trip is more than they expected...
McMann, Lisa. Fade. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse. 2009. 978-141695358-6. $15.99.
Janie’s ability to see people’s dreams leads police to a predator who is assaulting girls at her high school. But this gift may jeopardize the first love she’s ever known.
Meminger, Neesha. Shine, Coconut Moon. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books. 2009. 978-1-4169-5495-8. $16.99.
Samar (Sam) is a Sikh ostensibly Americanized, until her uncle shows up, igniting her interest in her culture and past in a post-9/11 world.
Myers, Walter Dean. Dope Sick. Harper Collins/Harper Teen. 2009. 978-0-06-121477-6. $16.00.
An undercover cop is shot in a drug sting. Wounded, dealer Lil J is hiding in an abandoned apartment with a stranger and a TV that replays events in Lil J’s life.
Napoli, Donna Jo. Alligator Bayou. Random House / Knopf. 2009. 978-0-385-74654-0. $16.99.
14-year-old Calogero emigrates to Louisiana in 1899, where his tiny Sicilian community faces discrimination and worse in a small town where they’re considered neither black no