YA Superlative Blogfest: Popularity Contest

Welcome to DAY 2 of the YA Superlative Blogfest!

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Once again, here are the deets: The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest is a fun and interactive way to highlight and share your favorite YA novels, covers, characters, and story elements. The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest will span four days, beginning Tuesday, December 27th and culminating Friday, December 30th.

Be sure to check out the other participants' picks by checking the linky on Katy, Jessica, Tracey, or Alison's pages.

If you missed our picks yesterday, take a looksie here: Head of Class

Today's theme is POPULARITY CONTEST, in which we name characters from our 2011 YA reads (all our 2011 YA reads, so not just ones published this year) in the categories we think they most exemplify.

Class Clown: JAMIE from The Demon's Surrender (and the other two books in the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy). The words that come out of this kid's mouth are amazing and hilarious and GOLDEN. See quote below from The Demon's Surrender...

"Think about crack!" Jamie added, clearly struck by inspiration. "Yes! It's like I'm a crack addict, and you're my friend the drug dealer who gives me crack for free, and I know you're just trying to be a good friend, but every time I think 'Wow, this crack might be a little bit of a problem for me,' you're there to say, 'Have some more delicious crack.' Am I making sense?"

Nick stared."Hardly ever in your life."

Most Likely to Start a Riot: AMY from Across the Universe by existing - She almost started one because she's totally out of time and place among the residents of the Godspeed.

SOPHIE from Demonglass by accident - Sophie's a powerhouse of magic. The problem is, she can't always control it, so her spells tend to go BIG.

NICK from The Demon's Surrender on purpose - Nick doesn't really get emotions and gets his thrills from dangerous situations. Even if he wasn't looking for a fight, he'd gladly join in one. And under the right (or wrong) circumstances, he might well incite one.

• Case in point:  “I don't really get scared. Want to know what else I don't feel? PITY.” - Nick, The Demon's Lexicon

Biggest Flirt: NOAH from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - This boy is one of those teenage surface jerkfaces who is actually charismatic, verbally gifted, and perhaps not a total jerkface after all once you get to know him.

KENJI from Shatter Me - Almost every word out of this guy's mouth is flirtatious. He even tells Juliette he's got a spectacular face.

Fashion King/Queen: WARNER from Shatter Me - Clothes are very important to him in order to cement his appearance as a stylish but terrifying dictator of a man. And he's only nineteen. A precocious young fellow is he.

Girl You'd Most Want for Your BFF: ZUZANA from The Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Zuzana is vertically challenged and makes up for this lack with her big mouth and big heart.

*Close second was MAE from The Demon's Lexicon Trilogy - She's brave, loyal, smart, funny, and spunky. Who doesn't love a fearless girl with pink hair and an endless supply of sass!

*PERCY from The Son of Neptune - Technically, this is an MG book and Percy is not a girl, but Percy is of YA age and he is too lovable and badass for us to leave out.

Boy You Wish You'd Dated in High School: ALAN from The Demon's Surrender - Full disclosure, Alan has a lot of flaws. He's a consummate liar, a masterful manipulator, and he's killed people. He also has a very dangerous brother. All that aside, he is at his core a decent guy and he acts on those decent impulses. He strives to protect people he cares about. He has good manners. He adores books. He fiercely loves his brother, enough to sacrifice everything for him. So you can see why we would love him in return.

*We also had these guys in this category as Too Hot To Handle. As in, these guys are too hot & spicy for us / we know better / we're intimidated.

NOAH from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (hot but too much personal baggage); NICK (hot but scary) from The Demon's Surrender; FOUR (good guy but intimidating) from Divergent; CAS (charismatic but really dangerous lifestyle) from Anna Dressed in Blood

 Most Likely to Become President: CLAUDIA from Sapphique & VERONICA from A Brief History of Montmaray

Both of these ladies are smart, well-bred, and well-spoken. Claudia is cunning. Veronica is clever. Claudia is the Warden's Daughter and betrothed to the future King. Veronica is a Princess. These ladies would easily climb their way into office and be competent and awesome President Queens.

Villain You Love to Hate: KRELL from THE CLONE WARS TV series - All right, so this evil Jedi is not technically from a book.


Our desire to see him suffer and die increased tenfold with every second.

But his evilness increases exponentially with every episode of his four-part arc: a lone military commander with no lieutenant or superior to check his bloodlust or ambition, veto his questionable battle strategies, or even make him see that his men are in fact real people and not faceless lifeless unimportant expendable troops.

THE NAZIS from A Brief History of Montmaray - I can't get too into this one without spoiling things, but suffice to say, they're NAZIS. Everyone loves to hate on Nazis.

Favorite Parental Figure: Tris' mom NATALIE PRIOR from Divergent - This woman is a badass. Read the book to find out how and why.

BRIMSTONE from Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Brimstone is a monster with a goat head, crocodile eyes, and other animalistic features. He sells wishes in exchange for teeth. He lives in a shop whose door opens into many different cities across the world. He also reared Karou from a baby, "not without tenderness," and though of forbidding aspect and personality, it is clear how much he cares for his adopted child.

Coolest Nerd: ALAN from The Demon's Surrender - He wins this category hands down. He's smart. He believes in education and literacy. He loves books and has a way with words. He works in a book store! He knows really random trivia - historical and supernatural. He can quote Shakespeare on the drop of a dime. And to top that all off, he's an excellent kisser (just ask the ladies of the trilogy) AND he's good with a gun. He never misses, even in the dark. No, seriously. His brother Nick will vouch for him. COOLNESS.

“I don't have deal breakers," Alan said. "I look on tempests, and am never shaken.” - Alan, The Demon's Surrender.


Where would you put YOUR favorite YA characters?

See you tomorrow for more Superlative Blogfesting! The topic is Elements of Fiction.