I love teen fiction (YA lit). It makes up the most of my reading lists, and it's what I want to spend my career working on (in editing . . . though I do want to try my hand writing sometime). And I feel like up until a few years ago, it was a very misunderstood part of literature. That's what makes what I have to share so exciting!
This is a list of "the best" teen novels. It was chosen by readers, so I have a hard time saying that all of the books on there are "the best," but there are some really good books on the list. I counted it up and I have read 56 out of the 100 on the list. Of the 44 that I didn't read, 12 of them are by an author that I have read before. And I have read 9 out of the top ten (the one I didn't read is by an author I have read before). Some of the ones I haven't read because I didn't want to read, some I've heard of but haven't gotten around to reading, and some of them I haven't ever heard of.
This list includes classic novels (like Anne of Green Gables; and The Outsiders, arguably the beginning of YA lit as we know it), fantasy (I'd recommend Goose Girl and Howl's Moving Castle), contemporary (I just discovered John Greene and really like his writing), historical fiction (definitely read The Book Thief if you haven't!), science fiction (I've never read Ursula Le Guin, but people have said a lot of good things about her), paranormal (yes, Twilight is on there . . . unfortunately), and "lite" lit (Princess Diaries), as well as thriller, and dystopian. There are some series that I loved as a kid and I still love now!
Anyway, I feel like there is something on this list for everyone. Take a look and read on!
I thought it was interesting the list had a lot of newer fiction (published in the last five years or so). I think this is bc YA fiction has really come into it's own the last few years, but I think it would be interesting to see this list in 20 years. While most of the books are definitely classics, I did think some of the books were very "trendy." Anyways, thanks for posting! Now I have some more books to put on hold at the library.
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