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I spoke to fascinating group of women tonight about my latest book and the state of realistic YA fiction. I mentioned a few books that I thought were must reads, both old and new. The sad and wonderful thing is that I could make this list ten times as long as I will here. I’m not even discussing the vast and wonderful world of middle grade! or fantasy! Just in my little corner or the world I have so many amazing YA writers for friends it really blows my mind.

But here are the books I talked about tonight. And as one woman rightly pointed out, many, not all, of them have been banned at some point. Which I don’t agree with, but maybe it will inspire parents to read the books first. Just because a book is sold in the children’s section of the bookstore doesn’t mean it doesn’t have content that could be considered “adult.”

Realistic:
Huck Finn, Mark Twain
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
The Outsiders, SE Hinton
The Catcher In the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Stay Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Chris Crutcher
Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
Twisted, Laurie Halse Anderson
Looking for Alaska, John Green
The Fault of Our Stars, John Green
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
Shabanu, Suzanne Fisher Staples
Tom Finder, Martine Leavitt
Dairy Queen, Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Marcelo in the Real World, Francisco X. Stork
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors, Francisco X. Stork
I Am Not a Serial Killer, Dan Wells
After Ever After, Jordan Sonneblick
Someone Like You, Sarah Dessen
When I Reach You, Rebecca Stead (more middle grade)

Dystopian:
Matched (series), Ally Condie
Hunger Games (series), Suzanne Collins
Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi

I’ll stop now but, like I said, the I could make this list MUCH longer.