Young adult books remind us of books like Divergent or Hunger Games, but these books are filled with flat characters who go through the same ‘coming of age’ story that has been stale for a long time. Instead, we’ve found the books that have deep characters, open your eyes, change your view of the world and make you want to read more.
6 Young Adult Books That Are Worth Reading
1. His Dark Materials Omnibus –
Philip Pullman’s dark fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, ostensibly written for children, is actually literature of a much higher order. As such, it is always a joy to come across a book or series that engages people of all ages and keeps you thinking about it long after you’ve finished the books.
2. Earthsea Series – Ursula K. Le Guin
The books are a wonderful, well-told story of a young man, Ged, coming of age in a world where words can have the power of magic and dragons are as real as earthquakes.
3. Tomorrow, When the War Began – John Marsden
This is a series of 7 books about a group of Australian teens that are on a camping trip when Australia gets occupied by a foreign nation forcing them into guerilla warfare.
3. The Giver –
An extremely thought provoking book, The Giver is a must read.
4. The Wee Free Men –
The book is hysterically, laugh-out-loud funny for both younger and adult readers.
5. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Book Thief describes that while being subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others.
6. Paper Towns – John Green
Paper Towns is pretty phenomenal, well developed and current. For new fiction, John Green is doing about as good a job as anyone managing the Young Adult / Adult transition, introducing tough topics with good writing.
