Top 10 Favorite Books Before Age 18

[rose_onlyolder]

We all have to pay the bills. And to pay mine, I currently work as a residential counselor in a school for teenage girls with behavioral disorders. It’s a tough job for many reasons, but one of my biggest pet peeves about it has nothing to do with the work. As you might imagine if you now work, or have worked with this age group, I spend a lot of

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[anotherplay]

I'm 17. I could never, ever choose THE ten books, but here are ten books I do love at the moment. For a better overview, here on Goodreads you can see my most loved books. I am Dutch, but I decided to exclude the untranslated Dutch work I'd otherwise would have put on this list)

- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
- Rembrandt's Whore by Sylvia Matton
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
- Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
- The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
- La Virevolte by Nancy Huston (this is the English title as well)

However, I'd say that my taste in books is not very common for most of the 17 year olds, so I'm not sure how useful this list is for you.

[rose_onlyolder]

I don't care about it being "useful" exactly, I just find it interesting to see what everyone else has read. : ) I have never heard of Rembrandt's Whore, but the title so intrigues me that I'm definitely looking it up. Thanks!

[anotherplay]

Rembrandt's Whore is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. The first 100 pages are much stronger than the second 100, but it's still a wonderful, amazing read.

[alluringcliche]

1. The Harry Potter Series (I had too.)
2. The Phantom Tollbooth
3. The Ann of Green Gables series
4. Madeline E'Lengle
5. Little House series
6. Little Women and anything by Alcott
7. For something more modern...anything by John Green (it's less fantasy and more real, but just as engaging)
8. Tamora Pierce - Circle of Magic
9. Meg Cabot
10. Narnia

I read the Hunger Games and actually didn't really like it, I don't know why. In that sci-fi vein though...
Ender's Game series so much
And The City of Ember
And the Among the Hidden Series or anything by Haddix, sorry that's more than 10.

[odette_river]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about Margaret Peterson Haddix. She's great.

[alluringcliche]

Yes she is.

[rose_onlyolder]

I heard they were making a movie of The City of Ember. Have you heard that? I guess I'll have to pick that up now too...

Also I really should have listed Madeline L'Engle the way you did, I spent so much time with her books it was hard to pick just one.

[smammers]

1. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
2. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
3. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
4. Anything by Dianna Wynne Jones
5. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
9. The Diary of Anne Frank
10. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Speak is my all-time favorite book, and I always recommend that and Anderson's other books for teens. Interview with the Vampire could be a good alternative for Twilight fans to get them to branch out a little. I also read a lot of Stephen King, which made me feel so adult, as did the Anne Rice.

[rose_onlyolder]

# 7 and # 10, yes yes yes!

I took a directing class in college and one of my peers did a short theater piece based on Speak. It was very moving and inspired me to read the book. I love the art teacher in the novel and the concept of drawing the tree. Very moving.

[novangla]

Kind of difficult, as I was reading normal-people-books by age 14 or so, so my taste between middle school and high school was vastly different. I'll break it up by age instead of favoritism, and I'm doing 12 (deal with it):

Middle school (roughly in chronological order):
1. Sally Lockhart books - Philip Pullman
2. Tripods series - forget the author
3. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
4. Inherit the Wind - forget this too
5. Killer Angels - Michael Shaara (and a lot of nonfiction Civil War history, because I was a loser like that)

Both
6. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (liked it in middle school, rediscovered and loved it in high school)
7. Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis (didn't like it in middle school, rediscovered and loved it in high school)

High School
8. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. Nausea and No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
10. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
11. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses - James Joyce
12. The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner

[rose_onlyolder]

Haha, I love how you said "(deal with it)". I always have a hard time sticking to the format of lists like this. Classic.

[alluringcliche]

Ooooh yes Sally Lockhart! :)

[subitoburrito]

Inherit the Wind! How could I possibly forget that one?

[helenze]

Before age 18 is quite a broad age range. I mean, by 15 I was reading the same sort of grown-up books I read now at the ripe old age of nearly 50. So I'm going to answer this question by giving you my 10 favourite books from my actual childhood, not from my young adulthood, if that's OK:

1. The Borrowers (entire series) by Mary Norton
2. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
3. The Paddington Bear series by Michael Bond
4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
5. The Doctor Dolittle books by Hugh Lofting
6. The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon
7. The Little Grey Rabbit series by Alison Uttley
8. Worzel Gummidge by Barbara Euphan Todd
9. Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls by Terry Jones
10. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

Coming up with only 10 meant leaving off some other favourites, such as Madeleine l'Engle, Noel Streatfeild and Rumer Godden ... but I'll abide by the rules! ;)