Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Should Be Required Reading For Teens

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Top Ten is kind of hard for me because I not always liked required reading when I was in school.  I completed high school in Puerto Rico, which means I had required reading both both Spanish and English classes.  Some books I liked and some, not that much, therefore this is a list of books that I would have loved to read back then (or even in college.)  This is my opinion (if you ask my hubby, he will probably say that physics and calculus *God forbid* should be on the list.)  So here it goes:

1. Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen - I think that everyone should have the joy of getting to know the wonderful Elizabeth Bennett and her Mr. Darcy.

2. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling - If you are familiar with the movies (if you're not, you may be living under a rock) I am here to tell you that the books are even better.  This will be a timeless classic.  A lesson about love, commitment, responsibility, friendship, trust, and so much more.

3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - I have always been a bookworm (as far as I remember anyway) and my dear mamá game this book as a gift since the staff at the bookstore recommended it.  I not only loved Little Women, but I read the whole series.  

4.  Willow by Julia Hoban - To my never ending surprise I loved this book.  Willow is a 'cutter', she feels relief from all her problems as she does harm to herself, and I didn't think that I would like a book about this topic.  I was wrong, to me this novel gets into the mind of a grieving teenager and finds a way for us to understand (not condone) her outlet.  It also is painful to see the lack of communication that exists between Willow and his brother, so many misunderstandings...  It also a great love story.

5.  The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson - What I probably liked the most about this book (besides the beautiful writing) is the way it portraits love.  Let me explain, the novel is about many things: pain, loss, grief, acceptance, confusion, but must of all this is a love story.  It describes that first all consuming love, when you seem to be floating, when The Sky is Everywhere, with such detail, that it comes alive in the pages of the book.

6.  The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins - I loved this dystopian series.  It's a lesson about oppression, abuse, dictatorship and the power of people with an ideal and the willingness to live and to change lives. 

7.  Just Listen by Sarah Dessen - Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors and her books deal with very series topics.  Just Listen is a novel about rape, there it be a lesson that it's never OK and that, no matter how hard it is to talk about certain things, it's always worst to be silent.

8.  A Blue so Dark by Holly Schindler - A beautifully written book about a difficult topic: mental problems.  This book gave me the impression of drowning, of trying to take on the world, of responsibility and love.

9.  Any Jules Verne book - This is my pick for young men, I read several of Verne's books and particularly liked 'Around the World in Eighty Days' and 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'

10.  Divergent by Veronica Roth - I just loved this dystopian, such strong characters, lessons in indoctrination, responsibility, strenght, and so much more.

Oh my gosh, that was hard!  What is on your list this week?