Recommended Young Adult Books

[glynndah]

I am helping prepare a recommended book list for junior high and high school readers (12 - 18 years old). What were your favorites at that age? If you can give me the title and author, a brief summary (1 - 2 sentences would be plenty) and your thoughts on why it should be included on this list, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

A separate peace. Sorry, don't remeber the author, but it's a book about coming of age in england prior to WWII.

Watership Down: Richard Adams: It's the story of an intrepid band of rabbits and their adventures.

 

[rgraham666]

The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. It's about children who end up on fantastic adventures on another world. A lot of Christian allegory.

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. A very interesting and frightening riff on the 'alien invasion' idea. Some of the references are a bit dated now.

At The Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. It's about a scientific expedition that travels to Antarctica, and what they find there. In fact I'll recommend anything by Lovecraft. Scary and interesting work. I loved it when I was a teenager.

 

[AppleBiter]

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. They obviously weren't my favorites when I was that age, but I think they're wonderful books for kids of all ages.

What I enjoyed most when I was that age were Stephen King and V.C. Andrews -- but I realize these aren't exactly the kind of books you're looking for. So, I'd say Harry Potter all the way.

 

[Guest]

I am helping prepare a recommended book list for junior high and high school readers (12 - 18 years old). What were your favorites at that age? If you can give me the title and author, a brief summary (1 - 2 sentences would be plenty) and your thoughts on why it should be included on this list, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Happily, I am sitting in a room with my favorite young reader books -- I collect them

The Lion's Paw - Robb White -- set in Florida in the late 1940's, an adventure story about three children sailing around Florida searching for a sea shell one of them believes will lead to the return of his father from the war.

As Rob mentioned, The Chronicals of Narnia by CS Lewis.

The Harper Hall series by Anne McCaffrey -- a side story to the DragonRiders of Pern series, these short books deal with a young girl's search for acceptance through her gift for music and her unusual "friends"

I read a great deal of science fiction and fantasy at that age as well. Books like Hal Clement's "A Mission of Gravity" intrigued me and might appeal to boys. It's an aclaimed book for its depiction of aliens.

The Earthsea trilogy by Ursula LeGuin -- there are other books written later, but stick to the original three. A young man tries to conquer his own shadow to become a magician in a world ruled by magic.

I know a librarian who specializes in children and young adult literature. She keeps a weblog if you are interested in contacting her.

 

[BJ]

Books to Read

I am helping prepare a recommended book list for junior high and high school readers (12 - 18 years old). What were your favorites at that age? If you can give me the title and author, a brief summary (1 - 2 sentences would be plenty) and your thoughts on why it should be included on this list, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

I would recomend almost any book by Mark Twain

 

[entitled]

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Black Cauldron series

Amy's Eyes

Where the Red Fern Grows

Tiger Eyes

erm.... i can't remember most of them. Like Biter, i wasn't reading the 'normal' stuff by that age. Lots of King, my grandma (of all people) bought me the series by Jean M Auel - or what was out at the time. McCammon. Things like Dracula and Frankenstein.

 

[English Lady]

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander - A rich fantasy series about a young assistant pig keeper who loses his pig (she's a really clever, important pig) and has to go off and find her which obviously leads to adventure, fighting bad guys and meeting a band of unusual characters as well as getting in alot of growing up along the way.

Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis -already mentioned several times.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - A young Victorian girl grows up, makes friends, loses friends and eventually falls in love with someone she's not sure she should be falling in love with. This is a beautiful book about emotions, growing up and life.

Othello by William Shakespeare. Jalousy, doubt and guilt. villans, heroes and damsels oooh and sex..all with that beautiful, juicy language. unmissable.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Summed up in one word Angst. Great for teens, romance, lust, madness, moors, ghosts, spirits and us against the world.

I'll come back if I think of more...

 

[Colleen Thomas]

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Black Cauldron series

Amy's Eyes

Where the Red Fern Grows

Tiger Eyes

erm.... i can't remember most of them. Like Biter, i wasn't reading the 'normal' stuff by that age. Lots of King, my grandma (of all people) bought me the series by Jean M Auel - or what was out at the time. McCammon. Things like Dracula and Frankenstein.

Defintely will second wehre the red fern grows.

If it's a us audience across five aprils tells abou tthe civil war from a young boy's point of view.

 

[RogueLurker]

Garth Nix is supposed to be a great author for young adults. My partner's nieces and nephew devoured all his books.

I personally will always remember reading John Wyndham's The Chrysalids when I was 13 ... loved that book.

 

[CharleyH]

12 to 18 is a major gap in intelligence, but here are the four that were pivitol (edit - actually, Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last summer came before Beckett ) to me between those ages and in order of age, I think :


Tuck Everlasting - Nathalie Babbit (sp ?)
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol - changed my world
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham (Sp?)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Waiting for Godot (Play) - Samuel Beckett

 

[The_Fool]

A separate peace. Sorry, don't remeber the author, but it's a book about coming of age in england prior to WWII.

Author = John Knowles

 

[The_Fool]

Anybody remember "Jonathan Livingston Seagull?"

 

[CharleyH]

Anybody remember "Jonathan Livingston Seagull?"

Sure - it was a Neil Diamond song.

Aside: Always GREAT to see your cuban baby!

 

[entitled]

i completely forgot about Tuck Everlasting! i went out looking for magic springs after reading that one.

 

[Sunnygrl]

My nephew is 13...he loves the Christopher Paolini booke: Eragon and Eldest

 

[HornyBBW]

His Darkest Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) - Philip Pullman

It's about parallel worlds, Dæmons, winged creatures and the adventures of a couple of children trying to save the universe... As good as the Harry Potter books and suitable for ages 13 upwards

 

[CharleyH]

i completely forgot about Tuck Everlasting! i went out looking for magic springs after reading that one.

AMAZING BOOK! I never read Magic Springs. I would be interested in knowing what it was in comparison to Magic Springs - in your opinion, Entitled?

 

[oggbashan]

Ancients

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist
Jonathan Swift: Gullivers Travels
R L Stevenson: Treasure Island
Anthony Trollope: The Warden
Bronte: Wuthering Heights

For those in love with language:
Thomas Love Peacock: Headlong Hall
John Donne: Selected Sermons
Robert Graves: I Claudius and Claudius the God
Charles Lamb: Essays of Elia
Washington Irving: Tales of the Alhambra
Ernest Bramah: The Wallet of Kai Lung

Georgette Heyer: The Grand Sophy and An Infamous Army (for an understanding of the Napoleonic Wars).

Adventure:
Younger:
Enid Blyton: Famous Five series (good for weaker readers to practice and enjoy)
Arthur Ransome: Swallows and Amazons

Older:
John Buchan: Prester John, The Thirty-Nine Steps
H Rider Haggard: King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quartermain, She and Ayesha.
Walter Scott: Ivanhoe
Louis L'Amour: Most except his last few western novels.

SciFi/Fantasy
Isaac Asimov: Foundation Trilogy
Poul Anderson: Ensign Flandry
Terry Brooks: Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold
Piers Anthony: Xanth series

 

[entitled]

AMAZING BOOK! I never read Magic Springs. I would be interested in knowing what it was in comparison to Magic Springs - in your opinion, Entitled?

i never read magic springs, i went looking for them after reading Tuck Everlasting, because i wanted to live forever and marry that boy. *L*

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Tiger Eyes

I remember that book! Little known Judy Blume?

The Outsiders S.E. Hinton
Animal Farm & 1984 by Orwell
Charlotte's Web E.B. White
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger


Some are more appropriate for older kids... some younger...

 

[entitled]

I remember that book! Little known Judy Blume?

The Outsiders S.E. Hinton
Animal Farm & 1984 by Orwell
Charlotte's Web E.B. White
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger


Some are more appropriate for older kids... some younger...

That's the one!

i remember almost all of those books. Wow.

 

[Guest]

The Xanth books by Piers Antony are really good and stuff cause their funny and still make you think and stuff and even if they made my head hurt I still liked them cause they were just really good stories and stuff.

Debbie.

 

[CharleyH]

i never read magic springs, i went looking for them after reading Tuck Everlasting, because i wanted to live forever and marry that boy. *L*

LOL! You wanted to be Winnie (sp)! (jeez, was that her name?) making a different choice

 

[cloudy]

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

I'll second the Narnia series, read them until they fell apart.