Top 100 Young Adult Books to Read in a Lifetime

The Amazon editors got together and picked our very favorite young adult reads--you can see all 100 (not in any particular order) here.


1
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
4.4 avg rating, 3422 reviews, 2012-01-10

2
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4.3 avg rating, 6654 reviews, 2004-09-30

3
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
by J.K. Rowling
4.7 avg rating, 21161 reviews, 1999-09-08

4
A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
4.2 avg rating, 914 reviews, 2003-09-30

5
Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
4.3 avg rating, 2887 reviews, 2003-12-16

6
The Outsiders
by S. E. Hinton
4.7 avg rating, 2508 reviews, 2006-04-20

7
Harry Potter Paperback Box Set
by J. K. Rowling
4.7 avg rating, 7646 reviews, 2009-07-01

8
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
4.3 avg rating, 4025 reviews, 2004-05-18

9
Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
4.7 avg rating, 2561 reviews, 2006-12-26

10
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
4.4 avg rating, 7638 reviews, 1993-07-01

11
The House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
4.1 avg rating, 1443 reviews, 1991-04-03

12
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
4.5 avg rating, 1559 reviews, 2006-05-30

13
The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
4.7 avg rating, 4559 reviews, 2006-04-01

14
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne
4.6 avg rating, 2046 reviews, 2007-10-23

15
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
4.6 avg rating, 18986 reviews, 2012-06-05

16
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
4.4 avg rating, 2018 reviews, 2006-03-28

17
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
4.6 avg rating, 2553 reviews, 1993-06-01

18
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
4.7 avg rating, 37719 reviews, 2014-04-08

19
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
4.5 avg rating, 970 reviews, 2004-06-01

20
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
4.6 avg rating, 56924 reviews, 2010-07-03

21
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
4.5 avg rating, 1737 reviews, 2011-05-10

22
Dune
by Frank Herbert
4.6 avg rating, 3087 reviews, 1990-09-01

23
Ender’s Game
by Orson Scott Card
4.6 avg rating, 9136 reviews, 1994-07-15

24
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
by J.K. Rowling
4.7 avg rating, 7002 reviews, 2004-09-01

25
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
by J.K. Rowling
4.7 avg rating, 21162 reviews, 2002-09-01

26
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
by Malcolm X
4.7 avg rating, 1360 reviews, 1987-10-12

27
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky
4.6 avg rating, 6943 reviews, 2012-08-14

28
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling
4.8 avg rating, 5425 reviews, 2001-10-01

29
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J. K. Rowling
4.7 avg rating, 8132 reviews, 2009-07-01

30
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J.K. Rowling
4.8 avg rating, 6210 reviews, 2006-07-25

31
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
4.3 avg rating, 3775 reviews, 1994-05-26

32
Looking for Alaska
by John Green
4.4 avg rating, 4511 reviews, 2006-12-28

33
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
4.6 avg rating, 1406 reviews, 2003-05-28

34
The City of Ember
by Jeanne DuPrau
4.6 avg rating, 1345 reviews, 2004-05-25

35
The House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
4.5 avg rating, 596 reviews, 2004-05-01

36
American Born Chinese
by Gene Luen Yang
4.4 avg rating, 457 reviews, 2008-12-23

37
My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George
4.7 avg rating, 674 reviews, 2004-04-12

38
Monster
by Walter Dean Myers
4.3 avg rating, 781 reviews, 2001-05-01

39
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
4.3 avg rating, 2037 reviews, 1995-09-27

40
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
4.5 avg rating, 3918 reviews, 2013-02-26

41
Legend
by Marie Lu
4.5 avg rating, 2229 reviews, 2013-04-16

42
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
4.4 avg rating, 1070 reviews, 2003-07-01

43
Catching Fire |Hunger Games|2
by Suzanne Collins
4.7 avg rating, 17176 reviews, 2013-06-04

44
Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
by Art Spiegelman
4.7 avg rating, 1292 reviews, 1986-08-12

45
The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
4.4 avg rating, 11449 reviews, 2010-08-24

46
On the Road
by Jack Kerouac
3.9 avg rating, 1473 reviews, 1999-06-01

47
Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys
4.7 avg rating, 1495 reviews, 2012-04-03

48
Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
4.6 avg rating, 56924 reviews, 2014-02-25

49
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
4 avg rating, 2404 reviews, 1992-09-11

50
Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld
4.4 avg rating, 2247 reviews, 2011-05-03

51
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
4.1 avg rating, 3466 reviews, 1991-05-01

52
Paper Towns
by John Green
4.2 avg rating, 5375 reviews, 2009-09-22

53
The Princess Bride
by William Goldman
4.7 avg rating, 7527 reviews, 2007-10-08

54
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
4.7 avg rating, 1715 reviews, 2005-11-01

55
Divergent
by Veronica Roth
4.5 avg rating, 44272 reviews, 2014-09-30

56
Feed
by M.T. Anderson
3.8 avg rating, 555 reviews, 2012-07-17

57
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
4.4 avg rating, 307 reviews, 2012-09-01

58
Throne of Glass
by Sarah J. Maas
4.5 avg rating, 3447 reviews, 2013-05-07

59
Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer
4.6 avg rating, 11546 reviews, 2006-09-06

60
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
4.4 avg rating, 8545 reviews, 2013-06-04

61
Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
4.6 avg rating, 3408 reviews, 2013-01-08

62
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir
by Tobias Wolff
4.3 avg rating, 281 reviews, 2013-01-08

63
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
4.7 avg rating, 10430 reviews, 1988-10-11

64
The Face on the Milk Carton
by Caroline B. Cooney
4.2 avg rating, 391 reviews, 2012-05-22

65
Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
4.3 avg rating, 972 reviews, 2013-05-07

66
Every Day
by David Levithan
4.4 avg rating, 1226 reviews, 2013-09-10

67
Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
4.4 avg rating, 4901 reviews, 2011-06-14

68
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini
4.6 avg rating, 3309 reviews, 2005-04-26

69
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
by Ann Brashares
4.4 avg rating, 1028 reviews, 2003-03-11

70
A Clockwork Orange
by Anthony Burgess
4.3 avg rating, 1124 reviews, 1995-04-17

71
The Selection
by Kiera Cass
4.6 avg rating, 5352 reviews, 2013-03-26

72
Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
4.7 avg rating, 1877 reviews, 2005-05-01

73
The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness
4.1 avg rating, 596 reviews, 2014-07-22

74
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
4.5 avg rating, 8395 reviews, 1995-04-12

75
Girl, Interrupted
by Susanna Kaysen
4.2 avg rating, 649 reviews, 1994-04-19

76
Go Ask Alice
by Anonymous
4.2 avg rating, 1340 reviews, 2006-01-01

77
If I Stay
by Gayle Forman
4.3 avg rating, 6590 reviews, 2010-04-06

78
The 5th Wave
by Rick Yancey
4.4 avg rating, 3005 reviews, 2015-02-10

79
Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
4.3 avg rating, 1636 reviews, 2009-09-07

80
Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow
4.4 avg rating, 529 reviews, 2010-04-13

81
Shadow and Bone
by Leigh Bardugo
4.4 avg rating, 1298 reviews, 2013-05-07

82
I Capture the Castle
by Dodie Smith
4.2 avg rating, 533 reviews, 2003-04-01

83
The Cider House Rules
by John Irving
4.3 avg rating, 719 reviews, 1997-06-23

84
Hole in My Life
by Jack Gantos
4.3 avg rating, 132 reviews, 2012-04-24

85
Crank
by Ellen Hopkins
4.6 avg rating, 842 reviews, 2013-08-06

86
A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray
4 avg rating, 583 reviews, 2005-03-22

87
We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
4.1 avg rating, 3087 reviews, 2014-05-13

88
The Basketball Diaries
by Jim Carroll
4.3 avg rating, 77 reviews, 1987-07-07

89
Forever . . .
by Judy Blume
4 avg rating, 399 reviews, 2014-04-29

90
Marjorie Morningstar
by Herman Wouk
4 avg rating, 262 reviews, 1992-06-15

91
I’ll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson
4.7 avg rating, 901 reviews, 2014-09-16

92
Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
by Agatha Christie
4.3 avg rating, 2380 reviews, 2011-03-29

93
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
by Laini Taylor
4.5 avg rating, 1495 reviews, 2012-06-05

94
Shiver
by Maggie Stiefvater
4.1 avg rating, 1267 reviews, 2014-04-29

95
Whale Talk
by Chris Crutcher
4.3 avg rating, 104 reviews, 2009-06-30

96
I Know What You Did Last Summer
by Lois Duncan
3.8 avg rating, 129 reviews, 2010-10-05

97
Anne of Avonlea
by L. M. Montgomery
4.4 avg rating, 679 reviews, 1984-07-01

98
The Call Of The Wild
by Jack London
4.4 avg rating, 4489 reviews, 2001-01-01

99
Luna
by Julie Anne Peters
4.2 avg rating, 142 reviews, 2006-02-01

100
The Wee Free Men
by Terry Pratchett
4.7 avg rating, 548 reviews, 2006-08-15

101
She’s Come Undone
by Wally Lamb
4.3 avg rating, 2089 reviews, 1998-06-01

102
The Sandman
by Neil Gaiman
4.4 avg rating, 542 reviews, 2010-10-19

103
Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
4.5 avg rating, 1776 reviews, 2015-05-12

104
His Dark Materials Omnibus
by Philip Pullman
4.5 avg rating, 3015 reviews, 2007-04-10

105
City of Bones
by Cassandra Clare
4.4 avg rating, 4415 reviews, 2008-02-19

106
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
4.7 avg rating, 2299 reviews, 2014-09-16

107
The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold
4.3 avg rating, 4110 reviews, 2009-09-30

108
Carrie: Now a Major Motion Picture
by Stephen King
4.5 avg rating, 1010 reviews, 2013-09-24