Quill #110 - Young Adult Reading List

A few years ago, having had many impromptu discussions with readers where we tried to remember favorite books, Peregrin and I decided to put a short list on a business card that we could carry around and give out, as needed. The list is actually much longer than we can fit on the front and back of one business card and keeps expanding as we continue to read. However, Tress from Jumble Mash recently asked for book suggestions. Here is the list we compiled, back then:

• Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising series.
• Zilpha Keatley Snyder, almost any.
• William Farley's The Black Stallion series.
• Edward Eager, almost any.
• C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
• Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong set.
• Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell.
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare.
• Ursula K. Le Guin's Catwings.
• Green Knowe series by Lucy M. Boston.
• Piers Anthony's Xanth series.
• Scott Corbett, almost any.
• Tom McGowan's Sir MacHinery.
• Jack Williams's Danny Dunn series.
• Steven Brust's Jhereg series.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
• William Goldman's The Princess Bride.
• Spider Robinsons's Callahan series.
• Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series, Enchantment, & Ender's Game series.
• Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted.
• Barnes & Niven's Dream Park series.
• Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures series and Thieves World series.
• P. L. Travers's Mary Poppins series.
• J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan series.
• Tom Clancy's Net Force series.
• The Dragonlance Chronicles.
• J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series.
• Roger Zelazny's Amber series.
• Natalie Babbitt's Search for Delicious.
• Hitchcock's Three Investigators series.
• The Ultimate Bike Path, Mike Sirota.
• Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series.
• Catswold Portal, Shirley Rousseau Murphy
• Mercedes Lackey, several sets.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, several.
• Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers series.
• B. Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

These are books we consider older classics, things we've read and greatly enjoyed, and things we read to our children and encouraged them to read. In most cases, we read the first of the series to them and let them decide whether to take things further with that author. We tried to give them some variety but, obviously, the list is heavily influenced by our preference for fantasy and science fiction. We could have chosen as many again without even trying. These were the essentials.

(Some of the books we gave out for Halloween this year, along with other treats)