Best Young Adult Books of All Time

While I agree with most of the books on the lists I have a few problems with it. First, I feel that The Catcher in the Rye is only on there because it was the first so-called young adult problem-novel. When I read it I really didn't like the main character (his name slips my mind) and couldn't identify with him much at all. He is a entitled brat in my opinion and was when I read it when I was a teenager. Then again, I was a very practical teen, but at the same time I don't think many adolescents can feel much empathy with a private school brat. One of my favorite books of all time is on there, Out of the Dust was a beautiful book and it didn't come out until I was in college for my bachelor's degree. I wonder if Holes made it up so far because that is about the time the book came out as the movie. I don't feel that that book should have received so many votes.

Chris Crutcher was on there a few more times than I would have put him on there. Yes, he really appeals to young adults, but as far as good writing goes, I don't know if he is up there with the likes of Cormier, Hesse and Lowry. I just read Ironman and it really doesn't strike a chord with me. Yes, the subjects are sensitive, but his character development is pretty generic in my opinion. Good read, but forgettable.

I am hugely disappointed that my favorite overall YA author, Richard Peck, didn't make the list anywhere. His books make me laugh and cry. However, I grew up in the exact places in Illinois that he sets his books. If youare interested A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder are wonderful. A must read if you are from the mid-west.

Seeing lists like this make me create a "To Read" list so here it is. (My ultimate goal before I die is to read the 100 Greatest American Novels of which Catcher in the Rye is the only YA book on there, but I need several interruptions to this reading goal.)

-reread Speak (I think I've read it, but can't remember it enough to feel as if I truly appreciated it.)
-Do I have to read Hatchet? That is so not my genre, but as one of my boys told me the other day, "Mrs. Alvarez, you have a lot of girl books." The child speaks the truth.
-Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
-The Pigman
-Weetzie Bat (I've never even heard of this one.)
-Stargirl (I see this in my kid's hands all the time.)

Off to the library to find these reads!