Good Young Adult Books

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Walter o'Dim

Well-Known Member
Nov 29, 2010
59
42
36
Michigan
There good for grown ups too..

what are your favorites.

mine are

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books-Tolkien (don't really know if that counts as young adult)

The Outsiders and That was Then this is Now S.E. Hinton

The Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger

To Kill a Mocking bird-Harper Lee

The perks of being a Wallflower-Stephen Chibosky

I'ts Kind of a funny Story-Ned Vizzini

Walk to Moons-Sharon Creech

Holes-Louis Sachar
 

FlakeNoir

Original Kiwi© SKMB®
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
44,082
175,641
New Zealand
Loved The Outsiders and That Was Then This is Now too.

Also remember:
I Am David by Anne Holm
The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Storm Boy by Colin Thiele

One story that stayed with me was a play actually, The Diary of Anne Frank... I think every student should study this.
 

xkittyx

Unfound
Oct 14, 2007
757
975
38
Deerfield, OH
I read YA sometimes. A couple I read and enjoyed semi-recently off the top of my head...

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card
The Montmorency series by Eleanor Updale
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Bartimaeus books by Jonathan Stroud
Ender's Game/Shadow books by Orson Scott Card
and I'll always be fond of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. :)
 

ZombieDrama

Well-Known Member
Sep 21, 2013
114
376
Indianapolis
I didn't read many young adult books, I did read The Outsiders, I liked it too. But pretty much all my allowance went toward Mad Magazine, Garfield books and candy. >_>
My parents didn't buy me books specifically. My dad was an avid reader (mostly horror) so I had to read what was there. So I guess I kind of missed out on cool young adult books.
I picked up The Shining when I was 11 years old. Never looked back. This is why I came to this thread, to get some good ideas for books for my youngest son who is so incredibly grounded right now, that he will need something to keep him busy other than the Xbox. o_O So thanks for all these awesome ideas. =)
My youngest son shares me and my dad's love for reading so I go to the Goodwill a lot and straight to the book bin. I will be on the lookout for some of these titles.
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
54
Heart of the South
I didn't read many young adult books, I did read The Outsiders, I liked it too. But pretty much all my allowance went toward Mad Magazine, Garfield books and candy. >_>
My parents didn't buy me books specifically. My dad was an avid reader (mostly horror) so I had to read what was there. So I guess I kind of missed out on cool young adult books.
I picked up The Shining when I was 11 years old. Never looked back. This is why I came to this thread, to get some good ideas for books for my youngest son who is so incredibly grounded right now, that he will need something to keep him busy other than the Xbox. o_O So thanks for all these awesome ideas. =)
My youngest son shares me and my dad's love for reading so I go to the Goodwill a lot and straight to the book bin. I will be on the lookout for some of these titles.
Your poor boy! I was such a book nerd when I was a kid, it would have been the ultimate treat to be grounded and forced to stay in my room and read. I found a series at Goodwill that I want to read - young adultish: The Mysterious Benedict Society - there are 3 or 4 of them I think.
 

Autumnlyn

BOOYA!
Feb 12, 2009
1,125
1,157
Far Nor Cal
With 14 yr old twins (boy and girl); finding good reading material is TOUGH! In HS there is a required amount of reading, and testing on each book for pts. I always read the book each of them is reading so we can discuss, but yikes, it's hard where each kid has their own genre. My daughter likes books like Hunger Games and Twilight; my son World War Z and various war themed books. Talk about night and day!!

Slowly leading them into the SK world with The Long Walk and The Talisman. But, honestly at their age I think Tolkien is beyond them with all his cross references. Getting a kid to actually get 'lost' within the story is my main goal. To gain a love of reading is paramount. We'll get them to appreciate the 'literature' aspect later :)
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
I think Eyes of the Dragon is one of his best and very much overlooked. I loved it.

Well. It's by this horror writer. So it must be to scary. :a11:

I used that book as a bribe. (Honestly, I think this would make SK proud.) I have a son who is quite intelligent (honest, he was tested). But he could not read. He was (mis)diagnosed with a learning disability. But anyway, I knew he was close to reading....but just needing a bit....of something to push him. He wanted to watch a scary movie based on an SK novel. I said no. Not until he could read an SK book. And then I gave him Eyes of the Dragon. It wasn't easy, but he read it. It was the first novel he ever read, and it was a long time until he read another.