Influential YA books?
Of course, the ones that started it all: The Outsiders, The Pigman The Chocolate War.
Forever by Judy Blume, if we're talking about influential rather than "literature"--for dealing openly with the subject of teen sex.
Annie on My Mind--teen lit came out of the closet
Monster by Walter Dean Myers--teen lit can come in all sorts of "packages," not just traditional narrative
American Born Chinese--made the graphic novel a legitimate YA literary form (Maus came first, but was more adult crossover)
Speak--has empowered a generation
The First Part Last--teen parents, nonjudgmentally
Hatchet--more middle grade than high school, but it's still the king of survival stories
Harry Potter series--fantasy lives!!!! Kids will actually read LONG, LONG books!!! A series of MANY LONG, LONG books!!!!!
Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series (Angus, Thongs, & Full-Frontal Snogging, etc.)--It's okay for for YA books to be funny--and very, very British.
The Hunger Games--there were always sci-fi dystopian YA novels, but this brought sci-fi to a whole new audience
Feed--I always wish this book were more popular, as it speaks so well to the current techmania
Jack Gantos' autobiography (can't think of the title right now; brain freeze!)--just because you've been through the penal system in your youth doesn't mean you can't be successful writing really funny children's and YA books!
Cathy Andronik
Brien McMahon HS
Norwalk
From: Shannon McNeice <shannonmcneice@gmail.com>
To: casl-l@mylist.net
Sent: Sunday, June 9, 2013 7:37 PM
Subject: [CASL-L] Most Influential YA Books Ever?