QoD: The YA List

Question of the Day: I am an English teacher desperate to get up to speed on my YA lit. You are always suggesting different books, and with what little time I have, I do my best to keep up. My question is what "MUST READ" books would you include in a primer dedicated to YA or on a syllabus for a YA course? Thanks Longstockings!

Thanks for the great question! Here are lists from most of us in the order we emailed them to each other. I think most of us agree with the lists other people made and together I think these are a good starter list for “must-read” YA lit.

Coe:
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson

Siobhan:
gingerbread by rachel cohn
american born chinese by gene yang

Daphne
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
What my Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
A Step From Heaven by An Na
Cut by Patricia McCormick

Lisa GW:
E. Lockhart's The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book
ELSEWHERE by Gabrielle Zevin
AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES John Green

Jenny:
A True and Faithful Narrative by KatherineSturtevant
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Lisa Graff:
SOLD by Patricia McCormick
TRUE BELIEVER by Virginia Euwer Wolf

Caroline:
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by LouiseRennison

Anyone have any to add?

#daphne