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Young Adult isn't really just for the 12-18 age group anymore—it's the fastest growing publication category right now. In fact, 55 percent of readers who buy YA are actually over 18. If you still feel guilty picking up Harry Potter, don't.
The classification of "Young Adult" turns a lot of "mature" readers away from classics that demand extra attention, especially once you're a proper adult. You might've skipped these because they weren't on your required reading list, or maybe you just Sparknotes'd your way through high school— either way here's an unranked collection of the Best Young Adult Fiction Novels of All Time.
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Nothing But the Truth
Author: Avi
What To Read Next: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Phillip is the kid you hate in class. He thinks he's funnier than he really is. He's getting a D in English class and isn't allowed to try out for his beloved track team. To fight the man, he stands up and sings the national anthem during class, resulting in his suspension. And then, shit blows up.
As soon as he tells his parents he's been suspended for singing the national anthem—instead of, you know, disrupting class—he becomes national news, and his publicity begins to negatively affect the lives of those around him.
The novel, told through of series of letters, diary entries, school memos, and the like, explores the distortion of truth and humanity's natural instinct to protect itself, at whatever the cost.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Author: Mildred D. Taylor
What To Read Next: Let the Circle be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor, City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
This powerful novel, winner of the 1977 Newbery Medal, sheds light on the horrors of racism through the experiences of the Logan family, who are living in Missippi during the height of the Great Depression.
Cassie, the novel's narrator, and her family own land, but she doesn't realize just how significant that is for the South during that time period. Despite the horrors of nightriders and lynching, the family stays together.
The powerful truth of the past is contained within a compelling narrative anchored by a family readers root for.
Watership Down
Author: Richard Adams
What To Read Next: Duncton Wood by William Horwood, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
If you get into this book expecting a story about cute bunnies, you're going to have a rough time. Richard Adams' classic rabbit novel is a lot more violent than your last outing with Beatrix Potter.
The runt of a rabbit warren, Fiver, is a seer who experiences ominous visions about the destruction of his home. His brother, Hazel, leads a small band of rabbits to a safe home. When it turns out that Fiver was correct, things turn from bad to worse. The roving band comes across a police state run by rabbits on their quest to find mates to begin a new community.
Full of epic battle scenes and a near-biblical quest for home, Watership Down isn't your regular animal novel.
A Day No Pigs Would Die
Author: Robert Newton Peck
What To Read Next: A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L'Engle, A Separate Piece by John Knowles
Published in 1972, this coming-of-age novel draws heavily on the author's own childhood in Vermont. Robert, while skipping school to avoid a bully, sees that his neighbor's cow is having trouble giving birth. Putting himself in danger, he biths the calf and tries to save the cow. His neighbor is so grateful, he gives Robert a pig. Soon, the boy and the beast become the best of friends. But Robert's pops is a butcher.
This timeless tale explores a strained relationship between a father and son, whose respect for each other and love for an animal could save them both.
Matilda
Author: Roald Dahl
What To Read Next: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg, Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Though many of us know Matilda because of the film adaptation, lucky readers first encountered this supernatural tale as a novel by Roald Dahl, one of the most treasured authors of children's literature.
Raised by distant and emotionally abusive parents, Matilda is a symbol of hope for any lonely kid. As the cleverest of clever kids, the girl with magical powers constantly pulls pranks on her neglectful family when they misbehave. When she finally gets a shot at a regular childhood—that is, her parents actually enroll her in school—Matilda meets the sweet Miss Honey, who takes her under her wing and helps her take down the terrifying headmistress, Miss Trunchbull.
With this classic, Dahl introduced mistreated kids everywhere to a little something called "justice porn," where bullies get what they deserve.
Hatchet
Author: Gary Paulsen
What To Read Next: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Think back to when you were 13. Now, imagine that you're on a plane headed to your father when the pilot suffers a heart attack. The plane crashes, but you survive. You're stranded with nothing but the gift your mother gave you for your birthday: a hatchet. Because, what else would you give a 13-year-old? Call of Duty? No.
Brian, the hero of Gary Paulsen's novel, find himself in just this situation, and instead of panicking, crying, and giving up, he decides to own the wilderness. He learns how to build a fire, eats turtle eggs, and fights off bears. And that's all before the tornado shows up.
An adventure novel of the highest order, Hatchet was the first entry in a successful series from one of YA's most beloved authors.
The moral of this story? Check the plane before you head off with just your birthday present.
Stargirl
Author: Jerry Spinelli
What To Read Next: The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante, Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl is the type of book that wants to make kids feel special, in the "you laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you're all the same," way. In fact, we seem to remember some young readers wearing T-shirts with that slogan while carrying this book with them in between classes in high school.
Through the eyes of Susan, Spinelli's novel explores the fine line between being unique and finding safety in conformity. Called "Stargirl," the teenager is eccentric, compassionate, and delightfully unique. She's seen as an outcast, but sparks the interest of one upperclassman, Leo.
If you think that such an adorable girl becoming an outcast is unbelievable, we invite you to think back to yourself in high school. If a home-schooled girl showed up, in '20s flapper dresses and kimonos, you'd probably stay away from her too. Unless you'd read Stargirl, of course.
Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
What To Read Next: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, The Book of New Sun by Gene Wolfe
With a massive cult following, Dune is easily one of the most popular science fiction novels ever published. But it's also a great novel for teens, thanks to its teenage protagonist.
Set in the distant future amid a feudal intergalactic empire that's dependent on a resource known as spice. Paul, our hero, moves with his family to the only planet that produces spice and soon finds himself at the center of a major conflict that will change the course of humanity.
Go Ask Alice
Author: "Anonymous"
What To Read Next: Smack by Melvin Burgess, Cut by Patricia McCormick
Even today, 42 years after it was originally published, Go Ask Alice remains a source of mystery for readers. The author remains anonymous, allowing rumors to continue that the text comes from the real diary of a troubled young girl who grew up in the late '60s.
(It should be noted that it's most likely that the author was Beatrice Sparks, a therapist and Mormon youth counselor.)
The risky subject matter—including rape, sex, and drugs—has caused the book to be banned from many schools and libraries across the nation, even to this day.
The Outsiders
Author: S. E. Hinton
What To Read Next: That Was Then, This is Now by S. E. Hinton, Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
S.E. Hinton began writing this novel when she was just 15; The Outsiders was published by the time she was 18. Yes, when she was concerned with writing one of the greatest young adult novels ever, you were worrying about passing your driver's test.
A simple recounting of the plot doesn't do the story justice but here goes: The Outsiders follow two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. The two groups, separated by class, decide to settle their differences via a huge turf war.
More important than the novel's violence (which has caused it to be banned many, many times), is the perspective the story offers. It forces readers to feel like outsiders in a world of rich kids.
The House on Mango Street
Author: Sandra Cisneros
What To Read Next: How the Garvia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, Breaking Through Francisco Jimenez
Esperanza, the narrator of Sanda Cisneros' beautiful novel, has awkward tendencies, though she's funnier and more poetic than most characters populating YA fiction. She makes you realize that everyone is embarrassed by their identity, but more importantly, she asks you to understand that we're all human.
Told through a series of nonlinear vignettes, The House on Mango Street follows the Latina teenager as she writes about her day-to-day life, even as she pines for an idyllic house with a yard and working pipes. Over the course of the novel, readers watch Esperanza experience puberty and poverty, growing into a complex young woman.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
What To Read Next: American Born Chinese by Gene Leun Yang, Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
This bestseller covers issues that, unfortunately, don't see enough discussion in pop culture: the racism that Native Americans regularly face; the tenuous relationships between reservations and white communities; and the alcoholism and poverty that too often afflicts the Native American community.
The novel's protagonist, Arnold, is an intelligent Native American who suffered from water in the brain when he was born, which, along with the surgery to drain his spinal cord, left him with physical disabilities. After being bullied on the reservation, he's sent to an all-white high school, where he meets a girl, a new friend, and finds out that nothing is easy.
If it sounds like a bummer, stick with us. This novel is about hope. Arnold's parents are alcoholics, his sister can't leave her mobile home, he only has one friend and he's abused by his father. Yet despite all that, Arnold has a steadfast, if not frustrating for the reader, belief that his circumstances can change.
The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
What To Read Next: Night by Elie Wiesel, The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Based on the novel's title and bestseller status, you might think it's about some Da Vinci Code-type character finding clues in the world's oldest books. Nope. The Book Thief is about a 9-year-old foster girl in Nazi Germany who loves reading. Oh, and the novel is narrated by Death.
The brave heroine, Leisel, has to steal books to satiate her desire to read—sometimes from Nazi book burnings, but mostly from the mayor's wife's personal library. Death watches her grow up in her new foster home, where she meets a hidden Jewish brawler and become friends with the neighborhood children.
But thievery isn't just a dangerous hobby she picks up, it's her redemption. She steals because her brother's life was stolen, her mother is absent, and everything has been unfairly taken from her. All she can do is fill the void with every word she reads.
The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
What To Read Next: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, Looking for Alaska by John Green
It's incredible how easily the author of The Fault in Our Stars, John Green, writes in the voice of a teenage girl. His character, Hazel Grace, speaks with humor and the fitting angst of an adolescent whose life is interrupted by an awful disease.
Hazel's parents force her to attend a support group for teens fighting cancer and there she meets Gus, a handsome fellow who lost his leg to osteosarcoma. Although she's reluctant at first, Hazel gives into Gus' charms and together, they realize her dreams. One, in particular, is kissing in Anne Frank's house. Would've thought?
Green's novel is currently being turned into a feature film that will hopefully capture clarity of the theme: Life goes on in the face of disease, and things hurt because they matter.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Author: Judy Bloom
What To Read Next: Forever by Judy Bloom, Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Judy Blume's novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret has one confused main character. Not only does Margaret have to deal with puberty, buying a bra, and figuring out how to use belted sanitary napkins (google it—you'll feel bad for your grandma), she also has to deal with her religious identity.
Margaret was born to a Christian mom and a Jewish dad, and her grandparents want her to pick one religion. That's really hard to do when you don't even know what's up with the body God gave you. Judy Bloom, in case you didn't know, just gets it.
The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
What To Read Next: Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan, Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
The Giver is a novel that forces you to appreciate all those times you were heartbroken, pissed off, and disappointed by confronting you with a "utopia" in which every human passion is extinguished. In the world of The Giver, being naive is ideal. Jobs are assigned based on your strengths, spouses are assigned based on personality (a lot like OKCupid). Feelings like "stirrings," a fun euphemism for horny, should be ignored.
When 11-year-old Jonas is given the job of "Receiver," he receives all the memories of his community before the sameness (i.e. the eradication of emotion) was instituted. He learns about love, where babies come from, what happens when people are "released," and sees colors for the first time. Surprisingly, he, with the help of the Giver, learns how to synthesize this information into helping his community recall their humanness again. We'd be tripping balls.
The Hunger Games Series
Author: Suzanne Collins
What To Read Next: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Unlike The Twilight Saga, audiences—at least, those who read the book beforehand —didn't purchase a ticket for The Hunger Games film adaptation because they "just wanted to make fun of how bad it is." The story of Suzanne Collins' novel is genuinely thrilling.
A new twist on a gladiator-type saga, the book is a cautionary tale about greed, rebellion, and the abuse of power. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, The Hunger Games opens with a special annual event. Every year, a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts in this world are randomly selected to fight to the death in the Hunger Games, a televised event held by the government to maintain control over its citizens, and as punishment for a past uprising. The winner of the fight gets to return to his or her home with food for their entire community.
A heroine, Katniss Everdeen, rises from the oppression and unwittingly incites a rebellion against The Capitol during the games she competes in, which propels the plot of the remaining two books of Collins' trilogy.
The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J. D. Salinger
What To Read Next: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Confusion, angst, rebellion: The Catcher in the Rye is the perfect novel for a freshman in high school. Holden Caulfield, the 17-year-old protagonist, deals with the alienation of his peers, getting kicked out of school, and wondering about his sexuality just because he respects women enough to take the answer "no." He jaunts around New York City, feeling pissed off at the world, encountering trouble behind every corner, every closed door.
By the novel's end, readers are wondering if Holden will grow up at all. But there's a glimmer of hope.
"Good news for us!" said the kid with no friends to his online forum.
Speak
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
What To Read Next: Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Entitled Speak, this novel says volumes despite the paralyzing silence of its main character, Melinda. The summer before her freshman year, Melinda attends a party where a popular upperclassman rapes her while she's drunk. The following school year, she deals with post traumatic stress disorder, refuses to talk to her friends and family, and slowly builds up the courage to be herself again.
The importance of this novel is impossible to underestimate. It's one of the most frank discussion of rape in YA fiction. Anderson received thousands of letters from readers confiding in her that this had happened to them, too. Speak is an invitation so have a conversation that, as a culture, we aren't comfortable with. And, just as importantly, it asks that we not dismiss the victims.
The Chronicles of Narnia (Series)
Author: C. S. Lewis
What To Read Next: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, The Last Rune by Mark Anthony
The Chronicles of Narnia is more than a rap song by The Lonely Island. The seven-book series follows a cast of children as they escape into Narnia, a magical land with talking animals, magic, mystical beasts, and deep themes. (And, this being C.S. Lewis, Christian undertones.)
The series chronicles (surprise!) the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician's Nephew to its destruction in The Last Battle. Don't get too attached; nothing in YA (or life) lasts.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
What To Read Next: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
One of the most iconic works in American literature, To Kill a Mockingbird addresses issues of race, rape, and class but with simple language that any 9th-grader could understand. Which isn't to say that it dumbs anything down. Because it doesn't.
Scout, a young tomboy, navigates growing up in the South during the Depression with her older brother, Jem, and compassionate lawyer father, Atticus. Scout and Jem befriend a neighborhood boy, become fascinated by a recluse neighbor named Boo, and watch as their father defends a black man on trial for raping a white woman. In the process, Scout is changed, as is the reader.
His Dark Materials Trilogy
Author: Phillip Pullman
What To Read Next: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein, Juniper by Monica Furlong
The series that pissed off a great many religious groups is, in fact, for young adults. In the world of the Dark Materials trilogy, religion controls the people, and it's not a good thing. In addition to angering Christians, the trilogy describes the coming-of-age of two children, Lyra and Will, and their dæmons, animal companions who represent their inner-selves.
If you're under the impression that this a series of fairy tales and talking animal, we kindly ask you to give it a chance. Pullman set out to rewrite Milton's Paradise Lost, the epic poem about Satan, the loss of innocence, and sin. And his series is a success (though not in the same way that Milton's poem is a success). Not bad for something a 13-year-old could quote.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
What To Read Next: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, Brave New Girl by Louisa Luna
The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been a staple on teen bookshelves since it was published in 1999. You must remember seeing numerous yellow-green paperbacks of this book tucked under arms in between classes.
The main character, Charlie, writes a series of letters to someone he's never met as a sort of therapy to help him deal with his haunting past. The letters describe his progression from a shy, wounded, and introverted freshman on the first day of high school, to a social butterfly with close friends. Along the way, he falls in love with a girl named Sam and sees Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Plus, it expanded the musical background of teens beyond Top 40. Raise your hand if you listen to "Asleep" by The Smiths because of Chbosky's book. Thought so.
A Wrinkle in Time
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
What To Read Next: The Time Quintet series by Madeleine L'Engle, Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
L'Engle's landmark novel was first published in 1962, but has stood the test of time, entrancing audiences with its other-worldly appeal, quantum physics, and beloved lead character, Meg Murray.
Meg's a homely and insecure 14-year-old who's concerned about her missing father. One night, a woman named Mrs. Whatsit appears at the Murray household, explaining that there's been a "tesseract," and through that they will be able to travel through space and time to save Mr. Murray, who's being held captive by the Dark Thing. But they don't think this lady is bat-shit crazy. Instead, they think, "Yeah, that makes sense."
Meg, with her little brother Charles Wallace, and the popular kid, Calvin O'Keefe, travel through the tesseract through the fifth dimension to find Mr. Murray. Eventually, Meg realizes she has to fight this evil on her own to save her family, and, to do so, must use her secret weapon: Her power to love. (Sound familiar, Harry Potter fans?)
Though it's draped in weird science, L'Engle's novel is only an awesome variation on of the oldest stories ever told: good versus evil. The novel expresses the beauty of individualism through the character of Meg, and the importance of understanding that not everything in life can or should be explained.
The Harry Potter Series
Author: J. K. Rowling
What To Read Next: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
British author J.K. Rowling inspired an entire generation to read with her seven Harry Potter books, introducing readers to characters who became our best friends: Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry discovered the magic of Hogwarts, the school we'd all attend if we could; he dealt with his hatred of Snape, a jerk who had the hots for his mum; and accumulated more father figures than a P.T. Anderson movie.
The novels were so popular (even without the protests from religious groups condemning it for promoting witchcraft) that it inspired eight blockbusters, eleven video games, and its very own theme park in Florida. Extra marketing aside, Rowling's novels succeeded because she can write. Which is not something you can say about Stephenie Meyer.