Book Lists

Best YA Books of 2006

Send to My Email      

Best YA Books of 2006 includes How Did You Do It, Truett?, King Dork (2008), Dairy Queen, London Calling (2008), One Whole and Perfect Day, Copper Sun (2008).

1 - 30 of 32 results
 >>

How Did You Do It, Truett?

by: S. Truett Cathy
How Did You Do It, Truett?

How does the man working behind the counter of a mom-and-pop diner for twenty-one years turn a good idea into a restaurant chain worth $2 billion annual sales? S. Truett Cathy, founder and CEO of Chick-fil-A, shares the answers in How Did You Do It, Truett?

The inventor of the chicken sandwich and the founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy also pioneered quick-service food in shopping malls, and is now one of America's most successful and respected businessmen. His restaurants, which are always closed on Sunday, achieve higher sales per unit than others that remain open seven days a week. Forty years after opening the first Chick-fil-A restaurant, the chain now has more than 1,300 units in thirty-eight states.

How Did You Do It, Truett? offers countless nuggets of wisdom. The 86-year-old chief executive officer's keen business sense, his commitment to his principles, and his desire to keep the business simple pours off of every page. His lessons apply not only to business, but family and community life as well.

King Dork

by: Frank Portman
release date: Feb 12, 2008
King Dork
As John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars said, “King Dork will rock your world.” The cult classic from Frank Portman, aka Dr. Frank of the Mr. T. Experience, is a book like nothing ever done before--King Dork literally has something for everyone: At least a half-dozen mysteries, love, mistaken identity, girls, monks, books, blood, bubblegum, and rock and roll. This book is based on music--a passion most kids have--and it has original (hilarious) songs and song lyrics throughout.
   When Tom Henderson finds his deceased father's copy of J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, his world is turned upside down. Suddenly high school gets more complicated: Tom (aka King Dork) is in the middle of at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead people, naked people, fake people, a secret code, girls, and rock and roll. As he goes through sophomore year, he finds clues that may very well solve the puzzle of his father's death and—oddly—reveal the secret to attracting semi-hot girls (the secret might be being in a band, if he can find a drummer who can count to four.
   A brilliant story, King Dork includes a glossary and a bandography. And look for King Dork Approximtely, the sequel to King Dork, available in winter 2014.

Praise for King Dork:

“Basically, if you are a human being with even a vague grasp of the English language, King Dork, will rock your world.”—John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars
 
“[No account of high school] has made me laugh more than King Dork. . . . Grade A.”—Entertainment Weekly
 
“Impossibly brilliant.”—Time

 “Provides a window into what it would be like if Holden Caulfield read The Catcher in the Rye.”—New York Post

“Loaded with sharp and offbeat humor.”—USA Today
 
[STAR] “Original, heartfelt, and sparkling with wit and intelligence. This novel will linger long in readers' memories.”—School Library Journal, Starred
 
[STAR] “A biting and witty high-school satire.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred
 
[STAR] “Tom's narration is piercingly satirical and acidly witty.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Starred
 
“King Dork is smart, funny, occasionally raunchy and refreshingly clear about what it's like to be in high school.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“King Dork: Best Punk Rock Book Ever.”—The Village Voice
 
“I love this book as much as I hated high school, and that's some of the highest praise I can possibly give.”—Bookslut.com

Dairy Queen

by: Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Dairy Queen

When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Harsh words indeed, from Brian Nelson of all people. But, D. J. can't help admitting, maybe he's right.

When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Stuff like why her best friend, Amber, isn't so friendly anymore. Or why her little brother, Curtis, never opens his mouth. Why her mom has two jobs and a big secret. Why her college-football-star brothers won't even call home. Why her dad would go ballistic if she tried out for the high school football team herself. And why Brian is so, so out of her league.

When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Welcome to the summer that fifteen-year-old D. J. Schwenk of Red Bend, Wisconsin, learns to talk, and ends up having an awful lot of stuff to say.

London Calling

by: Edward Bloor
release date: Feb 12, 2008
London Calling
Martin Conway comes from a family filled with heroes and disgraces. His grandfather was a statesman who worked at the US Embassy in London during WWII. His father is an alcoholic who left his family. His sister is an overachieving Ivy League graduate. And Martin? Martin is stuck in between--floundering.

But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?

Where did this boy come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?

The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.

This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help?


From the Hardcover edition.

One Whole and Perfect Day

by: Judith Clarke
One Whole and Perfect Day
This wholly satisfying Michael L. Printz Honor Book is told from multiple points of view. Lily Samson both loves and is embarrassed by her eccentric family. Her grandmother has an invisible friend; her grandfather is a racist (she believes); her mother brings elderly clients home from work for dinner; and her older brother keeps dropping in and out of school. Lily wishes her family could be “normal” for just one day. Then serendipity strikes. Through a series of surprising encounters, Lily's family members all reach new understanding about themselves and make changes for the better—and Lily gets her dream of one whole and perfect day.

Copper Sun

by: Sharon M. Draper
release date: Jan 01, 2008
Copper Sun
Copper Sun is the epic story of a young girl torn from her African village, sold into slavery, and stripped of everything she has ever known—except hope.

A Swift Pure Cry

by: Siobhan Dowd
A Swift Pure Cry
Ireland 1984.

After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, who is charming, eloquent, and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.

This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality—it will move the hearts of any who read it.


From the Hardcover edition.

Floodland

by: Marcus Sedgwick
Floodland
WHEN TOMAS AND HIS SON, Peter, settle in Chust as woodcutters, Tomas digs a channel of fast-flowing waters around their hut, so they have their own little island kingdom. Peter doesn't understand why his father has done this, nor why his father carries a long, battered box, whose mysterious contents he is forbidden to know.

But Tomas is a man with a past: a past that is tracking him with deadly intent, and when the dead of Chust begin to rise from their graves, both father and son must face a soulless enemy and a terrifying destiny.

The Last Days

by: Joel C. Rosenberg
The Last Days
Osama bin Laden is dead. Saddam's regime is buried. Baghdad lies in ruins. Now the eyes of the world are on Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy, two senior White House advisors, as they arrive in the Middle East to offer a historic Arab-Israeli peace plan and the American president's new vision of freedom and democracy. But in the shadows lie men whose hearts are filled with evil―men for whom the prospect of peace goes against everything they believe. And soon one terrifying scheme after another begins to unfold. As Jon and Erin face a battle for control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and an Iraqi plan to rebuild ancient Babylon, they can't help but wonder: Are such signs evidence that they are living in the last days before the return of Christ?

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

by: Ally Carter
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies.


Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

Foundling

by: D. M. Cornish
Foundling
Meet Rossamünd?a foundling, a boy with a girl?s name who is about to begin a dangerous life in the service of the Emperor of the Half-Continent. What starts as a simple journey becomes a dangerous and complicated set of battles and decisions. Humans, monsters, unearthly creatures . . . who among these can Rossamünd trust? D. M. Cornish has created an entirely original world, grounded in his own deft, classically influenced illustrations. Foundling is a magic-laced, Dickensian adventure that will transport the reader.

The Year the Gypsies Came

by: Linzi Glass
The Year the Gypsies Came
Set in apartheid South Africa, this powerful and lyrically written novel is Linzi Glass's debut.

As twelve-year-old Emily Iris explains it, her mother and father have always been eager to take in travelers and vagabonds, relying on the presence of outsiders to ease the tension between them. Emily has her gentle older sister, Sarah, and Buza, the old Zulu nightwatchman, for company and comfort. But her parents' continuing discontent leads them to welcome some peculiar strangers.

One spring, a family of wanderers--a wildlife photographer, his wife, and two boys--comes to stay, and their strange, compelling, and dangerous presence will leave the Iris family infinitely changed.



Saint Iggy

by: K. L. Going
Saint Iggy
When Iggy Corso gets kicked out of high school, there's no one for him to tell. His mother has gone off, his father is stoned on the couch, and the phone's been disconnected, so even the social worker can't get through. Leaving his public housing behind, Iggy ventures into the world to make something of his life. It's not easy when you're sixteen, have no skills, and your only friend is mixed up with the dealer who got your mom hooked. But Iggy is . . . Iggy, and he has the kind of wisdom that lets him see what no one else can.
     Includes an author's note.


 

Ask Me No Questions

by: Marina Budhos
Ask Me No Questions
"You forget. You forget you don't really exist here, that this isn't your home."

Since emigrating from Bangladesh, fourteen-year-old Nadira and her family have been living in New York City on expired visas, hoping to realize their dream of becoming legal U.S. citizens. But after 9/11, everything changes. Suddenly being Muslim means you are dangerous -- a suspected terrorist.

When Nadira's father is arrested and detained at the U.S.-Canadian border, Nadira and her older sister, Aisha, are told to carry on as if everything is the same. The teachers at Flushing High don't ask any questions, but Aisha falls apart. Nothing matters to her anymore -- not even college.

It's up to Nadira to be the strong one and bring her family back together again.

The Road of the Dead

by: Kevin Brooks
The Road of the Dead
From Kevin Brooks, a "thrilling, gritty story" (Kirkus) that "grabs and holds readers' attention from its very first chapter" (PW, starred review), now in a dynamic new Kevin Brooks paperback look.

On a storm-ravaged night, a 19-year-old girl is kidnapped, raped, and killed. Three days later, her two younger brothers set out in search of her murderer. Cole, 17, is a dark-eyed devil who doesn't care if he lives or dies, while Ruben, 14, is a strange child who sometimes, inexplicably, experiences sensations above and beyond his own. This is the story of the boys' journey from their half-gypsy home on a London junk lot to the ghostly moors of Devon, where they hope and fear to find the truth about their sister's death. It's a long road, cold and hard and violent. It's THE ROAD OF THE DEAD.

Alphabet of Dreams

by: Susan Fletcher
Alphabet of Dreams
In the city of the dead,
a dreamer awakens....

Young Babak has a magnificent gift: He can dream the future. Mitra, his brave older sister, is sworn to protect him. For them to survive living on the streets, she must do whatever is necessary -- including using her brother's talent for profit.

When Babak is asked to dream for a powerful Magus, he receives a mysterious vision of two stars dancing in the night. Determined to solve this prophetic riddle, the Magus takes the boy and his sister on an arduous journey across the desert. What they discover will change the world in a way that no dream could ever predict....

by:
Eleven-year-old Benjamiah Creek's rational beliefs are challenged when he receives a magical knitted doll that leads him into the perilous world of the Wreathenwold, where he joins forces with Elizabella to uncover a mysterious conspiracy and find her missing brother.

Piratica II

by: Tanith Lee
Piratica II
Art Blastside has dodged the gallows and married her true love. But life ashore is too tame for a pirate queen, so she jumps at the chance to go to sea again. England is at war, and the government wants Art to use her talents against the French. Naval war is horrific, and her arch-nemesis is bent on revenge. What price is Art willing to pay for her life of freedom?

As gripping as the first Piratica, which Kirkus Reviews praised in a starred review as "a glorious roustabout of a tale," this book proves again why Tanith Lee is one of the world's most popular fantasy writers.

Artemis Fowl

by: Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl
Demons are beginning to materialize without warning on Earth. If humans were to capture one, all fairies would be exposed. In order to protect themselves, the fairies must decipher complicated equations to determine where the next demon will appear. Not even the brilliant Foaly can make heads or tails of the formulas but he knows someone who can: Artemis Fowl.

When a very confused demon imp appears in a Sicilian theater, Artemis is there to meet him. But he is not alone. Someone else has unlocked the secrets of the fairy world and she is only twelve years old. Now, in a race against time, a newly-reformed Artemis Fowl will have to dip into his bag of dirty tricks if he is to save his fairy friends from his latest nemesis, not to mention a power hungry demon warlord who is poised to invade our dimension with his savage army.

Sir Thursday

by: Garth Nix
Sir Thursday
The stellar fourth book in Garth Nix's masterpiece series... now in paperback!

On the fourth day there was war...
Following their adventures in the Border Sea, Arthur and Leaf head for home. But only Leaf gets through the Front Door. Arthur is blocked because someone . . . or something . . . has assumed his identity and is taking over his life.
Before Arthur can take action, he is drafted by Sir Thursday and forced to join the Glorious Army of the Architect. While Leaf tries to banish Arthur's doppleganger on earth, Arthur must survive his basic training, avoid getting posted to the Front and work out how he can free Part Four of the Will....

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

by: Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Greg Call
Peter and the Shadow Thieves

In this riveting and adventure-packed follow-up to Peter and the Starcatchers, we discover Peter leaving the relative safety of Mollusk Island-along with his trusted companion Tinker Bell-for the cold, damp streets of London. On a difficult journey across the sea, he and Tink discover the dark and deadly, slithering part-man/part-creature Lord Ombra. It seems that the dreaded Ombra has a variety of mysterious powers including the ability to make shadows disappear. When Peter reaches London, he sets out to find the indomitable Molly. Together they must combat Ombra's terrible forces to both protect the Starcatchers and the treasured starstuff and most importantly to rescue Molly's mother from the clutches of evil. Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have done it again-written a compulsively readable, impossible-to-put-down tale that will delight readers of all ages.

The Sea of Monsters

by: Rick Riordan
release date: Jan 01, 2006
The Sea of Monsters

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson-a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any "normal" friends.

But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia-only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name the Bermuda Triangle.

Now Percy and his friends-Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson-must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family-one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.

Wintersmith

by: Terry Pratchett
Wintersmith

The third in a series of Discworld novels starring the young witch Tiffany Aching.

When the Spirit of Winter takes a fancy to Tiffany Aching, he wants her to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever. It will take all the young witch's skill and cunning, as well as help from the legendary Granny Weatherwax and the irrepressible Wee Free Men, to survive until Spring. Because if Tiffany doesn't make it to Spring—

—Spring won't come.

The Pox Party

by: M.T. Anderson
The Pox Party
Now in paperback, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.

Young Octavian is being raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers -- but it is only after he opens a forbidden door that learns the hideous nature of their experiments, and his own chilling role them. Set in Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's mesmerizing novel takes place at a time when Patriots battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.

"Anderson's imaginative and highly intelligent exploration of . . . the ambiguous history of America's origins will leave readers impatient for the sequel." -- THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

When It Happens

by: Susane Colasanti
When It Happens
Reminiscent of the movie Say Anything, a debut novel for all those searching for The One!

Sara and Tobey couldn?t be more different. She is focused on getting into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara?s other goal is to find true love, so when Dave, a popular jock, asks her out, she?s thrilled. But then there?s Tobey. His amazing blue eyes and quirky wit always creep into her thoughts. It just so happens that one of Tobey?s goals is also to make Sara fall in love with him. Told in alternating points of view, Sara and Tobey?s real connection will have everyone rooting for them from the minute they meet!

The Rules of Survival

by: Nancy Werlin
release date: Jan 01, 2006
The Rules of Survival
For Matt and his sisters, life with their cruel, vicious mother is a day-to-day struggle for survival. But then Matt witnesses Murdoch coming to a child?s rescue in a convenience store, and for the first time, he feels a glimmer of hope. When, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt?s mother, life is suddenly almost good. But the relief lasts only a short time. When Murdoch inevitably breaks up with their mother, Matt knows he needs to take action. But can he call upon his hero? Or will he have to take measures into his own hands? A heart-wrenching portrait of a family in crisis, this is Nancy Werlin?s most compulsively readable novel yet.

New Moon (The Twilight Saga)

by: Stephenie Meyer
New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
Legions of readers entranced by Twilight are hungry for more and they won't be disappointed. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy's reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

Life As We Knew It

by: Susan Beth Pfeffer
release date: Jan 01, 2008
Life As We Knew It
I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's still would be open.

High school sophomore Miranda's disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, like "one marble hits another." The result is catastrophic. How can her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis are wiping out the coasts, earthquakes are rocking the continents, and volcanic ash is blocking out the sun? As August turns dark and wintery in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in a year's worth of journal entries, this heart-pounding story chronicles Miranda's struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. An extraordinary series debut!

Susan Beth Pfeffer has written three companion novels to Life As We Knew It, including The Dead and the Gone, This World We Live In, and The Shade of the Moon.

Pretty Little Liars Box Set: Books 1 to 4

by: Sara Shepard
Pretty Little Liars Box Set: Books 1 to 4

Among the mega mansions and perfectly manicured hedges of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, everyone has something to hide—especially four very pretty little liars.

High school juniors Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily have been keeping secrets ever since their best friend, Alison DiLaurentis, disappeared three years ago. But when the girls begin receiving threatening notes from someone named “A,” their secrets—the big ones, the little ones, even the long-buried ones—no longer seem so safe.

Unravel the Pretty Little Liars' wildest mysteries in this special box set. But remember, nothing is as it seems in Rosewood . . .

(Pretty Little Liars Box Set includes books 1 to 4)

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

by: David Levithan
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
The New York Times bestselling he-said/she-said rock n' roll romance that inspired the motion picture starring Michael Cera (Juno, Arrested Development) and Kat Dennings (Thor, TV's 2 Broke Girls)!

"I know this is going to sound strange, but would you mind being my girlfriend for the next five minutes?"

Nick frequents New York's indie rock scene nursing a broken heart. Norah is questioning all of her assumptions about the world. They have nothing in common except for their taste in music, until a chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show and ends up becoming a first date that could change both their lives.

Co-written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, co-author of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON with John Green (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS), NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST is a sexy, funny roller coaster of a story that reminds you how you can never be sure where the night will take you…

This movie tie-in edition also includes an 8-page photo insert from the film, as well as a map of Manhattan, detailing all of the sites Nick and Norah go to on their all-night date.
1 - 30 of 32 results
 >>


  • Aboutread.com makes it one-click away to discover great books from local library by linking books/movies to your library catalog search.

  • Copyright © 2025 Aboutread.com