Starred YA Book Reviews 2012

This is a compilation of YA books published in 2012 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
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Penguin)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Four Stars
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Dial)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus, Bulletin

The Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe Stone (Scholastic/Levine)
PW, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion)
Horn Book, PW, Booklist, Kirkus

Crow by Barbara Wright (Random House)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Kirkus

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
Horn Book, PW, Booklist, Kirkus

Dying to Know You by Aidan Chambers (Ambrams/Amulet)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray)
PW, SlJ, Booklist, Kirkus

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Carolrhoda LAB)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Kirkus

There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff (Penguin)
Horn Book, PW, Booklist, Kirkus

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson (Scholastic)
Horn Book, PW, SLJ, Kirkus

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Y. Levinson (Peachtree Publishers)
PW, SLJ, Booklist, Kirkus

Three Stars
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett (Feiwel & Friends)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson (Penguin)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic)
PW, SLJ, Booklist

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour (Penguin)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

The Fairy Ring: Or, Elsie and Frances Fool the World  by Mary Losure (Candlewick)
Horn Book, SLJ, Booklist

The Final Four by Paul Volponi (Viking)
SLJ, Booklist, Bulletin

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (Candlewick)
PW, Booklist, Bulletin

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saladin (Scholastic)
Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (Putnam)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies by Marc Aronson (Candlewick)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation and Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years by Linda Barrett Osborne (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Never Fall Down: a boy soldier’s story of survival by Patricia McCormick (Balzer + Bray)
PW, SLJ, Booklist

The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman (Candlewick)
PW, Booklist, Kirkus

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats (Harcourt)
Horn Book, SLJ, Kirkus

Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Knopf)
PW, SLJ, Kirkus

Two Stars
A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
Horn Book, Kirkus

A Greyhound of a Girl  by Roddy Doyle (Abrams/Amulet)
PW, Kirkus

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (Simon & Schuster)
PW, SLJ

Best Shot in the West by Patricia McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack Jr. (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray)
SLJ, Kirkus

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison (Egmont)
SLJ, Booklist

The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson (S&S/McElderry)
PW, Kirkus

The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp (Candlewick)
Booklist, Kirkus

Chomp by Carl Hiassen (Random House)
SLJ, Kirkus

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral (Razorbill)
SLJ, Booklist

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George (Viking)
PW, Kirkus

Double by Jenny Valentine (Hyperion)
Kirkus, Bulletin

Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey (Dial)
SLJ, Kirkus

Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
SLJ, Kirkus

Hades Lord of the Dead by George O’Connor
SLJ, Kirkus

In Darkness by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury)
PW, Kirkus

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl (Viking)
PW, Booklist

The List by Siobhan Vivian (Push)
PW, Kirkus

Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights, and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Hours by Ann Bausum (National Geographic)
SLJ, Bulletin

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose (Random House/Schwarz & Wade)
PW, Kirkus

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (Amulet Books/Abrams)
Booklist, Kirkus

Pink Smog by Francesca Lia Block (HarperTeen)
PW, Booklist

Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand (Viking)
PW, Kirkus

Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer R. Hubbard (Penguin)
PW, Kirkus

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
SLJ, Kirkus

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams
PW, Kirkus