There have been a lot of awesome things that have already made a splash in 2011, like Ship Breaker winning the Michael Printz award and a lot of YA book bloggers making and committing to challenges.  I would love to make a challenge for myself to read so many YA books.  The problem is that to actually challenge myself, I would need to make that number ridiculously high.  I’m getting my MLIS in YA library science.  I’m already reading through the YALSA lists like crazy on top of my personal YA reading.  I would have to pledge to read 100+ books to honestly challenge myself, and I just can’t do that while I’m in school.  However, I admire people that are challenging themselves like Wicked Awesome Books or For the Love of YA.

However, beyond self-challenges, there are some challenges for YA authors out there.  My personal favorite is Likely Stories’ post called “My 2011 YA Wishlist.”  The first one- the universes made up entirely of teens- didn’t bother me so much this year.  The second one- first person, present tense- does bother me when it’s done poorly but no big deal.  But, points 3, 4, and 6 totally hit home for me.  I’m over a lot of the supernatural stuff.  There have been too many of these stories and WAAAAY too many of these are crappy.

Anyway, enjoy all of the great YA reads in 2011.  I’m psyched about Maureen Johnson’s Last Little Blue Envelope coming out in April.  Almost Perfect, Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award winner is supposed to be a good read.  In the next three years, there are some fantastic YA books being made into movies (and some less fantastic ones).  So, there are a lot of great things to look forward to.  Enjoy!!