Books aimed at young people or teenagers are widely accepted thanks to their stories, characters, and scenarios, created by outstanding authors of young adult novels.
Writers of texts for adolescent readers have reached a much wider audience thanks to the proposals they present, which are of great interest and appeal, even to adults.
With varied themes typical of youth and adolescence, the writers of these books have earned a place in the literary universe, adding original and captivating works to our digital library.
Taking into account that among so many options of good writers of this literary genre it can be complicated to select a few, we have worked hard to create a special collection for our readers.
We are pleased to announce that we have created a complete and outstanding list of the 15 best authors of young adult novels, who are creators of the most impressive texts of this genre.
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1) Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was an American writer, known for her famous novel Little Women (1868).
She obtained overwhelming success with the appearance of the first part of Little Women, a partly autobiographical story inspired by her childhood with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts.
Little Women has been made into several films, including the 1949 adaptation directed by Mervin LeRoy and starring June Allyson, Margaret O’Brien, Janet Leigh, and Elizabeth Taylor.
Here we present an outstanding work by Louisa May Alcott:
Little Women
Drama is an element that is part of many novels, it is also used in art, in movies, and in various types of adaptations, such as plays to give an example.
In this sense, the novel Little Women is a rather particular example, since the whole story is a drama, one thing happens, then another and another…etc. It is a closed cycle that culminates only when the novel is finished.
It tells the life of four girls who, when they reach adolescence, have to live that difficult stage under a scenario of civil war that would last several years, in that time they will go through many “hardships” until they manage to become women.
2) John Green
John Michael Green is an American writer of young adult literature, YouTube blogger, and executive producer. He is best known for his books Under the Same Star and Paper Towns.
In 2006 he won the Printz Award for his debut novel Looking for Alaska which was inspired by his time at Indian Springs School, in 2008 he co-authored Let it snow, and also in that year came out Paper Towns.
In 2010 he wrote his best-known novel, Under the Same Star, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list in January 2012. In 2014 his film adaptation was released and was a box-office success.
Here we present an outstanding work by John Green:
The Fault in Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars is the fourth solo novel, and sixth novel overall, by the American writer. It was published on January 10, 2012.
The title is inspired by Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, in which the noble Cassius tells Brutus, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
The story is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with thyroid cancer that has affected her lungs. Hazel is forced by her parents to attend a support group where she subsequently meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Augustus Waters, a former basketball player, and amputee.
3) J. K. Rowling
Joanne Rowling, who writes under the pseudonyms J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, is a British writer, film producer, and screenwriter, known for the Harry Potter series of books, which have sold more than half a billion copies.
This literary success meant that the Sunday Times Rich List of 2008 estimated Rowling’s fortune at 560 million pounds, which placed her as the twelfth richest woman in the United Kingdom.
In 2007 Forbes ranked Rowling 40th on its list of the most powerful celebrities, and Time magazine selected her as “Person of the Year”, highlighting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given to the Harry Potter characters.
Here we present an outstanding work by J. K. Rowling:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone
What can I tell you about Harry Potter that you don’t already know? It is one of the most acclaimed sagas of all time, its complete story has been taken to the movie theaters becoming a worldwide success, and it has been seen by children, young people, and even adults.
Its author never thought of the success that her story could have, but the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, being the first of the saga, captivated readers, who after reading it continued with the rest of the books.
Rowling’s first work narrates the adventures of Harry, a young orphan, son of wizards, who enters Hogwarts school to study magic, there he will meet valuable friends like Ron and Hermione, but he will also make powerful enemies. What Harry will discover in his first year of classes will help him to reveal the truth that hides his past.
4) Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins is an American writer and screenwriter, and creator of the famous Hunger Games series. Her career began in 1991 as a screenwriter for children’s television programs on channels such as Nickelodeon.
In 2003 she published her first novel Gregor: The Lowlands, inspired by the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This book would be followed by four others as part of the Chronicles of the Lowlands saga.
In 2008 she published the novel for which she would become famous, The Hunger Games, inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.
Here we present an outstanding work by Suzanne Collins:
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is the No. 1 best-selling book on Amazon in the section of action-adventure young adult novels, where survival is the ultimate goal. Author Suzanne Collins has created a series that has achieved unparalleled success, including in the film world.
It is a series that does not need much introduction, the hunger games are widely known, and winning equals fame and wealth, but losing means death.
It deals specifically with a devastated world, where there are only 12 states, which on a certain annual occasion must face each other in survival battles, battles for a couple of a boy and a girl, who must risk everything to win and not die in the attempt.
5) Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell is an American writer of contemporary novels for young people. Her young adult novels Eleanor & Park and Fangirl received a great deal of critical acclaim in 2013.
In 2013 Rowell published two novels for young people, Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. Both were chosen by the New York Times among the best works of young adult fiction of the year.
Eleanor & Park was also chosen by Amazon as one of the 10 best books of 2013 and on Goodreads the best young adult fiction novel of the year.
Here we present an outstanding work by Rainbow Rowell:
Eleanor and Park
Young love can be so fanciful that it can become impossible love, either by family impediments, different social class, or immaturity among other factors. In the lives of many people it has been that way, but in others, it is not usually so.
Delight yourself with Eleanor, a lonely girl, somewhat extravagant in the way she dresses and looks, who with her long red hair will captivate Park, an extroverted young man who is convinced that life makes sense when you are in the spotlight of others.
The book Eleanor & Park is a beautiful novel that shows how two people with different personalities but with very similar tastes begin to live a real love story, full of adventures, challenges, and actions that will captivate the mind of the young reader.
6) Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot is an American novelist. She has written and published more than 50 fiction novels for young adults and adults and is best known for her young adult series, The Princess Diaries, which was later adapted by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films.
Cabot has received numerous awards, including the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, the American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, the Tennessee Volunteer State TASL Book Award, the Book Sense Pick, the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, the IRA/CBC Young Adult Choice, and many others.
She has also been a number one New York Times bestseller, and there are more than 25 million copies of her books in print worldwide.
Here we present an outstanding work by Meg Cabot:
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries is the first volume in Meg Cabot’s series of the same name. Shortly after its publication in 2000, the book was made into a movie of the same name, starring Anne Hathaway.
Mia Thermopolis is a high school student living in Greenwich Village with her single, liberal mother. The most exciting thing the teenager dreams of is kissing senior Josh Richter and passing Algebra. Everything changes when her father comes to town and drops a big bombshell: he’s not just a European politician as she’s always been led to believe, but the prince of a small country. And Mia, his only heir, comes to be considered the crown princess of Genovia.
Mia’s problems escalate: her mother has started dating her algebra teacher, the paparazzi show up at school, and she fights with her best friend Lilly. After this, they don’t speak to each other for a while and distance themselves from each other. Mia goes to her grandmother’s Plaza Hotel room to begin princess training, where she starts to become a great princess.
7) Angie Thomas
Angie Thomas is an American young adult author, best known for writing The Hate U Give (2017). Her second young adult novel, On the Come Up, was released on February 25, 2019.
Thomas’s initial intention was to write fantasy and middle-grade novels; however, she worried that her stories wouldn’t matter. While querying his first manuscript, he began another that would soon become his first novel, The Hate U Give.
While in college, one of her professors suggested to her that her experiences were unique and that her writing could give voice to those who had been silenced and whose stories had not been told.
Here we present an outstanding work by Angie Thomas:
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel written by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas’s first novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant.
The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-year-old African-American girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of town. Starr becomes embroiled in a national news story after witnessing her childhood friend, Khalil, shot and killed by a white police officer. Starr talks about the shooting increasingly publicly, and social tensions culminate in a riot after a grand jury decides not to indict the police officer for the shooting.
In writing the novel, the author sought to broaden readers’ understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the difficulties faced by black Americans employing code-switching.
8) Nicola Yoon
Nicola Yoon is a Jamaican-American author. She is best known for writing the 2015 teen novel Everything, Everything, a New York Times bestseller and the basis for a 2017 film of the same name.
In 2016, she published The Sun Is Also a Star, a novel that was adapted into a film of the same name.
Yoon is associated with the organization We Need Diverse Books, which promotes the representation of diversity in literature.
Here we present an outstanding work by Nicola Yoon:
Instructions for Dancing
Instructions for Dancing star Evie Thomas no longer believes in love. Especially after something very strange happens one ordinary afternoon: she witnesses a couple’s kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began… and how it will end. After all, even the best love stories end in heartbreak.
As Evie tries to figure out why this is happening, she finds herself at the La Brea dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, and daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything-even to entering a ballroom dancing contest with a girl he’s just met.
Falling in love with X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one comes out of love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question everything she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
9) Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is an American writer. She is the author of several books for children and young adults, including The Giver quartet, Number the Stars, and Rabble Starkey. She is known for writing about difficult subjects, dystopias, and complex themes in works for young audiences.
Lowry has won two Newbery Medals: for Number the Stars in 1990 and for The Giver in 1994. His book Gooney Bird Greene won the 2002 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award.
Many of his books have been challenged or even banned in some schools and libraries. The Giver, which is standard reading in some schools, has been banned in others.
Here we present an outstanding work by Lois Lowry:
The Giver
The Giver is a novel written by American author Lois Lowry. It is set in a futuristic society that is presented, first, as a utopian society; but, gradually, it seems to be more of a dystopian one.
The novel narrates in the third person the twelve years of the life of a boy named Jonas. The society in which he lives has eliminated pain and dissension by converting to Monotony and Equality, a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives.
Jonas is selected to perform the Mission of “Memory Receiver”, the person who stores all the memories of the time before Monotony, necessary in case the bosses need help in making decisions where no one has experience anymore. When Jonas receives the memories of the previous receiver – the “Giver” – he discovers how shallow the life of his community had become.
10) Veronica Roth
Veronica Roth is an American writer known for her bestselling novel Divergent, and its sequel Insurgent.
During her college years, Veronica decided to start working on her first book in draft form, where she preferred to spend hours on her literary project rather than on imposed college work, thus achieving her overwhelming success in Divergent, which is the first book in a trilogy of the same name.
In May 2012, he sold the movie rights for the film release of the first book to Summit Entertainment, also released in the same month of 2012 the second book known as Insurgent.
Here we present an outstanding work by Veronica Roth:
Divergent
Divergent is a young-adult science fiction adventure trilogy written by Veronica Roth. The trilogy consists of Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. It has been compared to similar young adult books, such as The Hunger Games, for its subject and target audience. Roth said the idea for the series was born while he was in college.
In a dystopian, futuristic Chicago, a society created at the beginning of the great peace has decided to group people into five factions trying to eradicate the evils that led to the war. Those who blamed aggressiveness, created Amity; those who blamed ignorance, grouped into Erudite; against deceit arose Candor; against selfishness, Abnegation; and against cowardice, Dauntless.
Upon reaching the age of sixteen, teenagers must decide whether to remain in the faction of their parents or to change from it. If they switch, they will have to give up ever seeing their families again. After the Ceremony of Choice, all kids must go through an initiation process in each faction: the one who does not pass it will become a Factionless or a Faction Dropout.
11) Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan is an American writer. He is best known for being the author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians saga and The Heroes of Olympus.
He assisted in the development of the 7 books in The 39 Clues series, writing the first book in the series, The Maze of Bones. In 2012, he completed The Chronicles of Kane, a trilogy focused on Egyptian Mythology, and in 2014, The Heroes of Olympus, the sequel to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians saga, which focuses on Roman and Greek mythology.
Most of his books are based on Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythologies, and the plot is set in the present day.
Here we present an outstanding work by Rick Riordan:
The Lightning Thief
The Lightning Thief is a book written by Rick Riordan. It is the first book in the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, which tells the adventures of a present-day twelve-year-old boy, Percy Jackson when he discovers that he is a demigod; the son of a mortal, Sally Jackson, and the Greek god, Poseidon. Percy and his friends go on a quest to prevent an apocalyptic war between the Greek gods Zeus and Poseidon.
The Lightning Thief uses concepts from Greek mythology in a modern setting. The book is also written in a fast-paced, humorous style and is ambiguously based on the myth of Perseus.
It has been adapted into a movie called Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which was released in the United States on February 12, 2010. The sequel to this book is The Sea of Monsters.
12) Markus Zusak
Markus Zusak is an Australian writer known internationally for his novels The Messenger and The Book Thief, among other works.
Zusak has said that since he was a child he has heard stories about Nazi Germany and the bombing of Munich, so he always wanted to write a book about the mistreatment of Jews. These stories, along with his parents’ experiences in Austria and Germany during World War II, inspired him to write The Book Thief.
This novel was published in 2005 and has since been translated into more than 40 languages. It was also adapted as a film of the same name in 2013.
Here we present an outstanding work by Markus Zusak:
The Book Thief
The Book Thief is a novel by Markus Zusak published in 2005. In 2013, the work was made into a film, directed by Brian Percival. The film presents numerous secondary differences from the plot of the book.
Narrated from the point of view of Death, the novel introduces us to Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old girl who goes to live with a foster family, consisting of two members, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in a village near Munich (Molching), in pre-World War II Germany.
Hitler’s party is on the rise and his followers are growing in number every day. Throughout the story, Liesel’s interest in literature is shown, while at the same time it is narrated how she will have to take sides and prove her courage in troubled times.
13) Jenny Han
Jenny Han is an American author of young adult and children’s fiction. She is best known for writing The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, which was adapted into a television series of the same name beginning in 2022 and is still ongoing.
She is also known for writing the To All the Boys series, which was adapted into a film series of the same name that began in 2018 and will end in 2021.
Han is more than just a bestselling author. She is a self-care and wellness aficionado in the aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She enjoys these things to promote her wellness so she can create for her audience.
Here we present an outstanding work by Jenny Han:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a 2014 teen romance novel by American author Jenny Han. The author was inspired to write the book based on her own habit of writing love letters to the boys she had crushes on as a teenager. The novel was followed by two sequels, P.S. I Still Love You, and Always and Forever, Lara Jean.
The story follows Lara Jean, a dreamy high school student who writes love letters to the boys she is in love with. However, she never sends them, she only writes them, so she can vent her feelings and get over her crush. Lara Jean writes 5 letters and the story begins when they are mysteriously sent to each of the boys. Now Lara Jean will have to deal with the stress and drama of it all.
In 2018, a film adaptation of the book was released on Netflix. Its plot is similar to that of the book, albeit with some changes.
14) Sarah J. Maas
Sarah Maas is an American fantasy author known for her Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses fantasy series. As of 2021, she has sold over twelve million copies of her books and her work has been translated into 37 languages.
A Court of Roses and Thorns, the second saga written by Maas is based on the tale of Beauty and the Beast. The first book of the trilogy was written in 2009 but was not published until 2015.
Currently, the author is working on a Hulu series based on A Court of Roses and Thorns with director Ron Moore.
Here we present an outstanding work by Sarah J. Maas:
A Court of Thorns and Roses
When Feyre, a nineteen-year-old huntress, kills a wolf in the forest, a terrifying creature arrives to exact revenge. Dragged into a treacherous magical land she knows only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not really a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal fairies that once ruled her world. At least, she’s not a beast all the time.
As he adjusts to his new home, his feelings for the fairy, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility to a fiery passion that sets aflame all the lies he’s been told about the beautiful and dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the fae lands. An ancient, evil shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin and her world forever.
From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes A Court of Thorns and Roses, a beguiling and breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and fairy lore into an unforgettable read.
15) Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer of books for children and teens. She is known for Miracle’s Boys, and her Newbery Award-winning titles Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way.
After serving as Youth Poet Laureate from 2015-2017, she was named a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, by the Library of Congress, for 2018-19. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2020.
During her early years, she lived in Greenville, South Carolina, before moving to Brooklyn when she was seven years old. In her autobiography, Brown Girl Dreaming, she also indicates where she lives. As a child, Woodson enjoyed telling stories and always knew she wanted to be a writer.
Here we present 2 outstanding work by Jacqueline Woodson:
If You Come Softly
If You Come Softly follows Ellie, a white Jewish teenager, who falls in love with Jeremiah, who is African-American. Unfortunately, there are many consequences for the two together as a couple.
Both Ellie and Jeremiah attend Percy Academy, a private school where neither of them fits in. Ellie struggles with her family’s demons, and Jeremiah is one of the few African-American students. The two meet and fall in love, but dare not share their newfound happiness with their friends and families because they won’t understand. In the end, life makes a brutal decision for them.
Jacqueline Woodson’s play is a powerful story of interracial love that leaves readers yearning for more.
Brown Girl Dreaming
Brown Girl Dreaming is a 2014 novel in verse for teens by author Jacqueline Woodson. It deals with the author’s childhood as an African American, growing up in South Carolina and New York.
Woodson always felt halfway in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like growing up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the civil rights movement. Poignant and powerful, each poem is at once accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into the soul of a girl searching for her place in the world.
The author’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, even though she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the talented writer she would become.
Here ends our selection of Authors of Young Adult Novels. We hope you liked it and already have your next book!
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