Canada Reads is the CBC's yearly program where Canadian personalities/celebrities defend their position on why everyone in Canada should read a certain book. This year all of the choices are non-fiction.

This is a different list. It needs no defending because it's a very simple concept: The books on this list are teen titles set in Canada. All of them release in 2012, and all but one of them are by Canadian authors.

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe. (1/24) The Way We Fall buries you in its story like falling snow; deceptively quiet at first, and then you realize you're standing in an emotional blizzard. Told in letters written to her friend who moved to NYC, this is the story of Kaelyn and how her world falls apart as a deadly contagion spreads through her island community. Set in the Maritimes. First in a trilogy.

Above by Leah Bobet. (3/1) Matthew lives in Safe, a place beneath the streets of Toronto created for those the world of Above rejects. But Safe is no longer safe, and Matthew must go Above to discover the truth of Safe's founding so that he can rescue his home. I read an ARC of this in December, and I still get excited whenever I think of it. If you only read one book off this list, then it should be this one.

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong. (4/10) The Calling is the second in Kelley's The Darkness Rising trilogy. The first book, The Gathering (paperback 2/7), introduced us to Maya and her friends who live on Vancouver Island. The Calling will take us deeper into their paranormal world.

The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson. (4/17) Set in Toronto, The Chaos is Nalo Hopkinson's first teen book. Employing Carribean folklore, this is a story about identity and self-acceptance. I'm looking forward to reading it, because I enjoyed her adult novel Brown Girl in the Ring.

Silence by Michelle Sagara. (5/1) Also set in Toronto, and also the first teen novel from an established adult sci fi/fantasy author. I believe Silence involves necromancy, but that may also be a spoiler. (Oops.)

Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts. (9/4) Dark Inside (paperback 9/4) was one of the most intense books I read in 2011. As much as it hurts to see Vancouver in such a state of destruction, I have to find out about Daniel and Aries. Who's going to go Dark? What are the Baggers' plans? Why did the apocalypse happen? These are just some of the questions I hope to get answered.

BONUS BOOK: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake. (8/7) I've been assured that this begins in Thunder Bay. Cas won't be staying in Canada the whole time, but I love Anna Dressed in Blood (paperback 7/3) so much that I have to mention Girl of Nightmares. Must find out how the story of Cas & Anna ends!

There you are. Six books this year set in Canada, and a bonus one that begins here. Will you pledge to read them all?