Starred YA Book Reviews 2011

This is a compilation of YA books published in 2011 that have received two or more starred reviews from the major review sources. All information is gathered from the publications’ websites and/or print publications, but may not be completely comprehensive. Some of the books may be more middle grade than YA — I used my best judgment based on information in the review publications and the publisher websites. Please let me know if you notice any omissions!

Key:

• Horn Book=The Horn Book
• PW=Publisher’s Weekly
• SLJ=School Library Journal
• Booklist
• Kirkus=Kirkus Reviews
• Bulletin=The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Six Stars

Chime by Franny Billingsley (Dial)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King (Little, Brown)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Five Stars

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (First Second/Roaring Brook)
Horn Book, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Four Stars

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow (HarperCollins)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal (Flash Point/Roaring Brook)
SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Little, Brown)
Horn Book, PW, Kirkus, Bulletin

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma (Dutton)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Knopf)
Horn Book, SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

Lie by Caroline Bock (St. Martin’s Griffin)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet (Candlewick)
Horn Book, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard (Delacorte)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Booklist

The Queen of Water by Laura Resau & Maria Virginia Farinango (Delacorte)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)
Horn Book, PW,  Booklist, Kirkus

Stay With Me by Paul Griffin (Dial)
Horn Book, SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories by Kelly Link and Gavin G. Grant, eds. (Candlewick)
PW, SLJ,  Kirkus, Bulletin

Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson (S&S/Atheneum)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Booklist

Three Stars

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins)
SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin (Knopf/Borzoi)
PW, SLJ, Booklist

Fly Trap by Frances Hardinge (Harper/HarperCollins)
PW, Kirkus, Bulletin

I Am J by Cris Beam (Little, Brown)
Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Island’s End by Padma Venkatraman (Putnam)
SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Karma by Cathy Ostlere (Penguin/Razorbill)
SLJ, Booklist, Bulletin

Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams (Little, Brown)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion)
SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Pick-Up Game by Marc Aronson & Charles R. Smith Jr., eds. (Candlewick)
SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta (Candlewick)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Queen of Hearts by Martha Brooks (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Horn Book, SLJ, Kirkus

The Silver Bowl by Diane Stanley (HarperCollins)
SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem (Dial)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell (Scholastic)
PW, Kirkus, Bulletin

Then by Morris Gleitzman (Henry Holt)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster)
Horn Book, PW, Bulletin

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf (Candlewick)
Horn Book, Booklist, Kirkus

Welcome to Bordertown by Holly Black & Ellen Kushner, eds. (Random)
SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Wisdom’s Kiss: A Thrilling and Romantic Adventure, Incorporating Magic, Villany and a Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Houghton)
SLJ, Booklist, Bulletin

You Against Me by Jenny Downham (David Fickling/Random)
PW, Booklist, Kirkus

Two Stars

Addie on the Inside by James Howe (S&S/Atheneum)
PW, SLJ

Angry Young Man by Chris Lynch (S&S)
PW, SLJ

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (Scholastic)
SLJ, Bulletin

Between by Jessica Warman (Walker)
Booklist, Bulletin

Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff (Carolrhoda Lab)
PW, Kirkus

Burnout by Adrienne Maria Vrettos (S & S/Margaret K. McElderry Bks)
SLJ, Kirkus

Divergent by Veronica Roth (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Bks)
PW, SLJ

Entwined by Heather Dixon (Greenwillow)
PW, Booklist,

Five 4ths of July by Pat Raccio Hughes (Viking)
Booklist, Bulletin

Flip by Martyn Bedford (Random/Wendy Lamb Books)
SLJ, Kirkus

The Girl Is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines (Roaring Brook)
SLJ, Booklist

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (HarperCollins/Greenwillow)
PW, SLJ

iBoy by Kevin Brooks (The Chicken House)
Booklist, Kirkus

I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan (Little, Brown)
Horn Book, SLJ

The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey (Simon & Schuster)
Booklist, Kirkus

Lost and Found by Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Arthur A Levine Books)
SLJ, Booklist

Misfit by Jon Skovron (Amulet/Abrams)
SLJ, Kirkus

Now Playing: Stoner & Spaz II by Ron Koertge (Candlewick)
Booklist, Kirkus

Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace (Holiday House)
SLJ, Kirkus

Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan (Harcourt)
SLJ, Kirkus

Recovery Road by Blake Nelson (Scholastic)
Horn Book, PW

Terezín by Ruth Thomson (Candlewick)
SLJ, Bulletin

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore (Delacorte)
SLJ, Kirkus

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley (Atheneum)
PW, Kirkus

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
Booklist, Kirkus

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin (Little, Brown)
Booklist, Bulletin