Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read Books Set Outside the U.S.A.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is Top Ten Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read X. In YA especially, most books seem to take place in the United States.  The country is awash with werewolf packs, vampire schools, hordes of zombies, and swarms of overly emotional teenagers.  But it's a great big world out there... so here are my Top Ten Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read Books Set Outside the U.S.A.:

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor - Prague, Czech Republic - At least, Prague is where the book begins.  Because of Karou's travels, this book has various settings (including many diverse and interesting ones in our own world).

The Lake and the Library by S. M. Beiko - Manitoba, Canada - A small prairie town where nothing interesting ever happens makes a good backdrop for the fantastical events in this story.

The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist by Margarita Engle - Cuba and Spain - I can't recall ever reading a book set in Cuba before.  This verse novel brings the senses alive with its rich depiction of Caribbean life in the early 1800s.

The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller - Russia - This book takes place amid the opulence and turmoil of World War I-era imperial Russia, detailing the lives of the four Romanov sisters.

My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt - Vancouver, Canada - This novel in verse takes the gritty Downtown East Side of Vancouver for its setting, at a time when prostitutes were being targeted by serial killer Robert Pickton.

Odette's Secrets by Maryann Macdonald - France - This verse novel about a little Jewish girl, set during World War II, takes place in both Paris and the surrounding French countryside.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher - Australian Outback - The desolate beauty of the Australian Outback comes alive on the pages of this emotional novel about a kidnap victim and her abductor.

Surrender by Sonia Hartnett - Australia - While the setting of this book isn't central to the plot, the small-town atmosphere is still rich and evocative and helps set the tone for some of the events in the story.

Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis - India - Though this is a fantasy, the characters appear to be wending their way through British India.

Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury - London, England - This fun Regency-era story takes place in a time where investigating mysteries was not exactly a proper occupation for a teenage girl!