Monday, August 13, 2012

NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels


I'm not an overly huge fan of NPR (I don't really listen to it at all, to be honest... but then again I'm not a massive fan of radio in general) but an article on their website caught my eye this morning--The 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels.  This seemed like as good of a place to share it, since, you know, we're book-nerdy here and whatnot. 

I've gotta say, despite having read nearly half of the 100 books on the list I'm a bit curious as to how some, like the Twilight series made it while Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series and anything by Mark Twain (gasp!) were left out.  Bit of a travesty there, if you ask me (I'm a huge Mark Twain fan, thanks). 

Anyhow, I guess there was a bit of outrage (rightfully so) that quite a few good books were left off the list so NPR put together a little blurb justifying their methods of choosing books for the list.  If you're interested, check it out here.

I've read 37 books from this list... more if you count the books that were in a series.  Here's my list:

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
5. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
7. The Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
10. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
11. The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry
12. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series), by Douglas Adams
15. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
17. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
18. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
23. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
26. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
30. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
32. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Anne Brashares
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
35. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
37. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
40. Abhorsen Trilogy / Old Kingdom Trilogy (series), by Garth Nix
43. My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
46. Forever..., by Judy Blume
49. The Princess Diaries (series), by Meg Cabot
51. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
58. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
59. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
60. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
64. The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen
73. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
85. Chaos Walking (series), by Patrick Ness
89. Weetzie Bat (series), by Francesca Lia Block
91. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (series), by Louise Rennison
99. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

How many have you read?  What books do you think were left out or did NPR get it spot on?

Read on,
S

1 comment:

  1. Let's see, I've read...
    1. Harry Potter (Series), by J.K Rowling
    3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
    8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
    11. The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry
    13. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
    16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
    17. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
    20. Paper Towns, by John Green
    22. An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
    23. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
    26. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
    30. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
    32. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Anne Brashares
    33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
    37. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
    43. My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
    59. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
    79. Gallagher Girls Series, by Ally Carter
    88. Feed, by M.T. Anderson
    99. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

    So...that's 21. Not all that bad, seeing as you have a 10 year advantage on me, S! But my remainder-of-2012 reading list contains 16 books, 12 of which are from this list. (The other four are Animal Farm, Brave New World, Things Fall Apart, and I Was a Teenage Fairy (you're welcome).)

    Love as always, D

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