Best runaways books for children according to redditors

Legend (The Legend Trilogy) by Marie Lu##

Click here for the book.

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Reminds me of "Bad case of stripes"
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Case-Stripes-David-Shannon/dp/0590929976/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348777884&sr=1-4&keywords=lima+beans+childrens

The YA sci-fi books I've read recently have spread out in several directions, not just the space opera type. All published and read recently:

• Across the Universe series by Beth Revis
  
• Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis, which was kind of a sci-fi/fantasy mashup, though closer to real-world portals.
  
• Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Sci-fi/fantasy mashup also, but more steampunk than anything else.
  
• Legend trilogy by Marie Lu, closer to the Hunger Games dystopian feel
  
• Adaptation by Malinda Lo, set in 2015, I think? Not far in the future.
  
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, another near-future dystopia with fairly modern tech
  
• Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci, which was totally Titan A.E. + religious cults
  
  You could possibly jam books like Matched and Delirium under the sci-fi label, but they didn't go into the tech much.

Oh my gosh! That's it! Thank you!!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0064XT3VY

I finished Landline by Rainbow Rowell, narrated by Rebecca Lowman. I've previously listened to Lowman narrate Fangirl by the same author and think she does a great job, especially doing both female and male characters. I liked Fangirl better as a book but Landline was still a good listen.

I'm now finishing up Legend by Marie Lu, narrated by Mariel Stern and Steven Kaplan. I'm not a big fan of the narrators (particularly Mariel's voice bugs me) but the book itself is pretty good. I had listened to The Maze Runner book awhile back and thought it was pretty terrible, but Legend seems to be a step up in the YA dystopian genre.

Run, Shelley, Run! by Gertrude Samuels? Shelley's mother named her after Percy Shelley.

http://www.amazon.com/Run-Shelley-Gertrude-Samuels/dp/0595121454/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320034320&sr=1-15

I saw that you're always looking for YA with strong female characters? Let me crack my knuckles, I love exercising the Masters degree I never get to use.

• Legend by Marie Lu is hugely wonderful. It's a 3-book dystopian trilogy, but the girl is kick-ass. This is probably my favorite YA dystopian.
  
• Matched by Allie Condy - in case you haven't picked this one up yet, it's a dystopian "arranged marriage break out of your shell" bit. It's pretty good.
  
• Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. This was SO GOOD. Everyone needs to read this book. It's got a kick-ass heroine, a hilarious and dry wit, it's soulful, it's sweet, it's got twists I actually DID NOT EXPECT!! A+ would wipe my memory and reread. (she's a female paladin, need I say more?!)
  
• You gotta have the Vampire Academy series as well. I thought it was just going to be a silly "vampire boarding school" book but it's actually a whole lot more.
  
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is an amazing YA book dealing with living overseas, finding love and home ... it's pretty great. Its sequel (Lola & the Boy Next Door) is also great, for different reasons.
  
• Love Letters to the Dead is about a girl who writes letters to deceased celebrities, and it helps her cope with her older sister's death. A really relateable read.
  
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick is a lovely, sweet book about finding family everywhere.
  
  I could keep going if you want, just let me know! :D

Some YA dystopias that haven't been mentioned:

• Feed, where everyone has the internet in their heads from birth. On a trip to the moon, boy meets girl who didn't get it until age 6.
  
• Uglies series, where the perfect society will give you massive plastic surgery to make you pretty and dumb on your 16th birthday.
  
• Delirium trilogy, in a totalitarian society where love is a disease and everyone is "cured" at 16 and given a partner.
  
• Matched trilogy, in a totalitarian society where there is no love and everyone is given a partner at 17. Yes, it's the same book as Delirium. Delirium has better writing; Matched is easier to read.
  
• The Selection trilogy, where America has become a monarchy filled with castes and there is a televised event to choose the next princess.
  
• Leviathan trilogy, a steampunk retelling of WWI where the Austro-Hungarians use mechas and the British use genetically-engineered whale blimps.
  
• Legend trilogy, which starts off as a cat-and-mouse chase between a 15-year old government super-agent and a 15-year old terrorist in future Los Angeles.
  
• Boneshaker, about steampunk, blimps, and zombies in frontier Oregon. Has incredibly wooden characters.
  
• Across the Universe trilogy, where a girl is being shipped to a space colony with her parents, but is unfrozen early and stuck in the midst of a murder mystery and an unrecognizable spaceship society.
  
  By the way, Little Brother is a free ebook.

The Paradise Garden?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Paradise-Garden-Colin-Thompson/dp/0679890769

Midnighters are tonally different than the Unwind series, but I still recommend it to anyone who's fine with reading YA. It's a pretty classic good versus evil story. If you like Unwind then I recommend Partials, which is fun commentary on the dangers and advantages of genetically engineered human beings. I also recommend Legend by Marie Lu. But basically everyone recommends Legend.

I'll stop reccing books now. But in theory you'll eventually run out of books and you're welcome to come back for more recs. I will have them. [It wasn't until this thread that I realized how many books I actually so read.]

This is the first book that made me start questioning life. I mean if the leaders in his world could do so many awful things under the guise of harmony, what could my own leaders being doing? I'd like to read this book because I still love dystopian society books.