YA Rewind: ‘We Were Liars’ Wins Goodreads Prize, ‘Wither’ Film Cancelled & More!

‘We Were Liars’ Takes Home Goodreads Prize

With the end of December encroaching ever nearer, awards season is at full force. Goodreads hosted its annual poll for the best books of the year. The Goodreads award for best YA went to ‘We Were Liars’ by E. Lockhart. The best YA fantasy went to ‘City of Heavenly Fire’ by Cassandra Clare.

Publisher’s Weekly named their top young adult books of 2014. Titles selected included ‘Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty’ by Christine Heppermann and ‘Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future’ by A.S. King. The full list included 18 fiction and non-fiction titles.

USA Today’s USA Books chose T.A. Barron’s ‘The Heartlight Saga,’ a bound collection of three of his original independent novels, as their best young adult title of 2014.

‘Ghost Girl’ to Become Film

Matthew Vaughn’s MARV Films optioned Tonya Hurley’s ‘Ghost Girl’ for film. The paranormal young adult novel follows dead Charlotte Usher, whose dream is to be popular – and why let the afterlife stop her?

Though Tonya Hurley was involved in television as the co-creator and co-producer of both the ABC sitcom ‘So Little Time’ and ABC’s animated ‘Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!’, there is no word yet as to how involved she will be with the film.

Lauren deStefano Talks Cancelled ‘Wither’ Film

In 2011, film rights to Lauren deStefano’s ‘Chemical Garden’ trilogy sold to Violet House. Though the company renewed their rights several times, deStefano decided to reject their option to renew this year.

“In the past few years, I’ve seen many Hollywood adaptations of books I’ve read, even loved. I don’t feel that Wither is a big Hollywood story. When I wrote it in 2009, I was twenty-four years old and a temp receptionist struggling to make ends meet. I did not anticipate then how big this story would become. I am truly grateful for all that has come of this story and the world it has opened up for me. But the fact remains that I didn’t write it with Hollywood in mind,” said deStefano in a Facebook post.

Book Deal of the Week

Diverse books are all important and all the rage – and Shaun David Hutchinson’s ‘We Are the Ants’ looks both amazing and diverse. A teen possibly abducted by aliens says the world will end in 144 days unless he pushes a button – but when his boyfriend commits suicide, he’s not sure the world is worth saving. ‘We Are The Ants’ will be published in Simon Pulse in spring 2016.

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