Young Adult Literature Recommendations: Part 1

Hi, my name is Matt and this is a recommended reading list for Young Adult Literature class. The books in this list are ones that I enjoyed during my middle school to high school years. I thoroughly enjoyed each one and I whole heartily recommend them. We'll start with the author that got me started


Michael Crichton
Crichton was a medical doctor in his professional life and he wrote many non-fiction works/stories on the subject. His fiction novels usually follow a team of scientists as they group together to solve a dire problem.

Andromeda Strain- Crichton's first novel. A an object of unknown origin crashes to Earth and unleashes an unheard of sickness on the population of a small town. A team of scientists is gathered to find out what is happening and why.

Jurassic Park- Dinosaurs. Seriously, what more do you want. The novel is quite interesting and much more engaging than the movie. A wealthy entrepreneur invites a teams of scientists to examine and give an endorsement for his dinosaur amusement park.

Lost World- Also dinosaurs. Also much better than the movie. One of the characters from the first novel goes to the island where the dinosaur testing for the amusement park was performed.


Sphere- A novel about the mind, imagination, and the mystery at the bottom of the ocean. A team of scientists have to travel to travel to the bottom of the ocean to examine a mysterious discovery. I have read this book so many times that I have had to buy three copies. One of my very favorite novels of all times.

State of Fear- Not exactly YA Lit and I only read it a few years ago but the novel is amazing. It is a fiction piece with the controversy of global warming as a backdrop.




Orson Scott Card
Card's novels dominated most of my high school career. He weaves very moving narratives that span several books and often focus on children growing into their own and establishing their place in the world.

Ender's Game- Andrew (Ender) Wiggin is a third child in a world where the government only allows parents to have two children. Ender is a genius who is sent off to battle school (a space station orbiting the planet). And that's all you get from me. The other novels in the "Ender Saga" (that I have read) are Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. All the books are well written and intense. And a must read for all fans of science fiction, school narratives, and coming of age stories.


Ender's Shadow- When Ender was in battle school he met a mind that equaled his own. That mind belongs to Bean. Ender's Shadow is a parallel novel to Ender's Game. Bean's story is very different from Ender's and his saga includes Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant. Between the two series I like Bean's better but both are amazing and worth the read.


Seventh Son- Another great series by Card (which I unfortunately have not finished yet) is "The Tales of Alvin Maker." Seventh Son (the first novel of the series) is set in a historical fantasy world where folk magic is real and the revolutionary never happened. Alvin Miller is the seventh son of a seventh son and that grants him the gift of being a maker. You'll have to read to find out what that means. The other novels in the series are Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, Heartfire, and Crystal City. I unfortunately never finished Prentice Alvin but the story of Alvin and his battle against the Unmaker (you heard me) is so compelling that the series remains on my to read list and I can't wait to get back to it.


That's all for now. Part 2 of the recommendations will discuss some other favorites of mine that involve people who can control the three elements of the Earth, a society of intelligent rats that live on a farm, and a completely different and unrelated feudal society of mice with a specific code of honor.

 "It matters not what you fight but what you fight for."