NPR recently published their list of 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels as determined by a poll of their readers. A friend posted the link in a book chat Facebook group I belong to. I was curious, so I took a look at the list.
Confession: I don’t read YA books very often. It’s not because I don’t like it, it’s because I love my adult fiction. If I read a book a day, I would never get through all the adult fiction books I want to read.
The first time I learned of the YA genre was when Stephanie Myer’s Twilight series became popular. Then of course The Hunger Games (of which I wasn’t a big fan). I read the latter because I wanted to see the movie so I read the book first. I prefer a well developed fantasy like The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (loved it! Review soon)
When I perused NPR’s YA book list, I was shocked to see that classic sci-fi fantasy books I loved were on it. Titles such as
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
- Fahrenheit 451 also by Ray Bradbury
About Thien-Kim
With a quick glance over this list, I can say that most of the books are of the YA genre. However, the ones you listed do not come across as YA, at all. But when I think about it the books that were on my high school reading list were books like A Brave New World and 1984. Though the main characters in those books were technically young adults, they still had adult themes.
I think because this genre is so new, it’s hard to pin point an exact description of it.
Jayla, I’d be curious of the demographics of those who took the NPR poll for this list. I wonder if it’s the adults who chose the books I mentioned for the YA list or the high schoolers who are reading the books for class.
I feel like the main characters’ ages have a lot to do with what counts as young adult and what doesn’t. If the characters are young adults, the book fits into the category because it is more relatable to the young adult readers.