Really, all of the Alanna books deserve to be on here. Tamora Pierce's classic tale of the lady knight, Alanna, deserves to be read by all girls interested in strong heroines and fantasy.

This is one of my new favorite books! Kristin Cashore has created a strong fantasy land and heroine, Katsa. What makes Graceling especially strong is Katsa's change over the course of the novel, and her realization about her own strengths and humanity.

Call me cliche, but there's nothing like a Harry Potter fix about J.K. Rowling's famous boy wizard. These books' intricate mysteries, classical themes of good versus evil, quirky characters, and strong magical world will stand the test of time.

Laurie Halse Anderson is amazing! Speak tells the tale of Melina and her difficult freshman year, hiding a dark secret that is slowly pulling her apart. Her dry observations are spot on, and at several points, I found myself thinking, "That's so true!" You will utterly and complete relate to Melinda's take on high school.

I don't normally read historical fiction, but I picked this up in a bookstore and am SO glad I read it. It tells the story of Mattie and her struggle to balance her desire to go to college and pursue a career in writing or work on the farm and take care of her younger sisters, as she promised her mother before she died, tied in with details of a real historical mystery.

Sara Zarr's tender prose tells the story of sixteen-year-old Deanna and her struggle for forgiveness three years after her father has caught her in the backseat of a car with a boy. In spite of the subject matter, Zarr provides much less graphicness in terms of the sex than most YA authors and handles the subject well.

As I mentioned before, as an artist, I am especially attracted to books about characters with passions. Still, twelve-year-old Allegra's journey to prepare for a violin competition at the end of the summer ends up teaching her far more than just music by the end.

Although other readers might not enjoy this book as much as the original Sisterhood series, I enjoyed reading about another trio of friends closer to my own age. Brashares is just as honest and touching as she is in the Sisterhood series.

This unique, yet eerily relatable story about teenage suicide will change your life reading it. That may seem like a tall order, but it is absolutely true.

This is necessary for anyone interested in YA. Very much the book that "created" Young Adult literature, A Catcher in the Rye's references might seem dated, but the portrayal of teenage angst and depression have certainly stood the test of time.

If your English teachers haven't already forced you to read this book, then it is a MUST READ. A unique coming of age story that combines Scout's childhood in the South during the 1930's and a court case, once you've read this book, you'll never look at prejudice or humanity the same way. This is guaranteed.

I hesitated at the bookstore when picking up this book. Should I read it...? Or should I not...? Well, I did pick this up, and I am SO glad I did. This lyrical, unique book resolves around the lyrics of Scarborough's Fair. It might be fantasy, but it does what all fantasy should; totally lets up suspend disbelief.

Again, this is an adult book, but in spite of some graphic scenes, it is appropriate for teens, as it centers around a thirteen-year-old named Anna, who is suing her parents, who was genetically engineered to be the perfect match for her sister with Leukemia. Raises lots of questions to think about.

It's chick lit, admittedly, and I am no doubt biased by my own struggle with anxiety, but in spite of this, this is a moving story about senior Jade, whose life has resolved around her panic disorder, but how that begins to change after she sees a boy with a baby through the elephant webcam of the local zoo.

We all know the basic story of Anne Frank and the diary she kept during her stay in the "secret annex", while hiding from the Nazis on account of being Jewish. But what really makes this book appealing to teens is just how much Anne's own aspirations and adolescence is similar to our own.

I'm not your average fan of chick fics-or football, for that matter-but I really did enjoy this one. Hey, where else can you find a book where a girl is afraid of simply becoming another "cow"? The Wisconsin setting made this absolutely delightful! I haven't read the sequel yet, but I can't wait!

The story of a boy who is determined to keep his chronic illness, which will probably kill him in a year's time, might sound depressing, but Crutcher handles this boy's determination to make the most of his last year on earth and how he touches the lives of those surrounding him with humor and grace

Weight is not an easy subject to address well, but Mackler does it. Yet the true story is not really about sophomore Virginia's struggle with weight. No, the true story is how after a shocking turn of events in her family, Virginia, initially unconfident, begins to realize she is far more than how she looks by the end of the book.

This is another great book by Shannon Hale! This tells the story of the very small Miri and the princess academy she and all of the other twelve to seventeen-year-olds in her village must attend, so that one will marry the prince. Like all good fantasy, this raises themes that are prominent in our modern world today.

Although Green's first book, Looking for Alaska, is probably the best introduction to John Green, I am also a big fan of his second, An Abundance of Katherines, the story of Colin, determined to be more than just another washed up child prodigy.