Tween Tuesday: Tween Romance

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme to highlight great reads for tweens hosted here at GreenBeanTeenQueen. Join in the fun and post your own Tween Tuesday post and include the link in the comments.
If you're a reader of my blog, you most likely know that I love romance in my books! As a librarian, I get asked for good tween romances a lot-tween readers want romance and parents are sometimes nervous about their tween reading books with romance. So for my tween romance readers, here's a list of some of my favorite tween romances. (And I know often when you mention romance it makes tween boys turn up their noses (and hey, guys like romance too!), but these all have romance plots but they're not central to the story and you can easily talk up another angle of the story to the guys.)

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger-Is origami Yoda real or a hoax? Tommy really needs to know-because if he follows origami Yoda's advice and it's wrong, he could just end up making a fool of himself in front of the girl he likes. A hilarious quick read, this one will have readers cheering for Tommy and wondering for themselves if origami Yoda was real all along. The author captures middle school perfectly and tween readers will relate to each of the stories presented about Yoda in the quest to discover if he's real or not.

The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney by Lauren Barnholdt-Devon has made up a life at school that she's told her summer friend Lexi-she's popular and dating uber-cute Jared. But when Lexi moves to Devon's school, Devon can't bring herself to tell Lexi she lied about everything-so now she just has to make her story come true. The story is tons of fun and the romance is so sweet and cute and will leave tweens (and non-tweens) swooning.

Shug by Jenny Han-Annemarie,"Shug", has a crush on best friend Mark. But growing up changes people and Mark is drifting away-will Annemarie be able to save her friendship? I often think of this book as the perfect tween read. Author Jenny Han perfectly captures what it's like to be twelve and in love and the trials that come with growing up. A must have for tween libraries.

Rapunzel's Ravenge and Calamity Jack by Dean and Shannon Hale-Thought you knew the story of Rapunzel? This Rapunzel is a kick-butt western steampunk girl and when she meets up with Jack (from Jack in the Beanstalk) sparks fly. The romance isn't central to the plotline, but the banter between Rapunzel and Jack is witty and fun and there's plenty of crush worthy moments.

No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman-When Wallace Wallace gets in trouble for questioning why dogs always die in books, he has to help work on the school play-based on a classic dog dieing book. He butts heads with drama queen Rachel, but the two help each see how they can work together and make the school play the best it can be. If you can Glee fans, give them No More Dead Dogs-they'll love it! The romance isn't a main plot and there's more narrators than Wallace and Rachel, but it's fun to see our characters go from dislike to like as they work on the school play.

Candy Apple Series by Various Authors-This series put out by Scholastic is tween chick-lit. There's a book for everyone with plots from popularity, cheerleading, fashion, and crushing on the boy next door. There's a cute romance storyline and they're sweet and perfectly tween friendly. A great choice if you have young tweens wanting to read about the middle school years.

What's your favorite tween romance?