Essentials in Young Adult Books

The largest online retailer announced Essentials in Young Adult Books, a new feature designed to offer teens and parents a selection of timeless fiction outside the classroom that young adult readers will enjoy. Essentials in Young Adult Books (www.amazon.com/youngadultessentials) will comprise two separate lists of ten books each: Editorial Essentials and Customer Selected Essentials.

“We’re not sure which statement is truer: that teens can be insatiable readers or that they’re hard to shop for,” said Jessica Schein, Amazon.com Young Adult Books Specialist. “Our goal with Essentials in Young Adult Books is to help adults choose the best editorially curated must-have books for young adult readers. We also know that young adult readers rely on peer recommendations, and so we hope that the Customer Selected Essentials sparks a dialogue with our customers about the best books for that age group.”

The Editorial Essentials list was compiled by Amazon Books Editors and will be revised regularly to remain relevant. Today, the Editorial Essential list is available for young adults or their parents and includes:

* “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson : Shunned by her peers, Melinda Sordino keeps quiet about the night in which everything changed. Will she ever rediscover her voice and tell the truth? “Speak” is an honestly-told, powerful look at the ways in which we cope with personal tragedy.
* “Monster” by Walter Dean Myers : Steve Harmon is on trial for murder, but is he the menace the prosecutor paints him out to be or was he merely in the wrong place at the wrong time? At the heart of this riveting novel is a teenager caught up in an adult world – a situation to which many young adults can relate.