Published June 25, 2012 by Posh Deluxe

Our Top Five Favorite YA Novels

In response to NPR's call for best YA novels, we spent a week agonizing (and drinking) to come up with our faves. IT WAS SO HARD YOU GUYS.

Last week, NPR asked the most difficult question that has ever been posed. This question is so daunting, so complex, so challenging that it took us here at FYA HQ a full week to compose our answer. We wracked our brains, pulled out our hair, shook our fists and then had a couple of extra drinks just to numb the pain.

But after days of ugly crying and nights torn apart by anguish, we finally decided on our answer to this most hellacious of questions:

What are your top five favorite YA novels of all time?

I'd like to point out the use of "favorite" in this query. It's not necessarily about which novels we think are the best and most earth-shattering literary masterpieces, but rather, which ones do we love the most? Which ones have we re-read a billion times? Which ones have we YAngelized so hard that we might as well be leaving them for free in hotel rooms across the country? (Note to self: Do this.)

Of course, limiting ourselves to five books is about as ridiculous as limiting ourselves to five $1 mimosas at brunch. But we accepted the NPR challenge, because doing something NPR tells us to do makes us feel smart and vaguely superior. And even better, we learned something about ourselves and each other! So even though a few of us might still be waffling about one or two of our choices, here are FYA's Top Five Favorite YA Books of All Time:

ALIX

Absolutely True Diary of a Party Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (Does Jane Austen count? I'm saying it counts)

The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

ERIN

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

The Anne of Green Gables series by L M Montgomery

Black Boy by Richard Wright

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak