Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Best YA Books - EVER.

What a HARD question to ask a YA book lover. Pick your 10 best-ever YA books? Come on. I need at least 25.

Well, NPR is asking just that. And you can go vote here.

Since a big majority of my friends are YA lovers, we're obviously talking about this. Bailey posted her picks on her blog and I've decided to post mine here.

While Bailey asked herself what 10-book bundle she would give to a high school student, I asked myself what 10 books have stayed with me in my ten years of reading YA.

1. 13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson
2. Annie on my Mind, by Nancy Garden
3. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
4. Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin
5. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
6. Looking for Alaska, by John Green*
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky*
8. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares
9. This Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen
10. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher*



Books I Wish I Could Have Included: 
Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Lousise Rennison
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Make Lemonade, by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by David Levithan and Rachel Cohen
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hilton
The Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot
Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli



Books Not On the List That I Adore: 
The Key to the Golden Firebird, by Maureen Johnson
Peeps, by Scott Westerfeld
Be More Chill, by Ned Vizzini
What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
TTYL, by Lauren Myracle
Sean Griswold's Head, by Lindsey Leavitt


You'll probably notice that I left off Harry Potter. Not because I don't love it or because I don't think it's very important to read while you are a teenager, but because I don't see it as a YA book. There are actually many books that I don't see as a YA book that are on the list. I see these books as children's books or adult books. 
Books That Should NOT Be on the NPR list: 
Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picolt
The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien
The Hobbitt, by J.R.R. Tolkien 



Okay. That's enough lists for now. What did you all pick?