Today is Day Three of the The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest, a fun and interactive way to highlight and share your favorite YA novels, covers, characters, and story elements, hosted by Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott, Alison Miller, and me. The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest spans four days, beginning December 26th and culminating this Friday, December 30th.
Hopefully you’ve been participating throughout the week, but if not, that’s okay! Just draft today’s post (you can find the topics listed below or on the original post) and then scroll to the bottom of THIS post and add your link to the link list.
I’ve had a blast dropping by the participants’ blogs so far, and I look forward to stopping by your blog to read about your Class of 2011 selections!
And speaking of selections, here are mine for Day Three:
Elements of Fiction
Again, my books published in 2011 Reading List:
Crossed, The Future of Us, Hushed, Want to Go Private?, The Scorpio Races, The Pledge, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Chain Reaction, Forgotten, Notes From the Blender, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Ripple, Hourglass, A Need So Beautiful, Chime, The Day Before, Forever, Moonglass, Beauty Queens, Boyfriends With Girlfriends, Forbidden, Wither, Divergent, Invincible Summer, Trapped, Where She Went, We’ll Always Have Summer, Cryer’s Cross, Across the Universe, Desires of the Dead, Lola and the Boy Next Door, Imaginary Girls, and The Liar Society
And my favorites in the way of Fictional Elements:
Most Envy-Inducing Plot (Or, the plot you wish you’d thought of yourself.) – Easy. The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. The idea of using Facebook as a way to “travel” to the future is brilliant. There’s also the addition of the numerous nineties mentions that brought nostalgia to a whole new level.
Most Wonderful World-Building – I have to go with Laini Taylor’s The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. There are so many worlds in this story: Prague, Marrakesh, the backwoods of Idaho, and the world beyond the portal doors. While submerged in Smoke and Bone, it was as if I was a willing and active member of all these worlds. I’ve even added Prague on my Must-Visit list! Honorable Mention: The Scorpio Races because by the end of the story, I felt Thisby.
Most Formidable World (Or, the setting I most definitely would NOT want to travel to) – While Lauren DeStefano wrote about Wither‘s world beautifully, there’s no way I’d ever want to visit it. Plural marraige and a painful awareness of the (early!) age at which I’ll die? No thank you!
Most Wanderlust-Inducing (Or, the setting I’d happily travel to) – Jenny Han’s We’ll Always Have Summer. I’ve been romanced by its quaint little beach town setting, Cousins, since I read The Summer I Turned Pretty, the first book in this series. Honorable Mentions: Moonglass by Jessi Kirby and Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz — Can you tell I love the beach?
Loveliest Prose – This was a very difficult choice, but I have to go with The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater because it was so incredibly emotive, yet never overdone. I imagine dual narration is quite a challenge to pull off, but Scorpio‘s Sean and Puck were unique and vibrant, as was their world. Honorable Mention: Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Every sentence = Enviable.
Best First Line – Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone: “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.” Says it all.
Most Dynamic Main Character – Briony Larkin from Franny Billingley’s Chime. Oh, how I adore this girl! She’s so feisty and loyal and clever and intense. Her inner monologue was a joy to read, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious. I want to know her! Honorable Mentions: Sean Kendrick from The Scorpio Races, Tris from Divergent, and Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone. All were SO memorable.
Best Performance in a Supporting Role – Ruby, from Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma. This girl was so colorful, so full of life, such a force to be reckoned with, I loved her and hated her with equal intensity. Entirely fleshed out and incredibly well written.
Best Use of Theme – I’m choosing two here, because they both did what’s nearly impossible: Taught an important lesson in an entertaining way. I’m not going to give those lesson away, of course. If you haven’t read these books, I recommend them both! First, The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder:
And second, A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young:
There you have it… My selections for Elements of Fiction. What do you think?
And if you’re participating in the Class of 2011: YA Superlative Blogfest, please click on the image below to drop your link:
And don’t forget to check out what some of the Bookanistas are up to today…
Shannon Messenger shouts about twelve 2012 releases she can’t wait for–and a pre-order giveaway!
Megan Miranda marvels at UNDER THE NEVER SKY
Corinne Jackson gushes over THE MATCHMAKER AND THE GHOST
Stasia Ward Kehoe gets psyched for 2012
katyupperman.com 
Invincible Summer was one of my runnerups for wanderlust inducing, too. This Blogfest is making me want to read so many books (The Scorpio Races, duh, Chime, Imaginary Girls, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer), but I guess that’s what the whole thing is about!
Yep! We wanted to get the books we love out there so others can discover them and love them as well. And I loved the beach-y setting of INVINCIBLE SUMMER. I love ALL beach-y settings, apparently. 🙂
Agh, italics didn’t close. Lame.
OOOh – Excellent choices. I chose The Future of Us as my envy book too.
It’s such a unique and clever idea. Why didn’t I think of it?!
I agree with Sophia… I am adding WAY too many books to my wishlist right now. But that’s a good thing, right?
Definitely a good thing. 🙂 I wish we all lived in the same town so we could just do book swaps. How cool would that be?
Lovely selections, Katy! I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping up. I had told myself I must do this and post myself, but I haven’t even been able to post–never even got a Happy Holidays post up. Boooooo on me!
But I love your choices and all your explanations for them. As for me, Moonglass really inspired my Wanderlust. I fully intend to hit up Crystal Cove soon 😀
Carol, when I discovered that Crystal Cove was a real place, I decided immediately that I need to visit it. Perhaps you and I could meet up there and take Jessi out to lunch. 🙂
If you guys go to Crystal Cove, you better let me know! It’s about 10 min away from me!
Will do! (And, um, how awesome would that be?)
Excellent choices! You make every book sound so amazing. I LOVED the Wolves of Mercy Falls Series but I was hesitant to read The Scorpio Races–now I def. wanna read it.
I really liked the Wolves of Mercy Falls series overall too, but SCORPIO totally and completely blew me away. Everything I enjoyed about the WOLVES was amplified in SCORPIO. Definitely let me know what you think after you read it. 🙂
I’m glad you have several books I haven’t read yet — I think my choices are getting too repetitive. I think I’ll be getting The Future of Us and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer as soon as I finish reading Clockwork Prince!
Funny, Laurie! I’ve been feeling like my choices were becoming repetitive too, but this Elements of Fiction day let me branch out with some different titles. Some of my very favorites are still represented (CHIME, SCORPIO, SMOKE AND BONE…) but it’s fun to talk about other awesome books that don’t get quite as much hype. 🙂
Loved the Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Clockwork Prince and The Iron Knight!
I am ashamed to admit I haven’t read any Cassandra Clare! Probably should remedy that, ASAP!
I’m reading Mara Dyer right now, and I’m so excited to get to the end now! It’s pretty gripping so far. I’m also looking forward to reading Imaginary Girls, have been for a while.
I absolutely agree with you about the prose in Scorpio Races. I ultimately gave that category to Daughter of Smoke & Bone, but you put it perfectly when you said Scorpio Races is never overdone but it is still so, so emotive.
Loved Imaginary Girls, and yes, Mara Dyer is a shocker! Hope you enjoy them both. 🙂
You know, I didn’t even think of The Day Before or A Need So Beautiful for theme, but they are such perfect choices!
Thanks! I loved both of those books, and I wanted to make sure they had a spot somewhere on my blogfest list. Theme seemed to be the perfect place for them!
Such a great list, Katy. I almost listed We’ll Always Have Summer as my most wanderlust-inducing novel, too. The beach, and that house, were all lovely.
And I totally agree with A Need So Beautiful. I loved that book and for some reason haven’t yet found a category for it. Which is why I’m creating one tomorrow. I’m happy to see it on your list today.
Ooh, can’t wait to see what category you’re creating for tomorrow! And yes, I’m so looking forward to A WANT SO WICKED!
WITHER was my runner-up for most formidable world, too, right after ASHES. Truthfully, I don’t want to end up in either of those worlds. *shudders*
I think I’d pass on pretty much any dystopian world, actually. Also, SciFi. Good things never seem to happen in the future.
Some great picks and still more enticing tidbits from books I haven’t read yet! Thanks, too, for the Bookanistas links – I’m definitely going to check out the 2012 links. I don’t want to be in this situation again a year from now where I realize I only read a handful of newly published books!!
I’m with you, Kitty! This blogfest has made me much more aware of the new releases I’m putting on my list. I play to have a much wider selection for next year. 🙂
Ooh great choices. I definitely need to read Chime and A Need So Beautiful!
They’re both fantastic. Very different, but both incredible!
I loved Imaginary Girls. Ruby is a great choice for best supporting character!
Isn’t Ruby fantastic?! She was a force to be reckoned with, that’s for sure!
Woah! I think I like that cover of Smoke & bone even more. Where is it from?
I like that cover a lot too, Sophia. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the UK version.