Top Life Changing Books for Teens(World Book Day 2014)

Happy World Book Day! This is one of my favourite days of the year, as conversations I had today surrounded books, my teachers were dressed up in school and I spent the whole day laughing, and every where I looked there was a young child celebrating reading. Future book-blogger perhaps? There's no problem in preparing for the next generation, right?

 

A few months ago, I shared a post with you about the 'Writes of Passage' Initiative, set up by World Book Day and newly appointed Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman, to find the top life changing books for teenagers. I've loved this idea since I first had an email from the Press Office in November, and have been waiting to see the compiled list of the '50 books that will change your life' which was released today after months of voting. This was not just your usual 'nominate your favourite reads' though - instead it was set out in categories, completely organised and asking you to think about how they affected your life. You could nominate the books that: make you cry, teach you about love, change the way you think, thrill you, transport you, scare you, make you laugh and make you understand YOU.

 

 

 

I've been anticipating the results for quite a long time now, as I nominated most of my favourite novels, all of which have made me feel at least one of these emotions. Whilst 'The Hunger Games' has scared me, 'Throne of Glass' has transported me and 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' has changed the way I think. I got a sneak-peak at the results before they were announced this morning, and I definitely think the best books have been chosen. I've read most of the top-ten, although the rest are on my wish-list, and this initiative has definitely shown how important reading is and, for me, it definitely shows how young people can handle complex and tough-topics in literature, rather than people thinking we are not capable of that.

Not only teenagers voted though, instead adults joined in, and this list represents every genre - from Fantasy to Dystopia, and Classic to Contemporary. Of course, I'm extremely excited about the book that made the top:

1. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
2. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green 
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 
4. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
5. 1984, George Orwell 
6. The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
7. A Streetcat Named Bob, James Bowen
8. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Out of these, I've read the top three - along with the first two Harry Potter books by J.K Rowling. This list is so varied, you can't get topics as different as the likes of 'The Hunger Games' when compared to 'A Streetcat Named Bob' or 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'The Lord of the Rings.' I loved this list - and definitely think it's time I finally picked up '1984' by George Orwell, as I'm wondering myself why I haven't read it. These books deal with extremely different problems in our society, such as: poverty, hunger, famine, war, conflict and racial-abuse. The fact that these are the life-changing books for young people gives me more faith in humanity; hopefully, we won't make some of the mistakes that can cause the situations these characters are in.

 

The longer list of 50 books includes 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' by Patrick Ness - one of my absolute favourite reads - as a book that will help you understand YOU, and Holly Smale's 'Geek Girl' as a book that will make you laugh. 'The Mortal Instruments' and 'Divergent' also made appearances - and just seeing how many of the books on this list have been made into films is interesting - nine of the top ten have been adapted!

 

You can find the full list HERE!

 

What is your top life-changing teen book?

Tell me in the comments!

World Book Day 2014 - 'Writes of Passage'

When I received an email from the World Book Day Press Office about Malorie Blackman's new plan to name the top teen books, I knew I had to write a blog post about it. This idea is a brilliant way of involving teenagers in reading, as well as putting a focus on YA in particular(as clearly, it is my favourite genre!). It also means we can celebrate the best of a group of books we talk about a lot, and introduce people who don't read as much to this genre.

 

What I also find immensely important about something like this is that it shows YA is an important genre, when sometimes it can be stereotyped to be certain things; when, in truth, it is full of incredible books. If you read a good book, you are going to talk about it and share it with friends, making this initiative a great way to get young people excited about reading. Soon, it will no longer be 'geeky' or 'un-cool' to read because, people will end up enjoying books instead of just reading what you are forced to at school.

 

'Writes of Passage' invites young people(and their parents who have their own list!) to compile a list of all books they need to read by the time they reach sixteen! This means we can talk about all our favourite Young Adult books, across any genre, and say why they are 'life changing' books. When the list is complete - nominations don't close until January 2014 by the way - there will be a ''50 books that will change your life' full list ready for World Book Day, which is the reason for this project!

 

 

 

As soon as I saw the email in my inbox, I went straight to the page and made my own nominations. I was so excited to see that there were different 'categories' you could nominate a book in - something I found really useful while picking and choosing the best of a lot of books that I have recently. This time, they can't just be a book you liked but instead must-reads. The ask you to nominate books that make you cry(Anyone instantly think of The Fault in Our Stars when they read that?), teach you about love, change the way you think, thrill you, transport you, scare you, make you laugh and help you understand YOU.

 

I took quite a lot of time nominating quite a few books, as I wanted to make sure I didn't miss an important one out - as well as having a mix of well-known books and one's that deserve the recognition. So, this meant that I chose 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' by Patrick Ness and 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green but then followed it with books such as 'Breathe' by Sarah Crossan, 'Throne of Glass' by Sarah J. Maas, 'Pretty Girl Thirteen' by Liz Coley and my favourite laugh-out-loud book Geek Girl, all of which you would have probably heard me shouting about before.

 

So far, and Malorie Blackman has only been Laureate for a few months, I think she is doing a fantastic job! The first news being the Young Adult Literature Convention(YALC) taking place at London Comic Con 2014 will focus on UKYA - something all British bloggers are really passionate, especially when recent bestsellers are all from American authors. I love how Malorie Blackman is now choosing to focus on any teen book, as it shows how important just picking up a book in general is, and highlights the best of YA. One of my first questions was "Do the books have to be UKYA?" - but, I feel these books will be the main focus during the middle of next year.

 

To make your own choices click HERE and I'd love to know what books changed your life in the comments below!

Thank you to Mark from the World Book Day Press Office you answered all my questions and sent me the banner I used in this post!