Drumroll, please

Throughout the semester I have tantalized you readers with only a few reviews of the many YA books I've read since September. Now that I've almost finished my adolescent literature course and have completely finished all of the books needed for this class and then some, I am presenting you my final ratings. You ready for this? (Note: the star ranking and my own ranking do not have to correspond. This list is how I liked the books relative to each other. The given star ranking reflects more than just my own response.)

1. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak *****
2. Whirligig, Paul Fleischman *****
3. Running Loose, Chris Crutcher *****
4. The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton *****
5. After the First Death, Robert Cormier *****
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon ****
7. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson ****
8. Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine *****
9. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins ****
10. Chasing Fire, Suzanne Collins ****
11. Tenderness, Robert Cormier ****
12. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman ****
13. A Dance for Three, Louise Plummer ****
14. The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman, Louise Plummer ****
15. Rapunzel's Revenge, Shannon Hale ****
16. The Whole Sky Full of Stars, Rene Saldana Jr. ****
17. A Thief in the House of Memory, Tim Wynne-Jones ***
18. Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse ****
19. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor ***
20. The Maestro, Tim Wynne-Jones ***
21. Frenchtown Summer, Robert Cormier ****
22. Monster, Walter Dean Myers ***
23. Godless, Pete Hautman ***
24. Miracle's Boys, Jacqueline Woodson **
25. The Game of Sunken Places, M. T. Anderson **
26. American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang ***
27. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones ***
28. A Girl Named Disaster, Nancy Farmer **
29. Guinea Pig Scientists, Mel Boring ****
30. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, Jennifer Armstrong ***
31. Robert Cormier: Daring to Disturb the Universe, Patty Campbell ***
32. Brian's Winter, Gary Paulsen ***
33. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennsion **
34. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson **
35. Make Lemonade, Virginia Euwer Wolff *
36. My Secret Boyfriend, Lurlene McDaniels *
37. Finding Daddy, Louise Plummer *

 If you're interested in my reviews of each of these books, email me. Other authors I didn't get around to but wanted to read are John Green and more Robert Cormier (Cormier is a new favorite).

Operation Superhuman Reader has reached new heights this semester, and remarkably I'm not burned out but actually checked out more books from the library last night. I think this class somehow mutated me into a more relentless reader. Oh dear. . . .