I haven’t been doing a whole lot of writing lately but I have been doing my fair share of reading. I just finished reading Octavian Nothing Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson. I’m not sure exactly why this book was classified as YA, the vocabulary alone requires a companion dictionary. One thing I really appreciated about this book was that I felt like I learned from it. I love when I read a book and both enjoy and learn from it. This seems to happen less with YA so when I stumble upon a YA book that I enjoy and learn from, it stands out.
Smart books
Ideas In Things 
I had a lot of trouble with this one, too–the vocabulary was rather difficult. I think I was more frustrated with it than anything; I don’t feel that I actually learned anything!
It was definitely tough, and I was tempted to give up. That shiny book award on the front convinced me to keep going 🙂
The second half of the book definitely picked up the plot, but I will say it’s not one I would recommend to everyone and I doubt most of my students (8th graders) would have the patience.