Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books I'd Give to People Who Have Never Read YA

The YA genre sometimes gets a bad rap. People think less of it because it's geared toward teenagers and therefore must be "less" than literature for adults. Or that it's all like Twilight.

I've been reading YA for quite some time now, and it's a book genre like any genre. Some books are really good and some are bad. If you haven't taken the leap into YA, I've compiled a list of 10 books you should read to get you started. (No Twilight!)

1. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
If you didn't have to go in the YA/juvenile section of the library to find it, you'd never know this was geared toward kids. It reads like a regular novel, and it's also a really great book that everyone should read.

2. The Other Way Around - Sashi Kaufman
This is a nice coming-of-age story perfect for teens and adults.

3. Returning to Shore - Corinne Demas
A YA novel with a female heroine who isn't obsessed with making a guy like her!

4. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
Probably more middle-grade than YA but still a good read. (The rest of the books in this series are not as good, and whatever you do, don't see the movie!)

5. Seeing Red - Kathryn Erskine
Another more middle-grade book but one that is really good with a good message.

6. Shine - Lauren Myracle
I loved this book! It should be required reading for everyone, regardless of age.


7. A Mad, Wicked Folly - Sharon Biggs Waller
Proof that YA novels aren't all set in the present-day. This period novel takes place at the start of women's suffrage.

8. Legend trilogy - Marie Lu
Looking for something to take the place of The Hunger Games in your library? Check out this cool trilogy about a boy and girl who unite to take down the Republic.

9. The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon
This book is epic. If you like books that draw you in for the long haul, then you'll want to check this out. The second book in the series comes out next year. Can't wait!

10. Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
This is the first book in a four-part series that follows several families as they deal with what happens when the world ends.