Time Magazine released two book lists this week, this one featuring the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time, and a companion list that I will be featuring soon of the 100 Best Childrens Books of All Time. Yes, whenever superlatives are used like that they are somewhat over the top, and naturally that is the case here. But people will always argue about books included and excluded from any list.
This list has come in for some predictable criticism about the fact that many of the books are not actually Young Adult books at all. Which is quite true. Many of them have appeal to younger, "middle grade" children. Time could have just given the list a different name.
A more important criticism has been raised about the rather caucasian nature of the list. Laurie Halse Anderson has said that she is horrified to be included in the list, she doesn't want to be included in a list of predominantly white authors, she doesn't want to be part of that, she wants to be part of change. The We Need Diverse Books Campaign is seeking to address these imbalances. Seven of the authors, representing 9 books, are authors of colour. To my considerable shame I haven't read any of those books. However, I haven't seen anyone mention that one of them, Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian sits at #1. Which I do think is significant.
The list is also (of necessity perhaps) rather American-centric. Two Australians made the list- Marcus Zusak and Garth Nix.
1. Sherman Alexie - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (see my review)
2. J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter (series) (read 1/7)
3. Marcus Zusak - The Book Thief
4. Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time (see my review)
5. E.B. White - Charlotte's Web
6. Louis Sachar - Holes (see my review)
7. Roald Dahl - Matilda
8. S.E. Hinton - The Outsiders (see my review)
9. Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth
10. Lois Lowry - The Giver (see my review)
11. Judy Blume - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (see my review)
12. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird
13. Mildred Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (see my review)
14. L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables
15. C.S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia (read 2 1/2 of 7)
16. Walter Dean Myers - Monster
17. Philip Pullman - The Golden Compass
18. Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl (see my review)
19. E.L. Konigsburg - From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (see my review)
20. John Green - Looking for Alaska
21. Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
22. Laura Ingalls Wilder - Little House on the Prairie (series) (read Farmer Boy)
23. Kate DiCamillo - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
24. R.J. Palacio - Wonder (see my review)
25. T.H. White - The Sword in the Stone
26. J.D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye
27. Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
28. Mark Twain - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
29. J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit (see my review)
30. Frank L. Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
31. William Golding - The Lord of the Flies (see my review)
32. Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
33. Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
34. Katherine Paterson - Bridge to Terabithia
35. Jack London - The Call of the Wild (see my review)
36. John Knowles - A Separate Peace
37. Louise Fitzhugh - Harriet the Spy (see my review)
38. Robert Cormier - The Chocolate War (see my review)
39. Katherine Paterson - Jacob Have I Loved
40. Lemony Snicket - A Series of Unfortunate Events (series) (read 1/7)
41. Gary Paulsen - Hatchet (see my review)
42. J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
43. M.T. Anderson - Feed
44. Michael Scott - The Alchemyst (read 5/6) (see my review)
45. William Goldman - The Princess Bride
46. Beverly Cleary - Beezus & Ramona
47. Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan of the Apes
48. Esther Forbes - Johnny Tremain
49. Ellen Raskin - The Westing Game
50. Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows (see my review)
51. Laurie Halse Anderson - Speak
52. P.L. Travers - Mary Poppins
53. John Green - The Fault in Our Stars (see my review)
54. Jennifer Donnelly - A Northern Light
55. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - The Yearling
56. Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games (series) (see my review)
57. Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - For Freedom
58. Peter Sis - The Wall
59. Patrick Ness - A Monster Calls (see my review)
60. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson & The Olympians (series)
61. Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man
62. Marilyn Nelson - A Wreath for Emmett Till
63. David Leviathan - Every Day
64. John Corey Whaley - Where Things Come Back
65. Lois Lowry - Number the Stars
66. Craig Thompson - Blankets
67. Michael Morpurgo - Private Peaceful (see my review)
68. Elizabeth George Speare - The Witch of Blackbird Pond
69. Francesca Lia Block - Dangerous Angels
70. Andrew Clements - Frindle
71. Gene Luen Yang - Boxers & Saints
72. Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book (see my review)
73. Isabel Allende - City of the Beasts
74. Gene Yuen Lang - American Born Chinese
75. Frances Hardinge - The Lost Conspiracy
76. Diana Wynne Jones - Dogsbody
77. Paul Zindel - The Pigman
78. Watt Key - Alabama Moon
79. Pam Munoz Ryan - Esperanza Rising
80. Patrick Ness - The Knife of Never Letting Go
81. Cecil Castellucci - Boy Proof
82. Walter Dean Myers - Fallen Angels
83. Richard Hughes - A High Wind in Jamaica
84. Kate DiCamillo - The Tiger Rising
85. Rebecca Stead - When You Reach Me
86. Hilary McKay - Saffy's Angel
87. Susan Cooper - The Grey King
88. Robert C. O'Brien - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
89. Cornelia Funke - The Thief Lord
90. Trenton Lee Stewart - The Mysterious Benedict Society
91. Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret (see my review)
92. Garth Nix - Sabriel
93. Jodi Lynn Anderson - Tiger Lily
94. Pseudonymous Bosch - Secret (series)
95. Ursula K. Le Guin - A Wizard of Earthsea
96. Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery and Imagination
97. Chris Crutcher - Whale Talk
98. Lloyd Alexander - The Chronicles of Prydain (series)
99. Roald Dahl - Danny the Champion of the World
100. Stephenie Meyer - Twilight (series)
44/100
I am impressed by how many of these books that are new to me.
#47 was originally listed as Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials, but this was a duplication with #17 The Golden Compass.
September 2015 45/100
October 2015 46/100
June 2016 47/100
April 2017 48/100
July 2017 49/100
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