YA book even adults can enjoy

YA literature for 12 to 18 year-olds is so well written even adults can appreciate it.

Here is a list of some of my favourite YA books.

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar – There’s no children’s and Young Adult (YA) writer better able to capture the needs of young readers while presenting suspense in a riveting read than Louis Sachar.

His characters are real and relatable and his stories present conflicts that grip young readers. In his latest book, Fuzzy Mud, Sachar crosses the boundaries of children’s and YA literature by pairing an elementary student and a secondary student together as protagonists. Tamaya Dhilwaddi is a fifth grader and Marshall Walsh is a seventh grader who have attended Woodridge Academy together since elementary school. Both students have been taking a shortcut home through the forest. When the two students get lost, they discover some unsettling circumstances that could change their lives. This book deals with bullying and other school issues. Students will also enjoy Sachar’s other books like Holes and The Card Turner.

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz – Annie has no idea how her life will change when she begins lying to their social worker so that they can stay with their grandmother, who basically ignores them when she’s not treating them with scant courtesy. Lying, Annie discovers, can have devastating consequences.

What the two children don’t know is that their grandmother has been lying to them about what really happened to their father. One day, a prison break brings a stranger to their doors, and the children must face all the lies surrounding them.

Sheep by Valerie Hobs – Sometimes teenagers enjoy reading books with an animal as a main character because they find it helps them to work through problems that are difficult to articulate.

Jack, the dog in the book entitled Sheep, is the perfect example of such a book. When Jack’s people sell their farm, Jack takes off on a journey to find a new home.

Along the way, he tackles many problems. There is a particularly good chapter in this book where Jack meets a dog who is abused in a circus.

Jack tries to convince the dog to end its cycle of abuse by running away with him.

This is an excellent chapter that deals with the psychological dynamics of abuse.

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead – Students now entering secondary school will relate to the teen-related issues in this book. Bridget, one of the main characters in this novel, searches for the meaning of life and ways to fit in with the crowd after she misses a year of school because of injuries suffered in a car accident.

Bridget and her group of friends know how brutal school and life can be so they make a promise never to hurt each other.

This turns out to be more difficult than expected when girls begin to form new friendships and discover boys.

Everything goes spinning out of control when the students begin experimenting with social media and selfies.

This is the perfect book to examine friendship, loyalty, consequences, social responsibility and the ethical issues that teens face.

These high interest/low reading level novels will suit the needs of reluctant and avid readers from forms one through five. Adults should try reading them too.