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 THE HARRY POTTER NOVELS
by J.K. Rowling
Since these have been so popular, I’ll toss in a comment. From a purely literary standpoint, their weaknesses are structural. They digress at times, damaging the narrative pace. But the strengths are overwhelming: extraordinary richness and creativity of detail; sensitively drawn characters and relationships; moral and ethical questions explored in meaningful but highly entertaining ways. I admire these books most because they accomplished the near impossible—getting millions of non-reading adolescents to read.
 TWILIGHT
by Stephenie Meyer
Some of my college students raved about this book, so I read it to see what all the fuss is about. I enjoyed it. A high school girls falls in love with a pallid young man who turns out to be a vampire. The first half of the book has a high degree of realism, but the second half drifts towards the gothic. The vampire stuff is a metaphorical way of addressing issues central to adolescents—the temptation and dangers of going “too far,” the fine line between healthy and unhealthy desires, between human and animal responses, between love and lust, etc. The themes are intelligent but delivered with a high level of entertainment.
There are four volumes in this series. I did not find the subsequent volumes as appealing, but most teenagers disagree. Like the Harry Potter books, they deserve credit for getting millions of non-reading adolescents to read.
 THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
by John Green
A wonderful book! But I almost didn’t read it. The protagonist is a teenager with terminal cancer. Yuck. Life is depressing enough without reading that. Right? And yet, I loved it. The book oozes with the irrepressibility of teenagers. I love the voice of the first person narrator. The book also has an intellectual smartness about it. I did fog up two or three times, but overall it wasn’t a depressing read.
 ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS
by Stephanie Perkins
An occasional complaint on my course evaluations is that my booklists are too "boy oriented," so I am always on the lookout for books geared toward girls. Thus, I was attracted to this book, a first novel by Stephanie Perkins. It raises some interesting questions about culture (and you learn a lot about Paris), but mostly it's an irresistable teenage romance full of angst and passion. The characters are extremely likeable--and wouldn't you know, the guys in class liked it as well or better than the girls.
 THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE
by Avi
This is a first-rate swashbuckler. Years ago, I read this to my youngest child, and later to one of my “little brothers.” Both were mesmerized. The setting is the 1830’s. A prim English girl is shipped to America. She ends up amid a mutinous crew opposing an cruel captain. The first person point of view is expertly handled. Pacing is terrific. Dialogue is vigorous and nautically colloquial. It’s one of my favorites
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