![\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335771587309918866\"](\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/_AS3Nr1ChgcU\/Sgx3_RA62pI\/AAAAAAAAB3M\/AZ2QMrKgeqc\/s1600-h\/BoyBook.jpg\")
<\/a>E. Lockhart is a definite favorite after The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks<\/i>, one of my favorite YA books of last year. Her Ruby Oliver books are great fun, too, though perhaps not quite as epic or quite as brilliantly clever as the inimitable Frankie. The Boy Book<\/i>–sequel to The Boyfriend List<\/i><\/a>–continues the traumas and dramas of Roo, her ex-friends, current friends, potential romances, life at a tiny Seattle prep school, and adventures in therapy. Her neuroses are described with a lot of humor, but there’s a serious side to the story, too. It strikes me that this would be a great set of books to hand to readers who are looking to branch out from series fiction but enjoy school\/friendship\/romance themes.<\/p>\nBuy The Boy Book<\/i> from an independent bookstore near you!<\/a><\/p>\n Buy The Graveyard Book<\/i> from an independent bookstore near you!<\/a><\/p>\n Buy Chains<\/i> from an independent bookstore near you!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>I know you’ve probably heard just about all you can stand about The Graveyard Book<\/i>, but Neil Gaiman’s latest deserves every award and accolade it’s been given, in my opinion. His brain must be specially jacked into the source of good stories. Anyway, the story of Bod\u2014Nobody Owens\u2014is an unconventional coming-of-age tale with a lot of classic story and folk tale elements that avid readers will recognize and enjoy. Most of all, though, it was the characters I fell in love with\u2014characters who, for the most part, are no longer even among the living, but nonetheless fully realized, varied individuals. I adored just about every one of the “good guys,” was creeped out by the bad guys, and was even thrown for a loop a few times as far as motives were concerned\u2014but in every way I was convinced and willingly enthralled. And, of course, I loved the illustrations by Dave McKean, who’s quite a visual storyteller in his own right. <\/p>\n<\/a>Can I just tell you how relieved I was when, at the end of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Chains<\/i>, I learned that there’s going to be a sequel? The year is 1776, and the seeds of the American Revolution are already beginning to stir and sprout. Isabel is thirteen years old and her sister Ruth just a child when their owner dies, leaving the two of them free. The only hitch is their owner’s cruel nephew, who refuses to recognize their freedom and instead sells them to equally cruel Loyalists in New York City. Isabel learns, among other things, where her loyalties truly lie and what “freedom for all men” really means for a slave girl. She’s a compelling character\u2014loyal and brave, plucky and smart, but sensitive enough to retain her humanity and sense of what’s right through some truly traumatic experiences. I enjoyed this portrait of the conflicted beginnings of our country, too\u2014similar to M.T. Anderson’s Octavian Nothing<\/i> books, Chains<\/i> shows the multifaceted complexity of a subject that tends to be taught rather one-sidedly in schools. <\/p>\n