Day 6: Favorite young adult fiction novel

So this is it...the hardest challenge for me in this month. So far ALL of my choices have been Young Adult Fiction novels. I love them!! I have always enjoyed reading YA novels, but since I have become a librarian at a children/youth library....well now I can't get away from them ever. I do, occasionally, read adult fiction and/or non-fiction, but by and large my reading is from the YA genre. The stories in YA literature just seem so much more real to me. I think sometimes that adult writers are a bit to idealistic. YA novels thrive on the awkwardness of life and the struggles of growing up. It makes it much more approachable and real to me in many ways (even when the characters are wizards or fairies or whatever!).

So I have searched my heart and soul and I have decided...not to pick one. Ha Ha. Just kidding. I will pick BUT I will say that I pick with the understanding that there are so many others I could have just as easily picked. So many that have moved me and changed me in ways I cannot even always see. One that, in particular, did this to me was

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman

Okay, okay I know, that is technically NOT one book but it is one story so I decided to go with the whole set. If I had to pick I would probably choose the first one as my favorite, but that is really only because I love falling in love with another world in literature. It is the most exciting part of reading.

I read these books on the recommendation of Judy Bivens (another librarian) and was just blown away by them! It was several years before they tried to make a movie and thus caused all of the controversy and sensation that are usually associated with them now. I just read them, and was amazed. I read these from the library, but then had to go out immediately and buy a set because I NEEDED to be able to write in the books. Now writing in books is usually something I only do when I am studying or reading theology/philosophy. These books are almost that! They are so complex and intense and yet beautiful and fun at the same time, it amazes me. I love these books and feel (at least fairly) comfortable naming them as my favorite YA books.