If you’ve been keeping up with Bella and Edward’s escapades in the recent Twilight series, or still love to pick up S.E. Hinton’s 60s classic The Outsiders, you’re not alone. A local paper recently featured an interesting commentary on the lure of teen books for adult readers. If many of us are guilty of “cheating” on the literary novel with the young-adult novel, it’s only because the teen literature genre is a veritable goldmine – not just for teens but for adults as well. This is the only genre in our kids’ bookshelves that appeals to our mature sensibilities unlike our other favorites in toddler and tween kid lit. The best young adult books weave in powerful stories and with plot elements that are clear and compelling. Most of the contemporary YA books feature protagonists in their teens. While most of the recent award winning young adult books fall in the realistic fiction genre, many popular classic and contemporary young adult books belong to the science fiction, fantasy and other categories as well.

Here’s our list of 101 recommendations of classic and contemporary young adult literature (in no particular order) for you and your teen kids (and/or students). Another great place to visit is this catalog of award-winning books from the US, UK, Canada, & Australia (look out for the winners in the young adult category). You could also browse through SmartBean’s picks for young adults in our bookstore. The list below is a fairly exhaustive compilation of well-loved and well-regarded books that span decades, even centuries. Many of these titles and authors have won awards. Incidentally, a fair number of books recommended for college-bound kids by College Board and listed in SAT prep guides also feature here. We’d welcome suggestions for additions to this list.

[Note: While most of the books in this genre deal with the challenges of adolescence and are coming-of-age novels, some are more "edgy" and touch upon more mature themes like violence, sexuality, drug use, and physical and emotional abuse. Parents (and teachers) must try and vet the content for suitability for their children (and/or students) based on their age and maturity level.]

Popular Contemporary YA books (all genres)

The Hunger Games trilogy The Conch Bearer series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series The Twilight series Tomorrow, When the War Began (The Tomorrow Series) Maximum Ride series Artemis Fowl series The Princess Diaries series Harry Potter series Airborn Trilogy Ranger’s Apprentice series The Book Thief Nation House of the Scorpion The Abhorsen Trilogy

The Dragonfly Pool Graceling Stardust Airman Waiting for Normal The Graveyard Book The Brothers Torres Feed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Speak The Center of Everything The Lords of Discipline A Rumor of War The Bean Trees Blood Done Sign My Name The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm Looking for Alaska The Road The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Unwind Stargirl Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer) Fallen Angels Silent to the Bone Here Lies Arthur How To Build A House Maus (Graphic Novel)

Modern Classics

Vintage Classics

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Multicultural

Three Cups of Tea

Sold The Kite Runner Three Cups of Tea Getting Away with Murder What Is the What Mexican Whiteboy Ten Cents A Dance The Liberation of Gabriel King Witness The Dark Thirty A Single Shard Keeping Corner Tiger Moon The Space Between Us A Thousand Splendid Suns