Top 100 YA Novels of All Time

[DrummerGirl]

Persnickety Snark is compiling a list of the top 100 YA novels of all time.

She is doing this by asking authors, teachers, librarians, bloggers, publishing personnel and YA readers to fill in this form (which lists your top ten fave YA reads) and submit it her by April 30.

At the beginning of May, she'll count down from 100 to 1 the top choices of what people feel the best YA titles of all time are.


This sounds awesome. I will be very curious to see what makes the list. I haven't made my entry yet, as I'm finding it nearly impossoble to nail my list of fave YA's down. It's even harder as, once I've finalised my top ten, I then have to rank them in order. My #1 YA book is the one I feel is the most important, so it will receive 10 points. My #2 choice will be worth 9 points. And so on and such.

Is anyone else contributing?

Any thoughts on what you'll put on there?


I have five definites. In no particular order:

1. On the Jellicoe Road -- Melina Marchetta

2. Tomorrow, When the War Began -- John Marsden

3. Definitely a Jaclyn Moriarty
so hard to choose my fave of hers. either:
Finding Cassie Crazy/Year of Secret assignments
or Dreaming of Amelia/The Ghosts of Ashbury High.

4. I cant go past Courtney Summers. But how to choose between Some Girls Are and Cracked Up To Be?

5. The Hunger Games -- Suzanne Collins.


Other authors on my long list include:

Simone Elkeles, John Green, Carrie Ryan, Elizabeth Scott, Sonya Hartnett, Steven Herrick, Marcus Zusac, Laurie Halse Anderson, other books by Melina marchetta (particulary: Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son)... And so far, it's only covering contemporary YA.

Argh, and that's not even thinking back to my fave YA reads from my teen years....

[ceenindee]

Dang, this is hard.

I guess Harry Potter, for sure. Since I wouldn't want to waste seven on one story though, I'd probably pick the sixth.

Twilight? If by "best" and "top" they mean "most popular" and "highest selling," I don't see how we leave it out.

Life of Pi
The Book Thief
Coraline (hope it counts as YA...the protag's pretty young)
The Golden Compass
Speak
The Outsiders
A Wrinkle in Time
The Giver

Aaaand that's ten. I'm hurt at how many favorites got left out. I might have to refigure this thing before I actually submit.

[Sage]

Aren't the more recent YA novels going to have an advantage with this method?

[Shady Lane]

Originally Posted by Sage

Aren't the more recent YA novels going to have an advantage with this method?

I hope so!

This is so exciting. I'm definitely filling out a form.

[Shady Lane]

As badly as I wanted to put BREAK in there, I had to admit that my top ten were actually:

1. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. Sins of the Fathers by Chris Lynch
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
5. Smack by Melvin Burgess
6. Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks
7. The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
8. Are We There Yet? by David Levithan
9. Center Line by Joyce Sweeney
10. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

[jezzell19]

This was just too much fun to pass up! O.K., I’m going to be pretty liberal in my interpretation of YA, as some of my list might fall more into Middle Grade, etc. Here’s my top 10 of all time:

1. Harry Potter (if I have to pick just one out of the series, it would be # 4)
2. Watership Down
3. Night
4. To Kill A Mockingbird
5. Where the Red Fern Grows
6. Number the Stars
7. Chronicles of Narnia (Voyage of the Dawn Treader)
8. The Giver
9. The Hobbit
10. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

[DrummerGirl]

Originally Posted by Sage

Aren't the more recent YA novels going to have an advantage with this method?

Sage, you are so right

The other thing I considered is wasting a vote. For example: Willful Blue by Sonya Hartnett. Awesomest book ever, came out in 1994, won awards. All my mates and I adored it and re-read it and I am still in love with it -- it hasn't dated at all. The writing is so brilliant and dark and just perfect.

But -- it's 16 years old and Australian (and I'm not sure if Sonya even has an international fan base?) and most likely I will be the only one putting it on my form, so, with no other points backing it, it will essentially be a waste of a vote, yeah?

And to you others in this thread. I am envious you already have your lilsts compiled.

[emma_kate]

Oh wow. This is gonna be hard. I've found that recently, I love more than 10 books in my "re-read a zillion times" pile (LOL, which is how I judge a book's worth!). And I couldn't possibly order them...yikes. Gonna need to think about this one...

[maddicharmed]

Well, in my opinion, the City of Bones series really needs to be in there!

[Elysium]

Ooh here is my list:

1. Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers
2. Break by Hannah Moskowitz
3. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
4. Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
7. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. Looking for Alaska by John Green
9. Candy by Kevin Brooks
10. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

[Shady Lane]

ah fuuuuck i forgot garret-freymann weyr. ahhh MY HEARTBEAT should so have been on my list.

(and thanks for the nod, Elysium!)

[bertrigby]

My list mainly includes things I've liked since I was a 'Young Adult', so it's skewed slightly old. I see DrummerGirl's point about a wasted vote but I don't really mind that!

1. The Tricksters - Margaret Mahy
2. The Grey King - Susan Cooper
3. Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
4. Northern Lights - Philip Pullman
5. Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve
6. The Sterkarm Handshake - Susan Price
7. Catherine, Called Birdy - Karen Cushman
8. The White Mountains - John Christopher
9. Tomorrow, When the War Began - John Marsden
10. Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison

It was difficult with a couple that straddle the MG/YA line, like Northern Lights and the Grey King. Wikipedia counts them as YA but I don't really know.

ETA: sad that I forgot Jean Ure's Watchers at the Shrine. I've read that so many times!

[jvc]

When I was a wee nipper I really liked Willard Price's Adventure series of books. I think I read them all. Weird thing is, I had forgotten all about those books until a friend reminded me about them last week.

[Moost]

Speak was my #1, followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Also threw The Golden Compass on there somewhere. I was thinking in terms of older YA books, although Cracked Up to Be made my list.

[True]

In no particular order:

1. Star-Crossed (Linda Collison)
2. The Red Necklace (Sarah Gardner)
3. Born Confused (Tanuja Desai Hidier)
4. Beast (Robin McKinley)
5. Ptomely's Gate (Jonathan Stroud)
6. Sabriel (Garth Nix)
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
8. Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)

And...that's it for right now.

[ceenindee]

Originally Posted by True

In no particular order:

5. Ptomely's Gate (Jonathan Stroud)

And...that's it for right now.

Yeessss I love these books.

[wrangler]

drummergirl, are your pictures for sell?

[True]

Oh my gosh, I was IN LOVE with those books! I recommend them whenever I can. They are awesomeness at its finest!

[Disdainful Soul]

Originally Posted by bertrigby

My list mainly includes things I've liked since I was a 'Young Adult', so it's skewed slightly old. I see DrummerGirl's point about a wasted vote but I don't really mind that!

1. The Tricksters - Margaret Mahy

That was at the top of my list as well.

IIRC I also included

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Winter Of Fire by Sherryl Jordan
Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
A Certain Slant Of Light by Laura Whitcomb
Sabriel by Garth Nix

and I can't remember anything else. D'oh.

[DrummerGirl]

Originally Posted by Elysium

Ooh here is my list:

1. Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers
2. Break by Hannah Moskowitz
3. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
4. Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
7. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. Looking for Alaska by John Green
9. Candy by Kevin Brooks
10. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Nice list Ely A lot of them are my faves too

Originally Posted by Moost

Speak was my #1, followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Also threw The Golden Compass on there somewhere. I was thinking in terms of older YA books, although Cracked Up to Be made my list.

I'm choosing Cracked Up To Be over Some Girls Are. I really hope Courntney gets on the list. She is so good.

Originally Posted by wrangler

drummergirl, are your pictures for sell?

Haha Thanks, mate. I should update my blog. I havent really got anything for sale, but you can download whatever you like. Not sure how good to printing quality would be though Thanks for the compliment...

Originally Posted by Disdainful Soul

That was at the top of my list as well.

IIRC I also included

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Winter Of Fire by Sherryl Jordan
Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
A Certain Slant Of Light by Laura Whitcomb
Sabriel by Garth Nix

and I can't remember anything else. D'oh.

I love Sherryl Jordan. But I haven't read Winter of Fire yet . In High School, all my mates and I were so in love with The Juniper Game (by Jordan). Have you read that one? Mate, I LOVED it

And yay for having Looking for Alibrandi on there I love the movie of it too... Melina worked on the screen play for that -- *drumroll* and now she's working on the screenplay for Jellicoe Road. Which is going to be awesome! I love seeing more Aussie YA on the big screen (cant wait for Tomorrow, When the War Began to premiere)

[bertrigby]

Originally Posted by Disdainful Soul

That was at the top of my list as well.

IIRC I also included

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Winter Of Fire by Sherryl Jordan
Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
A Certain Slant Of Light by Laura Whitcomb
Sabriel by Garth Nix

and I can't remember anything else. D'oh.

Great list! I considered Sabriel and Alanna, they're both great books. However, I actually never read the rest of the Sabriel series...

<3 The Tricksters. Felix Carnival > Edward Cullen, any day.

[True]

You should definitely read the rest of the Sabriel series. I read them when I was twelve, and I still can't get the stories out of my head. They're that good.

[Disdainful Soul]

Originally Posted by DrummerGirl

I love Sherryl Jordan. But I haven't read Winter of Fire yet . In High School, all my mates and I were so in love with The Juniper Game (by Jordan). Have you read that one? Mate, I LOVED it

Winter of Fire is sadly out of print. It's amazing though. I swear I almost had a heart-attack of happy when I saw a copy at a second-hand sale - I almost leaped over a person to get it. And when I saw a copy at another sale I immediately snapped it up and gave it to a friend. I swear, every time I see a copy of that I am going to snap it up and give it to someone, because it's amazing. Such a tragedy when books like that are out of print.

And oddly enough, I see Time Of The Eagle on S&S lists and advertisement stuff, but it almost appears as if the first book (Secret Sacrament) is out of print too. Major "what?" moment there. I haven't read Juniper Game, as it's another one of those "why can't I find it?!" books. But I am happy I have Winter of Fire, Secret Sacrament/Time Of The Eagle and The Raging Quiet on my shelves.

Originally Posted by bertrigby

Great list! I considered Sabriel and Alanna, they're both great books. However, I actually never read the rest of the Sabriel series...

<3 The Tricksters. Felix Carnival > Edward Cullen, any day.

I put in Alanna because it was... I guess you could call it a game-changer. It is definitely amazing and inspiring etc.

And The Tricksters is amazing. Mahy in general is amazing, but The Tricksters is like my favourite novel ever. Harry and Felix are so amazing, and yes, Felix is far superior to Edward Cullen. Felix really is "the best part".

[DrummerGirl]

I stopped agonising over the whole thing and compiled my list (it was always going to leave out some of my faves ):

1. On the jellicoe road - Melina Marchetta
2. Tomorrow When the War began - John Marsden
3. Going Too Far - jennifer Echols
4. Finding cassie Crazy - Jaclyn Moriarty (The Year of secret assignments in the US)
5. Dreaming of Amelia - Jaclyn Moriarty (The Ghosts of Ashbury High in the US)
6. Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta
7. Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott
8. Cracked Up To be - Courtney Summers
9. The Juniper Game - Sherryl Jordan
10. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Feeling a bit guilty about all the great ones I've neglected...

[DrummerGirl]

Only three days left to put your vote in for the Top 100 YA Novels of all time.

Adele (aka Persnickety Snark) has posted her top ten in the link below. There's also a link in this post to the form you can fill out to be a part of the survey:

http://www.persnicketysnark.com/2010...ya-titles.html

At the time of the post, 667 people had taken part. Pretty cool, yeah?

I already changed my mind a few times after filling out the form, so I rang my little sister and tried to persuade her to put the ones I neglected on her form...

Really looking forward to seeing the end result