RECOMMENDED READS

I'm often asked what my favorite novel is. That's pretty much an impossible question to answer, but here are a few of my absolute favorites. Some of these are for children, some for teens, and some for adults—with quite a bit of crossover. If you're unsure if a book is appropriate for you, please do the research first.

Contemporary Teen Romance Other Teen Novels Fairy Tales More Fantasy & Paranormal Graphic Novels & Comics	Adult Fiction Classics Middle Grade Picture Books Nonfiction

CONTEMPORARY TEEN ROMANCE

Meg Cabot — Everything. Especially The Princess Diaries series.
Sarah Dessen — Everything. Especially The Truth About Forever, This Lullaby, Keeping the Moon.
Maureen Johnson — Everything. Especially Suite Scarlett and Girl at Sea.
Gingerbread, Shrimp, and Cupcake by Rachel Cohn
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen
Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
Dream Factory and Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler

OTHER TEEN: Admittedly, these still have a romantic bent!

John Green — Everything. (But Paper Towns is my favorite.)
Sara Zarr — Everything. (But Sweethearts is my favorite.)
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block (I read this at least once a year!)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Illyria by Elizabeth Hand
The View from the Top by Hillary Frank
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Spell Book of Listen Taylor and The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

FAIRY TALES

The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer and Kinuko Y. Craft
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (and everything else she's ever written)
Beauty and the Beast by Max Eilenberg and Angela Barrett
Cinderella by Barbara McClintock
The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
East by Edith Pattou

MORE FANTASY & PARANORMAL

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Of course.
Neil Gaiman — Everything. The Graveyard Book, Coraline, Fragile Things, etc.
Laini Taylor — Everything. Lips Touch, Dreamdark series (Blackbringer & Silksinger).
The Dream-Maker's Magic series and Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr
Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore
Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

Craig Thompson — Everything. (Blankets is my favorite.)
Edward Gorey — Everything. (Especially The Doubtful Guest and The Willowdale Handcar.)
Lucy Knisley — Everything.
Jeffrey Brown — Everything.
Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O'Malley
The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman
Bigfoot: I Not Dead by Graham Roumieu
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
The Walking Dead series by Robert Kirkman
Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson

ADULT FICTION

Banana Yoshimoto — Everything. (My favorite is Kitchen.)
Sarah Addison Allen — Everything. (My favorite is The Sugar Queen.)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Shopgirl by Steve Martin
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Moonspinners and Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

CLASSICS

Jane Austen — LOVE. Especially Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Emma.
The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
My Ántonia and O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

MIDDLE GRADE

Roald Dahl — Everything. Especially The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Boy.
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Dominic by William Steig
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Holes by Louis Sachar
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Winnie Years series by Lauren Myracle
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare

PICTURE BOOKS

Mo Willems — Everything. His Pigeon series is a great place to start.
Chris Van Allsburg — The Stranger, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Jumanji, The Polar Express, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
Peter Sís — Tibet Through the Red Box, Starry Messenger, The Tree of Life
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
Adèle and Simon and Cinderella by Barbara McClintock
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Snow and So Sleepy Story by Uri Shulevitz

NONFICTION (SO GOOD YOU'LL FORGET IT'S NOT A NOVEL)

David Sedaris — The funniest writer alive. Period. His work is even more hilarious when he reads it aloud, so look for him on audiobook! (Warning: His books, which are essays and short stories, are very adult.)
Pablo Neruda — My favorite classic poet. Try anything.
Billy Collins — My favorite modern poet. Try Sailing Alone Around the Room.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson