Rarest Kind of Best

This is a pretty good list, entitled 11 YA Novels Every Adult Should Read.

I’m typing it out here for you, because I am annoyed by those lists that you have to click ‘next’ to see each individual item, like a slide show. (Perhaps I am rather too easily annoyed.)

1. Blood Red Road – Moira Young (2011)

2. Anne of Green Gables – Lucy Maude Montgomery (1908)

3. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs (2011)

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling (1997)

5. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (2006)

6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon (2003)

7. The Giver – Lois Lowry (1993)

8. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (2008)

9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky (1999)

10. Wonder – R.J. Palacio (2012)

11. The Taming – Teresa Toten and Eric Walters (2012)

I’ve added the years of publication because, amusingly, the Random House site says

The genre ‘young adult’ clearly signifies that the books are meant for teenagers, but sometimes it’s nice to take a trip down memory lane and relive our younger days.

Since most are relatively new books – 4 were released in the last 2 years – I’m not sure what kind of nostalgia factor is involved here. Perhaps they are talking to Adults who have just turned twenty-one…

For some older classics I might add The Secret Garden, Treasure Island, The Hobbit, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Phantom Tollbooth..

What do you think? What great pre-2000 YA novels would you add?