YA for Everyone!

December 17, 2012

Okay, so maybe young adult books are not for everyone (I don't think I will be reading excerpts from The Hunger Games at the next toddler storytime after all), but they are definitely appealing to a wider audience than just our teens.

Don’t believe me? Think there’s nothing in a teen novel except angsty romance and sparkly vampires? Guess again. Whether you’re into zombies or fairy tale remixes, comic book superheroes or Bond villains, heartbreaking stories of cancer, domestic abuse, and family dysfunction or adrenaline rushes of criminals, spies, espionage, and murder, I can guarantee that there are YA books for you. 

What far too many people don’t realize is that a lot of teen fiction defies the typical publishing "laws" of genre-fiction. It’s easy to walk into a book store and find a romance, a western, a mystery, a fantasy, a science fiction, or a literary fiction novel published for the adult audience. In the YA section, books constantly transcend multiple genres or even disregard the idea of genres altogether. And these books aren’t just straight-up plot either. Characters, settings, and description of all sorts are written with as much depth in a YA book as any adult book.

In addition, lots of authors are crossing over into the YA market, including bestselling favorites James Patterson, John Grisham, Harlan Coben, Gena Showalter, Kathy Reichs, Sherilynn Kenyon, Carl Hiaasen, and Jodi Picoult (with her daughter).

So, are you ready to take the plunge into the world of YA? Here’s a list of books to cut your teeth on.

The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein
Dodger – Terry Pratchett
Every Day – David Levithan
The Brides of Rollrock Island – Margo Lanagan
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman
The Diviners – Libba Bray
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Chains – Laurie Halse Anderson
Little Brother – Cory Doctorow
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne
Unwind – Neal Shusterman
Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli
The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld
The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater
The Scorpio Races – Maggie Stiefvater
The Truth About Forever – by Sarah Dessen
When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead
The Chosen One – Carol Lynch Williams
What I Saw and How I Lied – Judy Blundell
Blood Red Road – Moira Young
Small Damages – Beth Kephart
Small Town Sinners – Melissa Walker
Divergent – Veronica Roth
Anything But the Ants – by A.S. King
The Princesses of Iowa – Molly Backes
Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor
Geektastic – ed. Holly Black and Cecil Castelucci
Okay for Now – Gary Schmidt
Moon Over Manifest – Clare Vanderpool
The Apothecary – Maile Meloy
Life: An Exploded Diagram – Mal Peet
Revolution – Jennifer Donnelly
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Chime – Frannie Billingsley
The Piper’s Son – Melina Marchetta
Almost Perfect – Brian Katcher
Why We Broke Up – Daniel Handler
Bog Child – Siobhan Dowd
A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
Winter Town – Stephen Emond
Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys
If I Stay– Gayle Forman
Saving June – Hannah Harrington
Shadowcry– Jenna Burtenshaw
Not That Kind of Girl – Siobhan Vivian
Graceling  – Kristin Cashore
Kissing Shakespeare – Pamela Mingle
Jane – April Lindner
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
The Future of Us – Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
The Girl of Fire and Thorns – Rae Carson
Alice in Zombieland – Gena Showalter
Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson
Trickster’s Girl – Hilari Bell
The Returning – Christine Hinwood
Vixen – Jillian Larkin
Eyes Like Stars – Lisa Mantchev
Pathfinder – Orson Scott Card
Sabriel – Garth Nix
The Christopher Killer – Alane Ferguson

~Erin D.
Parkville Branch