52 Books That Hooked Readers on YA

Chrissy wrote: "Aurora wrote: "Am not big on YA. Growing up, it was very limited for ( early 2000s I was teen...) when i finally began to read adult fiction, thats when i finally started becoming somewhat at peace..."

Chrissy, I went through an RL Stine phase too! I think I read every Goosebumps book he wrote...but I was never brave enough to try his more YA horror. I'm very much a scaredy-cat, (Even now I lean more toward horror-comedy,) so I'm surprised I even liked Goosebumps as much as I did. My favorite was "Cuckoo Clock of Doom". :)

Anna Dressed in Blood should've made the cut. It was pretty awesome.

No Vampire Academy? Extraordinary Means? When Dimple met Rishi?

23 😁 Some of them I've used as class readers or book club readers and most of my students loved them - except Stalking Jack the Ripper. Neither the students nor I had any love for that book. But most of them were over the moon about I'll Give You the Sun, Love Simon, Eleanor & Park, Six of Crows, The Hate U Give, Looking for Alaska, and (not on this list but still great) Noughts & Crosses. Also We All Looked Up was a hit. I want to try Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway next year. I'm glad there are so many good books of the genre out there. We hardly ever read anything interesting when I went to high school.

I liked YA and middle grade's books in the past, not so much today - they are all so political for kid's stuff... But The Mortal Instruments and The Iron Fey were great books.

I have not read any of these. There was a good selection of children & teen literature when i was growing up back in the 80s, but as i have always been a voracious reader i suddenly moved on to adult literature when i was 14. So i remember Poe, Asimov, Kafka, Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury as my teenage readings. So YA is not really my cup of tea. I`m a adult-oriented fantasy-sf-mystery person instead.

The only one I've read is the Outsiders, I think we read it for school when I was about 10 or 11, not much older than that, anyway. Can't say it made a huge impact on me, and these books don't sound that interesting, either. I might read a couple if I didn't have any normal, adult books to read, but I don't want to read about the same characters over and over again.

10 Read, 10 to be read - with others I just don't bother

I have a shelf for my historical YA. It was my favorite when I was a teen; it's still my favorite now. The rest of the YA (romance, realistic, fantasy) I read go into a different, catch-all shelf. For those interested in events through a teenager's eyes, I recommend Ann Rinaldi.

As a young teen, I really enjoyed R.L. Stine's Fear Street series and Lois Duncan's work as well as Cynthia Voigt with her realistic novels.

Mwanamali wrote: "two harry potter rip offs and you don'r even add it?"
I've heard about city of bones being a Harry Potter Rip off, but what is the second one? (genuinely interested)

I’ve read too many of them

So happy that Sabriel and The Giver made the cut. I would add the Queen's Thief series, the Song of the Lioness quartet, and Howl's Moving Castle.

No Harry Potter? Seriously? Disappointing, but to each her own, I suppose.

Aurora wrote: "Am not big on YA. Growing up, it was very limited for ( early 2000s I was teen...) when i finally began to read adult fiction, thats when i finally started becoming somewhat at peace with myself an..."

You are so right. Some of the best Christopher Pike books would blow most of these out of the water. Still read and consider him a favorite author.

Like another poster said, I also have a huge fond spot for Judy Blume.

Cindy wrote: "As an almost 40 year old woman, I am so glad that this genre has come so far since I was a teenager. There just wasn't much that was great when I was the target audience for YA. I am an avid reader..."

Ditto what Cindy said, with the exception that I am 40...and a half.

Colleen wrote: "It's sad that Twilight is listed instead of Harry Potter. Yes, I have read it before Goodreads was even around. Harry Potter is much better."

agreed!

Harry Potter is great. They just don't happen to be labeling it YA, I'm sure no slight is meant, and the series is far from the underdog that needs defending. :)

I'm surprised Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses series didn't make it on here. She's the author that introduced YA / teenage fiction to me. I'm surprised there are books that made this list that only recently got published. Rather than older books which actually brought YA fiction to the forefront and introduced it in the literary world.

people are keep saying fave YA books should have been included on the list not the book that got them started reading YA as an adult. that is what the article is about. smh. even on GR folks don't actually read the articles before commenting. although it's right in the title...

Don't dis Twilight!

I’ve read 7. This is a great list of books!

Boys books have little to no representation. If you're looking for one, try "Out of Bounds," a national award-winning coming-of-age sports mystery by Bob Moseley. You can find it on amazon.com

I find it interesting that Throne of Glass is not listed but A Court of Thorns and Roses is. The Throne of Glass series came first and is definitely more YA. A Court of Thorns and Roses is not something I would let a teenage daughter read. I would not classify it as YA because of the steamy sex scenes. Love both series by Sarah J. Maas though.

House of Night is an awesome YA series that I think is missing from this list. Also, Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series deserves to make the list. Melissa De la Cruz's Blue Bloods series. Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver series. Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman Cycle as well as the Jackaroo series. Lauren Oliver's Delirium series. Ally Condie's Matched Trilogy. Caragh M. O'Brien's Birthmarked series as well as Vault of Dreamers series. And one of my all-time favorites, the Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis. This is just a short list of the many awesome YA books, but all amazing.

Cindy wrote: "As a librarian, HP is definitely junior fiction until you get to the later books. I have never put it in as young adult or thought of it as such. But then again I also think it is very highly overr..."

I also work at a library. Although the HP series originally came out as children's fiction, we carry it in every department, and every age reads it. I'm not even going to challenge your "very highly overrated" comment.

I've only read a third of them but I plan to read at least a quarter of the others. This is going to make me sound ancient, but we read The Outsiders when I was in junior high and at the time it was a fairly recent release. The movie was already out and we watched that after reading the book, but just reading the book was a bit controversial and our parents needed to sign permission forms.

This was the year the Challenger exploded on live TV. My point is, The Outsiders wasn't really considered young adult back then. Although, to be fair, I'm not sure the term "young adult" existed yet. Several years later, I fell in love with books that were deemed "for teens" via an author named Christopher Pike, who pumped out one mystery after another practically every other month. I couldn't devour his books fast enough. I know some of them are still published as compilations. But when I grew out of those, I didn't continue reading books for teens.

It wasn't until I was anorexic a dozen years ago and went searching for any and all books eating disorder related that I discovered Francesca Lia Block's The Hanged Man and Violet & Claire, which turned me into a lifelong fan of the author. That lead to my reading other YA books and now I not only read them but write them. And I've interviewed a few YA authors for my site, Love is Pop, among them Ms. Block, Jay Asher and Adriana Mather.

I'd like to see "historical fiction" as an additional category, which would include books like A Death Struck Year and Fever 1793.

I was hooked on YA by two dystopian series. Divergent by Veronica Roth and Delirium by Lauren Oliver. These two series opened my eyes to a whole new world of books. Without them, I wouldn’t have the love of reading I do today.

I've read 28 of these and want to read all of them someday. I think it was Legend that really sucked me into the YA world.

Bob wrote: "Boys books have little to no representation. If you're looking for one, try "Out of Bounds," a national award-winning coming-of-age sports mystery by Bob Moseley. You can find it on amazon.com"

"boy books" books have no gender boys can read any books they want i know boys who read Sarah J maas and other people like that all the time "boy books" smh

I'm breathing hard on 60, and love those dystopian novels! I've read YA for years, and The Mortal Instruments series sucked me right in from the first page of City of Bones. So many really good authors with great imaginations out there now! Kendare Blake is another favorite. I'm surprised Holly Black isn't on this list; She has marvelous stand alone books as well as series. And Maggie Stievater? I drove everyone I know mad with my paean to her Raven Boys series. So, to put it bluntly, I'm a big fan!

Michele wrote: "I'd like to see "historical fiction" as an additional category, which would include books like A Death Struck Year and Fever 1793."
I agree. Ann Rinaldi is a great YA historical fiction author!

Samantha wrote: "I was hooked on YA by two dystopian series. Divergent by Veronica Roth and Delirium by Lauren Oliver. These two series opened my eyes to a whole new world of books. Without them, I wouldn’t have th..."

Totally agree! Those came out around the same time and made for a voracious period of reading.

Eliza and her books wrote: "Bob wrote: "Boys books have little to no representation. If you're looking for one, try "Out of Bounds," a national award-winning coming-of-age sports mystery by Bob Moseley. You can find it on ama..."

Exactly, Eliza! Why are people still trying to make books gendered? Books should be for everyone to enjoy at any given moment! Why is it that the world you want to escape to via a book (whether it's fantasy or historical or realistic fiction or any other genre) is still gendered? Genres aren't gender-based. Anyone can read and enjoy any genre.

Is it weird that I started reading Nicholas Sparks before I read any YA? I didn't start actively reading YA until last year. (I've read 10 of these books and I plan on reading 4 of them.)

Hunger Games, Giver, Outsiders are the only ones I recognize on this list. Not favorites. I waded through a lot of YA novels I didn't like in the 1970s, too, when that was what I was supposed to read.

10 YA's I liked then and like still (apologies to new authors), as they come to mind, may amuse others at this site:

1. Paula Danziger's Pistachio Prescription

2. Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Song, Dragon Singer (and the rest of the series, later on)

3. Vian Smith's Come Down the Mountain

4. K.M. Peyton's Pennington's Last Term, aka Pennington's Seventeenth Summer

5. Thomas B. Costain's Silver Chalice (and others, but that was my favorite)

6. Mary Slattery Stolz's Who Wants Music on Monday (and several others by her, but that was my favorite)

7. Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn

8. Louisa May Alcott's Oldfashioned Girl

9. M.E. Kerr's Is That You Miss Blue (and others)

10. Tricia Springstubb's Give and Take

So basically all the super hyped books are on this list.

I've read 27, but I don't tend to read many thrillers or contemporaries. Fantasy and dystopia are more my thing!

Lydia wrote: "Is it weird that I started reading Nicholas Sparks before I read any YA? I didn't start actively reading YA until last year. (I've read 10 of these books and I plan on reading 4 of them.)"

That's not weird at all. I was the same way -- I began with some Nicholas Sparks books before turning to YA Fiction.

❄Elsa Frost❄ wrote: "Exactly, Eliza! Why are people still trying to make books gendered? "

Well considering that YA is based on age (just like the new NA), it's not really surprising that people think of them as gendered, as well. Frankly I think that both are equally stupid ways to categorize books.

Only 5! I have to get busy.

25 all amazing :)

37! But I've currently got several on my bookshelves waiting to be read, so that number will increase soon.

Katsuro wrote: "Colleen wrote: "It's sad that Twilight is listed instead of Harry Potter. Yes, I have read it before Goodreads was even around. Harry Potter is much better."

Also, honest question--does anyone eve..."

It's definitely not as popular as it used to be, but there are still teens discovering Twilight for the first time.

I'm glad Uglies, Speak, and The Giver are on this list. ^_^
I was an adolescent from about 2006-2012 and read a LOT of YA. In my adulthood I haven't been as interested, so some of these newer books are unfamiliar, but I've heard great things about The Hate You Give and The Raven Cycle.
I was recently in a bookstore and I walked over to the YA section to see what the kids are into these days and I was happy to see that a lot more books, specifically books for teens girls, are referencing fandom and have girl characters who cosplay and write fanfiction. Books that talked about girl nerd culture weren't very common when I was a teen, so I'm glad girls have this now. I was also happy to see that graphic novels are a lot more popular.
Also can people please stop whining about Twlight being on this list? Whether you thought it good or not, it was one of the most popular YA books out there and got a lot of teens interested in reading.

None of these got me started on YA. Tbh, I can’t remember my first YA book. I’ve read a few of these though; one I absolutely loved, one I absolutely hated, and one I didn’t finish. What a trifecta!

I may be past my teen years now, but I do enjoy a good YA book. I’d recommend One Paris Summer, which isn’t on this list.

I love a number of the novels on this list. I also compiled a list of over 136 middle school and prep YA novels that have, in the main, not been adapted into movies. Here is the link to it within my blog.http://novelresources.blog/recommende... I hope it is of use!

23, I need to get on this list!

I'm 32 and i've read 25 of these i've been reading YA forever i believe YA doesn't know age i love YA I'll always love YA

1. Twilight
2. A count of thorns and roses
3. Six of crows
4. Red queen
5. An ember in the ashes
6. The raven boys
7. Daughter of smoke and bone
8. The hate u give
9. Speak
10. Looking for Alaska
11. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
12. I'll give you the sun
13. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
14. The outsiders
15. Divergent
16. Shatter me
17. The hunger games
18. Cinder
19. The giver
20. The darkest minds
21. To all the boys I've loved before
22. Pretty little liars
23. A study in Charlotte
24. Stalking Jack the ripper
25. We were liars

The Tomorrow series was the big one in Oz, six years before HP took the young readers by storm. The whole series brought adult concepts to young people in an exciting adventure - the series may have gone on a bit long, but the first few books were powerful

Tomorrow, When the War Began