Top Young Adult novels

Young adult novels are highly criticized for being too predictable, stripped of real emotion, or just plain boring. That is all changing thanks to the beautiful writing styles of Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot, Sarah Zarr, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Gebrielle Zevin. The young adult books are now flying off of shelves and this is causing people of all ages to ask themselves why? Most people feel that they can no longer relate to 14-18 year old girls anymore, but you may find that it is not about the age, as long as the writing is honest. No matter the age of the character, young adult writers are finding ways into our hearts and connecting us to the story that is unfolding. The best teen novels that should be read are the one's with the best message. So i am going to list the top ten young adult novels that will hold your interest, and i hope you find that your mind has changed.

"The Adoration of Jenna Fox" is a book that at first glance you may think you know the ending. but you are wrong. This book is packed with surprises and twists. It is about a girl named Jenna Fox who is currently 17 years old and has just woken up from a coma and has no memory. She was not supposed to survive the accident. that is all you know when you begin to read the novel. The accident happened when she was 16 years old and has been in a coma for 18 months. the game changers in this book are great. It goes into the mind of a girl that has lost her memory and the sadness and frustration that follows. This book is consistent and one that will raise your ethical questions of "what would i do?" you'll be thinking about this one fore a while.

"The True Meaning Of Cleavage" this book will take you back to 9th grade with Sari and Jess. Sari is beautiful and is in love with David, the most popular boy in school, but David has a very serious girlfriend. Jess is the main character and the story is told in her point of view. She is described as average and mostly on the geek side. She and Sari go through their first major friendship struggle and the book tackles the trivial relationships and friendships that occur in high school. This book will immerse you in what Jess is feeling. great descriptions. this book is the book that got me into the YA genre.

"Wherever Nina Lies" is a page turner to say the least! you're mind is always trying to figure out what will happen next. This book is about Ellie who has a missing older sister that has been gone for two years. Now that Ellie is 16 she finds a drawing that her sister drew in the thrift store her best friend works at. There is an address on the back that is a house for loners and people to crash and the house is going to be torn down and Ellie convinces her best friend to go along with her to the last party before it gets torn down. While at the party she meets a very handsome mysterious boy named Sean. Sean finds out where Ellie works and a friendship moves from there. Sean tells Ellie he has a dead brother and Ellie tells him about Nina. He has remorse for her and understands where she is coming from. This sets them on a cross country journey to find Nina.Ellie's best friend Amanda calls Ellie to tell her she thinks Sean has a bad reputation but Ellie is in too deep and doesn't listen. This is where the real adventure begins. Secrets come out, Clues come out, Lies come out, the truth comes out. an amazing read that will hold your interest from start to finish, and then some!

"Wintergirls" is a chilling, realistic account of anorexia. Lia and Cassie were best friends. Best friends with a competition. To see who could be skinniest. Cassie is found in a pool of blood in a local motel room and no one is giving Lia any answers as to why or how Cassie died. This gripping novel will make you wince and have to put it down just to absorb the horrific detail of what this young women is doing to herself. This book is highly realistic and is written with such great detail. This one won't leave your mind for a while, and while scanning your bookshelf months later your eyes will dance across it and you will shutter at the memory.

"Speak" This book should be read by everyone. 14 year old Melinda Sordino has stopped speaking and partly because people has just stopped listening to her. At an end of summer party she called the cops and people from her school got arrested. Her friends and basically everyone in her high school will not talk to her. A new girl moves to town and somehow these two become somewhat friends. The imagery in this novel is phenomenal and realistic. You grow to care for Melinda and when you realize the secret that she has been holding inside you will want to defend her, and protect her. You will find out what really happened at the party, why she called the cops, why she has stopped talking. This novel will never leave you.

"If I Stay" Mia is 17 years old and is close with her family, even her little brother. She has a great boyfriend and has got accepted to juilliard. One morning she wakes up and there is snow on the ground, school and work are canceled. Her family celebrates by eating chocolate chip pancakes and then decide to go for a short drive to visit friends. Mia closes her eyes for sleep and when she wakes up, she is shocked at what she has found. The car is mangled. She can see blood and brains on the road. She finds herself laying in a ditch. She is trying to go back into her body, while she follows her body to the ambulance, to the hospital, she See's her little brothers body being taken to a place different than her. She is trapped outside of her body, watching people visit her and hearing little bits and pieces of what happens in the accident. You feel her confusion, while sifting though memories, you feel her heartbreak. She is evidently forced to decide if she wants to stay and live, or die. This novel is gripping, a nail biter to the end. you will smile, you will cry. it is beautiful.

 "The Truth about Forever" this novel will wrap you up and never let you go. Macy is a perfectionist. She has her summer all lined up with SAT studying at night, and working at the library desk during the day. She has a more prefect boyfriend named Jason who pushes her to do her best. He flies off to a geek camp for the summer and their relationship continues over email. Macy's mother sells homes and Macy helps out at the party they have for a big luxury town home. While there she notices the catering crew is a bit odd, but there is something interesting about them. She notices they are a bit clumsy and helps them out for a little bit. This changes everything. She loves working with Wish, the catering crew. She tracks them down, and asks for a job, she meets Wes who has the same sad secret at Macy, she is lost in a sea of perfectionism and a confusion of what love really is. This book is beautiful. Beautiful imagery, Beautiful meaning. This book means love. It is truly a treasure to have.

"Dreamland" is a story that you hope never happens to your child. This story follows Caitlin, whose sister, Cass has runaway to New York to be with her boyfriend. Caitlin wakes up one morning to find that Cass is gone, the neighbors and family are freaking out, but the only thing different is it's Caitlin's 16th birthday and they forgot. Caitlin feels that Cass has always been the perfect one, and Caitlin has always come in second, or third, or fourth. So to make up for Cass' absence Caitlin signs up for cheer leading to help her mother look forward to something. her mother loves it and one night at a game Caitlin falls off the top of the pyramid because she thought she saw Cass. She hits the bottom, with no serious injuries but later that night she meets the older, alluring Rogerson. She starts to date him and he gets her into marijuana. Soon after that he starts to hit her. This is an emotional ride of a girl that lives an internal, constant personal hell, with a voice dying to scream out. This book is beautiful, this will evoke emotion within you. You want Caitlin to be okay, you want to help her. This one you will want to re read again and again.

"Living Dead Girl" is a story that will shake you to your core. This is about a teenage girl who has spent the last 5 years in captivity. Alice was kidnapped on a school trip 5 years ago. This novel is packed with imagery and descriptions, this book will haunt you. She cannot run, She cannot scream. Ray has it so that if she makes one false move, he will hurt her family. You see the deterioration of a once healthy girl to a girl that is empty, hollow and sad. Ray has done this to many other girls. and when they outgrow their childlike body, he kills them. So he sends Alice out on a mission to help him find his next girl that will replace her. This is a novel that will keep you up at night until you have finished the whole thing. You won't exhale until it's done.

"Before I Die" is a horribly, haunting novel about a young girl named Tessa. She only has months to live. She is dying from cancer. She has stopped all hospital visits, and drugs, and everything in exchange for a short, normal teenage life. She compiles a list of all of the things she wants to do before she dies, and her number one want is to make love to someone. She is trying to have experiences that will make her feel alive, while her body slowly gives up on her. Her father, brother, best friend, and boyfriend, are all affected in different ways and Tessa brings them all together with the short time she has left. This novel is beautiful, and realistic. and will make you cry, cry, cry. You will see an appreciation for your life after you read this novel.

I hope that i have changed your mind about the ever so typical Young Adult Genre. I hope you continue to explore more novels and more stories. Thank you for taking your time to read this!