What's in a Title?

After doing a blog series about judging books by their covers, I started thinking about book titles. Some titles stand out more than others, and I often find myself reading things (or not reading things) based on their titles. Here are ten of my favorite young adult book titles.

Note: For this post, I'm not showing the book covers. I think it's important to let the titles stand on their own when it comes to judging them.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

What isn't intriguing about this title? I want to know who is writing love letters to the dead and why, and why the letters are love letters.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

When I look at this title, all I can think is, "This has to be good."

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan

If we survive what? The zombie apocalypse? A toronado? A shipwreck? This title is full of possibilities.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Why? What could possibly make someone want to hunt killers? Unless the person hunting killers is in law enforcement, I want to know more about who's hunting killers and why.

What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard

What you see at night is likely very different than what you see during the day. Of course I want to know what they saw at night, and why they were even awake late at night.

#scandal by Sarah Ockler

Hashtags are becoming more and more common--they aren't just on Twitter anymore. The fact that this title is a hashtag makes me curious about what the scandal is, and why it's gone viral.

The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

With a title like this, the story is bound to be good.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

It's hard not to assume that this book is about Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. What I want to know is, what did she do that was so awful she deserves to die?

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

This is another title that easily leads to assumptions about the book. Even though I can figure out why the sister lives on the mantelpiece, I want to know how she got there and what it means for her family.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, and Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

I'm cheating a little, since I'm counting three titles as one. It's impossible not to love all the titles in Laini Taylor's series. They definitely make me want to know more about the books.

What are your favorite book titles?