Student Book Recommendations

One of the last things I ask my students to do at the end of the school year is to make a list of books they would recommend to their peers. I give a copy of this list to each student as a place to start their summer reading. I'm also happy to share this year's list with all of you. I've read 90 of them already. How did you do?

Recommended Books 2009-2010

13th Reality series – Dashner
39 Clues series – various
Alcatraz and the Librarian series – Sanderson
Alchemist, The series – Scott
Alex Rider series – Horowitz
Aliens series – various
All-American Girl – Cabot
Among the Hidden series – Haddix
Antsy Does Time – Schusterman
Artemis Fowl – Colfer
Bear Dancer – Wyss
Bella at Midnight – Stanley
Body Finder, The – Derting
Breath - Winton
Candy Shop Wars, The – Mull
Charlie Bone series – Nimmo
Chasing Vermeer - Ballitt
Children of the Lamp series – Kerr
Chosen One, The – Williams
Christmas Jar, The – Wright
Christmas List, The – Evans
Christmas Sweater, The – Beck
Chronicles of Vladmire Tod, The series – Brewer
Cirque du Freak – Shan
Cleopatra VI - Gregory
Climbing the Stairs – Venkatraman
Clique series – Harrison
Cold Service – Parker
Counting Stars – Holmes
Courting Miss Lancaster – Eden
Crooked Kind of Perfect – Urban
Cry of the Icemark series – Hill
Cut – McCormick
Daniel X series – Patterson
Dark Hills Divide - Carmer
Darklight – Livingston
Deadly Little Secret – Stolarz
Deathwatch – White
Deep & Dark & Dangerous – Hahn
Deep Down Popular – Stone
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series - Kinney
Don’t Don’t Tell Jokes – Sachar
Double Identity – Haddix
Dragon Keeper - Wilkinson
Dragon Slippers series – George
Dune series – Herbert
Dusty Britches – McClure
Elantris – Sanderson
Ella Enchanted – Levine
Ender’s Game series – Card
Eragon series – Paolini
Esperanza Rising – Ryan
Ever – Levine
Everest series – Korman
Extraordinary Adventures Alfred Kropp – Yancy
Fablehaven series – Mull
Face, The – Koonz
Fairest – Levine
Farworld series – Savage
Giver, The – Lowry
Going Postal – Pratchett
Goose Girl series – Hale
Guardians of Ga’Hoole series – Lasky
Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie – Shaffer
Harry Potter series – Rowling
Heart Only Knows, The – Blair
Heat – Lupica
Heir Apparent – Van Velde
Hoot – Haaisen
Host, The – Meyers
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Ford
Hourglass Door, The series – Mangum
House of Night, The series – Cast
How to Survive Middle School – Gephart
Huckleberry Finn – Twain
Hunger Games, The series – Collins
I’d Tell You I Love You series – Carter
Ice – Durst
Ida B. – Hannigan
Immortals series, The – Noel
Inkheart series – Funke
Island series – Korman
Jinx – Cabot
Just One Wish – Rallison
Kate’s Turn series – Crane
Key to Rondo, The – Rodda
Keys to the Golden Firebird – Johnson
Last Song, The – Sparks
Lean on Me – Weyland
Lemon Tart – Kilpack
Levan Thumps series – Skye
Leviathan – Westerfeld
Lightning Thief, The series – Riordan
Line, The – Hall
Lord of the Rings trilogy – Tolkien
Luxe, The series –Godberson
Magician Trilogy, The – Nimmo
Maximum Ride series – Patterson
Maze Runner, The – Dashner
Missing series – Haddix
Molly Moon series – Byng
Morganville Vampires series - Caine
My Fair Godmother – Rallison
My Life in Pink and Green – Greenwald
Mysterious Benedict Society, The – Stewart
Notebook, The – Sparks
Number the Stars – Lowry
Old Willis Place, The - Hahn
Of Mice and Magic series – Farland
Once Upon a Marigold – Fern
Out of the Dust – Hesse
Peak series – Smith
Pendragon series – MacHale
Persuasion – Austen
Peter and the Starcatchers series – Berry/Pearson
Predator series – various
Prelude to Glory series – Carter
Pride and Prejudice – Austen
Princess Bride, The – Goldman
Princess Diaries, The series – Cabot
Princess of the Midnight Ball – George
Rag and Bone Shop, The – Cormier
Ranger’s Apprentice – Flanagan
Raymond & Graham – Knudson
Rebel Angels – Bray
Rune Lords series Farland
Running Out of Time – Haddix
Sammy Keyes series – Van Draanen
Santa Maybe – Mace
Secret Life of Bees, The – Kidd
Secret, The – Byrne
Shiver – Stiefvater
Silverfin – Higson
Small Gods – Pratchett
Stolen Children – Kehret
Stop Pretending – Sones
Summer Ball – Lupica
Summer of the Monkeys – Rawls
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow – George
Sunflower, The – Evans
Sunrise Over Fallujah – Meyers
Surgeon, The – Gerritsen
Surviving Antarctica 2086 – White
Switch – Horowitz
Tale of Despereaux, The – DiCamillo
Tantalize – Smith
Teens at War – Zullo
Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series – Heimerdinger
Tower of Strength - Lyon
Traitor -Gray
Tunnels – Williams
Two Little Girls in Blue - Clark
Twlight series – Meyers
Uglies series – Westerfeld
Un Lun Dun – Mieville
Undaunted, The – Lund
Uprising – Haddix
Vampire Diaries, The series – Smith
Vampirates series – Somper
Variant – Wells
Walk to Remember, A – Sparks
Walk Two Moons – Creech
Ways to Live Forever – Nicholls
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Holt
Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls
Where the River Runs North – Morton
Witch & Wizard series – Patterson
Witch Child – Rees
Witness – Hesse
Wuthering Heights – Bronte

Literacy Night: In the World, Not of the World

I'm officially part of the group! We found this listing online for the upcoming Literacy Night where members of my writer's critique group will be speaking at the end of the month. This is the first time I've ever been included because my book just came out.

My question is, how does J. Scott Savage fits into the Relief Society? Did someone find out about his impersonation of Stephenie Meyer at the LDS Storymakers conference?

To further the cause of literacy in our homes and communities
Eaglecrest 1st Ward~~Enrichment Night
June 30, 2009
650 W. 2600 North
Lehi, UT

Come and hear from LDS authors who share the concern of literacy in our homes and communities. It will be an evening of fun and learning. There will even be a book drawing at the end! To find out more about these authors, you are welcome visit their respective websites.

Annette Lyon (www.annettelyon.com) Annette is the author of the “temple” series—a set of historical romances set around the building of the Logan, St. George, Salt Lake City, and Manti temples. Spires of Stone was awarded Best of State in Fiction for 2007 and was a 2007 Whitney Award finalist. Her latest book, Tower of Strength, came out April 2009. Annette is a former co-producer of the Utah Chocolate Show. She and her husband live in American Fork with their four children.

Heather Moore: (www.hbmoore.com) Heather is the author of the four-volume Out of Jerusalem series—historical fiction on the Book of Mormon. Her latest book is called Abinadi, winner of the 2008 Whitney Award for Best Historical and was recently named as 2009 Best of State in Literary Arts for Historical Fiction. Her next book, Alma the Elder, will be out Fall 2009. Heather lives in Lehi with her husband and four children.

J. Scott Savage: (www.readfarworld.com) J. Scott is the best-selling author of the YA fantasy series Far World, published by Shadow Mountain (imprint of Deseret Book). Far World: Book 2 will be out September 2009. J. Scott also writes the Shandra Covington mystery series, under his “other” name: Jeffrey Savage. He and his wife and their four children live in Spanish Fork.

Julie Wright: (www.juliewright.com) Julie is the author of several books, including romance, young adult and non-fiction. She is best known for her YA novel My Not-So-Fairy-Tale Life. Her newest book, Eyes Like Mine, hits shelves June 2009. Julie lives in Oak City with her husband and three children. When she’s not busy writing she manages a store with her husband and works for Ebay.

Josi S. Kilpack: (www.josiskilpack.com) Josi has written nine novels, from contemporary romance, to women’s fiction, to suspense. Sheep’s Clothing won the 2007 Whitney Award for Best Suspense. Her most recent cozy mystery is Lemon Tart—which was the book of the month for Time Out for Women, and has been the #1 bestselling fiction title at Deseret Book for several months. Her next book, English Trifle, will be out this fall. In addition to her writing she enjoys reading, baking, traveling with her husband (and sometimes her four children) and amateur chicken farming.

Lu Ann Staheli: (http://luannstaheli.com) Lu Ann is the co-author of the When Hearts Conjoin: the story of the conjoined Herrin Twins from Utah. She teaches creative writing at Payson Jr. High and has been awarded as Utah English Language Arts Teacher of the Year and 2008 Best of State Educator for K-8. She has written a column for the Spanish Fork Press for many years on how to help your reluctant readers.

My Crazy Life

If you haven't been over to check out Josi's blog on Writing on the Wall about "Write What You Know," and this comic rings all too true for you, then now could be the time to read what she has to say.

In the meantime, I have three minutes to write an update of my crazy life. Two weeks ago, I attended and presented at the Book Camp for WriteWise in Salt Lake City. Heather Moore and I teamed up for two classes: How to Work with Your Editor and Self-Editing Your Manuscripts.

Last week, I was again off to Salt Lake to attend T. Harv Ecker's Millionaire Mind Intensive where I learned lots of ways to increase my income and avoid the pitfalls of today's economy.

I took a few hours off from that on Thursday night to take my boys to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert at the E-Center. I've been to a tons of concerts in my life, and I'm here to tell you this, one ranks as #1. The place was sold out, the concert was rockin', and I think we've just found a new Christmas tradition in our house.

Today I was the guest lecturer for Dr. Kay Smith's Young Adult Literature and Literacy Methods classes at UVU. It was really great to have the chance to talk with next semester's student teachers, as well as future English teachers and writers about the things that I know from all these years in the classroom and as a writer.

Tonight I taught my online class for WriteWise, and tomorrow night it's back to the E-Center for the Carrie Underwood concert.

Wrapped around all of that were actual days teaching my regular classes at Payson Jr. High School, working on a screenplay and the Herrin book, and trying to balance time with my family. It's a good thing Thanksgiving break is almost here. Maybe I can stop long enough to think about all that I am grateful for!