10. Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier. A teen girl must keep her father's business and castle in order while he is called away - and try to keep her sisters from falling under the spell of an enchanted world. Not just a fairytale retelling, this is fairytale fusion set in historical Transylvania. Rich with tension between two worlds and a double love story.
9. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer. I know, I know - you either love this book, or you hate it. I'm not crazy about the rest of the series, but I did succumb to the strange obsessive love in this book. And I love that it got teens excited about reading, and I love that it got so many moms excited about writing, too.
8. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson. To balance the unreasonable amount of unrealistic love in young adult books, this contemporary classic is brutally but beautifully realistic - and necessary. #YASaves
7. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. I still have trouble dealing with the violence in this book, but what I love about is how it showcases the brave hearts of two teens who fight the cruelty of their world with compassion.
6. A Northern Light, Jennifer Donnelly. A poor girl from the Northwoods has a chance to go to college - back in the early 1900's when it was a very rare chance. But it means breaking a promise to her mother. A sophisticated and gripping emotional arc set alongside a murder mystery. fantastic array of characters, and it left me with a new appreciation for dictionaries and "word wars."
5. Wings and its sequels, by Aprilynne Pike. I usually only read one book in a series a year, even when they are available. This one was a rule-breaker. It's a love triangle, human/human/faery (with a pretty weird/awesome twist on faeries) and I am sooooo Team Tamani.
4. The Iron Fey series, by Julie Kagawa. Okay, I lied. This is another rule-breaker series, and another one, strangely enough, about faeries. But in this case it's the world-building that won me over with the stark contrast between the steampunkish iron fey and the sinister beauty of the summer/winter fey.
3. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley. This book was also on my kidlit list, but I think it also qualifies as young adult. I absolutely raved about this book and listed ten reasons why I loved it almost as much as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings (by the way, the last three Harry Potter books definitely qualify as young adult and deserve to be on this list too. So, now they are!)
2. The Moon by Night and A Ring of Endless Light, Madeleine L'Engle. These are older books, written in the sixties, but the dynamics between Vickie's boyfriend(s) and family are so... I don't even have a word for it. This series just really spoke to my heart.
What I love about young adult books is how you can re-discover the wild swings of emotions and first love and first heartbreak and so many other firsts... without actually having to re-live it again! I love stories about finding yourself, your place in the world, learning to be yourself instead of what other define you as, and young adult books capture this so well.
What are your thoughts on young adult books?
I am out of town this weekend so I apologize for not being able to catch up with your comments and visit your blogs until Monday.
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