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Many fans of the Young Adult fiction genre would be better described as “adult” than “young” – this writer included. It forms the basis for a strangely controversial debate: should adults be ashamed of shopping in what is, technically, the children’s book section?
Some have dismissed adult consumers of YA fiction as lazy, unrefined readers who would be better served searching for more layered, literary reads. But YA novels have plenty of alluring qualities. They are, it’s true, written with teenagers in mind. But why would that be a bad thing?
Teenagers can be demanding readers who yearn for poetic writing and moving plots. To read a YA novel is to read about people figuring out their place in the world, building their sense of self, falling in love, making and breaking friendships – all things so many adults struggle with at some point in their later years.
Where do you start, then? Thanks to the ongoing push to make the publishing industry more inclusive, YA literature is a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in someone else’s perspective. The list below contains stories about gender identity (Luna, Symptoms of Being Human ), racial tensions (The Hate U Give ), mental health issues (All the Bright Places, Girl in Pieces ), and loss (Hold Still, History is All You Left Me, The Fault in Our Stars ).
While the selected novels tackle a wide range of themes, they have one common trait: they are all wise beyond their years.
Click through the gallery below to browse of selection of YA books for all ages:
Show all 15 1 /15Best YA books for all ages Best YA books for all ages All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven In this moving 2015 novel, Niven tells the story of Theodore Finch and Violet Markey, two high school misfits who don’t feel quite at home in their small Indiana town. Finch and Violet fall in love (how could they not, when their respective quirks make them so perfect for each other?). But this is no ordinary teenage romance: Finch suffers from undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and what could have been a whimsical YA love story turns into one of the most realistic portrayals of mental illness fiction has offered in recent years. All the Bright Places is being turned into a movie starring Elle Fanning and Justice Smith, to be distributed by Netflix.
Best YA books for all ages Luna, Julie Anne Peters Regan’s sibling is known as Liam by day. At night, however, Liam is free to let her true feminine self express itself, and she goes by the chosen name Luna. Soon, Luna will be ready to reveal herself to the world. Julie Anne Peters’ groundbreaking, profoundly human tale of a teen and her transgender sister was first published a full 15 years ago, in 2004, and became a National Book Award finalist. It remains just as insightful today.
Best YA books for all ages Symptoms of Being Human, Jeff Garvin Riley Cavanaugh, the protagonist of Jeff Garvin’s 2016 début, identifies as gender-fluid. They start a blog documenting their life and unexpectedly become a viral success. But when someone threatens to out Riley as the website’s author, Riley must make a choice: give up on the online platform they created (and the sense of community it provides), or go public on their own terms. Garvin’s portrayal of gender dysphoria is sensible, respectful, and informative.
Best YA books for all ages Hold Still, Nina LaCour Ten years ago, LaCour delivered a stunning debut with the story of Caitlin, a teenager who begins her third year in high school while grieving for her best friend Ingrid, who committed suicide. Her tale of loss is deeply moving, regardless of age.
Best YA books for all ages The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas Angie Thomas’s 2017 debut has been on the New York Times’s YA best-sellers list for a staggering 118 weeks. Starr Carter, a 16-year-old black student, witnesses the killing of her best friend who is fatally shot by a police officer. Starr speaks up as social unrest mounts. A gripping portrayal of racial tensions in the US.
Best YA books for all ages Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli Simon, a gay high school student, is at risk of being outed after class clown Martin reads one of his emails to a closeted classmate. Martin forces Simon to help him start a romantic relationship with his own best friend Abby, in exchange for which Martin will keep his secret. But as Simon’s privacy becomes increasingly threatened, he must make choices that put his friendships and love life at risk. Becky Albertalli’s novel was turned into the well-received film of the same name in 2018, starring Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner and Katherine Langford.
Best YA books for all ages History is All You Left Me, Adam Silvera Griffin’s ex-boyfriend, Theo, has died in a drowning accident. Griffin is left coping with his grief and trying to manage his relationship with Jackson, the boy he had recently started dating – all while thinking Theo would one day get back with him. Griffin, who has OCD, also deals with worsening compulsions as the novel progresses. Silvera’s story of loss and love, combined with his realistic portrayal of mental illness, makes for a powerful tale.
Best YA books for all ages This is Where it Ends, Marieke Nijkamp Nijkamp’s 2016 New York Times bestseller is a gripping account of a 54-minute mass shooting in an Alabama high school. Four different students, all of whom are linked to Tyler, the shooter, tell the story in the first person. Some, including Tyler’s sister, are trapped with him in the auditorium where the attack is taking place. Others are trying to help from the outside. This is Where it Ends is a tough but necessary – and sadly relevant – read.
Best YA books for all ages When Dimple Met Rishi, Sandhya Menon Two Indian-American teenagers meet at a summer programme for aspiring computer programmers. Small detail: their parents are trying to set them up for an arranged marriage. Dimple, who has just been accepted into Stanford University, has little interest in finding the “Ideal Indian Husband” her mother keeps telling her about. Rishi, meanwhile, believes in tradition and doesn’t seem to mind the idea of an arranged union. So will the parents’ plan backfire? The answer is found in this sweet, funny rom-com.
Best YA books for all ages Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson Melinda, Laurie Halse Anderson’s protagonist, is an outcast. She has been since an incident that occurred the summer before her freshman year of high school. Depressed, Melinda remains isolated – until an art class helps her find her voice again. She begins to acknowledge – first to herself, then to other people – that another student, Andy Evans, raped her at a party. Speak has lived on as a seminal work told from the voice of a sexual assault survivor and became a finalist of the 1999 National Book Award.
Best YA books for all ages Forever, Judy Blume Judy Blume’s portrayal of teen sexuality was nothing short of revolutionary in 1975, and it remains one of the most banned/challenged books in the US, according to the American Library Association. Blume has said she wrote the novel after one of her daughters asked her for “a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die”. The result was the tale of Katherine and Michael, two high school students who do just that – meet and fall in love and explore each other’s bodies, all while using birth control. A simple yet groundbreaking story that changed the way people thought and talked about sex.
Best YA books for all ages Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell The story of Eleanor and Park, two high school misfits who fall in love after meeting on their school bus, captured the hearts of teens and adults alike when it came out in 2013. Through her account of the teens’ romance, Rowell tackles serious themes such as child and domestic abuse, bullying, and body image. The novel – her YA debut – earned a spot as a contemporary classic as well as a rave blurb from none other than John Green, the king of Young Adult fiction.
Best YA books for all ages Girl in Pieces, Kathleen Glasgow Charlie Davis, the 17-year-old protagonist of Kathleen Glasgow’s Girl in Pieces, has lost her father. Her mother has stopped protecting her. She is found on the streets of the Twin Cities, “wrapped in a bedsheet and left on the lawn” of the hospital “like an orphan. Charlie, who self-harms, spends time in a mental health facility, then follows a boy to Tucson, Arizona. Glasgow’s poetic writing brings Charlie’s mind to life as she tries to find a path to recovery.
Best YA books for all ages The Fault in Our Stars, John Green Yes, one John Green book had to be included in this ranking. The 41-year-old author’s fourth solo book (he has co-written two) debuted in first position on the New York Times bestsellers list of children’s chapter books. Soon, the world swooned (and obsessed and cried) over the love story of 16-year-old Hazel, a teenager with thyroid cancer, and Augustus, an osteosarcoma survivor. The book generated so much chatter (and a 2014 film starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort) that it can he bard to remember what it was like to read it at the time of its release, when Green was only kind-of famous and the book hadn’t become a worldwide reference just yet. Forget about the chatter: The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful, poetic book about love, loss and grief – the kind that may change you a little bit by the time you read its final sentence.
Best YA books for all ages The Sun is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon Natasha, a science whiz, is desperate to stop her undocumented family from being deported from the US to Jamaica – and she has only 12 hours to do so. Daniel, a parent-pleasing straight-A student, falls hopelessly in love with her, but Natasha’s understandably reluctant to waste her precious time over the matters of love. Nicola Yoon, also the best-selling author of the debut Everything, Everything, delivers a sweet love story touching on profound themes such as immigration, heritage, and family.
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