The strongest points of contention so far, she says, are Twilight making the list (at number 27) and "no one has yet forgiven us for cutting Ender's Game."

And you deserve all the hate mail on the Internet for such bullshiat.

ThrnPhl: A Wrinkle in Time!!

Excellent book, though I would definitely call it pre-teen.

I recently finished His Dark Materials, and my thoughts are that it was a VERY solid YA trilogy. Glad to see it at #15, but I would have gone a little higher with it.

/just read Railsea by China Mieville, thought it was good

There's Hunger Games but no Chronicles of Prydain? WHAT?

Lloyd Alexander is a modern bard IMO and his books will be looked upon years from now as literary works of art. The man had a way with words that is line with fantasy greats Tolkien and CS Lewis

Ugh, enough with the bad fantasy already.

bulok: There's Hunger Games but no Chronicles of Prydain? WHAT?

Lloyd Alexander is a modern bard IMO and his books will be looked upon years from now as literary works of art. The man had a way with words that is line with fantasy greats Tolkien and CS Lewis

Absolutely this

"Lord of the Rings" should be #1, because without it 80% of those books would not exist.

EvilEgg: That Poalini crap is on there? That is perhaps the worst fantasy novel of all time.

Imagine my surprise when picking up a Steinbeck novel only to have an introduction written by Poalini. It was Steinbeck's version of king arthur, and he did a fairly good job at it, but still. I guess what determines a classic now is sales.

Blocked mostly everything out of that book except Maurice, the gangster of love. Well... pimp. I guess paying a hooker to talk is bad juju.

DeltaPunch: I recently finished His Dark Materials, and my thoughts are that it was a VERY solid YA trilogy. Glad to see it at #15, but I would have gone a little higher with it.

Pullman's books are my personal #1 favorite young adult fiction. I haven't read anything better.

DeltaPunch: /just read Railsea by China Mieville, thought it was good

Pretty sure this isn't young adult. Some of his stuff is subtly brilliant though.

The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima should have made the list

Seth'n'Spectrum: Pullman's Paxton's books are my personal #1 favorite young adult fiction. I haven't read anything better.

/sorry

these lists need some sort of algorithm to take into account the fact that the latest 'big thing' is not actually the best thing ever. Sure Harry Potter will probably cement a place on the list in time (Twilight? I'm not so sure, vampire academy, I hope not). The Hunger Games is an interesting one, for me it reads like a modern day version of The Prince In Waiting . Had this list been written when I was a young teen, John Christopher would have made the list (but probably with The Tripods).

That said, even the older stuff (Tolkien for example) will leap up the list when there is a film version.

On the flip side, you can also see the fingerprint of uppity adults on the list. Voting not for what hey enjoyed as kids, but for what kids 'should' read.

For those of you who do read this genre, let me recommend The Dead I know by Scott Gardner as a very interesting recent book.

Wait a second. Does the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy count as young adult fiction? Because of it does, that automatically has to be number one.

Also, I skipped Neil Gaiman as a kid, but recently read three of his short novels (Stardust, Anansi Boys, and Neverwhere). The overarching plots were hilariously repetitive in certain aspects, but his writing is pretty damn solid.

GAT_00: The strongest points of contention so far, she says, are Twilight making the list (at number 27) and "no one has yet forgiven us for cutting Ender's Game."

And you deserve all the hate mail on the Internet for such bullshiat.

Noooooo! Don't make me have to upgrade you from red to yellow for agreeing with you so much on this.

Khazar-Khum: "Lord of the Rings" should be #1, because without it 80% of those books would not exist.

LOTR was number one of their list of top Science fiction/fantasy for adults.

Seth'n'Spectrum: Wait a second. Does the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy count as young adult fiction? Because of it does, that automatically has to be number one.

Also, I skipped Neil Gaiman as a kid, but recently read three of his short novels (Stardust, Anansi Boys, and Neverwhere). The overarching plots were hilariously repetitive in certain aspects, but his writing is pretty damn solid.

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy was number two on the list for adults.

GAT_00: The strongest points of contention so far, she says, are Twilight making the list (at number 27) and "no one has yet forgiven us for cutting Ender's Game."

And you deserve all the hate mail on the Internet for such bullshiat.

NPR deserves hate mail because the voters were wrong? That seems kind of harsh. Maybe if they supplied a list of emails of people who actually voted for Twilight that would be a fair compromise

bulok: There's Hunger Games but no Chronicles of Prydain? WHAT?

Lloyd Alexander is a modern bard IMO and his books will be looked upon years from now as literary works of art. The man had a way with words that is line with fantasy greats Tolkien and CS Lewis

dang skippy.

SurfaceTension: SilentStrider: A Separate Peace?
Really?
Dear GOD I hated that book when I read it in high school. The main character was such a mopey whiney brat that he made me want to reach into the pages and strangle him.

Consider for a moment that the best art is that which evokes a strong emotional reaction, which could include the desire to strangle a character in a book, and then ask yourself if such a book was really all that bad.

I'm going to have to go with SilentStrider on this. No teen ever in history would willingly just up and read A Separate Peace - not even whiny emo types in their own right. It's got "forced to read by diabolical high school English teacher" written all over it.

Conspicuously missing: Atlas Shrugged. Yes, it's terrible, but so are a lot of books on that list - and you can't call it anything but a juvenile fantasy. It's warped whole generations of teen minds.

Oh God why the hell is twilight on there! I thought NPR readers were smarter than that! Not only is it badly written it glorifies abusive relationships!

Oh god I hated Catcher in the Rye, it's the epitome of the whiny rich kid novel and I was the only one in my Honors English class that hated it. I don't understand why it gets so much praise. It's basically an angst blog post

"Were do the ducks go?" You're 16 years old and you don't know they go south for the winter. FUUUUUUUUU

Harry Potter is a bit cliche in the first couple of books but after 3 it takes a very dark and adult turn.

I haven't read most of these so I can't comment on them.

jso2897 Atlas Shrugged. Yes, it's terrible, but so are a lot of books on that list - and you can't call it anything but a juvenile fantasy.


Yep. That is EXACTLY what William F Buckley said of that one. Bill Buckley was the God of the modern conservative. There is some funny "Buckley vs Ayn Rand" stuff on youtube.

Nice to see a list without that piece of shiat, A Separate Peace,

the only reason people rank 'to kill a mockingbird' so high is because it makes them feel good about themselves because of the 'racism is bad' message... it's not a good story, the characters are completely uninteresting, and it's not well-written. I'm not a fan of 'catcher in the rye' either, but at least it's a decent story written well.

I'm surprised Flowers in the Attic wasn't on the list. As I recall every dimwitted chick in high school seemed to have their face perpetually buried in either that or it's many sequels.

DMG?

I reread To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time since middle school two years ago because it was the 50th Anniversary of its publishing. I was really surprised how good of a book it was. I don't know if I'd call it a teen book. While it can be enjoyed by all ages, Harper Lee really doesn't hold anything back when it comes to the part about the rape allegations.

As I say in all of these threads, I recently read The Hunger Games and thought it was terrible. Putting aside the plot and characters, the writing style is so barren. It's like Collins wanted to get as close as possible to writing in bullet point. To compare to To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee is like a painter with her use of language.

Does anyone write books anymore that AREN'T centered around vampires? Yeesh.

When I read "Teen Novels" I think of books that have an age expiration date, meaning that if you are over the age of 16, this novel will not appeal to you.

Of course, most adults don't have a reading comprehension beyond the 8th grade level, anyway.

Every book is a teen book if the teen can read.

penthesilea: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

I wouldn't consider that a kids' book

My three most favorite books when I was in junior high school were

Where the Lilies Bloom by Bill & Vera Cleaver
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter (the same guy who wrote "Gone to Texas" that the western "the outlaw Josie Wales" was adapted from)

That they are not listed while so many teenage angst emo books are leads me to believe that this list was compiled by suburbanite English teachers.
"A Separate Peace"? On a best books list? Sheeeeeeiiiiiiiitttttttt.

Seth'n'Spectrum: DeltaPunch: /just read Railsea by China Mieville, thought it was good

Pretty sure this isn't young adult. Some of his stuff is subtly brilliant though.


Yeah, one of the first things I'd read about the book was that it was marketed as YA, but in reality a bit heavier in language and content than a YA book. I dunno, the quirky words, the crazy creatures, the young protagonist -- definitely molded as a YA book. But as usual, China goes full tilt with story and language, so it definitely elevates it into a more complex tone.

As I read the list I had to remind myself that it was voted by the internet. It was not made by literary professionals who know what they are talking about.