Monday, January 31, 2011

Bitch Media's Got Something to Say About Teen Lit

UPDATE: Ok, so there's a bit of a kerfuffel about this list. Seems someone got offended by the inclusions of numbers 49, 69, and 83. The comment thread at the original link below has gotten CrAzY. Bitch Media (whom, it seems are lacking the backbone you usually find in those claiming such a descriptor), wishes to replace those three with a different three. I think the whole thing it quite ridiculous, although I recognize that their intentions are good, if wildly short-sighted and ill-informed. Their actions, while calling the worth of the list itself into question and screaming a passive sort of censorship, have also managed to piss off just about everyone in the YA Lit community. But it's just a list, and it's worth about as much as any such thing is. I, being contrary, am just as happy to have three titles to add to the list, as no, removing, isn't really the way to go here. Besides, it ups my numbers to 47 read out of 103. *grin*

Original post:

45. I'm a little appalled that I've only read 45 of Bitch Media's 100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader. Appalled, because this is clearly the most awesome list of titles ever compiled. They even pull out six super awesome titles for extra commentary. One of which is Tanita Davis' Mare's War. As if the list needed to be MOAR AWESOME.

Bold are the ones I've read.

1. Estrella’s QuinceaƱera by Malin Alegria
2. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
3. Choir Boy by Charlie Anders
4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
5. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
6. Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins
7. The Rhyming Season by Edward Averett
8. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
9. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
10. Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block
11. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
12. Forever by Judy Blume
13. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
14. Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
15. All-American Girl by Meg Cabot
16. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
17. The Plain Janes by Cecil Castelluci and Jim Rugg
18. This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers
19. Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone
20. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
21. Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP
22. Celine by Brock Cole
23. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
24. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
25. The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
26. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
27. Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis
28. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
29. For the Win by Cory Doctorow
30. Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
31. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
32. El Lector by William Durbin
33. The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
34. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
35. Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
36. Crossing Stones by Helen Frost
37. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
38. The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden
39. Sticks and Stones by Beth Goobie
40. Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley
41. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
42. It’s Not What You Expect by Norma Klein
43. Uncommon Faith by Trudy Krisher
44. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
45. Toning the Sweep by Angela Johnson
46. The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson
47. Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby
48. White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages
49. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
50. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle
51. Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
52. Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin
53. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
54. Gravity by Leanne Lieberman
55. Ash by Malinda Lo
56. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
57. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
58. Sold by Patricia McCormick
59. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
60. Thunder Over Kandahar by Sharon E. McKay
61. The Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton
62. Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
63. Night Flying by Rita Murphy
64. Revenge by Taslima Nasrin
65. A Step from Heaven by An Na
66. Skip Beat! By Yosiki Nakamura
67. Simply Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (although I have read others in this series)
68. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
69. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
70. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
71. Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters
72. Luna by Julie Anne Peters
73. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
74. Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
75. What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci
76. Imani All Mine by Connie Rose Porter
77. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
78. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
79. Beneath My Mother’s Feet by Amjed Qamar
80. The Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds
81. Flygirl by Sherri Smith
82. Lucy the Giant by Sherri Smith
83. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
84. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
85. Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught
86. Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
87. Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian
88. Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt
89. Cress Delahanty by Jessamyn West
90. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
91. When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune by Lori Aurelia Williams
92. Blue Tights by Rita Williams-Garcia
93. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
94. Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger
95. Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
96. The House You Pass on the Way by Jaqueline Woodson
97. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
98. When the Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright
99. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
100. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

ADDED:
101. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
102. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
103. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

So, consider this a meme. Repost it at your site, and leave me a link in the comments. Or, just comment. No need to have a blog. Obviously.

What's the most shocking book on this list that I haven't read? What should I drop everything and Read. Now.? Forever? Make Lemonade? Izzy Willy-Nilly? Dangerous Angels?

Many thanks to the great Kelly Fineman for tweeting about this list!

5 comments:

Kelly Jensen said...

Embarrassing: I've read fewer than 20 of these titles. Clearly, I have a lot of catching up to do.

Jackie Parker said...

Possibly embarrassing, but it sure makes me feel better!

tanita✿davis said...

Fifty-nine for me - counting my own book. I am not surprised - I tend to love books with fierce female characters so I read with feminist leanings.

But, how excited am I to be on a list with Harriet the Spy AND Laurie Halse Anderson???

LaurieA-B said...

I've read just about the same number as you. I would drop everything to read both Forever and Annie on My Mind, as both are touchstones in YA lit that are referenced constantly in both professional and popular lit. And you'll be fascinated to see what has changed, and what hasn't, in the way YA authors write about teen sexuality since the time those books were published.

Betsy said...

This is a GREAT list! My students and I have read a lot of the same ones as you, but we also like #2 How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Hard to argue with Julia Alvarez.
See our reviews at:
http://webbreads.blogspot.com