The Top 100 YA List In Entirety

Wow, so excited to post this in it’s entirety. If you want more in-depth information on the books, I have linked them to their goodreads page on previous posts where I have broken down the list in groups of 20, so each book would have it’s own little blurb. Here are links to each post 100-81; 80-61; 60-41; 40-21; 20-1.

I also want to point you  Adele’s way really quick — she’s making a list using a different methodology from me, and I think you should go nominate some titles at Persnickety Snark.

The Winner for helping me spread the word is: SandyG625 please email me asap.

Here we go:

100. Hate List by Jennifer Brown
99. Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
98. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
97. Among The Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
96. Bllood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Claus
95. Forever by Judy Blume
94. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
93. Tithe by Holly Black
92. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
91. Wings by Aprillynne Pike
90. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
89. Angus, Thongs And Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
88. Marked by PC And Kristin Cast
87. Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
86. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
85. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
84. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
83. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
82. The Mediator series by Meg Cabot
81. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
80. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
79. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
78. Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen
77. Evernight by Claudia Gray
76. If I Stay by Gayle Foreman
75. Life As We Knew It series by Susan Beth Pfeffer
74. Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
73. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
72. Alana: The First Adventure series by Tamora Pierce
71. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
70. Unwind by Neil Shusterman
69. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
68. Paper Towns by John Green
67. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
66. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith
65. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
64. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time by Mark Haddon
63. The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
62. Blue Bloods series by Melissa De La Cruz
61. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
60. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
59. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
58. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
57. Eragon by Christopher Paoloni
56. Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine
55. The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith
54. Fallen by Lauren Kate
53. The Little Princess by  Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot
51. Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke
50. Number The Stars by Lois Lowry
49. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
48. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
47. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares
46. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
45. The Summoning series by Kelley Armstrong
44. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
43. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
42. Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card
41. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
40. Wake series by Lisa McMann
39. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
38. Are You There Good? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume
37. Looking For Alaska by John Green
36. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
35. A Great And Terrible Beauty series by Libba Bray
34. His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman
33. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
32. Romeo And Juliet by William Shakespeare
31. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
30. Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr
29. Forest of Hands And Teeth by Carrie Ryan
28. Holes by Louis Sacher
27. The Outsiders by SE Hinton
26. The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger
25. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
24. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
23. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
22.Uglies series by Scott Westerfield
21. Beautiful Creatures by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia
20. Poison Study series by Maria V. Snyder
19. Book Thief by Markus Zusak
18. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carlson Levine
17. Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
16. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
15. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
14. Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery
13. The Giver by Lois Lowry
12. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
11.  Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
10. Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
9. A Wrinkle In Time series by Madeline L’engle
8. Graceling series by Kristin Cashore
7. Percy Jackson And The Olympians by Rick Riordan
6. Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
5. Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer
2. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
1. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

Some concluding thoughts:
I’m incredibly pleased with how the list turned out and how many people participated. I know not everyone is going to love this absolutely or agree with everything on here and that is totally okay. We all have different meanings of what exactly young adult literature is. Is it something you read when you are a young adult? Is it a means of marketing? How do we qualify what is YA and what is not?

I also want to put out there that I did not vote or nominate any books, I did not think that would be very fair of me. I decided not to discriminate books on the basis that they are classic or contemporary. There’s a wide world of books, and as you see, both have their value and seem loved.

I would have liked it if more PoC and GLBT titles were on the list, as diversity is never a bad thing, however, I cannot control what people vote for. Perhaps I could have reached out more to the PoC community in doing this so there would have been more votes.

I will say, this is not the end-all be-all of lists. I am by no means an expert, just a book blogger having fun and indulging my list-love tendencies.

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April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. WilowRaven says

    Wow! What an amazing list. Thank you for all the work you did putting this together.

  2. cynthial11 says

    Awesome list! I know most of the books on there and they're definitely on my top 100! some I will be adding to read. =)

  3. Wow, the list in its entirety is amazing! I'm headed over to Persnickety Snark now. πŸ™‚

  4. Rebecca :) says

    I have to admit I am kind of disappointed that what I term "lit" is closer to the bottom of the list, and what I think is just "pop culture" sort of is listed near the top of the list. Of course, like you said, everyone defines YA lit differently.

  5. I heart book lists and I'm most definitely going to add this to the list I have growing on a document with books TBR. You are amazing for compiling this : )

  6. Wow! Lots I have read, lots I haven't heard of, and lots that are on my wishlist. This is cool that you put this together!

  7. I'm a list fanatic, so this is great. Think I'm going to have to do a post on which ones I've read and which I have πŸ™‚ Thanks for doing this!

  8. PS, here's my post of what I've read off of your list and what's on my TBR http://readingangel002.blogspot.com/2010/04/top-100-ya-reads.html

  9. Just Your Typical Book Blog says

    WOW! Thanks for taking the time of putting that list together. I think it's great everyone came and voted. Even though everyone isn't going to agree to one another, it's still really neat.

    And I've never read Hunger Games. I feel out of the loop now, lol

  10. Wow April that's one heck of a list. I can tell you that (even with three weeks to go on my voting) our lists are looking a little different. Sure there's common titles but I suspect the order will be different. Can't wait to compare πŸ™‚

  11. I have read 22 and have about 10 more on my to read shelf. Great list thanks. Will have to check out some of the others. I do a Favorite Books List each year based on that years reading.

    Steven

  12. Wow! I've read way too few of these! Those I have read are my favorites, so I'd better get starting!

    And I'm sooo happy The Hunger Games is number 1!

  13. alitareads says

    This list is fantastic! Good work on putting this together πŸ™‚

    Now I need to get reading. There are way too many books here I haven't read yet.

  14. Anne Bennett says

    I always enjoy a list and this one doesn't seem to have missed too many of the really good YA books, but honestly the ranking is completely skewed. Books published this year or last beating out books that have stood the test of time. Na! I think lists like this need to be dated and the collection method needs to more prominent so the title would look something like this: List of top 100 YA titles on 3/10/10 by 50 participating respondents (collected between March 1-9, 2010). I know, I know. Boring.

  15. This is really interesting. Many of my absolute favourites have made it onto the list, but not in the order I think they deserve! I would actually be really interested, as a comparison now the voting part is over, to hear what you personally think are the best ever YA books.

  16. daydreamerN says

    I think harry potter should be #1!!!!

  17. LeeHoney says

    Heya Great List!! Only problems were i dont think Vampire Beach (by Alex Duval), House Of Night (by P.C and Kristin Cast), didnt make it on the list!! And The Sookie Stackhouse Books (TrueBlood)Didnt make it on the list!!!!
    Well thats it thanks so much for the list i am going to print it off and show my friends at school tomorrow!!!
    Love your Website by the way!!!!!

  18. Kah Woei says

    What a great list. I've only read 16 of those listed though, of which I couldn't like Eragon or The Chronicles of Narnia. I enjoy the Narnia movies though. πŸ™‚

  19. Nice post and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you seeking your information.

  20. anonymous says

    Ender’s game, Maze Runner, Eragon series should all be higher