The Cult of YA

I've always imagined the world of Young Adult authors as being a high school caferteria. In the middle of the room sits the Cool Kids Table where John Green and Maureen Johnson trade cleaver Nerdfighter jokes while Libba Bray and Lauren Myracle fiercly debate the merits of zombies and unicorns. Shannon Hale and Stephenie Meyer eat a quiet lunch at the Good Girl Table while the girls at the Popular Girls Table (Cecily Von Ziegesar* and Lisi Harrison are the It Girls at that table) sit looking glamourous and not eating anything. Ever. There is the Geek Table (SciFi version) at which Scott Westerfeld serves as a god (since he occasionally asked to the Cool Kid Table), and the Geek Table (Comic Book version) is mostly filled with Japanese writers who no one can understand but are afraid of because they know 47 different ways to kill you with their pinky finger. Holly Black and Cassandra Clare compare shades of black at the Goth Table. Off in the corner is the Transfer Student Table where writers who generally write for other age groups or genres can sit when they're doing their YA thing. James Patterson (adult author) and Joss Whedon (TV god and Miss Tammy's hero) can occasionally be seen there.


Recently I have learned that this cafteria does in fact exist. It's in the YA author mansion. One day I hope to go there. I'll be sitting at the Spastic Fan Girl Table, clutching my camera and autograph book in one hand while hyperventilating into a paper bag that is in my other. It will be awesome.

*It should be noted by all that there is no link to Cecily Von Ziegesar. This is because when I went to hunt down a page for the Gossip Girl writer I stubbled upon a Gossip Girl site that ate my computer. Ate it dead. To show my unhappiness (and to save you from the same fate) I have not added a link.

100 YA Books

So a couple of weeks ago this list of 100 Books was circulating around my beloved Facebook. You were suppose to mark the ones you had read and tally it at the bottom. This list? It made me feel like a bad librarian. I mean, I had read some of them (like 15 titles) but not nearly enough to look well-read. It made me a little depressed.

Then I realized that the reason I had read so few of those titles was because I read YA and those were all adult books. So, I resolved myself to make a new list. A YA list of "must read" books. Here is what I've came up with. Feel free to do the copy, paste, mark the books you have read thing.

(Unlike my Facebook version, I'm going to add some personal comments on this one. Enjoy!)


[ ] Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson
[X] Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
[ ] The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson (I know, I know. I'll get around to it. Maybe.)
[X] Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
[ ] In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (I keep forgetting that I haven't read this yet)
[ ] Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
[ ] The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
[X] Tithe: A Modern Tale of Faerie
[ ] Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
[X] Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
[X] Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
[X] A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
[ ] Faerie Wars by Herbie Bennan
[ ] The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
[X] The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
[X] Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
[X] Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
[X] The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
[ ] City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
[X] Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn
[X] Artimis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (Unlike some, I did not find the main character to be "hot")
[X] The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Best. Book. Ever.)
[X] The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
[ ] The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher
[X] Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
[X] The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
[ ] Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
[ ] The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
[ ] The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
[X] Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
[ ] The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner
[ ] The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
[X] Gone by Michael Grant
[X] Looking for Alaska by John Green (I <3 John Green)
[ ] Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
[X] The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
[ ] The Clique by Lisi Harrison
[ ] Sweet-Blood by Pete Hautman
[ ] The Minister’s Daughter by Julie Hearn
[ ] Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
[ ] Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
[X] The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (One of my first book loves)
[ ] Crank by Ellen Hopkins (I can't figure these books out)
[ ] Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
[ ] Any Warrior Cat book by Erin Hunter
[ ] Redwall by Brian Jacques
[X] Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
[ ] Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
[X] 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (Maureen! She's so cool.)
[X] The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause (I want to be ACK when I grow up.)
[X] To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Only assigned high school reading worth my time.)
[ ] The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
[ ] Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
[X] The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
[ ] The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (On my "to-do" list)
[ ] Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
[X] Hidden Talents by David Lubar
[X] The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
[ ] The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
[X] The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale
[X] Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
[ ] Anything by Lurlene McDaniels
[X] The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
[ ] Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (Also on my "to-do" list)
[ ] Vampire Academy by Richelle Meade
[X] Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (A little book. You may have heard of it.)
[ ] Bras & Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski
[ ] The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
[ ] Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
[ ] Monster by Walter Dean Myers
[ ] ttyl by Lauren Myracle
[ ] Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
[ ] Eragon by Christopher Paolini
[X] East by Edith Pattou
[X] Life as we Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
[ ] Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
[X] The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
[X] Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
[X] The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
[X] Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
[ ] Holes by Louis Sachar
[X] Magyk by Angie Sage
[X] The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
[X] Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
[ ] Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan
[X] Unwind by Neal Shusterman
[X] Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
[X] The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith
[ ] Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
[ ] Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
[ ] Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
[X] Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde
[ ] Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar
[X] Generation Dead by Dan Waters
[ ] Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
[X] A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
[ ] The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede
[X] American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (A graphic novel I liked. That's saying something.)
[X] Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
[ ] The Book Thief by Markus Zusak