Follow up

in Random Crap

First up…

Secondly, it’s weird how many of you asked for a “Long-distance diarrhea sorcerer” t-shirt.  Mainly because I’m not sure how it doesn’t already exist.  But it does now.

Third, I’m going to Book People this weekend to sign books so if you want one personalized just go to their website, pick some books and type in whatever you want me to write.  And yes, I will draw cats or penises in your book.  But not cat penises.  That would be weird.  They have Furiously Happy, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and You Are Here and they ship all over the world. Ω

Do you see that sign at the end of the last sentence?  Ferris Mewler walked on my keyboard and that just happened.  I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THAT.  Cats are magical assholes, y’all.

And finally, I need some book recommendations.  Young Adult books that are so awesome you love them even as a grown-up.  Go!

525 thoughts on “Follow up”

Read comments below or add one.

  1. Thank you for the chuckles! I keep forgetting to tell you that every day I go buy a very nice, expensive-looking house (on the Country Club Plaza in KCMO, no less) and if I look at it as I’ve just passed it, there is a Beyonce chicken in the back yard. No joke.
    As for YA books, my favorite author is Jennifer Brown (from here in KCMO). Look at Hate List and Bitter End.
    But my ALL TIME, NUMBER ONE is a Wrinkle in Time. Oh, and the Chronicles of Narnia.

  2. My fortune today, “If we are to have magical bodies, we must have magical minds.”
    I’ve decided that means I can be a unicorn.

    None of which is a book recommendation but I’m too busy being magical to worry about that shortcoming.

  3. There’s no way you haven’t read the Tiffany Aching books by Pratchett. Just in case, though, read those, as well as the Bromeliad trilogy. So good. So very, very good.

  4. I am a huge grammar/spelling geek and I can’t believe that I just spelled “by” as “buy.” I’m tired!!

  6. I’m currently in the middle of Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious and it is utterly delightful! Also, cannot recommend the Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee enough. I pretty much devoured it.

  10. Favorite young adult book of all time The Changeling by Zilphia Keatley Snyder. Seriously read it at least 20 times.

  12. Tithe, Valiant & Ironsides by Holly Black. The Replacement &Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

  14. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine is a middle-grade novel, not a YA novel, but I read it again and again. I love that book tremendously enjoyable.

  15. I will always recommend books by Maggie Stiefvater, but the Raven Cycle is especially magical.

  16. Judy Blume books are awesome for kids and her adult ones are good for us…and I really wish you were magical or I was so we could make all the bad things happening just stop!

  17. Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On. It’s Harry Potter if Harry was slightly bad at his job and Draco was a vampire. It’s good. Very good.

  18. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume & anything by Norma Klein. I’m too old for all the YA vampire stuff…

  19. The Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier! They’re translations from a German series and they’re so great! Also, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was AMAZING!

  20. Have you read Akata Witch (or its sequel, Akata Warrior) or the Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor?

  22. Dark angel trilogy by Meredith Ann pierce
    Dancing with dragons: the enchanted forest chronicles by Patricia c. Wrede
    Un-lun-dun by china mieville
    Soulless by Gail Carriger (this is a series but I’ve only read the first book so far)
    the good fairies of New York by Martin Millar
    Only revolutions by mark danielewski

  24. YA Book recommendations: Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. The Harper Hall Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.

  25. Definitely “Strange the Dreamer” by Laini Taylor. It’s one of the few books I’ve fallen head-over-heels for.

    Note: No bilbiophiles were harmed in the making of this message.

  26. The Keys To The Kingdom series by Garth Nix – there are seven books in the series

  29. Are you using a Mac? You get the Ω symbol on a Mac with Option-Z, which Ferris Mewler could have typed with one paw. If you are on Windows, I don’t know how the hell he did it.

  30. Authors: Tamora Pierce, Sir Pterry Pratchett (under plain “Terry Pratchett”) Diane Duane, Mercedes Lackey, Diana Wynne Jones, Andre Norton (you’ll find her in adult F/SF, but it’s YA rated, she started in 40s or 50s) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (married to each other, the Liaden Universe and “The Tomorrow Log”) Patricia C. Wrede, Walter Dean Myers. Robin McKinley, Patricia McKillip David Eddings is a possibility. Roger Zelazny, Jane Yolen.
    I think I’ll stop there, that should keep you going for a while.

  31. Tamora Pierce’s books. Start with Alanna: The First Adventure. Kickass heroines. Awesome treatment of gay characters. I love her books.

  32. Not a YA book but I recently finished What Alice Forgot and aboslutely loved it.

  34. My favorites:
    The Kin, Peter Dickinson
    The Windsinger Trilogy, William Nicholson

    Also great:
    Tuck Everlasting, A Little Princess, Artemis Fowl, Matilda, Because of Winn Dixie, So You Want to Be a Wizard, Ella Minnow Pea, Inkheart, Ender’s Game, The Dragon Keeper, Pendragon Series, Anything by Scott Westerfeld, and Stuart Little

  39. Maggie Stiefvater is a great writer (The Scorpio Races is a favorite, also I love her Raven Boys set and her latest “All the Crooked Saints”). I’m also a big big fan of The Illuminae Files books by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (2nd book is Gemina, 3rd book Obsidio releases in a couple of weeks). The Legend books by Marie Lu are great. The Starbound Trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are fun.

  40. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas, Touchstone series by Andrea k Host, The Clique series by Lisi Harrison. Throne of Glass is more adult oriented than YA oriented. I would honestly recommend literally anything by Andrea K Host, like if she compiled a book of shopping lists I would probably read it.

  41. My daughter loves Tamora Pierce. I was reading them myself when she was small. I started reading them to her until she was old enough to take over. She still has an entire bookshelf dedicated to these books. It’s probably been 15-20 years now.

  42. I just finished the Gender Game. It was very good. First in a trilogy. 2 cities across a river from each other one run my men and one by women. One girl has to travel into the male ruled city to pull off a spyish plan.

  43. THE NIGHT CIRCUS, like for real. It’s not classified as a “young adult” book but it’s wayyyyy too good to pass up. I was literally reading it at work it was that good.

  44. Everyone knows the classics, so I’ll go a bit more modern. Any YA by Gordon Korman is great! Especially some of his older ones: Son of Interflux, Don’t Care High, A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag. Also a lot of Robin McKinley’s books, especially Beauty, The Outlaws of Sherwood, and The Door in the Hedge. Cynthia Hand’s The Afterlife of Holly Chase and Serena Chase’s Intermission were really good. Sarah Rees Brennan’s Tell the Wind and Fire was awesome. Maud by Melanie Fishbane is a very good biographical novel about L.M. Montgomery, so it’s great for Anne of Green Gables fans. On a different note, the Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is violent and sad and not for the faint of heart, but it’s a really interesting, thought-provoking read.

  45. Oh so many! The Dark Is Rising sequence, the White Mountains trilogy, Winter of Magic’s Return, and probably many of the others folks will mention. I would put YA speculative, fantasy, and SF novels up against so-called adult novels any day.

  48. My favourite YA is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. It’s old, but really holds up and I’m sad it’s an undiscovered gem

  50. ALL books by Charles de Lint, especially the Newford series…..start with The Best of CDL if you want your toes wet. My all time favorite book is Greenmantle. If you want young adult, though, try his Wildings series, but anything and everything is Wonder-Full!

  51. Any and all books by Madeline L’Engle; she of the “Wrinkle in Time” trilogy and others. She’s an amazing author!

  52. Your cat typed Omega after you typed “world”. Omega is the end. So your cat is telling you the world is coming to an end!!!

    Or you have a Mac and he hit the “O” and “W” keys at the same time. In that case, all is well and the world is not ending.

  54. A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. They are technically YA, but have some rather descriptive intimate scenes, so beware sharing them with your daughter.

  55. I am only a little ashamed to admit that I loved the “House of Night” series by P. C. Cast (and her daughter, Kristin Cast), which is YA and about vampires who do not sparkle, thankyouverymuch, but who do tend to spontaneously develop Celtic tattoos on their faces. And they live in Oklahoma. Oh, and they also all have magical powers and worship a Greek goddess, which… doesn’t really explain why their tattoos are Celtic. I might be overthinking that part. Anyway, I mainly read the books because the author is a high school English teacher, and a big badge of honor among her students is to be written into one of her books and then get violently killed off. I highly recommend.

  56. Lemoncello’s Library. The Chris D’Lacey’s ‘Last Dragon Chronicles’. Code Talkers.

  57. I’ll always have a love for the Chronicles of Narnia. Must have read the set at least 6 times.

  58. I just finished a pretty good YA book called The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, about a group of young women with the power to manipulate people’s appearances. It’s got teacup elephants in it!

  59. Not that this is related to anything but Jenny do you know there are mushrooms that look like dog penises? Look up dog stinkhorn (or “the devil’s dipstick”) if you dare. This is a real thing which I found in my neighbour’s yard once. 😉

  63. Not specifically YA, but the Alan Bradley series of “Flavia de Luce” mysteries is fun. Sooo, think Nancy Drew, but Nancy is Flavia, an 11-year old girl solving mysteries with her extensive knowledge of chemistry, who lives with her father and sort-of-evil sisters in a crumbling mansion in post-war England.

  64. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. Love everything about The Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin. Also love the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce.

  65. The Giver is my all-time favorite YA novel, though it’s probably considered more middle grade.

    Recent stuff I’d recommend is Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner, I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Geekerella by Ashley Poston, and I’ll second what another commenter said about anything by Rainbow Rowell.

  66. I think I’m quite slow on the uptake on this one, but I recently came across the City of Ember trilogy when I was in the kids section of the library getting looked at like I was a weirdo, and I DEVOURED IT. So good.

  67. Could someone please please please make a spreadsheet of all these recommendations and post it on facebook? I’m getting writer’s cramp from writing down titles and authors! Love you guys.

  69. If you want to go old school, as in early 20th century, L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon series, and also Pat of Silver Bush series. I was reading adult books like T.H White’s The Once and Future King when I was Hailey’s age, also Mary Stewart’s Crystal Cave Arthurian legend stuff. I don’t think they are any more intense than the YA stuff my kid read in school in middle school. I was Hailey’s age in the late ’60s, there were only 3 channels on TV.

  70. I loved the Bloody Jack series by L. A. Meyer about a girl who is orphaned and pretends to be a boy and gets conscripted by the British Navy. She goes on to have many adventures all over the world. They are fantastic audio books as well, narrated by the (tragically) late Katherine Kellgren. Highly, highly recommend.

  71. The Wizard of Earthsea Series.
    The Golden Compass Series
    Maggie Stiefvater’s books. Island of the Blue Dolphin

  72. Sanctuary Bay by Laura Burns and Melinda Metz is good. It’s set at an elite prep school and all kinds of weird shit goes on. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorites, but I imagine you’ve already read it.

  74. Veronica – I am so disappointed that was a spelling error! I was enchanted with who could this person be that says ….”every day I go BUY a very nice, expensive-looking house…” If only…

  75. For YA fiction, I will always love A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeleine L’Engle. Also Empress of the World (am forgetting the author at the moment, unfortunately), which is a hilarious, lovely, kinda sad LGB coming out/first love story. And for a fantastic book that is nuanced and thoughtful about disability and ableism, there’s Harriet McBryde Johnson’s Accidents of Nature.

  76. Rainbow Rowell is amazing. “Eleanor & Park” in particular is beautiful. I just finished “Autoboyography” by Christina Lauren. It was terrific. I’m currently reading “Truly Devious” by Maureen Johnson and am having trouble putting it down to get anything else done. I also highly recommend Becky Albertalli’s books. “Simon vs the Homo Sapiens’ Agenda” is hilarious.

  77. The “ENDER” series, by Orson Scott Card. The best of a huge body of excellent work.

  78. Book recommendation: I’m currently completely absorbed by the Scythe series by Neal Shusterman, even though it’s YA and I’m a grown up… sort of. You’d love it! Go get it right now!!

  79. I will second Robin McKinley’s Outlaws of Sherwood and raise you Shadows.

  80. Sylvia Cassidy . . . Behind the Attic Wall. Probably for like pre-teen, but still magical.

  82. I spent literally years trying to track down a copy of “The Eggchild” by Lorna Baxter. I read it in my school library when I was ten, and then couldn’t find a copy again until basically the Internet was invented to find a secondhand copy. It was worth it.

  83. Currently reading The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. It is soooo good!! Also working on The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I say working on because I put it in my backpack and lost track of it for a while. I love it. Also reading the Shadow Bright and Burning series by Jessica Cluess. All of these are more fantasy, but they all also feel a little historical.

    And if you haven’t read it yet, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a most excellent and eye opening and heartbreaking read. Another fantasy series I’ve lost my mind over, Sarah J Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses series. So good. Okay. I’m going to stop now. If you want wonderful YA books, come raid my personal library. There are so many good ones. I could max out my word count in this space and still not list all the ones I love. 🙂

  84. I don’t know if you’ll get this far down, but The Enchanted Forest Chronicles are SO GREAT. They’re classic fairy tales if the fairy tales threw out all the boring, patriarchy stuff and instead had courageous princesses choosing their dragons and wizards that can be melted with soapy water with a hint of lemon. I love those books so freaking much.

    The Dark Is Rising Sequence and The Chronicles of Prydain are also in my favorite favorite books, although they’ve aged a little less well. They’re still great! But they’re 70s YA great. So they won’t be to everyone’s tastes.

  85. Pippi Longstockings is the premier feminist primer. Written so long ago , even I read it as a girl, Pippi doesn’t have fucks to give. She do what she like.

  86. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging and all of the other Snogging (and Angus the cat) books in the series by Louise
    Rennison. You will seriously love these books. Love you.

  87. The entire Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. They predate Harry Potter, and the wizardry is really hardcore. The original versions are available in print and there are updated versions (with iPhones instead of desktop computers and such) available as ebooks

  88. My absolute favorite YA books are the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce. (I actually just ordered $90 worth of her books that are hardbound because I DESTROY the paperbacks with my frequent re-readings. ) The Tortall series is YA fantasy beginning with Alanna, who pretends to be a man to become a knight, Daine, a young woman with a very specific type of magic, Keladry the first girl to openly go throught knight’s training after the laws are changed because of Alanna, Alianne, Alanna’s daughter who works as a spy, and Beka Cooper, a sort of cop in ‘historical Tortall’. She also just released a new book in the series about Numair, a sorcerer you meet in Daine’s series.
    The women in these novels are strong and well-rounded, flawed, and just all-around bad-asses. These books SPECIFICALLY mad me want to be a social worker (someone who stands up for those that can’t) and I love all of them so much I can’t even explain it. You may have read them before as the first books were published in the early 90’s or possibly late 80’s, but if you haven’t you should. And if you have you should read them again. There’s enough reading material in Pierce’s Tortall set books to keep you occupied for at least a week, longer if you branch out into other novels, which are also very good.
    Is this too much information? I can’t tell. PLEASE let us know what you decide to read, because if it’s a suggestion from one of us we will ABSOLUTELY want to know what you thought.

    Love you Jenny! (and James Garfield, he’s my favorite severed head in your house.)

  91. Cats totally ARE magical assholes! My ginger floofy asshole cat once managed to open the disc tray of the Xbox 360, close it, and turn it off in one fell climb-over.

    As for YA books… I love anything Tamora Pierce has written. Also, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, and Wonder by R. J. Palacio (which is middle-grade, but brilliant). Oh, oh, and The Westing Game! I read it last year after years of knowing it existed but being too lazy to stray from my usual fantasy books, and it was awesome.

  92. Anything by Leigh Bardugo! I started with Six of Crows, and then went back to her previous Grisha series. She also has a Wonder Woman book, which was super awesome!

  93. Anything by Terry Pratchett, but I have a feeling you would love the Tiffany Aching series in particular.

  95. I third Eleanor & Park. First time I started it I thought it would be all about bullying and put it down. Second time I devoured it. Not YA, but right now I’m reading “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah and it is fantastic.

  96. I loved the Trixie Baleen series as a child and have re-read then as an adult. I also loved Beanie Malone series. These books are very conventional and were written in the fourties through the sixties but the storylines are timeless. Coming from a broken family I loved reading about way one might look like if love worked better.

  97. I recommend the “Voices”, “Powers”, “Gifts” trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since she sadly just passed away, it’s the right time to delight in the work of this great lady of science-fiction.

    I received your book, that I was offered during book-giving day. Spent the next day reading it, and a friend already borrowed it. Laughed a lot, that’s rare in this season – so, thank you and thanks to the person who offered it!

  98. The Changeover by Margaret Mahy and Fure and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones – both so awesomesauce!

  99. I was also going to suggest Young Wizards by Diane Duane, though I liked her regular cat wizard books better, because they are from the cats’ perspective, and because cat wizards! Those are technically not ya, but they are The Book of Night with Moon and To Save the Queen.

  100. Among Others by Jo Walton is not YA but it is a book about a teen going to boarding school who may have magic and she joins a book club so you not only love the book, but come out with a whole reading list of stuff to try.

    If you like Robin McKinley, try anything by Sharon Shinn: http://www.sharonshinn.net/books.shtml

    Her first published work, The Shape Changer’s Wife is a fast, beautiful read.

    If you need a kick ass heroine, I recommend Elizabeth Moon for her space opera series – pick any they have all strong characters or her fantasy series with Paksenarrion

  102. Oh god, asking me about YA books is dangerous, as that’s nearly all i read. If you like having your heart broken into itty-bitty pieces by books, the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness is amaizng. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer are a fun cyberpunky twist on several familiar fairy tales.The Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore are a great story, as well as the Maze Runner series by James Dashner. Finally, the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson are great.

    There, that should get you started. 😀 I could go on but I won’t.

  103. Taylor Swift surrounded by her courtiers, I love it! I’ve never read much YA, cause even as a child, I was reading way above my age level, so I’m no help to you on that account. And it was so nice of you to let Ferris Mewler have the last word. Brilliant of him to pick Omega.

  104. Anything and everything by Neil Gaiman…it always surprises me to see that Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Stardust are classed as YA. I heartily concur with all prior recommendations of Madeline L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time series) and The Chronicles of Narnia. I recently finished the second book in the Endarian Prophecy series by Richard Phillips and am eagerly awaiting the third to be released. Ditto with The Hundredth Queen series by Emily R. King. They might be classed as “teen” but in no way bore this 45-year-old!

  106. Read The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde.
    It’s amazing, and I love it even as an adult, even though I’m not an adult.

  107. The Rest of Us Just Live Here, by Patrick Ness. Gently pokes fun at the whole YA genre, while dealing with teens with real problems.

  110. The “Dorothy Must Die” Series by Danielle Paige. Fun and disturbing take on the Wizard of Oz.

  111. You can get mine, coming out Mar 13 on Amazon (and in stores), Bead by Bead. The Holy Spirit on a Harley, tap dancing goats, my Gangster Disciple housekeeper.

  112. I don’t have any YA novels to recommend because when I was fourteen I was reading things like my mother’s original 1966 publication of “Valley of the Dolls” and every Jackie Collins book I could get my hands on. I’m now realizing this explains SO MUCH about me!!!! I love the new shirt, though, and will probably buy it and recommend it to my own readers. Thank you!

  114. Rooftoppers and Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell…The Garth Nix ones with Lirael, Clariel etc…I love that people have already suggested most of my go-to authors so I had to think harder for ones you may no have got to 🙂 xx

  115. I’m not sure if they are YA, but “The Others” by Anne Bishop – so good. Scfi and werewolves and vampires and distopia but all done in a way unlike you’ve read 100 times before.

  116. Yay! I ordered a copy of You Are Here. Thank you and I wrote the “book people” a very long message to give you. I think they will because if you can’t believe in the “book people” who can you believe in?

  117. Hi Jenny! Great Taylor Swift Head is a sentence I thought I would never use…until now! So thanks for that.

    My recommendation is my favorite book of all time, next to yours of course, Lamb by Christopher Moore. This is my go to book. Funny, touching, sweet, clever, profane, ridiculous, thought provoking, just like your books!

    Have fun!

  118. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Taught it my first year of teaching, with a culminating moment being a 9th grader screaming at me I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING and throwing something at me. Seriously good.

    We also really loved Holes.

    I haven’t taught in a decade, and they may be too “young” for you, but they both resonated strongly with kids.

    Also I’m obsessed with Sherman Alexie and love everything he’s ever written.
    Oh, oh! Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Read it last year and LOVE IT.

  119. We Were Liars by e. lockhart & Bone Gap by Laura Ruby & The Devil’s You Know by Margaret Atwood
    Happy reading!!

  120. All I do is read Young Adult, New Adult and Romance Books.
    Uprooted by Naomi Novik
    A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Series)
    Virals by Kathy Reichs (Series)
    and many more favourites.

  122. YA books – I always feel like everyone MUST already know these, but just in case … Brandon Mull’s books, both the Fablehaven series, and the Beyonders. The Five Kingdoms is worth reading but not quite as good, IMO. Also, the Gender Game, and The Girl Who Dared series by Bella Forrest. Time Zero, by Carolyn Cohagen. And The Giver, by Lois Lowry.

  123. The Girl Who Dared to Think, by Bella Forrest. On Kindle Unlimited if you have that. I binged the crap out of that series!

  126. The Kiesha’ra Series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes was/is one of my favorite series of all time. I liked her Den of Shadows work well enough but Hawksong and the 4 books that followed just took my to another world.

  128. The Artemis Fowl series of books have been a long favorite of mine. I’m 28 and rereading them, so i guess they fit the bill.

  129. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Crossocer by Kwame Alexander (both are in verse)
    Anna & the French Kiss (and its sequels) by Stephanie Perkins if you want giggly romance
    The Red Queen series stays checked out of my library so much that I haven’t even gotten to read it yet
    Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer is more kid than YA, but it seems like it would be your jam.

  130. The Giver is my favorite book. I’ve read it more times than I can count, pretty much once a year. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it.

    I’m a huge fan of YA fiction (and middle school range books), so this year I’ve decided to work my way through the list of Newbery Award winning books. There are so many of them I haven’t read yet.

  131. I CANNOT BELIEVE that someone (two someones!) recommended Behind the Attic Wall!!! That is a longtime favorite of mine and still sits on my bookshelf.

  132. Brandon Sanderson’s The Reckoners series is really good, as are his Mist Born books.

  133. Two YA books from back in the day that I would read again if I had my way are “In Summertime, It’s Tuffy” by Judie Angell, and “Ghosts I Have Been” by Richard Peck.

  137. Witch of Blackbird Pond – all time favorite!! Wonder is wonderful. Anything by Terry Pratchett!!!!

  138. The entire Peter and the Monsters series by Darren Pillsbury. I’m linking to the series volumes, but there are several he’s written since that haven’t been put in a volume yet. Notice the first one is free–it’s how I got hooked. I would love for this author to get some love because there is truly so much crap in the self-published market, but his are not.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016QBAVS2/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

  139. When my cat walks on the keyboard, it looks more like –
    qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqwwwwrrwretrytrwueytituoyior – (he did it yesterday, which is how I know. Took me minutes to fix the document he so “edited”.

  140. I recommend Daniel O’Malley’s The Rook and Lindsay Fayne’s Jane Steele. They’re two of the best YA books I’ve read lately!

  141. I bought one of your signed copies when I was at Book People last year. And if it’s not weird and self-serving, I would love to recommend the Young Adult novel I wrote, called Smile, by Suzanne Craig-Whytock.

  142. LOVE the Gender Game series – it’s a seven book series and I’m on my 2nd (3rd?) time reading the whole series through again. Bonus – the entire series is available for free to read through Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. The author, Bella Forrest, has a second series she has begun that kinda connects to the Gender Game series but is its own series all together. That one starts with The Girll Who Dared to Think (?) and is also a 7 book series with 5 books finished so far. That one is not as good as the Gender Game series but still holds my interest and is also available on Kindle Unlimited. Also love The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon (3 books so far…) Hope this helps!

  143. “Ella Enchanted”-Levine, “Dangerous Angels”-Block, “Gingerbread”-Cohn, “Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging”- Rennison, “Carry On”- Rowell, and I would agree with “Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue”. Lee also wrote a Frankenstein retelling called “This Monstrous Thing” that is pretty spectacular.

  144. I love the Court of Thorns and Roses series. A fun Young Adult fantasy/sci-fi/romance.

  145. I’m trying to find Book People. But google only displays a UK site and I doubt you’re going there for the weekend.
    Do you have a link by chance?
    My husband NEEDS a signed copy of Furiously Happy with “special” art inside!

  146. Favorite YA:
    Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Saenz
    Six of Crows (and its sequel Crooked Kingdom) – Bardugo
    Carry On – Rowell

    I work at a library and recommend these over and over again to teens and adults. They are some of my absolute favorites, and my patrons always come back to tell me they loved them too.

  147. I’ll now always think of Taylor Swift as furiously headless. I don’t know if you can make her do stuff by poking pins into her “head” but it could be worth a try. (I put “head” so no-one thinks I really want you to stalk Taylor Swift and poke pins in her actual head. Because that would be wrong.)

    For unusual horror-ish books try the South African authors who write under the name S. L. Grey. The Mall is great and haunting and disturbing and kind of nuts. I don’t know if it’s quite YA but I think young people would enjoy it. I liked The Apartment too. Nice and creepy. Along vaguely similar lines to The Mall there’s a great and funny horror novel about what goes on at night in a big furniture store: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix. Again maybe not packaged as YA but fairly suitable for teen readers, as I remember it.

    If you’re interested in women of colour writing the urban Canadian experience, there’s Nala Hopkinson’s The Chaos or Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For (this one is probably more New Adult than YA). Another interesting and offbeat Canadian fantasy is Above by Leah Bobet. These aren’t the easiest books but all are quite interesting.

    Otherwise, I like the Uglies quartet (tetralogy?) by Scott Westerfield (dystopian) and Holly Black’s books (faeries).

    For non-traditional spooky storytelling, a bit juvenile but really good fun, try the Haunting of Sunshine Girl (Paige McKenzie) on Youtube (it was made into a book, but honestly I think the videos were better, if you have the patience for them. There are lots.)

    I have a perhaps (no, definitely) guilty affection for the long Sweep series by Cate Tiernan, about a girl who joins a coven. It’s not exactly great writing but very potato-chippy.

    I’ve been meaning to read Seanan McGuire’s fantasy books; I read her Tumblr and she has a lot of happy fans who like the diversity and inclusivity of her writing. And the Hunger Games books (Suzanne Collins) really are good; Orwell for a younger generation.

    In terms of older books, someone mentioned Harriet the Spy, which is excellent, and I will just say that its sequel, The Long Secret, is well worth a read, though maybe more children’s than YA. But Fitzhugh’s unique writing style and quirky characters are well worth reading as an adult .Similarly, Alan Garner’s beautifully-crafted fantasy set in Wales, The Owl Service, is a children’s book, but for slightly older readers.

  148. I love anything by Rainbow Rowell, especially Fan Girl. Also Harry Potter (is it YA or MG? I never know. I just know I love it.) Jasper Fforde’s Last Dragonslayer trilogy, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. Where the Red Fern Grows. I know there’s lots more, but my brain is zapped after spending a day working outside getting the tortoise exhibits ready for spring.

    Oh! I second, third, and fourth Ghosts I Have Been. The whole trilogy is fantastic! Funny, scary, wonderful.

  149. When my daughter was in her early teens, I gave her this series that she loves even at 29 years old: Chronicles of the Cheysuli by Jennifer Roberson. :o) Also, I love the t-shirt.

  153. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead — especially if you’ve read A Winkle in Time, but also if you haven’t.

  154. Tomorrow When The War Began series by John Marsden. There’s a follow up series, The Ellie Chronicles. It’s an Australian teen series about a group of friends when their town is taken over by invaders.

  155. Try The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I don’t want to describe it because it would spoil the magic, but it’s wonderful.
    And I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
    And I just got a new book called “Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow” by Jessica Townsend. I have no idea how good it will turn out to be but the flap copy compares it to Neil Gaiman, so… it has the potential to be great.
    BUT DEFINITELY try The Perilous Gard and I Capture the Castle!

  156. Veronica, I thought you were actually in the habit of purchasing a new house with a Queen B Chicken in it, ’cause . . . you know, given the money, which of the rest of us wouldn’t? And, frankly, that habit seems less likely to get you flagged by the NSA than, say, a “Long-distance diarrhea sorcerer” shirt. Jenny, your karass be very strong. Hugs, Painths.

  157. Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden. This group of Australians go camping and while on the camping trip Australia is invaded and taken over. Very good page turner!

  163. The Golden Compass series.

    Also, we totally need a “Cats are magical assholes.” shirt.

  164. Love the Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Fluke its a goood YA series. Have started rereading them with my nephew. Dresden Files by Jim Butcher not YA but seriously awesome pop culture references I always tell people to start with #6 Dead Beat and then go back. Chronos Files Trilogy by Rysa Walker and her new one Delphi are great YA and available on Kindle Unlimited.

  165. I love the Anne of Green Gables series, Howl’s Moving Castle, and I recently read Uprooted by Naomi Novik– not sure if it’s classified as YA or adult, but it’s awesome!

  166. Greenglass House ( and brand new sequel!) by Kate Milford. Also loved Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke. I adore books about books.

  173. Now I need a T-Shirt that says Cats are Magical Assholes 🙂
    Book recommendations: Anything by LJ Smith, PC Cast, Kristin Cast, Alyson Noel
    Happy Reading!

  175. Jenny, can you please, please compile a list of all the book suggestions and post it? Then I can gleefully cross them off as a I make my way through the list!

  177. The Lockwood and Co series by Jonathan Stroud! Set in an alternate history London haunted by ghosts that only kids/teens can see and so they form agencies to fight “the problem”. The first book is “The Screaming Staircase” and I LOVED it! Honestly, listening to the audiobook while driving in broad daylight and freaking out at the eeriness of the scene… he’s a master. Book 5 just came out and it’s the last one and I am very, very sad.

  178. To Take A Dare by Crescent Dragonwagon. Buy it for the cool name, re-read it 6 times because it’s fucking relatable.

  180. I’m currently reading through Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co series and very much enjoying it. Also am midway through the first of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series (Every Heart a Doorway) and it is lovely.

  181. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (really anything by her!). It is the first book of a trilogy (well 3.5 books) that are wonderful! Someone above recommended her latest Strange the Dreamer that is the first book of (at least) 2 and I can’t wait for the next one to come out.

  184. Marissa Meyer
    Victoria Aveyard
    Brian Katcher

    1st two are fantasyish/last is contemporary
    So good!

  185. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, I listened to the audio books and they were excellent!

  189. I read Elenor’s Oliohant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman!
    It’ was a book of the month book and I like Elephants and the name reminded me of one and my god mother lives in Honeyman Dr. so it was an omen! It was an awesome book

  190. I read Elenor’s Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman!
    It’ was a book of the month book and I like Elephants and the name reminded me of one and my god mother lives in Honeyman Dr. so it was an omen! It was an awesome book

  192. The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett
    The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
    Dragonsong, Anne McCaffery
    Terrier, Tamora Pierce
    The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley (not really YA, but could be)
    Sunshine, or The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley
    The Riddlemaster of Hed, Patricia McKillip
    Incorrigible Children Of Ashton Place, Maryrose Wood
    Very Nearly Honorable League Of Pirates, Caroline Carlson
    Thirteenth Child, Patricia Wrede

  193. A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1) Brittany Cavallaro. It’s a modern day setting where the descendants of Holmes and Watson have come together and are solving mysteries. It’s smart, funny, romantic—awesome.

  194. Love the Taylor Swift head – looks great! My 15yo daughter loves all the Percy Jackson (and other characters) books by Rick Riordan. She has also excelled in all her Greek mythology units in school since reading them 🙂 She likes the author John Green as well – Turtles All the Way Down, The Fault in Our Stars. My all time favourites as a teen were Chronicles of Narnia, Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Teribithia, and, even though it’s dated, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I actually first read that one when I was 7 but I’ve reread it several times over the years.

  197. I’ve never shared before, but BOOKS. 😀

    I second a ton of things people have said and am adding the Ettiquette & Espionage series by Gail Carriger (someone suggested her adult series [beginning with Soulless], which I also love, but this is the beginning of her YA books) and the Bartemius series by Jonathan Stroud, 1st book titled The Amulet of Samarkand. Both fantasy book sets make me laugh out loud every time I read them!

  198. In 1955 John Wyndham wrote The Chrysalids; about a group of teens in post apocalyptic North America. It speaks of the value in each person; whether or not they conform to the majority’s ideal of “true human form”. Atomic Bomb fallout has caused mutations in all things living….plants, animals and humans. I read it in 1975, and it has stayed with me always, relevant more than ever today. It may be out of print, and if you can’t find one, let me know and I will send you a copy.

  199. Court of the Stone Children by Eleanor Cameron. Probably no longer in print, but it should be. I think it was classed under the rubric of children’s lit when it came out in the early 1970s but the main characters are young teens. My kids also loved House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.

  200. YA novels – Uprooted by Naomi Novik, and basically anything by Maggie Stiefvater. Mostly the Raven Cycle. But really anything.

    Also, I’m really glad I’m not the only one who thought that head looked like Taylor Swift, I didn’t want to comment before because I thought it might be judged. I know, I know.

  202. I don’t think she’s YA, but books by Beverly Cleary. Also Pegasus by Robin McKinley.

    Love how you displayed Taylor Swift’s head with the mice! I get kind of a Cinderella vibe from it, like she brought the mice with her into the palace.

  205. Cogheart by Peter Bunzl and its sequel Moonlocket are both great as are Abhorsen and its sequels by Garth Nix. Also Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I love children’s books as much as adult fiction, it’ll be a sad day when my youngest no longer wants to have story time.

  206. You are awesome! Have you read the Born series by Tara Brown? It’s one of my all-time favorites!

  207. I agree with Emily of New Moon and it’s accompanying books (Emily is psychic!) as well as Pat of Silverbush. Those heroines are just as lovable as Anne of Green Gables, though for differing reasons. I also agree with Mary Stewart’s Arthurian trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment) and TH White’s The Once and Future King.
    Whoever wrote comment #69 must be my soulmate!

  210. You can’t ever go wrong with Leigh Bardugo: Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, and her Grisha Trilogy. A+++ Also Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series is glorious.

  211. The Phantom Tollbooth! The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and the related books in the series. When I read them to my daughter, I remembered how much fun it was learning archaic English expressions.

  212. Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradly, beginning with, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is a young chemistry wiz and has a knack for stumbling onto dead bodies and then cleverly solving the crimes. The books are set in the early 1950’s in the English countryside. Flavia lives with her withdrawn widowed father, and two beastly older sisters in a grand estate that has fallen into disrepair over the years and due to financial pressures. The books are white, fun and engaging, and I have been a HUGE fan for many years… truth be told, I love this series so much that I have reread them at least three times apiece! Please check these out, they are just too delicious to miss!

  215. Best way to get a thousand comments on a Bloggess post? Ask “What’s a good book to read?” 🙂

    And I don’t know if they qualify as “Young Adult”, but I really enjoyed the MythAdventures series by Robert Lynn Asprin. Actually, I think anything by him is good.

  216. I loved Ursula K Le Guin’s ‘Earthsea’ trilogy when I was a kid. I haven’t looked at them in a long time, but my oldest discovered them and loved them

  217. Book reccomendations- the Graceling Trilogy by Kristin Cashore- it’s obscure but very very good. Also enjoyed the Hollow Earth trilogy by Carol and John Barrowman- quick reads but loved them (and of course John Barrowman can do no wrong).

  218. I also endorse any mention of Terry Pratchett, and Alan Bradley’s ‘Flavia’ series

  219. Ohm? Is Ferris trying to tell you he’s Buddhist and loves puns?
    Are you moved back into your office? Had you seen the cure for cat walking on desk seems to be adding a cardboard box to your desk’s top? Apparently, problem solved, according to one woman online.
    Also I meant to tell you that saddle soap will take out those scratches on your leather chair. It comes in a big shoe-shine kind of round container. I just buy the Kiwi brand that Target sells next to their shoes. Rubbing it on and wiping it off is a good stress-reducer. The problem is that it leaves the leather lustrous, silky-soft and touchable and soon you are saddle-soaping everything that’s smooth leather.

    Books of worth- anything written in the mid-60’s by author Betty Cavanna. How I loved reading those and miss them today. My aunt had had some subscription to YA novels at that time and they were all hardbound with slip jackets and terrific art. I loved the stories where the young female characters would go away to board in Paris for a year, or learn to ski. The young women learned about the enjoyment of being a rockhound for garnets with one boyfriend, or absorbed the fun of car restoration with another. They were always doing things and learning about the world. I didn’t care for the Cherry Ames, Student Nurse series and Nancy Drew didn’t thrill me either. Betty Cavanna hit a sweet spot.

  220. This is probably one of the stranger book recommendations you’ll get but I highly recommend “We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes” by Patrick Jennings

    It is written from the perspective of the snake and even though I am coughOLDcough I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  223. The Wind on Fire trilogy by William Nicholson. The books are The Wind Singer, Slaves of the Mastery, and Firesong. They were favorites of mine in high school and I’ve had to repurchase the first book like 3 times because people would borrow it and then never give it back.

  224. “Dragondrums” series by Anne McCaffrey. My new-to-me, slightly younger stepsister read them as fast as I passed them on and we bonded over them. She still remembers them fondly

  226. I re-read the first “Babysitter’s Club” book as an adult and it was amazing. I just remembered it’s called “Kristi’s Big Idea.” I’m pretty sure her big idea was to start a babysitter’s club.

  227. A really good, short mystery read is The Girl I Used to Be, by April Henry. I would also recommend her books Girl, Stolen (That’s one title BTW), and The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. I also enjoy the Secret World Chronicle series (not YA, more Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and I recommend the podcast over the paper books, just because the podcast has more content).

  229. The best book I’ve read in a long time: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Gorgeous. Also look for her compilation of three novellas, Lips Touch Three Times. Her use of words will make you cry at the beauty.

  230. Any of Anna-marie McLemore’s books – When the Moon Was Ours is my favorite, but I love The Weight of Feathers and Wild Beauty almost as much.

    Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, starting with Every Heart a Doorway.

  232. As far as YA books go, I just finished John Green’s Turtles All The Way Down. I highly recommend it, and it deals with a teen’s experience with OCD and mental illness in a very good, sensitive and realistic way.

    Also, I just like most things John Green writes as well as Rainbow Rowell. If you haven’t read Eleanor + Park, you MUST read it :). Sweet, sad teen love.

  233. I think something eated my comment…

    Anyway, YA books – Anything by Anna-marie McLemore, my favorite is When the Moon Was Ours, and Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children books, starting with Every Heart a Doorway.

  234. I am 5000% obsessed with the two series by Sarah J Maas, Throne of Glass and A Court of Thornes and Roses. TRY THEMMMMM!!!!!

  235. Another vote for the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix that starts with Sabriel (fantasy, but dark as it deals with necromancy so if your daughter is scared of that thing, don’t share)
    Another vote for the Grisha and Six of Crow books by Leigh Bardugo (fantasy)
    Another vote for Uprooted by Naomi Novik; it’s a single book instead of a series, which isn’t easy to find in YA these days

    A few I’ll bring up that I didn’t see mentioned:
    Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir; the world and the characters are just so rich and I’m dying for the third book in the series.
    Predator Cities series starting with Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve; Hester Shaw is my favorite character of any book ever.
    Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson about a princess who is married off to a prince in secret and sent to his kingdom which is at the center of considerable turmoil.

  236. Second and third and whatever the Abhorsen books by Garth Nix, and anything by Robin McKinley. I’m surprised that my local library didn’t just give me Beauty because I’m pretty sure I was the only person in my small town who checked it out, constantly.

  237. I don’t have any book recommendations, but… cats. One of our cats has turned off the scroll function of my laptop’s touch pad many times by walking across the keyboard. I have no idea what the key combo is. Only way I can get it to scroll again is to restart the laptop. I’ve Googled it but haven’t found any answers so I’m pretty sure it’s something only cats can do. 😉

  238. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. It is everything you would ever want in YA. Rooted in history. Dystopian. Super romantic (same sex!) story line. Angsty teenagers in love. Commentary on climate change. It rocks.

  239. “The girl who drank the moon” By Kelly Barnhill, technically a junior book, but really worked for me..,.and if you haven’t read it…you really should check out “The night circus” by Erin Morgenstern.

  240. The Collected Kagan, by Janet Kagan.
    Feel free to skip the first one as it’s too bleak…. go directly to “What a Wizard Does”, “Christmas Wingding”, “Winging It”, and when no children are around, “Naked Wish Fulfilment.”
    The last features a randy tomcat…on the production set for an adult film. Ahem. I so desperately want a PG version of this book… instead I read individual stories out loud to my daughter.

  242. I enjoyed Kat Kruger’s Lycan Code series and Weirdos. I also like Kat as a person, but I don’t tuink that’s why I like the books…

  245. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. So frakking good! Kind of Game of Thrones for YA.
    Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger. Middle Grade not YA, but I completely love it.
    False Prince series by Jennifer Nielsen. Also middle grade. Also awesome.
    Anything Rainbow Rowell. Anything at all. I’m sure you already know how crazy talented she is. Same with John Green, but I’m sure you know that, too.

  247. The Red Rising set by Pierce Brown are amazeballs!!! Loved it and have convinced friends to read them and they are addicted too. The fourth book just cam out in January and a sixth book is due out later this year.

  248. I just read “The Water and the Wild” and it was BREATHTAKING. I can’t wait to read the sequel!
    https://smile.amazon.com/Water-Wild-K-Ormsbee-ebook/dp/B00PRK2614

    I’m also slowly making my way through the Birchbark House series by Louise Erdich, and it is really moving and completely engrossing. It was written to mirror the white history in the Little House books from a Native perspective, so it’s also in that same everyday-realism style Ingalls used, but the main character is a crow-owning “seer” coming of age and as a young mother.

  249. Thanks for the chuckle! As far as YA recs, 2 books come to mind: “Hold Me Closer, Necromancer” & “Necromancing the Stone” both by Lish McBride. Darkly humorous at times and the garden gnomes are particularly hilarious in the 2nd book. A free short story in this verse, titled “Heads will role”, will give you an idea of what it’s like and you can find it here: https://www.tor.com/2012/11/28/heads-will-roll/?et_cid=29890282&et_rid=496205805&linkid=%26amp%3bquot%3bHeads+Will+Roll.%26amp%3bquot%3b

    Then while it’s a little younger than YA, I recently discovered Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi which I enjoyed. It’s kind of like an updated telling of a dark, Grimm’s Fairy tale with a bit of Alice in Wonderland and a Wrinkle in Time thrown in, kinda sorta. It’s unique and colorful and dark. Which is probably why I like it 🙂

  250. Probably my favorite YA I’ve read in recent years is The Search for Wondla and sequels (it’s a trilogy). A preteen girl is being raised in an underground bunker by a motherly robot, and she’s receiving survival training against the time she’ll be ready to leave the bunker for the surface of Earth. But when she does leave, nothing is like she’s learned; there are deserts where there should be jungles, and a lot of aliens running around. It’s awesome.

  251. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg. Years later and I’m still tempted to runaway and live in a museum (Field Museum in Chicago is my hideaway of choice).

  254. The Grisha books from Leigh Bardugo! First one – Shadow and Bone. Also, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.

  255. For young adult books, I enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time, Chronicles of Narnia, Watership Down, To Kill a Mockingbird, Call of the Wild, The Book Thief, Where the Red Fern Grows…
    On another note – I sooo need to order your ‘Feeling Stabby” mug!

  256. The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger. It’s funny, smart and celebrates strong females!

  257. I actually recommend the Vampire Acadmey books. I found them in my adulthood and have torn through the first three.

  258. If you need a good, emotional book, I recommend “My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologizes” by Fredrick Backman. He’s basically a magical wordsmith. He also wrote “A Man Called Ove” which was my third favorite book after “The Book Thief” and “All the Light We Cannot See” until I started to read this one, and now I can’t decide where this one goes, but I know “A Man Called Ove” just got bumped to #4. And, I thought he would be old, but he’s only, like, four months older than me according to Wikipedia. But, unfortunately, he’s married (also according to Wikipedia). Presumably happily married, because who wouldn’t be when given the choice? Darnit. I would have married that man for the amazing mind.

  259. Anything by Jaclyn Moriarty! Especially the series that consists of Feeling Sorry for Celia, Finding Cassie Crazy, and Becoming Bindy Mackenzie. (Though they may have different titles in the US.) I’ve read them so many times and they’re still excellent!

  260. I am currently living deep in the comfortable rabbit (dragon?) hole of re-reading for about the 17th time all the Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. Should last me several months. Come on in, we can fight Thread together.

  261. Shadow Castle by Marian Cockrell. The original was written in 1945 and sometime later an expanded edition was published, but the original is better. It has been one of my favorite books for over 40 years (and one of my daughter’s favorites too).

  262. The Stoneheart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher is amazing and makes me want to go to England again!

  263. Carl Hiassin young adults: Scat, Hoot and Splash (I think). As funny as his adult fiction. The Eragon series.

  267. The Book Thief, the Giver, The Night Circus are all good YA books. Anything by Jen Lancaster is HILARIOUS!! Kimberly Belle, Emily Carpenter and Kate Moretti are all writing amazing thrillers with strong female characters.

  268. I second another commenter who mentioned Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. My daughter loved it so much she took a year to read it because she didn’t want it to end. Also read Fangirl, as it lays the groundwork for Carry On.
    I also love Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and its sequel Dragon Scale. (I work in a library, so it’s really hard for me to limit myself to one recommendation.)

  270. Let me just say firstly: I’ve never in my life scrolled so far to get to a comment box. In. My. Life. I’m impressed.
    Secondly: I was hoping I’d have thought of something really clever to say after all that work to get here.
    Thirdly: I see that you’ve been using your poop magic for good by giving the people what they want. The tee-shirts sound great.
    Fourth: I couldn’t spell dia… daeh…,my whole life I haven’t been able to spell that word, so with all due respect, I’ll henceforth call you poop magician.

  272. Mysterious Benedict Society series isn’t on here yet. It’s on the young side of YA and lovely.

  277. As a kid, I adored the Seven Citadels series by Geraldine Harris, so much so that it’s currently on my Amazon wishlist I second the recommendation for the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede. And this is probably more young than young adult, but I still read the Bunnicula series by the Howes for fun, especially around Halloween. And this isn’t remotely fantasy, but I always loved anything by Jim Kjelgaard when I was younger (Big Red, Haunt Fox).

  278. I’m quite enjoying The Selection series by Kiera Cass — kind of like Cinderella in The Bachelor in a mildly dystopian future North America.

  279. Dreadnought. That’s my current fav YA. Teen protagonist super hero world….it’s the good stuff.

  280. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow. Absolutely brilliant and covers all the necessary bases like SH, depression, all sorts of thing. First book to make me cry since the seventh Harry Potter. She’s amazing. It’ll beak you heart but in a goo
    d way. If that’s possible.

  282. My favourite author is Terry Pratchett (followed closely by you), and my favourite of his books is the Tiffany Aching series. I’ve had to buy new copies of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy because I’ve leant them out and not gotten them back. And I have more friends who need to read those books. You Are Here helped me through hip replacement surgery in May 2017, and I’m going to need it again soon. Thanks for sharing your stories, and try Terry Pratchett—you won’t be sorry.

  283. I’m not sure what you have read already, so here is my list from the past year.
    Land of Stories series
    Lockwood and Company series (Harry Potter and Ghost Hunters mixed)

  285. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina
    first in a series
    kids making a better world than they were given
    I read these last year and I’ve already bought them all in kindle and hardcopy and donated copies to a book charity

  286. Jenny, the best book for a young girl (and older ones) but especially one Hailey’s age to read is To Kill a Mockingbird. I know it’s not new but the message of respect for everyone and what happens when that respect is not practiced is timeless. Have read it every year since I was ten (48 years). It never gets old. It changed my life. Georgellen

  287. Absolutely love how happy the model looks wearing a shirt with diarrhea on it! Not like literal diarrhea, just the word…

  288. Any YA books by Tom Leveen. Sick is one of my faves, Random is great, and I just ordered Mercy Rule so I can’t wait!!

  289. Anything by Jen Lancaster- I;d start with Bitter is the new black or why not to carry your Prada handbag to the Unemployment Office (yes- that’s a long title- but it’s spit out your coffee while readying funny)

  290. Don’t know if anyone has suggested this, but I really love Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series and her Succubus series. The VA books are definitely more YA than the Succubus ones, which are super sexy and very adult. I love the way she writes, and I love her characters. The women are smart and savvy, and strong. We named one of our dogs Roza after the main character in the VA series.

  291. My all time favorite book series from when I was still a child and still re-read with glee today is the enchanted forest series, it starts with Dealing with Dragons, all about an improper princess who runs away. Check out this delightful trailer : https://youtu.be/2NfZ57z3KYg

  296. ‘When You Reach Me’, by Rebecca Stead. And, of course, ‘The Secret Garden’.

  298. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy. It is so very Texas, and I wish it had existed when I was an overweight teen. I’ve only just started Scythe by Neal Shusterman, but I’m fascinated by the premise. None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio is about a teen girl who learns that she was born intersex and the emotional and social fallout when the whole school finds out.

  299. Flora Segunda, Flora’s Dare and Flora’s Fury, by Isabeau S. Wilce. The 100 Cupboards Trilogy (forget the author), and I’m currently enjoying the Copernicus Legacy series by Tony Abbot, which is very much like Dan Brown’s books but for YA. Because I just enjoy books written for younger readers sometimes.

  300. The queen and her merry men/ mice. I have several heads in my possession. If you have a request for a specific look, I would be more than happy to make that happen. Maybe Taylor needs a friend?

  302. I loved The Ranger’s Apprentice, Chronicles of Nick, and anything by Eoin Colfer or Gary Paulsen. And without even having a girl, I read Meg Cabot, Size 12 is not Fat and a bunch of her other novels. Oh, and my favorite young adult book? The Ocean at the End of the Lane, but you knew that, didn’t you?

    I thought of you today as I was running errands in my car and listening to NPR on the radio: taxidermy is rebounding! Your raccoon will not be alone. They described one girl’s project in a class as being a squirrel wearing a tiny tiara.

    Hugs!

  303. YA Books that I pretty much devoured:

    Wondla Series by Tony DiTerlizzi

    Molly Fyde series by Hugh Howie

    Enjoy!

  305. I highly recommend The Thirteen Clocks
    Also love Wrinkle in Time and The Little Prince
    Enjoying seeing everyone else’s favorites.

  306. Everything by Tamora Pierce, especially the Beka Cooper Series (Terrier, Bloodhound, Mastiff)

  307. Both Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough by Robin Sloan are amazing – not YA but appropriate for young adults. Everything by Gail Carriger is super fun. The Gigantic Beard that was Evil by Stephen Collins. Everything by Peter Clines but especially 14.

  308. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. My grandfather gave it to me in 7th grade and I reread it about once a year. It’s “a novel of an ancient China that never was.” There’s a terrifying labyrinth, and monsters, and a mystery, and a quest to save the village children, and legends and folktales, and ghosts, and an ancient wise con man and it’s wonderful. Sort of a proto- Neil Gaiman or Harry Potter. Or maybe Princess Bride, but without buttercup, and with a drunk hundred-year-old PI.

  310. Anything by Cassandra Clare. The Legend series by Marie Lu. I am Number 4 (and all that follow after). There’s so many! I’m 40yo now and absolutely love YA reads. Some of the best plotlines and characters out there in the bookiverse.

  311. “Labyrinth Lost” by Zoraida Cordova
    It was supposed to be for my daughter but I read it first and it’s beautiful. Magic, exploring the underworld and finding young love. It’s beautiful.

  312. I just finished reading Alice by Christina Henry, and I really liked it. It’s a really dark rendition of Alice in wonderland + Through the looking glass (of which I am quite the fanatic) and there’s blood and asylums and for some reason a lot of naked girls…seriously this book has a lot more naked girls than i expected it to have…but nothing too graphical and it’s not smutty at all so that’s all right.
    Bit disturbed by Alice’s love interest being ten years older than herself (although when I do the math it’s more like fourteen so whaaaaat!?) but they’re sweet in their insane little ways, the Cheshire cat’s a serious boss, there’s magic and butterflies and I read it start to finish in four days so it was a really compelling read. There’s also a follow up book called Red Queen, but it was sold out at my bookstore so I didn’t get my hands on that one yet.
    Long story short, I liked it! But I’m also an insane pile of insanity that is obsessed over dark fairy tales. But well, we’re all mad here right?

    Ps: Ω it’s an omega (and I also don’t know how to make one I just copied it because alt-codes are the worst)

  313. On the t-shirt page:

    “NOTE: Independent artist’s content may not match model depicted.”

    Never a truer word was spoken.

  314. Huge fan of the Throne of Glass series my Sarah J. Maas, or The Scorpio Races, and The Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater

  315. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede. Begins with “Dealing with Dragons”. Princess Cimmorene’s parents stop her from learning cooking, swordfighting, magic, and Latin because a proper princess doesn’t do those things. So when she finds out they have arranged her marriage, she decides to be a proper princess – and volunteers to be ‘kidnapped’ by a dragon.

  321. Life An Exploded Diagram. Mal Peet.
    I was halfway through the book, googled the author and found out I was reading a young adult novel. It’s marvelous.

  322. One of my favorite books growing up that I have re-read many times. It’s pretty much you (and me) if you wrote a book as a kid. “Think about it, you might learn something” by Robyn Supraner. It’s a diary by a fourth grader that is full of notable moments in her life like that creepy uncle we all have. I still laugh out loud when I read it. It’s out of print, but you can buy it on Amazon used.

  326. Daughter or Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor, it is the first in the series and I love it so much

    Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson -(it is about rape, so FYI, but it is so amazingly wonderful.

  327. The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin. Murder is Bad Manners, by Robin Stevens. The View From Saturday, by E.L. Konigsburg. The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, by R.A. Spratt.

  330. Hey, if i pick a book that’s not yours will you still draw a cat in it? I wouldn’t ask you to draw a penis in any book that wasn’t your because that would be vulgar.

  332. I am loving Akata Warrior right now!! It sometimes is filed in the juvenile section and sometimes in YA, but it is so so so good I’m having problems putting it down. 🙂 Akata Witch is the first one.

  333. I love Sharon Shinn’s young adult books:

    The Safe-Keeper’s Secret
    The Truth-Tellers Tale
    The Dream-Maker’s Magic
    General Winston’s Daughter
    Gateway

  334. A lot of people are recommending new ones, so I’m going to throw in some old ones, that are still on my shelf: A Ring of Endless Light – Madeline L’Engle. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher, Maniac Magee by Spinelli. A lot of my others have already been recommended. I have shelves of YA books and an way passed young.

  335. The Gatekeepers by Jen Lancaster. or really ANYTHING by Jen Lancaster (she’s also a magical asshole & would totally take that as a compliment).

  337. Currently reading and enjoying The Gilded Cage by Vic James. It’s not classified as YA, at least in our library, but protagonists are teenagers and it reminds me a bit of Hunger Games. Also reminds me a bit of Wolves of Willoughby Chase, but with magic. I think you would really like it.

  338. Okay this isn’t a YA series BUT OKAY the author wrote it so that it wouldn’t contain language/content that his daughter couldn’t read.

    It starts with Theft of Swords and it’s by Michael J. Sullivan who is not only a great author but also a really great person in the way he supports other writers and his readers.

  339. I just finished Turtles All the Way Down by John Green and highly recommend it for anyone who suffers from thought spirals/OCD or anxiety. It was so relatable, so much like what’s inside my own head, that I cried through most of the book (though not necessarily tears of sadness).

  342. The Gates, and The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly
    Jim the Boy, by Tony Earley
    The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
    YES to Wrinkle in Time and Harriet the Spy and The Phantom Tollbooth!

  343. So many to choose from! But I’ll stick to a couple that are perhaps less well known…

    The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede
    The Secret of Platform 13 and The Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson (When I first read Harry Potter my 8-year-old self was scandalized by the similarities to the Secret of Platform 13, although the parallels end once Harry gets on the Hogwarts express the first time)
    City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende (who knew she wrote young adult books too! and just as lovely)
    A Wizard or Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
    Instead of Three Wishes (short stories by Megan Whalen Turner)
    Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (this one is quite new so I never read it as a young adult, but I understand it’s intended for that audience and it was amazing)

    And for extremely young adults ( and all ages on up from there, too ):
    Pigeon Finds a Hotdog by Mo Willems
    The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

  344. I hope you read The Way to Bea by Kat Yeh. It is wonderful. Especially if you are “different.” 💕

  345. Anything by T.A. White – especially the Aileen Travers series (Vampires)
    Elizabeth May – Vanishing Throne series (Fey) also she was getting her English Lit PHD while working on these series so if grammar, spelling and sentence structure bugs you then this is an excellent series to read from both a technical and good story point of views
    Sarah J Maas – I know people have been saying her Glass Throne series I also really liked her Court of Thrones and Roses series.

  347. Anything and everything by Rainbow Rowell. I read her books as an “adult,” but I wish I had had them as a “young adult.” Jennifer Niven’s YA is also quite good, too.

  348. I also suggest the Artemis Fowl series. The first 4, anyway. I don’t suggest the last 4, because it gets weird and time-travely, and I don’t like it. Also, tiny-me, who read the books at approximately the main character’s age (and had a massive crush on him), did not like the sudden introduction of a love interest. I suppose nobody did, because she disappeared without a trace for the next 3 books. My point is, I may have carried that bias into adulthood.

  349. Plain Kate by Erin Bow, there’s a magical asshole cat and it is devistating and beautiful.

  355. Alice, I Think by Susan Juby. 15 yr old in a small town who started off thinking she was a hobbit at 5 yrs old. It gets funnier. Also the Gryphon project by Carrie Mac

  356. Alice, I Think by Susan Juby. 15 yr old in a small town who started off thinking she was a hobbit at 5 yrs old. It gets funnier. Also the Gryphon project by Carrie Mac

  357. Definitely the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Totally appropriate for YA but doesn’t feel any less sophisticated for it. I seldom, um, never, re-read books but these are drawing me back.

  358. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin (RIP Ms. Le Guin!), Dragonworld by Byron Preiss, and The Shannara Trilogy, Terry Brooks. Huh, I apparently really, really like dragons. Also, anything by Judy Blume.

    Cats are indeed magical a-holes. Especially when you need to find them quickly and discover they have disappeared somewhere in your tiny apartment and cannot be found. Yet, when you get home at night, there they are!

  359. I feel like you would have read everything I have, but Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Ocean at the End of the Lane, and The Anything Box by Zenna Henderson are absolute favorites.
    Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (oh the nostalgia!)
    The Hate U Give (so sad, so important)
    Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda (I love Simon every bit as much as I loved Charlie from Perks, Gus from Fault, Sutter from Spectacular, and Greg from Me and Earl)
    Plus two newer books that surprised me were One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus and What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum.
    I also have several new books and authors to add because of other comments!

  362. Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff, and Charles DeLint.

    Also bless you for this thread, I’m battling a relapse of the flu and all I want to do is read young adult novels and now I have all the recommendations!!

  364. The Faerie Wars Chronicles by James Herbert Brennan, and, of course, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

  365. I just caught the “YA” portion of that book request. Apparently I got totally distracted by cat comments. Collected Kagan has SOME stories that are kid-friendly — and a few that are totally X-rated because the author had bills to pay and “hard” markets were buying
    So if you’re reading for YOU, great. If you’re buying for Haley… pre-read.
    Go with Mirabile or Uhura’s Song or Hellspark for Haley.

    In the actual honest-to-goodness YA category, I’ll start with two with “princess” in the title that are totally NOT the old-time princess-needs-rescuing variety.
    Jessica Day George’s “Princess of the Midnight Ball” (And I’m someone who typically despises fairytale retellings.)
    Shannon Hale’s “Princess Academy”
    Jen Swann Downey’s “The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand”
    Gennifer Choldenko “Al Capone Does My Shirts”

    Do I have to stop?

  366. Try some new young adult books like ‘Those Who Walk in the Sky’, ‘The Girl Who Drank the Moon’ and ‘Graceling’. Seriously, children’s literature did not end with Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl.

  367. I love Sweet Blood by Pete Hautman and Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause (not to be confused with the terrible movie the made of it.)

  368. “A Stranger in Olondria: by Sofia Samatar – newish fantasy and beautifully written. Also the coming of age story is also a coming to literacy story so also about learning to read and how stories are formed.

    “The Family Fang” by Kevin Wilson – weird and wonderful story of performance artist parents and their really messed up kids (from the kids’ POV).

  369. The Wizard Children of Finn and its sequel, The Lost Legend of Finn by Mary Tannen. They are about the Irish hero Finn McCool (I won’t even try to spell the Celtic version of his last name) and two modern-day children who go back in time to meet him. I’ve loved this book since I read it as a child. I had to track the books down as an adult because I loved them so much, and remembered them so vividly.

  370. The Akata Witch series by Nnendi Okorafor is amazeballs, though, come to think of it, I may have gotten that recommendation from you on Goodreads. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is wonderful WWII era historical fiction. Jodi Taylor’s The Nothing Girl makes my heart happy. Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles are also fantastic. He needs to hurry up and publish the next one!

  371. Have you read Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust yet? It is a retelling of Snow White, and it is phenomenal! And I second the person who recommended Skulduggery Pleasant.

  372. A Semi-definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland is a quirky and ethereal modern day fairy tale. Love it!!

  375. I am SO into reading YA books now as many new authors portray great characters! I highly recommend the following….
    The Young Elites trilogy (The Yound Elites, The Rose Society, The Midnight Star) by Marie Lu
    Warcross (duology series) by Marie Lu
    The Legend trilogy (Legend, Prodigy, Champion) by Marie Lu
    One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
    Carve the Mark duology (Carve the Mark, The Fates Divide) by Veronica Mark
    Divergent Quartet (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, Four)) by Veronica Mark
    The Hunger Games trilogy (The Hunger Games,Catching Fire, Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins
    Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
    The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
    The Ender Quartet series (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) by Orson Scott Card
    Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

  376. EVERYTHING BY TERRY PRATCHETT!!! Especially the Tiffany Aching books, but all of his books are suitable for YA and are written on so many levels that you can read them at different stages in life and pick up so.ething new each time. I adore him.

  377. The Earthsea Books by Ursula K. LeGuin. I read the first three as a sixth grader in 70s. I am now reading the series to my 11 year old. We finished the first three (she liked them very much) and are into the “new” books (published many years after the first three). At least this first one is definitely more mature. But still good — interesting to see how LeGuin’s style changed . . . I edit on the fly while I read, if needed . . . .

  378. Redwall by Brian Jacques is my go to comfort read. I loved it as a kid and it’s still one of my all time favorites. It’s what I read to my daughter while she was in the NICU right after she was born.

  379. Mashed Truth and The Missing by Kelley Armstrong. Archer’s Goon and Howl’s Moving Castle big Dianna Wynn Jones.

  384. Also, Ariel by Stephen Boyett. Post-apocalyptic fantasy, humor, and adventure. A little like the setting of The Stand, but not scary.

  385. John Green – The Fault in Our Stars
    Louis Sachar- Holes

    And if I order a book, will you draw Ferris Mewler’s magic symbol in it?

  386. The Moon Can Tell, by Dana Frank. That is I. I am she. Me is her. I hope you don’t mind if I self-promote to you! I discovered you at BookPeople and bought Let’s Pretend, and loved it, then gave it to my daughter, who was all, she has weird stories like we do! I believe I shall come around BookPeople this weekend to meet you in person. Your website has been a nice landing spot for me. I have depression and love Lexapro, and I am very drawn to your sweet and human way of accepting mental disorders as routine realities.
    Love,
    Dana
    P.S. my book is in Local and Teen at BookPeople, and on Amazon. Kiss.

  387. Chime by Franny Billingsley. The writing is beautiful and amazing and my eyes leaked “heart juice” at the end.

  388. I just finished Punk 57 / Penelope Douglas. Slightly smutty, and awesome story! – Brandi

  389. Nevermoor: The trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
    Holes by Louis Sachar
    From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler and The View From Saturday both by E. L. Konigsburg
    The Lost Track of Time by Paige Britt

  391. Catherine Called Birdy was my absolute favorite as a young adult but also anything by E.L. Konigsburg (esp The Mixed-Up Files…Frankweiler and The View From Saturday). She retired near where I live and I used to see her at the grocery store sometimes before she moved and passed away.

  392. First off, I’m seriously missing the world’s most important conversation regarding long distance diarrhea sorcerer and however that phrase came about.

    Secondly, The Vampire Academy, but WAY more importantly, the Bloodline spinoff series. That’s 12 books of YA goodness. Like if Harry Potter were a female vampire. Adrian Ivashkov is the best book boyfriend ever.

  393. Somebody said Ready Player One, I second that big time! And I forgot, A Game for Swallows: to Live, to Die, to Return, by Zeina Abirached. A beautiful graphic novel of an apartment of neighbors in Beiruit who come together to care for two children whose parents are stuck on the “other” side of the city.

  394. The Dark Garden by Margaret Buffie
    Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
    I absolutely LOVE both these books and have re read them each like 20 times!

    On a personal note…thank you Jenny! I am struggling with some anxiety and depression issues right now and I cannot say how much your books and blog are helping me. If I’m having a particularly crappy day and I check your blog, there is usually something on there that can make me laugh, which is such a lovely break from reality. Thanks again, and I hope all your recent health stuff works it’s self out ❤️

  395. The Traitor’s Kiss by Erin Beaty. The second book in the series, The Traitor’s Ruin, comes out this summer!

  396. :: clears throat to make eloquent and convincing recommendation ::
    I just read Everless by Sara Holland and I thought it was kinda cool.

  397. One of us is Lying by Karen McManus is a YA book I just read that was excellent.

  399. Three Dark Crowns by Kendara Blake is the first book in an amazing YA series! I highly recommend it.

  400. My 11yo chimes in:
    -The hundred cupboards
    – Warriors ( it’s a series a fantasy novels about cats…and who can go wrong with cats?)
    -Because of Mr. Terupt
    -The Alchymist by Michael Scott
    – upside down Magic
    -The Tail of Emily Windsnap

    Another from me:
    -the great pushcart war

  401. A couple more Australian suggestions –
    Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta – SF is about a girl whose mother is bedridden by depression, LFA about a girl whose absent father comes into her life, both are about growing up Italian-Australian in Sydney and dealing with pressures of the last couple of years of high school.
    All in the Blue Unclouded Weather, Dresses of Red and Gold and The Sky in Silver Lace by Robin Klein are from the POV of three of four sisters growing up post WWII.

  402. I wholeheartedly soundly agree with the recommendations for Terry Pratchett & Charles de Lint (My Very Favorite Authors) and Nnedi Okorafor.

    I also recommend Andrew Smith! Not only is a he a GREAT writer, and a very nice human, he is a HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER and just had all his seniors pre-register to vote.
    http://amzn.to/2GEUnRJ

    And Jack Cheng’s “See You In The Cosmos”. A great story about a geeky sciency kid with a mentally ill mother and … well, just read it.

    For funsies, Derek Landy’s “Skulduggery Pleasant” series with a female MC, magic, and funny stuff.

    Oh and Mike Grosso’s “I am Drums”.

    I’ll shut up now. (and I too cannot find the omega symbole)

  404. Rereading A Wrinkle in Time before the movie premieres. I hope it’s as good as it was when I was a kid. Loved Meg.

  405. Anything by John Green. Also, I could have sworn I read, “Cats have magical assholes” but it turns out I’m going blind. Or something.

  406. Geeeeeeeez, people! I was kidding about the thousand comments. It was NOT a challenge!! 🙂

  408. Piers Anthony’s Tales of Immortality. I’m not sure if they would be considered young adult….. wait a sec, my kids read Catcher in the Rye in high school, so this series probably would be alright. Very cool series of books each based on a different immortal who basically are responsible for how everything works. I really enjoyed them, I still need to get my hands on the last one or two of them. It started with 5 but I think it’s grown to 8 or so…..

  409. Lauren above (244) mentioned Peter Beagle. I forgot about the “Fantasy Worlds of Peter Beagle” which has both “The Last Unicorn” and “A Fine and Private Place” which is about two young ghosts who start a relationship in a graveyard. It has one of my favourite lines in it; “Grasshoppers are like peanuts. You can never eat just one.”

  410. For those of you with Windows:
    Make sure your Num Lock is on (this only works with the numeric keypad, it doesn’t work with the numbers above the letters)
    Hold down you “Alt” key
    Press 2 then 3 then 4 on the numeric keypad
    Let go of the “Alt” key
    TADA!!! Omega Symbol Ω

  413. Any book by Jason Reyolds….he’s beyond good!!! The Long Way Down is just beautifully written will blow you away. Xo

  414. I am gothly inclined and into occult creatures like vampires, so a series I read when I was younger that I still cart along with me everywhere I go is the Vampire Kisses series (the book series; not the manga, which I haven’t read) by Ellen Schreiber. Brings me right back to 16.

  415. First, not sure if commenting is safe…left my first comment for you on Instagram and 24 hours later I had 2 emergency surgeries. I am sure you are not bad luck or anything, your karma is probably fine, I am just probably supposed to lurk and not comment. The introvert gods have been angered. I am sure it is fine. I am healing well and it will all be fine.
    So right, second, books. I echo Night Circus, it is fantastic. Also, Neverwhere because anything b y Gaiman is gold, Graveyard Book…ya! The Paper Magician…are these YA? A.W.Exley Atifact HUnter Series…also borderline YA. Julia Crane Freak of Nature series. I have tons more…

  416. I agree with the Jason Reynolds comment above. “Long Way Down” and “American Boys”. Not fun, but amazing reads. Also “The Hate U Give” is my best book of 2017. All are on the same theme.
    I would also recommend “The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue”. I’ve always hated the word “romp” but it describes this book perfectly. Super fun, but with enough seriousness to make it matter. “My Lady Jane” is also historical fiction, but of the all the character act like modern kids genre. “Randoms” is middle school, but a fun read. Especially if you are into sci-fi since there a few references. For crossover books (adults and teens) “Artemis” is great (as was “The Martian”). I’m in the middle of “Dorthy Must Die” and am loving it.

  417. The Casson family books by Hilary McKay are wonderful. Quirky, hilarious, heart-breaking, and so much love…

  419. Thought of another one. It’s called Pax. I can’t remember the author, but it is about a boy trying to reunite with his beloved fox. Features dealing with grief, a parent falling off a pedestal and a combat vet with PTSD. Lovely book, though deeply sad (seriously, I am nearly sobbing just remembering it, though that could be the comorbid anxiety and depression messing with me too…)

  420. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is at the top of my list. It’s a book that gets reread whenever I’m sick. (Book two gets much more mature right from the start, and chapter one is triggery for me, so I usually skip it because I do love the rest of the book.)

    The Safe-keeper Trilogy by Sharon Shinn. Book three is my favorite, but they’re all good. I’m currently reading book 1 to my 10 yo.

  421. Try “I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.” It is touching and tells the story of a teenager with depression. I liked it!

  422. Well, I don’t really keep up on new YA books, but I do still love reading certain older ones. My all-time favorite is Wait ‘Til Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. It’s a ghost story, but I love it. I also recommend The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine, which is the first book I ever read that made me realize charming doesn’t always equal nice or good. Don’t Call Me Marda by Sheila Kelly Welch is another favorite, about a girl trying to deal with her parents possibly adopting a mentally disabled little girl. Also, I can’t talk about YA books without mentioning (again) City of Hope and Ruin by Siri Paulson and Kit Campbell, and it’s not at all because they are personal friends. That book is awesome, a sci-fi/fantasy novel about two young women from actual different worlds that realize their worlds are somehow connected, and there are monsters they have to save everyone from and a beautiful blossoming lesbian romance between the two main characters.

  423. So a couple of fun younger adult books:
    Bad Unicorn (featuring Princess, the destroyer) and Hold me Closer,Necromancer.

    Also, the Omega symbol or “ohm” is the basic unit of resistance in circuitry… I think Ferris Mewler is trying to signal the feline resistance forces.

  425. The two books I’ve read recently are The War That Saved My Life & The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Absolutely amazing. You won’t be sorry. Read them.

  426. The War That Save Me was Newbery Honor book. Not technically YA, but definitely the best book I’ve read for middle schoolers,YAs or adults.

  427. My favorite books ever are the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo and the Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake. The Diabolic by (I actually forgot but the book has a butterfly with partially metal wings on it). Also, Heartless by (I too forgot this author’s name, but the book is about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, but the Queen of Hearts before she was the Queen of Hearts). These books are some of my favorite books and they’re really good if you like dystopian or fantasy!

  428. I think that my essay has been eaten a SECOND time, & am getting very upset about it. I wanted to explain why my ideas were best, I wanted to format– the first time I edited and reformatted on my touchscreen phone! The second time, my cat was of material interference. It’s making me very sad because I LOVE YA books (mostly fantasy, though in the first essay I made sure to include other genres).
    As short as I can make it, I recommend Fever Crumb (w.e. the trilogy is called), the “Old Kingdom” trilogy, the Lunar Chronicles, Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy, the graveyard boy, the Phillip Pullman trilogy starting w the Golden Compass, the Temeraire series (I think is not YA but is YA appropriate), the peculiar
    If you reeeeeally feel the need to avoid fantasy/sci-fi/alternate-history, then Turtles All the way down by John Green, & something by Rainbow Rowell. Fangirl or Elanor & Park? Not sure it’s YA, but the Book thief is fan-fricking-tastic, it’s reality-based, so long as you’re okay w the narrator being death itself or the grim reaper or whatever.
    *(in the Lunar chronicles I honestly recommend not reading or at least being willing to quit the “x.5” that was added afterward if it makes your reader as uncomfortable as it made me. Don’t blame the series proper)

  429. I recently read a 4 part series on Amazon Kindle Unlimited called the Seraph Black series by Jane Washington. It was heart breaking and beautiful and a great young adult series. FULLY RECOMMEND.

  430. The Gates (of Hell are about to open. Wanna Peek?) by John Connolly, and the second and third books, The Infernals, and The Creeps. All in good fun, where an 11-year old boy saves the world from Satan.

  431. First off, hi. I’m new commenting here. Second, Jenny you should read Maximum Ride and Fablehaven. Those have been two of my favorite series since third grade. I’ve read them so much they’ve started falling apart :D.

  432. “My Wolf, My Friend” (originally “Sasha, My Friend”) by Barbara Corcoran
    “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
    “Island of the Blue Dolphins” by Scott O’Dell
    “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” by Elizabeth George Speare
    Also, Judy Blume books and the Trixie Belden mystery series

    All old books, I know, but they’re my go-to books when I’m feeling low.

  433. I REALLY enjoyed “The Girl Who Drank The Moon” by Kelly Barnhill. It’s written for a younger audience, but it’s the kind of book you can read if you just want good feels. I’ve recommended it to LOTS of adults. Sometimes, you just want a good fairytale story, esp when depression is lurking.

    Now…if you’re looking for “Good Feels” in books written for adults, but also suitable for teens 13ish and up, “Girl Waits With Gun” by Amy Stewart is an awesome book, based on the real-life Kopp sisters. I swear Constance Kopp is my spirit-animal!!! My book club read this and got to skype with the author. She was fantastic to talk to, just a really nice person. (The Kopp sisters were featured on the TV series Drunk History. HILARIOUS!) There are 3 books in the series so far. These are the books I would LOVE to see turned into a Netflix Original.

    If you like Harry Potterish/Urban Fantasy books, I would recommend “The Rook,” by Daniel O’Malley. It’s hilarious but also has LOTS of good feels. Again, this was written for adults, but would be fine for teens, although there is some language, similar to what you use on your blog. It’s a great book if you enjoy British humor and poking fun at ridiculous X-men types of universes. The protagonist, Myfanwy Thomas, is AMAZING!!! (Another spirit animal!!) This is one of the few books I’ve read with well-developed female characters and no love interests. The women in this story can actually pass the Bechdel test, and I really enjoyed how their friendships evolved as the story progressed. Like REAL people! Go figure!!! I’ve read this book and its sequel twice and would read them again. There’s some mystery, lots of plot twist, but the humor…OMG! There are sooooo many parts that had me laughing until I was crying. I’ve never read anything quite like it, and can’t recommend it enough.

  434. I recommend The Rangers Apprentice Series! Don’t be fooled by the first book, when I first read it I thought it was on the borderline of being a bit too youngish for me, but the series matures as you go along, they’re well worth the read! https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Apprentice-Complete-Book-Set/dp/B00PHO4HZ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519394051&sr=1-1&keywords=the+ranger+apprentice+series

    Also, the Dusk Gate Chronicles by Breanna Puttroff. I’ve read them over time and time again. They’re like a more adult Narnia series sort of. https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Discovery-Dusk-Gate-Chronicles/dp/1940481139/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519394183&sr=1-1&keywords=dusk+gate+chronicles

  435. The Illuminae Files Series is amazing but slightly scarring, there is also a new book coming out in a few weeks

  436. It probably doesn’t count as YA but if you haven’t read Ready Player One your life is not complete the movie is also coming out soon that I hope to god they don’t mess up

  437. Co-sign on: Walk Two Moons, the Dark Materials Trilogy (aka The Golden Compass et al), Artemis Fowl (especially 1st book)

    Francesca Lia Block’s Weezie Bat etc are simply luminous.

    Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose was so powerful it nearly broke me.

    My boys love anything Rick Riordan writes and Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire books.

  438. Ω = OPTION/ALT Z on your keyboard. It’s an omega. In the music/tech world it stands for ohms, which is a technical word for something to do with sound. We’ve run to the edge of my knowledge.

  440. Jen – sadly you don’t know me but if you did, you would know that when I recommend something you don’t walk, you RUN to it.
    In this case, it’s Dead Witch Walking – the first in about a dozen Rachel Morgan novels by Kim Harrison!

    Bob Gookin
    Criminallawyer_2000@yahoo.com

  443. Someone else already recommended my favorite Terry Pratchett and someone even mentionned my latest favorite Nnedi Okorafor but left off “Zahrah, the Windseeker” which should be mandatory reading for every kid who felt different and scared.

  447. The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud, starts with The Amulet of Samarkand. Also there’s a series called “The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel”, starts with The Alchemyst.
    Anne of Green Gables is an oldie but goodie. Mists of Avalon. Watership Down. The Redwall books, also about animals and their doings.

  448. Another recommendation for the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett! And all time family fave for persons of all ages: The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber.

  449. P.S. If you need a better testimonial, The Thirteen Clocks was just re-released with a new forward by none other than NEIL GAIMAN. 🙂

  450. For a YA recommendation I have enjoyed The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The first is City of Bones. Strong female lead and a great snarky male hero Jace.

  451. The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate and the sequel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. About a girl growing up in the Texas Hill Country at the turn of the century and the scientific discoveries she makes with her grandfather, who is a friend of Darwin. As a Texas girl, I think you’d especially love these. Also, just finished reading The Power, which isn’t YA but I couldn’t put it down. I got my copy at BookPeople after seeing it on Obama’s best book list of 2017.

  452. The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate and the sequel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. About a girl growing up in the Texas Hill Country at the turn of the century and the scientific discoveries she makes with her grandfather, who is a friend of Darwin. As a Texas girl, I think you’d especially love these. Also, just finished reading The Power, which isn’t YA but I couldn’t put it down. I got my copy at BookPeople after seeing it on Obama’s best book list of 2017.

  453. Also, just finished the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin, if you aren’t familiar with her work, she’s a must read.

  454. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater; the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor; We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

  456. I Second the Tiffany Aching books. The First one is Hat-full of Sky – I think. Actually, anything by Prattchet is good. My personal favorites are Thief of Time and Reaper Man. But the Tiffany books are the best for youngsters. Also the earliest Xanth novels By Piers Anthony. Although I have not re-read them in ages, so it might be best to do a quick scan first.Start with A Spell for Chameleon. Some libraries classify Rob Thurman’s Cal Leandros novels as YA. They are rather violent, and I came to them as an adult, so – Fair warning.

  457. Illuminae by Kaufmon and Kristoff. Seriously an amazing serious. I loved the different techniques they used to create this work of art. Alos, Bloodlines by Rachel Mead. Though, you may want to start with Vampire Academy to get the full punch of that one.

  458. I know these are old school, but Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables series are still awesome!! And Harry Potter is a given!

  461. You could even add to the back of the diarrhea sorcerer shirt…”I’m so good, you’ll shit”

  462. The YA series’ I love and have read twice each are
    Red Queen (and it’s sequels) by Victoria Aveyard
    The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
    Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Paige

  463. Gail Carriger’s Finishing School series. Steampunk and strong women. And teacups. Awesome awesome awesome

  464. I am an elementary school librarian, (17 years+ and going strong), and I read quite a bit of children’s literature that isn’t for my K – 5 students to make sure the right books get into the right hands at the right time. So, I LOVE Garth Nix, (except for his Seventh Tower series), but especially THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM and his ABHORSEN OLD KINGDOM series. Philip Reeve’s MORTAL ENGINES series is excellent – predator cities!!! I just read the first in his RAILHEAD series that was quite engaging too. The DRAGON RIDERS OF PERN by McCaffrey. The Lunar Chronicles has a great, strong female protagonist. Terry Pratchett’s TIFFANY ACHING series also has an excellent female protagonist,t but its the NAK MAC FEEGLE that make it or break it! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Orson Scott Card, Tamora Pierce, Kenneth Oppel, Scott Westerfield, BONESHAKER by Cherie Priest, FEED by M. T. Anderson, THE LOOKING GLASS WARS series by Beddor, CITY OF EMBER series by DuPrau and never, ever forget J.R.R. Tolkien’s HOBBIT, and HIS DARK MATERIALS series by Pullman.

  467. Helen Landalf has done some very good work. “Fly Away” had me having to close the book near the end for a few minutes before I could finish. Not in a “8 minutes into the Battlestar Galactica reboot” way, a good way.

    She also did a cat book with her brother that’s pretty unusual and well worth the time.

  470. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, Piers Anthony’s Magic of Xanth series (especially if you like puns!). Anything by Elizabeth Peters, especially the Amelia Peabody series.

  472. The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Ariel by Steven R Boyett (it now has a sequel, Elegy Beach), Someone up there ^ suggested Tailchaser’s Song, which I agree with and also the cover of the book looks like Hunter S Tomcat.

    I disagree with the Xanth series. They are super misogynistic. I read them as a teen and devoured them, but I read one recently, and I was really hoping the book would end with “And then everyone caught on fire. Their ashes blew away on the gentle Xanth breeze and all was peaceful once more.” but sadly, no.

  474. YA is all I read. Let’s go with Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series; Marie Lu’s Legend trilogy and Young Elites trilogy; Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles or Heartless (not Renegades, gah, bleck); Rick Yancey’s Fifth Wave trilogy; Patricia Forde’s The List.
    If you want something silly, read Neil Patrick Harris’ autobiography because he wrote it as a Choose Your Own Adventure story which is just hilarious.
    (Even better, this post has given me all sorts of titles to download from the library.)

  475. I’ve got one by my favorite new indie author, so if you read it, pay it forward and review it for her. It’s called The Unbreakable Curse (it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling), and it’s awesome and fun and the cover is wow beautiful. The author is Jenna Thatcher. I’ve posted her website as ‘my’ website so you can see her books.

  476. Everything by Jodi Taylor! Also check out the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross. Everything by Gail Carriger. Also look at Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. It’s her first, but there’s a series coming.

  478. The Magonia series by Maria Dahvana Headley

    The Ascendant series by Craig Alanson

    The Cinder series by

    All things Cassandra Clare

    Neverwhere and the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

    The Kricket series by Amy Barton (double check this one of too much romance if for an younger reader).

    Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

    Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John agreed and Davis Levitan is great if you are ready to have conversations about sexuality with a teen reader

  480. The Daughter Of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor is by far one of my favorites! Also her newest book Strange the Dreamer. And the Raven Boys series by Maggie Steifvater will always always be another series I will always re-read over and over without getting bored. Those speak to me soul

  481. The Raven King series by Maggie Stiefvater is magical. The audible version is one of my favorite things!

  484. Anything by Karen Cushman but especially “Catherine, Called Birdy”, and “The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle” by Avi. Oh! And definitely “The One & Only Ivan”. So good!

  486. I recently fell in love with the Graceling Trilogy by Kristin Cashore! Compelling, good characters, and some really honest/multifaceted portrayals of trauma. Also the main character of one of them has chronic pain which is kind of awesome.
    Not young adult, but I also recently feel DEEP IN LOVE with The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It’s sweet optimistic sci-fi (A little bit sad at the end but not devastating) with really great characters and is just a delight

  487. Jasper Fforde’s Last Dragonslayer series. Also his Thursday Next and Nursery Crimes series. You both will love them. And I agree that The Night Circus is great, depending on reading levels. I also love the Princess Diaries. Light and fluffy, but a fun read.

  489. I got hooked on the House of Night novels by PC and Kristin Cast a few years back when I suffered from “end of Twilight” angst. They’re delightfully young adult. And even though I feel silly checking the new ones out of the library, I call them my stress relief fluff.

  490. Most of my favorites have already been mentioned, so I’ll just name the ones that appear to be missing. The Squire’s Tale by Gerald Morris, Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez, Megan’s Island by Willo Davis Roberts, Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater, The Family Tree Books by Sally Watson, and literally anything by Nick Bantock.

  491. All ten Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, By Louise Rennison. funny diary of a teenage brit. Have literally memorized them all. start with #1 ‘Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging’ Oh the things you will learn about snacks, beauty, parents, boys and the love of a good cat.

  493. I’m a high school librarian and have SO MANY YA book recommendations, but my favorites lately are The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (brief synopsis: Starr witnesses her friend being shot by a police officer; it’s incredibly well-written, and I love Starr) and Solo by Kwame Alexander (brief synopsis: book written in verse about a boy and his family issues and personal journey; this book is beautiful). I also feel like you might enjoy the Jackaby series by William Ritter–think Sherlock Holmes meets the supernatural in a Victorian-era setting with some fun characters and mysterious antics.

  494. Section 13 series by James Hannibal, Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire, Tony Abbot’s Copernicus series, The Accelerati Trilogy by Neal Schusterman, League of Princes series, Artemis Fowl series, No Flying in the House, The Tenth Kingdom, and a series about siblings lost in Storybook Land where their grandma lives– where all the fairytale creatures are real…. Can’t recall its title or author, was contemporary at tome of the Unfortunate Events / Lemony Snickett books.

  495. I’m currently reading the Thrown of Glass series by Sarah Maas. I frigging love it. There are 6 or 7 books so far and the final one is expected out later this year.

  496. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a YA classic that I reread every few years, and every time I read it, I see it with a little different perspective. I will never tire of that book.

  497. Also, anything by Tamora Pierce. The Circle of Magic, and The Circle Opens books were some of my favorites.

    Also also, in the same genre, the Earthsea books by Ursula K Le Guin – classics.

    Also also also, The Enchanted Forest by Patricia C. Wrede – great for the reader who wants to see the fantasy genre turned on its head (protective dragons, princesses that rescue themselves, thank you very much, etc)

  500. Dark Angel, A Gathering of Gargoyles, and Pearl of the Soul of the World…The Dark Angel trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

  501. This may have been mentioned because I will admit I did not have time to read through 500 comments but just incase…ANYTHING by Cassandra Clare! I really wish she I was a teenager so I didn’t have to call her a guilty pleasure author. I started reading her Shadowhunter series when it came out 10 yrs ago (I was in my 20’s) and have since read everything she has publish! If you haven’t read her books I highly recommend (and don’t go by the show, she is not involved and it kinda sucks!)

  503. the Cupboards series (100 Cupboards, Dandelion Fire, The Chestnut King, and more by N.D. Wilson. Read them recently, and they ROCK.

  504. So first off, I got engaged! I’m a lingerer of the shadows, but this place is such a special, important place I felt I had to share in a little way. It was amazing and wonderful. Now I have to get married, and the reception sounds terrifying and awful. And then I saw this amazing image and feel like I got a present because the crazy mice look almost exactly like I imagine the mouse court to look like…in a …children’s… book I want to write. …That isn’t a horror story for kids… I’m going to terrify children. But it’ll be awesome because it’ll have a mouse court, and Sir Mouse gets to ride a dragon-cat. AND he gets cookies. Your mice should also have cookies. Heck, I’m (finally) engaged. Everyone should have cookies! Cookies for all! But especially the mouse court because Sir Mouse is awesome at finding cookies. And cat-dragons. But mostly cookies.

    PS: I’m actually 100% sober. Is it sad I feel like I should clarify that?

  507. I’m a huge fan of the tamora pierce books – I really like the hound series and the protector of the small series.

  508. I recommend the “His Dark Materials” series. There’s only three books in the series and there’s a wonderful mix of world building (people’s souls manifesting as animal companions) action, and even philosophical debate. You definitely get immersed in the world and in the stories pacing!

  510. re: YA novels – anything by Madeleine L’Engle, esp. the Austins and the O’Keefes. Most S.E. Hinton novels, esp. The Outsiders. And a shade younger, Alexander Key, including The Case of the Vanishing Boy.

  511. “Far From the Tree” by Robin Benway it’s about foster children trying to find their siblings. So many feels and it’s YA!

  512. I’m late to the party as usual, and this has probably already been recommended a dozen times, but I fucking LOVED Joe Abercrombie’s Half A King series (Half A King, Half The World, and Half A War). Abercrombie is a very spare, tight writer. Every word is there for a reason, and it’s amazing the efficiency with which he can craft a truly immersive world. The series has some wonderfully complicated ass-kicking female characters and some equally wonderful sensitive, thoughtful and complicated male characters. There’s intrigue, action, magic, tons of adventure and humor. And not for one second does it feel like Abercrombie is dumbing down his writing for the YA crowd. Toned down, yes…but not dumbed down. The Half A Kind series basically feels like he wrote a normal adult series in his regular style, then went back and took out most of the swears and some of the bloodier bits. The themes are no less complicated, the action is no less compelling, and the characters are no less flawed.

    TL;DR: blah blah, Joe Abercrombie fan-girling, read the Half A King series, blah blah

  515. Any book by Tamora Pierce! Especially, the Alanna series. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier.

  516. Another vote for The Night Circus! Probably not YA but still magical and that’s kinda the same thing, right?

  517. Tuck Everlasting, Chasing Vermeer, KiKi Strike books, Chronicles of Narnia, Wrinkle in Time, Farenheit 451 and other Clarke stories (Rendezvous with Rama),… there are so many. When I was a young adult though, I was reading Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Shakespeare, P.G. Wodehouse. Sooooo maybe I am not the best one to give advice. Or maybe so.

  518. Ooh! I forgot the Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I loved those! And pretty much anything by Robin McKinley or Pamela Dean. Oh dear. How do I stop? I am compelled to add the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede. Okay. Shutting up now.

  520. Still Life with Woodpecker is probably my favorite book of all time. Or a very close runner-up. (Tom Robbins)

  522. Hi, I’m behind the times reading this, but if you’re still looking for recs (that’s quite a lot of comments there and I don’t have time to read through them all!), I’m a childrens-and-YA librarian so I feel like I have to contribute by necessity. Since I haven’t read all the comments I’m going to stick with a couple less likely to have been mentioned: anything by Frances Hardinge– she is super-creative and slightly creepy— technically upper-middle-grade (like, 12), it’ll seriously give adults something to think about even as it’s technically perfectly appropriate for upper elementary even (if they’re brave and smart). “Cuckoo’s Song” has a creepy doll head on the cover so it’s probably right up your alley. (slightly kidding– but that is a good creepy read if you like creepy. She has other books that are not quite as creepy but are still super complex and creative and, yes, a bit creepy). On the other end of the realism scale, if you like heartrending historical adventure, Elizabeth Wein. YA historical.

  524. I’m replying to an old post, but you should read The Sigils and the Rune series by Macauley C. Hunter!! YA magical realism in a slightly parallel universe. He’s all self-published on Amazon because publishers don’t think anybody wants to read 5 800 page books, but they’re some of the most remarkable storytelling ever. YA because the main characters are teens and there is no swearing or explicit sex. The stories are just riveting. start out kind of zany, descend into black black despair and then…….can’t tell you how they end. We were “friends” on the Mark’s Daily Apple forums where he goes by “Gay Panda” and probably still does

  525. Not sure if you will see this, since I am posting so late in the game, but if you haven’t read Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block (or anything by her really(, you are seriously missing out. It is beautiful, magical, haunting and so very relatable. I have read it too many times over the years and it has gotten me through tough times with my mental illness.

    PS. Thank you for writing and sharing your stories. I love both of your books, your voice and you have helped give me the courage to share about my struggles with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder (type 2). I also love taxidermy. Glad we are not alone in all of this.

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